Improvements in Apparatus for Cutting Grain and Making Flour.
Year: 1891

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Cutting Grain and Making Flour.
A communication from abroad by GEORGE A. ENGLE and JAMES MCKENZIE,
both of Baxter, in the County of Jasper and State of Iowa, United States of
America.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool and 6, Bank Street,
Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster and 323 High Holborn in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer
tained in and by the following statement :-
This invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of a
rotating grain distributor, a concentric cutter holder, an adjustable cutter-holder-
support and an enclosing case, with a frame or stand and driving mechanism, as
hereinafter set forth, pointed out in the claims and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings in which-
Figure 1 is a vertical transverse central section of the mill.
Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the mill through the line - in
Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a top view of the frame or base of the mill and an adjustable ring
adapted to support the cylinder containing the cutters.
A, is a cylindrical case that has a continuous horizontal flange A³, and a
hopper A³ connected with the flange at its inner and lower edge. A is a frame or
stand fixed to the bottom of the case as required to produce a base adapted to
support the cylinder and cutters.
B is a flat ring that has integral radial arms B adapted to overlap and slide
upon the flange A³ of the case. Set screws c, passed horizontally through the case
and into the arms B³, serve as a means to adjust the ring horizontally and screws c¹
extended upwards through the flange A' serve to adjust the ring vertically.
D is a skeleton frame or cylinder, open at its top and bottom to allow of the
insertion of the distributor J, and at its circumference, to allow of the cutters 1, 2, 3,
being got at, and its bottom plate corresponds in diameter with the ring B. It
also has radial arms D' at its base adapted to overlap the arms B³ of the ring.
Dowel pins f projecting upwards from the arms B' enter corresponding perforations
in the arms D³ to connect the cylinder and ring so that they can be jointly adjusted
relative to the mill spindle and grain distributor operated within the cylinder.
Nos. 1, 2, 3 represent a series of cutters, similar in form to plane bits, extended
horizontally through radial openings in the top and bottom rings of the cylinder D
and adjustably fastened thereto, by means of set screws g extended down through
the top of the cylinder to engage the top edges of the cutters, or in any suitable
way, so the cutters can be set in or out relative to the inside face of the cylinder.
H is the mill spindle and J is a grain distributor fixed to its top to rotate in
concentric position within the cylinder D, and close to the cutting edges of the
cutters adjustably and detachably fixed to the cylinder. The distributor J has a
partially closed top, a series of vertical slots in its wall to allow the grain to pass
outward and to come into contact with the sharp edges of the cutters, and a
hopper K in the centre detachably connected with its open top. The closed bottom
of the distributor has a cone at its centre upon which the grain falls from the
hopper to be spread, by means of the cone, in equal proportions as required to
throw it outward regularly by centrifugal force as the spindle and distributor are
rotated.
N is a cover detachably connected with the top of the case A.
I
In the practical oneration of the invention the crain fed, through the hopper is

page_text: thrown violently outward from the rotating distributor, by centrifugal force, and
against the cutting edges of the cutters and, by the motion of the distributor,
pressed against the sharp edges of the cutters, so that particles of each grain will
be successively cut off and thus reduced and all the grain comminuted without
rubbing or grinding to reduce and pulverise the grain. And as the particles are
cut off they pass outwards through the radial openings in the cylinder and into the
case from which they drop into a receiver under the mill.
To cut grain for feed, the cutters are drawn outward to increase the space
between their sharp edges and the blunt edges of the radial vertical openings in
the rotating distributor J, and to make fine flour, they are moved inwards to
diminish the space, and, when desired, the product is passed through the mill several
times.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a mill for cutting grain and making flour, a skeleton frame or cylinder
composed of a bottom circular plate or ring having radial grooves in its top
surface to admit the lower edges of horizontally projecting cutters, a mating top
plate having corresponding grooves in its under side to admit the top edges of
the same cutters, and coinciding radial arms or projections extending outward
and rigidly connected, in combination with a horizontally and vertically adjustable
support and a rotating grain distributor, for the purposes stated.
2. In a mill for cutting grain and making flour a case having an annular
inwardly extending Hange at its bottom, a ring having radial arms adapted to
overlap said flange screws extending vertically through said flange to engage said
arms, screws extended horizontally through the case to engage the same arms
and a cylinder or frame, having radial cutters, supported and carried by said
adjustable ring, arranged and combined to operate in the manner set forth for
the purposes stated.
3. In a mill for cutting grain and making flour, a cylindrical case having a
flange extending horizontally inwards, and a hopper extending downwards from
the flange, a mill spindle extending perpendicularly through the case and hopper,
and a sleeve on the spindle extending upwards from the bottom of the hopper,
arranged and combined in the manner set forth for the purposes stated.
4. In a mill for cutting grain and making flour, a cylindrical case having an
opening in its top to admit grain and a flange extending horizontally inwards at its
bottom, a ring having radial arms, adjustably connected with said flange, a circular
frame having cutters extending radially, attached to said ring, and a mill spindle
extending upwards through the centre of the case and the ring and a grain
distributor fixed to the top of the spindle arranged and combined to operate in the
manner set forth, for the purposes stated.
5. A. mill for cutting grain and making flour, comprising a stand adapted to
support a cone having an opening at its bottom and a mill spindle in concentric
position with the case, a circular rotating grain distributor having a closed bottom,
an opening in the top and vertical radial slots in its circumference, fixed to the top
of the spindle, a ring adjustably connected with the bottom of the case and adapted
to support and carry a cylindrical frame carrying cutters, a cutter carrier consisting
of a skeleton frame having radial grooves in the top face of its bottom and
coinciding grooves in the bottom face of its top cutters fitted in said grooves and
detachably fastened therein and a hopper connected with the top and centre of the
case, arranged and combined to operate in the manner set forth.
Dated this 23rd day of September 1891.