IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING CURRANTS. RAISINS, AND OTHER FRUITS OR VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Smith, of Kettering, in the County
of Northampton, Agricultural Implement Maker, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING
CURRANTS. RAISINS, AND OTHER FRUITS OR VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 11th December 1852, and dated the 1st October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Smith,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st October 1852.
I, WILLIAM SMITH, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING CURRANTS,
RAISINS, AND OTHER FRUITS OR VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
The peculiar features of novelty in the machine or apparatus for
which I wish to obtain Letters Patent consists, first, in placing the
wire-cleaning cylinder in a vertical instead of a horizontal or nearly
horizontal position.
Second, in arranging the cleaning brushes spirally round the vertical
shaft in the cleaning cylinder.
Third, in adapting to the interior of the hopper an adjustable slide,

page_text: with a brush affixed to the end thereof. "This slide is intended to
regulate the quantity of fruit to be fed into the machine, and the brush
is intended to prevent the fruit from being bruised, which would be the
case if it were brought by the fluted feeding roller against any hard
substance, such as wood. The fluted feeding roller is fixed on a hori-
zontal shaft, which is furnished at one end with a winch or handle,
whereby the machine is driven. At the upper end of the rotating brush
shaft, inside the cleaning cylinder, is a bevil pinion, which is driven by
a bevil wheel on the shaft that carries the fluted feeding roller.
The currants or fruit to be cleaned are placed in the hopper, and
are fed into the machine by the rotation of the fluted roller, which
carries them past the adjustable slide into a funnel-shaped chamber,
from whence they fall on to the brushes in the cleaning cylinder.
The fruit, in passing through this cylinder, is cleaned by being rubbed
up against the sides of the wire cylinder, through the interstices or
meshes of which the dirt is made to pass, while the fruit falls down
into a receptacle below, or on to a vibratory sieve, whereby the stones
and stalks are separated from the fruit, which will pass through the
sieve.
"
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 1st April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
William Smith, of Kettering, in the County of Northampton, Agricul-
tural Implement Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Smith, Her special license that I, the said William
Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at

page_text: all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
CLEANING CURRANTS, RAISINS, AND OTHER FRUITS OR VEGETABLE SUB-
STANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Smith, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and to cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Smith, do bereliy
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon';
that is to say:
:
:
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of machinery, to be
used chiefly for removing extraneous matters from dried fruits, such as
raisins, currants, &c. In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1, is a
vertical section, taken near the middle of the machine; and Fig. 2,
is an elevation, partly in section, taken at right angles to Figure 1.
a, a, is the main frame of the machine, carrying at its upper part a
Set over
driving shaft b, which is mounted in suitable bearings c, c.
the shaft, and firmly secured by bolts to the main framing, is a hopper d,
in which the fruit to be cleaned is thrown. This hopper is provided
with a fixed inclined table e, for guiding the fruit onto a fluted or cor
rugated roller f, which is keyed to the shaft b, and works in the bottom
of the hopper. On the opposite side of the hopper to that against
which the inclined table e, is fixed is an adjustable brush g, which bears
against the fluted roller, and forms a yielding stop-piece, to prevent the
fruit from being carried too rapidly out of the hopper by the rotary
motion of the roller f, and yet avoid the crushing of the fruit, by reason

page_text: of the resistance to its descent which would take place if the stop-
piece were composed of any rigid unyielding substance.
Below the hopper, a wire gauze casing h, is fixed for the purpose of
receiving the fruit as it falls from the hopper. The form of this casing
is that of the frustrum of a cone inverted; but it may be made cylindri-
cal if thought desirable. Through the centre of this casing h, passes a
shaft i, which rests in a step, bolted to the underside of the table k,
and is supported in a vertical position by means of a bracket bearing 7.
This shaft carries a brush m, the periphery of which corresponds to the
form of the wire gauze casing, but its bristles are arranged in a spiral
form, that it may the better act upon the fruit, and carry it down and
discharge it (after it has been disengaged of any refuse matters, as
stones, &c., that may be mixed therewith,) through the open bottom of
the casing into a drawer, or other proper receptacle n. To ensure the
proper action of the brush upon the fruit, tufts of bristles m*, are
inserted between the coils of the brush, which will have the effect of
intercepting the fruit in its descent, and drive it outwards under the
action of the spiral line of bristles.
To effect this object, rotary motion is communicated to the brush
through a spur wheel o, keyed onto the driving shaft b, and gearing into
a spur pinion p, keyed on the shaft i, the driving shaft b, being itself
rotated by a hand wheel g, or other suitable contrivance. The action
of the machine is as follows:-Rotary motion being communicated to
the shaft b, and the hopper being supplied with, say, dried currants, the
fluted roller f, will be caused to drive forward a certain quantity of the
currants, and pass them out of the hopper; the amount being deter-
mined by the dip or position of the fixed brush y.- The currants will
then fall upon the rotating spiral brush m, and will be carried down an
inclined plane of bristles; but, by reason of the rapid rotation commu-
nicated to this brush, a powerful centrifugal action will be set up among
any loose matters entering the case h, and thereby the currants will
be thrown with violence against the inner periphery thereof, and any
heavy matters, such as stones, chips, grit, &c., which may be mixed
with the currants, will be driven through the meshes of the wire gauze,

page_text: or, if any pieces are caught therein, the elastic force of the bristles will
effect their discharge. The currants, by reason of the spiral winding of
the bristles, will descend slowly in a continuous stream, and thereby a
better opportunity will be provided for the discharge of the extraneous
matters than if the currants were allowed to fall through the casing by
their own gravity. When they have arrived at the lower end of the
casing, they are free to fall into the drawer or box n, but the refuse
matters discharged through the meshes of the casing will fall onto the
table k, whence they may be swept off.
Having now described the Invention of improvements in machinery
or apparatus for cleaning currants, raisins, and other fruits or vegetable
substances, I wish it to be understood, that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent
I claim, first, the adjustable retaining brush for regulating the dis-
charge of the fruit from the hopper.
Secondly, arranging the bristles or their equivalent in a spiral form,
when a conical casing is used, or helically when a cylindrical casing is
employed, for the purpose of retarding the descent of the fruit..
Thirdly, I claim the combination in one machine of the stationary
and rotating brushes with a vertical casing or cylinder, having meshes
or openings in its periphery to admit of the discharge of extraneous
matters from the fruit under operation.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Smith, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-three.
WILLIAM SMITH. (L.S.)
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane, London.