IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DECORTICATING AND CLEANING WHEAT, BARLEY, RICE, AND OTHER KINDS OF GRAIN
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Spence, of 8, Quality Court, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR DECORTICATING AND CLEANING WHEAT, BARLEY, RICE,
AND OTHER KINDS OF GRAIN." A communication from abroad by Ulysse
Boucher, of Paris, in the Republic of France, Miller.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Spence at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 28th May 1878.
WILLIAM SPENCE, of 8, Quality Court, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middle-
sex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DECORTICATING AND.
CLEANING WHEAT, BARLEY, RICE, AND OTHER KINDS OF GRAIN." (A commu-
nication from abroad by Ulysse Boucher, of Paris, in the Republic of France,-
Miller.)
This Invention has for its object the construction of apparatus adapted for decor-
ticating cereals, such as wheat, barley, rice, and other grain, and rendering them fit
for commerce, and freed from the pellicle by which they are enveloped when in
their natural or uncleaned state.
The apparatus for this purpose consists of a horizontal trough supported in
suitable standards, in which trough work three pestles connected by jointed rods to
cranks on a horizontal shaft mounted in suitable bearings at the upper part of the
standards or frame of the apparatus. The bottom of the trough is concave and the
pestles are of a trapezoidal form and rounded at the bottom and covered with
roughened iron, the interior of the trough being also covered with sheet iron. The
pestles are guided in their vertical motion by means of slides working against
guides fixed to longitudinal portions of the frame.
The grain, in a moistened state, is supplied continuously at one end of the trough,
and during its course to the other end is submitted to the action of the pestles, by:
which it is cleaned and the fine external pellicle removed. This grain afterwards
Prins 621

page_text: passes out of the trough, and is then acted upon by a ventilator, and ultimately by
a cylindrical brush, both, being placed under the apparatus.
The ventilator is arranged so as to draw out the air through or across the brush,
and to cause it to act upon the grain as it leaves the trough.
The moistening of the grain before decortication may be dispensed with, but in
that case the operation would be prolonged.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Spence in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th November
1878.
WILLIAM SPENCE, of 8, Quality Court, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middle-
sex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DECORTICATING AND
CLEANING WHEAT, BARLEY, RICE, AND OTHER KINDS OF GRAIN." A commu-
nication from abroad by Ulysse Boucher, of Paris, in the Republic of France,
Miller.
.
This Invention of "Improvements in Apparatus for Decorticating and Cleaning
Wheat, Barley, Rice, and other Kinds of Grain," has for its object the construction
of apparatus adapted for decorticating and cleaning cereals, such as wheat, barley,
rice, and other grain, and rendering them fit for commerce, and freed from the
pellicle by which they are enveloped when in their natural or uncleaned state.
The apparatus for this purpose consists of a horizontal trough supported in
suitable standards, in which trough work three pestles connected by jointed rods to
cranks on a horizontal shaft mounted in suitable bearings at the upper part of the
standards or frame of the apparatus. The bottom of the trough is concave, and the
pestles are of trapezoidal form and rounded at the bottom and covered with
roughened iron, the interior of the trough being also covered with sheet iron. The
pestles are guided in their vertical motion by means of slides or rollers working
against guides fixed to longitudinal portions of the frame.
The grain, in a moistened state, is supplied continuously at one end of the trough,
and during its course to the other end is submitted to the action of the pestles, by
which it is cleaned and the fine external pellicle removed. This grain afterwards
passes out of the trough, and is then acted upon by a ventilator, and ultimately by
a cylindrical brush, both being placed under or below the apparatus.
The ventilator is arranged so as to draw the air through or across the brush, and
to cause it to act upon the grain as it leaves the trough.
The moistening of the grain may be dispensed with, but in that case the operation
would be prolonged.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention I will proceed to describe
more particularly in what manner the same is to be performed by the aid of the
accompanying Drawings, in which is represented apparatus constructed in the
manner above referred to.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation, Fig. 2 a plan or horizontal view, and Fig. 3 a vertical
section of the apparatus.
In these several Figures the same letters of reference indicate corresponding
parts.
The apparatus is composed of a horizontal trough A, the form of which is shewn
in Figures 1 and 2. In this trough work three pestles B, B, connected by jointed
rods to the cranks of the shaft D. These pestles are trapezoidal in form, as shewn,
and are rounded at the bottom and covered with roughened iron. The frame of the
apparatus is composed of vertical wooden standards E, E, tied together at the upper
part by the cross pieces F, F, which support the bearings G, G, of the crank shaft.
The pestles B, B, are guided in their vertical motion by the rollers H, H, rolling on
the metal fixed guides I secured at their two ends in the bars J and K.
The horizontal trough A is lined inside with sheet iron. The moistened grain is fed
continuously at one end of this trough, and in or during its course to the other end
it is submitted to the action of the pestles, which clean it and remove the thin or
fine external pellicle. This grain afterwards escapes from the trough A, and is
then submitted to the action of a ventilator, then of a cylindrical brush, both being
placed under or below the apparatus.
The ventilator is arranged to draw the air through or across the brush and cause
it to act upon or against the grain as it leaves the trough.
It is not indispensable that the grain should be moistened in order to decorticate
it, but otherwise the operation will be prolonged.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I hereby declare that what I claim as of the Invention
communicated to me from abroad as aforesaid is, the decorticating apparatus
adapted for the treatment of cereals in general, as represented in the Drawings, and
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Spence, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
Witness,
FRANK REDMAN,
8, Quality Court,
Chancery Lane.
WILLIAM SPENCE. (L.S.)