IMPROVEMENTS IN SMUT MACHINES, AND IN MACHINES FOR CLEANSING AND PEELING GRAIN AND SEEDS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT. to François Antoine Edmond Guironnet de Massas, of
Hoxton, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SMUT MACHINES, AND IN MACHINES FOR CLEANSING
AND PEELING GRAIN AND SEEDS."
Sealed the 12th April 1864, and dated the 16th October 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said François Antoine Edmond
Guironnet de Massas at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 16th October 1863.
I, FRANÇOIS ANTOINE EDMOND GUIRONNET DE MASSAS, of Hoxton, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SMUT MACHINES, AND IN MACHINES FOR
CLEANSING AND PEELING GRAIN AND SEEDS," to be as follows:-
A drum having a rough surface and capable of revolving is fitted within a
slightly inclined fixed casing, which has on its inner surface three sets of
brushes of graduated strength or hardness; the first or hardest set consists off
wires surrounded by or combined with bristles or like material, each cluster
of wires having a cluster or number of such bristles or material round it; the
next or softer set is of French whisks or other fibre; and the third or softest

page_text: set of cocoa-nut fibre or other fibre softer than the second set; between the
second and third set is a surface of wire gauze. This arrangement of brushes
and wire gauze is preferably on the lower portion of the inner surface of the
casing, while on the upper portion thereof is only a set of brushes of the first
description (wire and bristle or the like) combined with or having next to it
a wire gauze surface. In smut machines the whole inner surface of the
casing may be fitted, as just described, for the upper portion, that is, with
the wire and the bristle or like brushes and the wire gauze. The wire gauze
on both upper and lower portions is composed of wire of angular section, and
so disposed that the weft instead of the warp may lie in the direction of the
length of the casing. The shoot, feed passage, or lower part of the hopper,
through which the grain is fed in, is composed of or fitted with inclined
gratings, cages, riddles, or screens, or perforated plates of different or gra-
duated gauge of opening or interstice; the uppermost allows the grain to pass,
but prevents the stones or large impurities from entering into the casing; the
lowermost, being over the passage by which the ligneous portions or impurities
are driven from the casing, allows the dust to escape while the grain falls into
the casing of an Archimedean feed screw, that is to say, the stones roll down
the first grating or screen, while the grain falls through the interstices and
the grain slides or rolls down the second grating, cage, or screen while the
dlust escapes through its interstices. A pipe for conveying water to damp
the grain or seeds is carried horizontally through the shoot or feed passage
which leads to the Archimedean screw, such water pipe extends across
the whole width of the said shoot or feed passage, and is perforated with
oritices (preferably arranged in cross rows), through which the water drops on
the grain while the latter is falling, the excess of water escapes through holes
in the feed way or casing of the Archimedean screw. As the grain or seed is
carried along the machine by the rough surface of the revolving drum it is
subjected to the successive action of the brushes; when three sets are used, the
first set peel off the skin, and the others rub and polish, thus removing the
ligneous portions and dirt, and leaving the bran. The grain or seed in
travelling to the end of the machine passes between the air escape pipe of a
fan, and the entrance of the exit passage of the dirt and ligneous portions
a grating through which the dust escapes may be fitted in this exit passage.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said François Antoine Edmond Guironnet de Massas in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 16th April 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANÇOIS
ANTOINE EDMOND GUIRONNET DE MASSAS, of Hoxton, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of October, 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 François Antoine Edmond Guironnet de Massas, Her special licence
that I, the said François Antoine Edmond Guironnet de Massas, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said François Antoine
Edmond Guironnet de Massas, 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 SMUT MACHINES, AND IN MACHINES FOR CLEANSING AND
PEELING GRAIN AND SEEDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said François Antoine Edmond Guironnet de Massas, my executors or admi-
nistrators, 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 François Antoine Edmond Guironnet
de Massas, 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 thereof, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon,
that is to say:-
My Invention principally relates to the description of machine for which
W. H. Delamare obtained a Patent, No. 2274, dated the Thirteenth day
of September 1861, and mainly consists in certain improved or modified
arrangements to be applied thereto or employed therein.
My improved cleansing and peeling machine is constructed, according to
my improvements, as follows:-A drum having a rough surface and capable

page_text: of revolving is fitted within a slightly inclined fixed casing which has on its
inner surface three sets of brushes of graduated strength or hardness; the
first or hardest set consists of wires surrounded by or combined with bristles
or other like hard flexible material, each cluster of wire composing the brush
has a cluster or number of bristles or like flexible material round it; the
second or softer set is of French whisks or other fibre; and the third or softest
Between the
set of cocoa-nut fibre or other fibre softer than the second set.
second and third sets is a surface of wire gauze. This arrangement of brushes
and wire gauze is preferably on the lower portion of the inner surface of the
casing, while on the upper portion of such inner surface is only a set of brushes
of the first description (wires surrounded by bristles or the like) having next
to it a wire-gauze surface. In smut machines the whole inner surface of the
casing is fitted as just described for the upper portion, that is, with the first
set of brushes and wire gauze. The wire gauze on both upper and lower
portions may preferably be composed of wire of angular section, so disposed
that the weft, instead of the warp, lies in the direction of the length of the
casing. The shoot, feed passage, or lower part of the hopper, through which
the grain or seed is fed into my cleansing, peeling, and smut machine, is
fitted with inclined cages, gratings, screens, or riddles or perforated plates of
different or graduated gauge of opening or interstice; the uppermost allows
the grain to pass, but prevents the stones or large impurities from entering
into the casing; the lowermost is over the passage by which the ligneous
portions, refuse, or impurities are driven from the casing and allows the dust
to escape, while the grain falls into the case of an archimedean feed screw;
that is to say, the stones roll down the first grating, cage, or screen, while
the grain falls through its interstices, and the grain slides or rolls down the
second grating, cage, or screen, while the dust escapes through its interstices.
A pipe for conveying water to damp the grain or seeds in cleansing or
peeling machines is carried horizontally through the shoot or feed passage
leading to the archimedean screw, and it extends across the whole width of
such shoot or feed passage, and is perforated with orifices through which
the water drops on the grain or seeds as they descend, the excess of water
escapes through holes in the feed way and case of the archimedean screw.
As the grain or seed is carried along the machine by the rough surface of
the drum it is subjected to the successive action of the brushes, the first set
of which peel off the skin and the others rub and polish, thus removing
the ligneous portions and dirt and leaving the bran. The grain or seed,
in travelling to the end of the machine, passes between the air outlet or
blowing pipe of a fan and the entrance of the passage for the exit of the dirt

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of a cleansing and peeling
machine constructed according to my improvements; Figures 2 and 3 are
plans of the inner surface of the casing, Figure 2 shewing the upper half, and
Figure 3 the lower half thereof.
A is a cylindrical casing fixed in a slightly inclined position in a frame-
work C. Through this casing passes an axis B revolving in bearings in the
framework C. A drum (not shewn in the Drawings) covered with punched
iron is keyed on the axis B within the casing A. D, D', are fast and loose
pulleys on the axis for driving and stopping it, they are worked by steam or
other motor; E, E, E, are three sets of brushes graduated in strength or
hardness, that is to say; E is stronger or harder than E', and E' than E;
the set E is composed of clusters of wire, round each of which clusters bristles
are wound; the set E' is of French whisks or dog grass; and the set E² of
cocoa-nut fibre. All these brushes are fixed on the inner surface of the casing.
F is a wire-gauze surface fixed next to the brushes E on the inner surface of
the casing at the upper half thereof; F¹ is a wire-gauze surface fixed on the
inner surface of the casing at the lower half thereof between the brushes E'
and E. Thus, on the upper half is a set of brushes E and wire gauze F, and
on the lower half are three sets of brushes E, E', E, and wire gauze F¹; but
I sometimes modify this arrangement by placing one set of brushes and wire
gauze on the lower half, and three sets of graduated brushes and wire gauze
on the upper half, or otherwise combining the graduated brushes and wire
gauze fixed in the casing; also sometimes I use only two, or sometimes more
than three sets of graduated brushes with wire gauze; but in all cases the
sets of brushes which I use are graduated in strength or hardness.
G is a
feed hopper, in which are fitted two inclined screens or riddles H and I leading
into a case J containing an archimedean feed screw K. The screen H, shewn
in Figure 4, is a wire cage or grating lying in front of the screen I, which is
a perforated metal plate, shewn in Figure 5, descending lower than the
screen H, and terminating in the case J. This plate I passes in front of and
above the mouth of a pipe M, up which refuse or impurities are driven from
the casing by air proceeding from a fan N, which thus drives or blows air
(through the mouth of the passage M) against the grain or seed descending
the screen I, which grain or seed is thus subjected to a preliminary cleaning;
the stones and impurities larger than the grain roll down the grating H into

page_text: a receiver, while the grain falls through the interstices of H on to the plate I
through the perforations, in which the dust or dirt is expelled by the fan and
escapes through the pipe M, and the grain rolls down the plate I into the
case J, through which it is delivered by the screw K down the shoot J' into
the casing A. L is a pipe for conveying water to damp the grain, it is
furnished with stop-cock L'; the end of this pipe, shewn in Fig. 6, passes
horizontally through and quite across the lower end of the hopper G, and is
perforated with orifices arranged in cross rows, through which water drops on
to the grain as it is being fed in, the excess of water runs off through holes in
the hopper G, and corresponding holes in the case J. The grain or seed is
driven against the brushes and wire gauze by the drum in the casing A, and
after having been acted on is delivered through an outlet at the end; the
ligneous portions, refuse, or impurities separated are driven upward through
the exit passage M by the fan or blower N, the air outlet discharge opening
or blowing pipe of which opens into the casing opposite the bottom of the
pipe N, which is fitted with a grid or grating. I construct smut machines in
the manner above described, except that the whole inside of the casing is
fitted as described in respect of the upper half, shewn in Fig. 2, namely, with
brushes E and wire gauze F, and the water pipe arrangement L is not used.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same may be performed, I declare that I am aware that the machine
which I have described resembles in certain features of general construction
and arrangement the machine described in the Specification of Delamare's
Patent before referred to; but what I claim under my present Patent as new
and original and of my Invention, is,-
First, the employment of sets of brushes of graduated strength or hardness
fitted on the inner surface of a fixed casing, so that the grain or seeds may
be subjected to the action of such graduated sets of brushes when in the
casing.
Second, the improved brushes formed of clusters of wires, whereof each
cluster is surrounded or bound round with bristles or other like hard flexible
material.
Third, the employment of three sets of brushes of graduated strength or
hardness combined with wire gauze, and fixed on the inner surface of the
casing in the manner shewn in Figures 2 and 3, and herein-before described.
Fourth, the employment of riddles, screens, gratings, or cages fitted in the
hopper or feed passage over the mouth of the passage, through which the
refuse or impurities are expelled, and arranged and combined in the manner
and for the purpose described.

page_text: Fifth, the employment of a perforated water pipe carried through the feed
passage or hopper at the lower part thereof, in the manner and for the purpose
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said François Antoine Edmond Guironnet
de Massas, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day
of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-four.
Witness,
0
M. HENRY,
84, Fleet Street,
London.
F. A. E. G. DE MASSAS. (L.S.)