Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Feb., 1887
Complete Left, 1st Nov., 1887
Complete Accepted, 2nd Dec., 1887
I, THEODORE Voss, Consulting Engineer, 88 Bury New Road, Higher Broughton,
Manchester, Lancs. do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Hitherto wheat and other cereals have been reduced to flour by means of millstones
or roller-mills and other machines and in all these machines the outer hull or husk of
the grains is much exposed to the abrading action of the working parts, thus causing
injury to the flour. Now my invention consists in so squeezing the grains between
smooth rolls that they will be flattened in the form of thin round or oval cakes which
are sawn through immediately by a thin circular or other saw while they are still held
between the rollers. As the cakes consist of three layers, viz. two outer layers of
husk and an interior layer of floury parts, the saw will cut away the floury part
without causing much injury to the busk. The floury parts will be reduced to a
rather small size, they will mostly be in that condition known to Millers as "Pure
Dunst." The husk will be almost intact and may or may not require a second
reduction between rolls or stones to remove as much as possible all floury parts from
the offal. The products of my reduction machine would therefore be far more advanced.
during one reduction than they are now after five, or six, or more reductions in the
so-called Gradual Reduction system of milling, therefore much less machinery would
be required, power would be saved and the purity of the flour would be much more
perfect.
Now, although saws have already been used for different milling purposes, such as
cleaning and granulating, they have never, to the best of my knowledge, been used in
the above described manner for the purpose of reducing cereals to flour. Saws, if
used for cleaning, simply act as scrapers, and "hey are not intended to cause any
reduction of the floury parts. If, however, they are used for granulating they cut
right across the grain, through husk and flour kernel at the same time. The form of
the grain remains unaltered and the products of such granulation are of a rather large
size, requiring numerous subsequent reductions to remove all floury parts from the
husk. The distinguishing feature of my invention is that the grains are first flattened
and then the floury part is immediately, and almost entirely, cut out from between
the two outer layers of husk by means of circular or other saws, and thus the floury
part is reduced at once, in one reduction, to the condition of "
Hour.
pure Dunst "
and
Th

page_text: I, THEODORE VOSs, Consulting Engineer, 88 Bury New Road, Higher Broughton,
Manchester, Lancashire, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
Hitherto wheat and other cereals have been reduced to flour and offal by means of
millstones, roller-mills, and other machines, and in all these the outer hull or husk of
the grain is much exposed to the abrading influence of the working surfaces, thus
causing much injury to the flour.
Now my invention consists in so squeezing the grains between smooth, or nearly
smooth, rollers that they will be flattened in the form of thin round or oval cakes
which are sawn, or cut, through, immediately, by means of thin circular or other saws,
or by circular knives, while they are still being held between the squeezing rollers.
Or, a hollow wedgeshaped grinding block may be so placed underneath and between
the squeezing rollers that the flattened grain is divided in two slices, and that each
slice will be compelled to pass with its floury side over the finely-fluted concave surfaces
of the grinding block and thus the floury parts may be almost entirely removed,
during one reduction, without exposing the branny husk to the influence of sharp
working surfaces. It is not desirable, however, to work the bran too close, and it is
preferable therefore to finally clean it by fine fluted rollers or by other suitable
means. On the other hand, the floury parts of grain reduced on my principle
are far more advanced, during one reduction, than they are after 4 or 5 reductions on
roller-mills and I am therefore able, by means of my Invention, to obtain improved
results with a smaller number of machines and with less expenditure of power
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
2
Fig. 1. represents a cross-section of a machine with two squeezing Rollers A. and B.
mounted on spindles (and C, and supported in the usual manner by laterally
adjustable bearings secured to the table E. A thin circular saw or knife S. is mounted
on Spindle F. by means of washers W, and W, and nut N. The spindle F. is held
in two vertically adjustable bearings G, and G, which are suspended from the table E.
To prevent any lateral play of the spindle F. it has been provided with two screw-
collars O, and 02. The wheat is fed between Rolls A. and B. in the usual manner
and in passing the narrowest point it is flattened into a thin cake which is immediately
cut into two slices by the thin saw, or knife, S. which at the same time removes the
floury parts of each slice. I generally make the body of the saw, or knife, stronger
than the edge and grind it somewhat hollow in its tapered part which extends from
the circumference of the washers to the cutting edge. I also generally arrange the
feed apparatus in such a manner that any heavy and hard substances, that may be
contained in the grain, are left behind in the bottom of the feedhopper. This

page_text: 1 accomplish by lowering the bottom of the feedhopper to a point about an inch
below the centre line of the feed roller and by interposing an adjustable slide between
the contents of the feedhopper and the feed roller, so that the grain is compelled to
pass underneath this slide and is then drawn upwards, and carried over the feedroller
owing to the forwarding influence of the coarsely fluted surface of the same. The
bottoin of the feedhopper may be provided with a drawer, so that the accumulated
heavy substances may be, from time to time, removed. In some cases I increase the
rubbing effect of the sides of the circular saw, or knife, by roughening them some-
what, either by cross grinding the sides near the edge, or by providing them with
very fine flutes.
Fig. 2. represents the cross-section of a similar arrangement of squeezing rolls with
a hollow wedgeshaped grinding block f. and Fig. 3. represents a side view of this
grinding block and its mode of attachment to the framework e. of the machine. The
squeezing rolls a. and b. are supported in the usual manner on table e. and the
grinding block f. is secured to this table as shown in Fig. 3 or in any other suitable
manner. The grinding block f. may be made in several parts or may be made in one
piece. I prefer to make it as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 with a sharp knife i. and two
finely fluted plates y, and g₂ secured to the cast iron body f. by means of screws n. and
the whole block may be secured to a plate h. by means of screws, or bolts, and this
plate may be either rigidly fixed to the frame or may be secured by setscrews j.
and bolts k. with elastic springs l. as shown in Fig. 3. But in all cases the squeezing
rollers are provided with lateral adjustments and the grinding block is vertically
adjustable so that the fluted hollow surfaces of the block f. may be placed in exact
conformity with the smooth, or nearly smooth, surfaces of the squeezing rollers.
When the grain passes between the rollers it is flattened into thin cakes and these are
immediately divided into two slices by the sharp edge of the knife i. and these slices,
in being pushed over g, and 92, are freed from their floury parts. In some cases it
may be deemed advantageous to extend the grinding block as indicated by dotted
lines in Fig. 2. In the arrangement shown in Figs. 2 and 3 the rolls may be made of
any suitable length, but in the first arrangement, shown in Fig. 1., they cannot
advantageously be made wider than about one fourth of the diameter of the saw or
knife, on account of the roundness of the latter.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:
First. The method of reducing cereals to flour by flattening them between rollers
and immediately splitting the flattened cakes by means of saws or knives so as to
remove most of the floury parts from the bran, during one reduction, without exposing
the husk to the abrading influence of sharp working surfaces.
Second. The construction and arrangement of reduction machines, substantially as
herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 28th day of October 1887
THEODORE VOSS.