IMPROVED MACHINERY AND APPLIANCES FOR PREPARING, CLEANING, SCREENING, DECORTICATING, AND GRINDING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN, AND SEPARATING AND COLLECTING THE SEVERAL PRODUCTS THEREOF
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Smith, Thomas Wood,
and Thomas Don at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 4th March 1868.
We, THOMAS SMITH, Millwright, Tenter Lane, Leeds, THOMAS WOOD,
Miller, Birstwith, both in the County of York, and THOMAS DON,
Millwright, Saint John's, Redhill, in the County of Surrey, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY
AND APPLIANCES FOR PREPARING, CLEANING, SCREENING, DECORTICATING, AND
GRINDING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN, AND SEPARATING AND COLLECTING THE
SEVERAL PRODUCTS THEREOF," to be as follows:—
This Invention is designed for simplifying and rendering more
effective and economical the operations of preparing, screening, cleaning,
decorticating, and grinding wheat and other grain, and separating and
collecting the the several products thereof, which we propose to effect by
the following means. And the features of novelty in these improvements
consist in certain improved mechanical arrangements and appliances
for effecting the above operations which we propose to arrange under
three separate heads as follows:-First, the use of two conical-shaped
screens in the construction of machines employed for screening, cleaning,

page_text: or decorticating grain, the said screens working in conical, revolving, or
fixed chambers, and capable of being adjusted nearer to or farther from
the inner surfaces of the said chambers whilst the machine is in motion,
instead of using a cylindrical-shaped screen working in a cylinder as
commonly practised, thus dispensing with the necessity for stopping
the machine to adjust the screen in the cylinder. Secondly, the use
and application of improved mechanism and appliances to grinding
machines for collecting and discharging the "stive" in a more ready
and effective manner than heretofore, using blast and exhaust either
separately or in combination, as commonly practised. Thirdly, the use of
a conical-shaped stripper working in a similarly shaped revolving or fixed
chamber in the construction of flour machines for separating the flour
from the bran and collecting and discharging the different qualities of
the products, the aforesaid conical stripper being also capable of lateral
adjustment whilst the machine is in motion, as in the last-mentioned
machine.
We now proceed to describe our said improvements in machines
employed for cleaning or decorticating grain, and a bran stripper or
flour machine. In the first of these machines the principal features
of novelty and improvement consist in making the screens and chambers
in which they work conical, and in adapting to the axles or shafts of
the said screens a screw arrangement for adjusting the screens laterally,
as before stated..
A further improvement consists in using two screens in the same
machine placed one above the other, the grain being supplied to each
screen separately, or the chamber of the upper screen may be made to
communicate with that of the lower screen so as to cause the grain to
be doubly operated upon before it leaves the machine. The flour machine
is formed with a single bran stripper adjustable laterally in its chamber,
as above stated, and when the chambers of this machine and the decor-
ticating machine are required to revolve the same may be effected by
suitable gearing. The above improvements we propose to
use in
combination with the other well-known parts of such said machines.
The different qualities of the products resulting from these operations
being separated and discharged by Archimedean screws and spouts
suitably arranged and disposed.
We now proceed to describe the mode of adapting our improvements
to grinding machines as follows:-Within the case which encloses the

page_text: millstones and about midway between the surface of the upper stone
and the top of the case, we adjust and support upon rollers a revolving
table fitting inside the said case; the centre of this table has a circular
opening formed therein rather larger in diameter than the blast chamber
which it surrounds so as to leave an annular space around it. We also
partition off a portion of the space between the surface of the said
revolving table and the top of the case at that part thereof where the
exhaust pipe enters and adjust a hinged flap to the said partition, so
that by raising or lowering the said flap, which can be done from the
outside of the case, we are enabled to regulate the exhaust or entirely
shut it off at will. We also fix a scraper across the surface of the
revolving table at an obtuse angle extending from the inner to the
outer diameter of the said table for the purpose of discharging the "stive"
from the surface of the revolving table through the aforesaid annular
space during the working of the machine, and we discharge the "stive"
from the case by means of upright scrapers fixed to the under side of
the table, an opening being made in the bottom of the case to carry
off the "stive" by the meal spout; by these means we keep the bed
stone clear of the "stive" and meal and leave free space for the cir-
culation of the blast to keep the bed stone cool. The revolving table
has a circular toothed rack fixed to the under side side thereof, into which
a toothed pinion takes for imparting rotatory motion to the said table
from any suitable prime mover; or instead of a revolving table a circular
or semicircular fixed table may be employed, but we prefer to use the
revolving table above described.