IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR THRASHING CORN AND OTHER GRAIN OR SEEDS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Hammond Bentall, of Heybridge, near
Maldon, in the County of Essex, Agricultural Implement Maker, for
the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR THRASHING CORN AND OTHER
GRAIN OR SEEDS."
Sealed the 19th January 1864, and dated the 15th August 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Hammond Bentall
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th August 1863.
I, EDWARD HAMMOND BENTALL, of Heybridge, near Maldon, in the County
of Essex, Agricultural Implement Maker, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR THRASHING CORN AND OTHER
GRAIN OR SEEDS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce a compact and efficient thrashing
machine which will thrash and rough dress grain and other seeds, and from
its simplicity of construction will occupy much less space and require less
power to work it than the thrashing machines at present in use. I employ any
approved kind of drum and concave, and lead off the straw by a fixed grid,
or it may be a series of rotating screws set side by side with their threads so
arranged as to give the straw an irregular or shaking motion during its
discharge from the machine. This discharge may be facilitated (if required)
by a spiked roller, and when the straw is required to be elevated this may

page_text: be effected by an additional screw or screws set at an incline, and receiving
motion from the before-mentioned screws. The corn and cavings as they
leave the concave or drop out of the straw fall on to an inclined moving
surface, the duty of which is to carry up the cavings and discharge them into
a sack or other suitable receptacle at one side of the machine. The corn
falls down past or through spaces in this moving surface, and meeting an
upturned blast is separated from the chaff, which is discharged at the opposite
end of the machine to that at which the straw is delivered. Tho seed now
falls through a fixed grid, and is guided down (by an inclined board) to an
elevator trough, from which it is carried up in the rough dressed state by an
elevator, and discharged into sacks. A blower of any approved construction
delivers a blast above the fixed grid, through which the corn falls, and this
blast may be regulated in quantity by means of a ventilator slide fitted in the
blower case.
The moving surface on which the corn and cavings fall may be
constructed in many ways. Thus a series of rollers placed side by side and
carrying archimedean blades may be used, the blades working in semicircular
troughs of wirework of such a mesh as will allow the seed to fall through,
but will keep back the cavings; these therefore will be carried up by the
archimedean screws, and discharged into a transverse channel, by which the
cavings will be delivered out of the machine; or in lieu of these screws, a
travelling screen composed of spiked rollers may be used; or these spiked
rollers may act as a rake travelling over a fixed wire screen. The same
effect will also be obtained by using geered rollers armed with pins so set as
to work between the pins of adjacent rollers, the object in all these arrange-
ments being to allow the corn or other seed to fall through, and to keep back
and carry upwards the cavings as above described. The machine being
mounted on wheels will allow of its being transported from place to place, and
will give it elevation sufficient to permit of sacks being applied to receive the
cavings and grain
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Hammond Bentall in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th February 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
HAMMOND BENTALL, of Heybridge, near Maldon, in the County of Essex,
Agricultural Implement Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters

page_text: Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edward Hammond Bentall, Her special license that I, the said
Edward Hammond Bentall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edward Hammond Bentall, 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 "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR THRASHING CORN AND OTHER
GRAIN OR SEEDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Edward Hammond Bentall, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 Edward Hammond Bentall, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The chief object of this Invention is to produce a compact and efficient
thrashing machine which will thrash and rough dress grain and other seeds,
and from its simplicity of construction will occupy much less space and
require less power to work it than the thrashing machines at present in use.
These advantages I obtain mainly by the means employed for discharging the
cavings from the machine.
I
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews my improved thrashing machine
in longitudinal sectional elevation, and Fig. 2 is a partial transverse view of an.
endless travelling apparatus for discharging the cavings from the machine..
propose to employ any approved kind of drum or beater, which is represented.
by the circle A, and revolves in a concave or segmental case B. The straw,.
as the corn is disengaged therefrom by the action of the drum and concave,
I lead off by a fixed grid C, in falling from which it is discharged from the
machine. This discharge may be facilitated (if required) by a spiked roller
set a little above and near the outer end of tho fixed grid C. The corn and
cavings as they leave the concave B, or drop out of the straw through the
grid C, fall within the reach of an inclined moving surface D, D, the duty of

page_text: which is to carry up the cavings and discharge them out of the machine,
whence they will fall on to the ground, or into a sack or other suitablo
receptacle placed to receive them. The corn falls down past or through spaces
in this moving surface, and through an inclined fixed grid, which intercepts
the cavings, and over which the moving surface D travels. The corn falling
down now meets an upturned blast derived from an adjacent blower E, and
is thereby separated from the chaff, which is discharged at a distinct exit from
that of the cavings, but at the opposite end of the machine to that at which
the straw is delivered. The seed now falls through a fixed grid F, formed of
inclined plates or transverse bars, and is guided down (by an inclined board)
to a receptacle formed by the wood casing of the machine. Or the corn may,
if required, be received into an elevator trough, from which it may then be
carried up (in the rough dressed state) by an elevator, and discharged into sacks.
The blower E, which may be of any approved construction, delivers its blast
both above and below the fixed grid F, through which the corn falls for the
more effectual separation of the chaff from the corn, and this blast may be
regulated in quantity by means of ventilator slides fitted in the blower case in
the usual way. The moving surface, whose duty it is to separate the cavings
from the corn and discharge them from the machine, may be constructed
in many ways. Thus a series of rollers placed side by side and longitudinally
of the machine and carrying archimedean blades may be used, the blades
working in semicircular troughs of wirework of such a mesh as will allow the
seed to fall through, but will keep back the cavings; these therefore will
be carried up by the archimedean screws, and discharged into a transverso
channel, by which the cavings will be delivered out of the machine, or in lieu
of these screws, a travelling screen composed of spiked rollers arranged
transversely of the machine may be used; but I prefer spiked or serrated bars
arranged transversely of the machine, and carried by endless bands or chains
so as to act as an endless rake travelling over a fixed wire screen, as shewn in
.the Drawing, the object in all these arrangements, whichever may be adopted,
being to allow the corn or other seed to fall through, while the cavings are
kept back and carried upwards as above described.
This endless rake D consists of endless belts of leather a, which are supported
by and run upon pulleys b, b. To these belts are rivetted, at equal distances apart,
round bars of wood c, c, which are flattened at their extremities to receive tho
belts. These bars take into rounded recesses made in pulleys * keyed to the
axles of the upper pair of belt pulleys b, b, and thus all slip of the bands of the
travelling rake on its pulleys is prevented. The bars c, c, are armed with
serrated blades d, d, which project therefrom at right angles to the belt, and

page_text: serve to rake up the cavings to the top of the incline, over which they travel,
while they leave the corn free to escape through the notches in the blades, and
eventually find their way down to the fixed grid F. Guides are formed for the
ends of the bars c, c, to work in (see Fig. 2) to keep the serrated blades in
position. The motions of the machine will be readily traced by following the
dotted lines and circles shewing the belting and pulleys employed in trans-
mitting the motion. Thus the small pulley 1 on the axle of the drum shaft
transmits through a belt 2 rotary motion to a pulley 3 on the fan shaft. Tho
fan shaft also carries a small pulley 4, from which passes a belt 5 to a large
pulley 6 on the axle of the upper pair of tension pulleys b, h. By this means
the proper speeds for the fan and travelling rake are obtained from the rapidly
rotating drum shaft. The machine I mount on travelling wheels to allow of
its being transported from place to place, and it thus receives elevation
sufficient to permit of sacks being applied to receive the cavings and grain.
For convenience of transport I provide a pair of shafts as usual, one of which
is shewn at G.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improved Machinery
for Thrashing Corn and other Grain or Seeds," and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that, under the above
in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the application to thrashing machines
of an endless travelling rake, or an equivalent inclined moving surface, con-
structed and operated as above described, for discharging the cavings from
such machines.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Hammond Bentall, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Fifteenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
E. H. BENTALL. (L.B.)