Improvements in Dressing or Bolting Machines.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Dec., 1892-Accepted, 28th Jan., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Dressing or Bolting Machines.
A communication by WILLIAM DICKSON GRAY, of Milwaukee, in the County
of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, United States of America, Engineer.
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 Middle-
sex, 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 ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to machines for treating ground grain or grain-products
to effect the separation and gradation of the fine flour and coarser materials.
In the accompanying drawings,-
Figure 1 represents a longitudinal vertical section through the machine;
Figure 2 is a cross-section of the same on the line 2-2;
Figure 3 is a cross-section on the line 3-3;
Figure 4 is a detailed view of the driving-gear; and
Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating the longitudinal inclination of the spreader-
blades.
Referring to the drawings
--
A, represents a rectangular external frame or casing, the details of which may
be modified at will, provided only it is adapted to sustain and enclose the operative
parts.
B is a reel, the frame of which may be of any suitable construction, clothed
externally with bolting-cloth C, or equivalent pervious material, which presents a
continuous cylindrical surface, and which may be graded in fineness from the head
to the tail according to the nature of the material treated, as is usually practised
in the art.
The reel is sustained by its end spiders mounted to turn loosely around the shaft D,
arranged in a slightly inclined position, and seated in bearings in the main-frame.
For one-half its length or thereabout the reel is provided at the head end with a
series of longitudinal internal lifting buckets or blades E, which may be of any
suitable form in cross section, and sustained therein in any suitable manner,
provided only that their outer edges are slightly separated from the bolting-cloth
so that they will act on the upgoing side of the reel to lift the material under
treatment above the point to which it would otherwise rise, and permit it to
flow or slide gently backward past their outer edges, and downward over the
ascending surface of the cloth, in order to increase the bolting action on the
upgoing side as in machines heretofore patented to my correspondent.
Within the head end of the reel and inside of the lifting buckets E are
arranged a series of longitudinal spreader or beater blades F, carried by spiders,
fixed on the rapidly driven shaft D: these blades being adapted to receive such
portions of the material as are carried to the upper part of the reel by lifting
buckets E and throw the same upward and outward against the bolting-cloth at
the top and on the downgoing side of the reel. The parts are so proportioned
and driven that these revolving spreader-blades act with a gentle spreading or
"sowing" action to deliver the material against the cloth without undue violence,
while their action is principally to deliver the material against the top and down-
going portions of the cloth, and they also act to some extent to spread the same
over the remaining portions. In the tail portion of the reel beyond the ends of
the elevators E and spreaders F, a second series of longitudinal spreader blades G
is mounted, carried by spiders g fixed on the shaft D. These blades G are set
Prce 8d1

page_text: outward nearer the bolting-cloth than the blades F, and they serve to take up
the material which has already been treated, and partly separate it by the head
portion of the reel and spread the same outward against the tail portion of the
cloth in order that it may be further treated thereby.
In practice, it is found that, by thus combining in one machine with the bolting-
cloth the lifting buckets and spreader blades to give the material a preliminary
treatment, and secondary spreader blades acting to deliver the material thus
treated a second time to a bolting cloth, a very satisfactory separation is effected
and a very great capacity is given to the machine according to its size. In
practice, the spreader blades should be revolved at a higher speed than the reel.
Good results are obtained by driving a reel of thirty-two inches diameter at
about twenty revolutions per minute, while the spreader blades are driven at two
hundred revolutions.
Many mechanisms suitable for imparting differential motions are known to
every skilled mechanic, but the arrangement represented in Figures 1 and 5 of the
drawings is recommended, in which the rapidly-revolving shaft D carries a
pinion d, engaging the gear D' mounted on a fixed stud, and carrying on its side
a pinion D2 which in turn engages a gear D³ on the tail spider of the reel whereby a
slow motion is imparted from the shaft to the reel. This arrangement of gearing
is not in itself claimed as of the present invention.
It is to be understood that the framing of the reel the shape of the elevator
blades and buckets and the devices for supporting the same may be modified at will
within the limits of mechanical skill, provided the mode of operation essentially
such as herein described, is retained.
The best results are obtained when the blades F are arranged in a slightly
inclined or spiral position to assist in the working of the material endwise through
the reel, the secondary spreader-blades G giving the best results when arranged
with a spiral pitch or inclination greater than that of the blades F as shown in the
diagram in Figure 5. While a reel of true cylindrical form has been described
and illustrated it is to be understood that reels of slightly tapered or conical form,
to facilitate the delivery of the material end wise without inclining the axis will
fall within the scope of this invention conical and cylindrical reels being well known
equivalents in the present state of the art.
The reel may be provided with a uniform bolting-cloth from end to end, or with
the cloth graded in fineness from one end to the other as commonly practised in
the art, according to the character of the material to be treated, and the extent to
which it is to be separated or graded.
While the best results are obtained by rotating the spreader blades in the same
direction as the reel but at a higher speed, it will be manifest that the blades,
suitably inclined, may be revolved in the opposite direction to throw the material
elevated by the lifting blades or buckets against the cloth at the top and on the
downgoing side.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is-
1. The combination substantially as shown of the reel, lifting buckets in its head
end only, rotary spreader blades inside of said buckets, rotary spreaders in the tail
end of the reel, and mechanism for revolving the spreaders and the reel at different
speeds.
2. The combination substantially as shown, of the reel the lifting buckets in its
head end, rotary spreaders inside of said buckets, rotary spreaders located in the
tail with a longitudinal inclination greater than that of the head spreaders, and
mechanism for rotating the reel and spreaders at differential speeds.
3. In a flour bolt, the combination of a rotary encircling bolting-cloth, internal
lifting buckets to spread the material on the upgoing side, central rapidly revolving
spreaders to receive the material from the lifters and deliver it against the cloth,

page_text: bolting-cloth to which the material passes after the above treatment, and a second
series of rotary spreaders encircled thereby and acting without intervening parts to
deliver the material to the cloth.
4. A cylindrical reel in combination with internal rapidly rotating spreader
blades located nearer the cloth at the tail end than at the head end of the reel.
5. The combination with a rotary reel of two series of internal rapidly
revolving spreader blades, one at the head, the other at the tail, the latter arranged
at a greater longitudinal inclination than the former.
Dated this 29th day of November 1892.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.