Improvements in Apparatus for Cleaning or Scouring Grain.
Year: 1889

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Cleaning or Scouring Grain.
I, JOHN GRANT, of Craig Mills, Dundee, in the County of Forfar, Manufacturer
of Scotch oatmeals and pot and pearl barleys, 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 :-
The object of my invention is to clean such grain as oats in a better manner than
has hitherto been done; by means of fixed and rotating scrubbers, said cleaning being
lone after the grain has been dried and roughly decorticated by separate apparatus ;
the finishing cleaning being performed immediately before the grain passes to the
grinding machinery, or said grain may be made into groats.
In order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same may be
properly understood I hereunto append two sheets of explanatory drawings to be
hereinafter referred to and representing a cleaning or scouring machine with my
improvements.
Fig. 1. (Sheet No. 1.) is a side elevation of the machine, and Figs. 2. and 3.
(Sheet No. 2.) a sectional elevation and a sectional plan respectively of the scouring
cylinder.
Fig. 2. represents a vertical section at B. B. on Fig. 3. and Fig. 3. a sectional
plan at A. A. on Fig. 2. Fig. 4. (Sheet No. 3.) represents a sectional plan at A. A.
of the rotating scrubbers.
In these drawings the same reference numerals are used to indicate the same or like
parts wherever they are repeated. The general arrangement of the machine is shown
on (Sheet No. 1.) and is designed in such a manner that the grain falls into the grinding
apparatus.

page_text: 1. is the scouring cylinder and 2. the hopper. Said cylinder and hopper, I will
more clearly describe afterwards when referring to Sheet No. 2. 3. is the driving
shaft rotating in the journals 4. 5. and 6. Said shaft is allowed to move in a vertical
direction to some extent, as determined by the adjusting apparatus 21. When rotating
the pressure of the grain on the underside of the scrubbers 24. lifts the shaft 3. against.
the set screw 32. but when the cylinder is empty the shaft falls down again, clear
of the said adjusting set screw. The shaft 3. is supported when in its lowest position
by a foot step, not shown in the drawings.
7. is a spur wheel on shaft 3. rotating another wheel 8. fixed on a shaft 9. On the
same shaft is fixed a belt pulley 10. driving another 11. on the shaft 12. upon which
shaft is a fan contained in the box 13. and used for the purpose of blowing the dirt
scoured off the grain. 14. is the pipe for conveying the purified grain to the grinding
machinery. 15. is a lover for actuating a ring 16. so that the opening between 16.
and the revolving plate 17. fixed upon the shaft 3. may be adjusted to allow a greater
or lesser quantity of grain to pass through, as may be desired. 21. is an adjusting
arrangement for controlling the vertical lift of the shaft, so that the best scouring
results may be obtained.
.32. is a screwed stud working in the distance piece 21. and firmly fixed by means
of the jamb nut 33. in any desired position. When the scouring cylinder is filled
with grain and the shaft 3. with its scrubbers 24. are rotating; there is a tendency for a
said shaft to rise up and press against the point of the stud 32., said lift being determined
by the position of the said stud.
The action of the machine is as follows:-The grain is permitted to flow into the
hopper 2. and to slowly fall through the cylinder 1. and is therein cleaned. It then
together with the impurities passes out between the ring 16. and the circular plate 17.
as shown by the arrows, and falls into the hopper 18. and thence through a hole at 19.
in the pipe 14. The fan in box 13. creates a current of air which passes through the
holo 19. and carries the impurities from the grain discharging the dust through the
opening 28. and the heavier particles through 29.; the perfectly clean grain falling as
before described into the grinding apparatus.
Figs. 2. and 3. (Sheet No. 2.) more clearly show how the grain is cleaned.
20. is the pipe leading the grain into the hopper 2. 22. being a wire sieve for
arresting the passage of strings and such like into the cylinder. 23. is an arm fixed
on the shaft 3. and rotating with it. Its purpose is to spread the grain_and
thus let it fall more uniformly on to the sieve 22. and thence into the fixed
cylinder 1.
On the shaft 3. are a series of scrubbers 24. which are placed at equal intervals
from each other by means of distance pieces 25. These scrubbers are placed as shown
at Fig. 4. (Sheet No. 3.) the two scrubbers a. a. being in the one horizontal plane,
while the other two b. b. are in another horizontal plane, and so alternately for the
other scrubbers. Said scrubbers revolve with the shaft 3.
The cylinder 1. consists of a number of concentric rings 26., placed one upon
another and held together with bolts 27. These rings have internal vortical
corrugations 30. for the purpose of arresting the rotation of the grain as much as
possible. On the top of each ring are recesses for the fixed scrubbers 31. Said fixed
scrubbers are set in different horizontal planes similarly to those upon the shaft 3. as
shown at Figs. 2. and 3.
Thus by means of these revolving and fixed scrubbers, together with the internal
vertical corrugations and the weight of the grain itself it is thoroughly scoured.
The scrubbers may be made of sheet iron with small holes punched alternately from
each side of the plate in such a manner that the ragged edges project, or instead of
so doing steel wires may be fixed into the plates forming a series of stationary and
revolving brushes.
I am aware that the hereinbefore described machine, with its revolving scrubbers
and fan is already in use, but the said machine has no fixed scrubbers or vertical
adjusting apparatus nor is its cylinder built in concentric rings.

page_text: 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:
1
(1) The use of the fixed horizontal scrubbers, as hereinbefore described.
(2) The use of the fixed horizontal scrubbers, in combination with the horizontal
rotating scrubbers, as described.
(3) The method of making the corrugated cylinder of concentric rings, placed one
on the top of the other, as described.
(4) The use of the vertical adjusting apparatus, as described.