IMPROVEMENTS IN GRINDING CORN AND IN GENERATING GAS ON INLAND WATERS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Grahame, of Leamington, in the County of
Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GRINDING CORN AND IN
GENERATING GAS ON INLAND WATERS."
Sealed the 12th March 1858, and dated the 15th September 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Grahame at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th September 1857.
I, THOMAS GRAHAME, of Leamington, in the County of Warwick, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GRINDING
CORN AND IN GENERATING GAS ON INLAND WATERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in grinding corn and in
generating gas on inland waters, and consists in combining in a suitable vessel
(proper for navigating on the inland waters in which it is to be used) a steam
engine and gearing for moving or propelling the vessel and a flour mill to
receive motion from the steam engine when the vessel is at anchor or fixed to
the shore. The furnace or furnaces on board such vessel are to be arranged
not only suitable for heating the boiler for the purpose of generating steam,
but also to heat retorts to generate gas. By such a combination of mechanism
on board a boat, the greatest economy will result in receiving corn to be
ground in the best localities, and in delivering the flour and bran on the
various parts of the banks of the inland waters. And in respect to supplying
towns and places situated on inland waters with gas, it will only be necessary
to have gasometers on shore in suitable places, and to anchor or fix the vessel
for a time near a gasometer, in order to supply the same with gas as it is
generated on board the vessel, the necessary purifiers, as well as the retorts,
being on board the vessel. Vessels thus fitted will be caused to move to and

page_text: fro on the inland waters, stopping at such places as may be most convenient
for taking in corn, for delivering out flour and bran, and for supplying the
local gasometers with gas, thus rendering unnecessary numerous flour mills
and gas works, which can only be in work at intervals, whereas by having
floating machinery the same may be kept in constant employment.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Grahame in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th March 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GRAHAME, of Leamington, in the County of Warwick, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Grahame, Her special licence, that I, the said Thomas Grahame,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Grahame, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully 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
GRINDING CORN AND IN GENERATING GAS ON INLAND WATERS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Grahame, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and 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 Thomas Grahame, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in grinding corn and in
generating gas on inland waters, and consists in combining in a suitable vessel
(proper for navigating on the inlaid waters on which it is to be used) a steam
engine and gearing for moving or propelling the vessel and a flour mill to
receive motion from the steam engine when the vessel is at anchor or fixed to

page_text: the shore. The furnace or furnaces on board such vessel are to be arranged
not only suitable for heating the boiler for the purpose of generating steam,
but also to heat retorts to generate gas. By such a combination of mechanism
on board a boat, the greatest economy will result in receiving corn to be
ground in the best localities, and in delivering the flour and bran on the
various parts of the banks of the inland waters. And in respect to supplying
towns and places situated on inland waters with gas, it will only be necessary
to have gasometers on shore in suitable places, and to anchor or fix the vessel
for a time near a gasometer, in order to supply the same with gas as it is
generated on board the vessel, the necessary purifiers, as well as the retorts,
being on board the vessel. Vessels thus fitted will be caused to move to and
fro on the inland waters, stopping at such places as may be most convenient
for taking in corn, for delivering out flour and bran, and for supplying the
local gasometers with gas, thus rendering unnecessary numerous flour mills
and gas works, which can only be in work at intervals, whereas by having
floating machinery the same may be kept in constant employment.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
In constructing a floating mill according to my Invention, I arrange a steam
mill on board a boat or raft, similarly to those used in fixed steam mills, and I
prefer to arrange the steam engine so as to work separate from the mill, in order
that the steam power may be applied for a time to give motion to propelling
machinery; and in cases where the vibration would be prejudicial to the
action of the mill, I, for the time being, fix the floating vessel or raft to the
bank to suitable fixed points on the bank. In like manner I construct gas
works on board of a floating ship or vessel, either in combination with a steam
mill or separate therefrom, and I arrange the steam power to propel the vessel
at one time, and when desired to propel the gas generated to a gasometer at a
point below where the same is generated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Grahame, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
THOMAS GRAHAME. (L.S.)