IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of
Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN."-A communication
from abroad by Jean Pierre Fili, of Paris, in the Empire of France,
Machinist.
Sealed the 27th May 1862, and dated the 24th December 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th December 1861.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN," a com-
munication from abroad by Jean Pierre Fili, of Paris, in the Empire of
France, Machinist, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction, arrangement, and combi-
nation of machinery or apparatus for cleaning wheat and other grain, and
consists in the employment for that purpose of a centrifugal apparatus of a
peculiar construction. This apparatus consists of a vertical shaft provided with
a number of dished plates or inverted truncated cones, having their peripheries

page_text: higher than their centres. Between each pair of these rotating plates is a
stationary, conical, or dished plate similar to those carried by the vertical shaft,
but secured to an outer casing which surrounds this portion of the apparatus.
Inside the outer casing, which is provided with openings at intervals, is fitted
a perforated and roughened metal plate or cylinder, against which the grain
which falls on to the upper one of the set of revolving plates is directed by
the centrifugal force generated by their rotation, and then falls on to the
stationary plate beneath, which directs it to the centre of the next lower
revolving plate, when it is again thrown against the perforated roughened plate,
and falls on to the next stationary conical plate, and so on, finally entering a
hopper, and passing down a shoot to a riddle or sieve, being winnowed by a
fan blast as it is leaving the mouth of the shoot. The degree of inclination of
the rotatory and fixed plates will depend upon the speed at which the appa-
ratus is to be worked, and facility is afforded for setting the rotating plates
nearer to or further from the stationary ones, according to the amount of
cleaning or rubbing action desired. In order to facilitate the changing of the
cones, the outer casing is made in a series of moveable rings, held together
one above the other by vertical screw spindles and lugs formed on the top and
bottom rings, thus enabling the parts to be easily separated when any change
of plates is required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th June 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN HENRY
JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, and of 166,
Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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

page_text: make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN," a commu-
nication from abroad by Jean Pierre Fili, of Paris, in the Empire of France,
Machinist, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Henry
Johnson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, 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 John Henry Johnson, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 accompanying Drawings and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to a peculiar construction, arrangement, and
combination of machinery or apparatus for cleaning wheat and other grain,
and consists in the employment for that purpose of a centrifugal apparatus of
a peculiar construction. This apparatus consists of a vertical shaft provided
with a number of dished or inverted truncated cones, having their peripheries
higher than their centres. Between each pair of these rotating plates is a
stationary, conical, or dished plate similar to those carried by the vertical shaft,
but secured to an outer casing which surrounds this portion of the apparatus.
Inside the outer casing, which is provided with openings at intervals, is fitted
a perforated or roughened metal plate or cylinder, against which the grain
which falls on to the upper one of the set of revolving plates is directed or
thrown by the centrifugal force generated by their rotation, and then falls on
to the stationary plate beneath, which directs it to the centre of the next lower
revolving plate, when it is again thrown against the perforated roughened
plate, and falls on to the next stationary conical plate, and so on, finally entering
& coffer, and passing down a shoot to a riddle or sieve, being surrounded by
a fan blast as it is leaving the mouth of the shoot. The degree of inclination
of the rotatory and fixed plates will depend upon the speed at which the
apparatus is to be worked, and facility is afforded for setting the rotating plates
nearer to or further from the stationary ones, according to the amount of
cleaning action desired. In order to facilitate the changing of the cones, the
outer casing is made in a series of moveable rings, held together one above
the other by vertical screw spindles to lugs formed on the top and bottom

page_text: rings, thus enabling the parts to be easily separated when any change of plates
is required.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
corresponding Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents an external elevation of the apparatus
complete; Fugure 2 is a plan of the same; Figure 3 is a vertical section of
the cleaning apparatus detached; and Figure 4 is a corresponding plan of
the same.
A is a vertical shaft, carrying six dished or concave plates C, surrounded by
a roughened or perforated shaft plate F, the inclination of the sides of the
plates C being varied according to the speed of rotation of the shaft, and the
effect to be produced. These plates may be of the conical truncated form
shewn in Fugures 3 and 3º, or they may be of the form of a parobola, or
otherwise curved as shewn in Figure 4ª. The grain falling from a hopper on
to the top one of the series of plates C, is thrown by centrifugal force from the
centre to the circumference of that plate, and comes in contact with, and rubs
against the perforated plate F, whence it descends on to the surface of the
first fixed or stationary cone C', which has an aperture in the centre, through
which the grain falls, as shown by the arrows on to the second rotatory cone C,
to be again thrown against the perforated plate F, and so on, till it reaches the
lowest of the rotatory cones, whence it is projected as before against the per-
forated plate F, and falls into the hopper H. From this hopper the grain falls
through the spout I, and is winnowed by a cross blast from the fan V, which
completes the cleaning process. The winnower contains a sieve J, vibrated
by means of a cone or wiper K in the usual manner. The whole mechanism
may be driven either by means of bands, toothed gearing, or by friction wheels
as preferred. In order to facilitate the changing of the cones C, the outer
casing M is made in six sections or rings, held in position by lugs O, bolted
together on the outside, and openings m are made in these rings to secure the
perforated plate F (see Figure 5).
A nut E enables the spaces or intervals between the fixed or moveable
cones to be increased or diminished at pleasure, and means are also provided
for varying the speed of the machine as desired.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and

page_text: original and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1st, the general construction, arrangement, and combination of machinery
or apparatus for cleaning grain, as herein-before described.
2nd, the peculiar arrangement of fixed and rotatory conical or dished plates,
and their combination with a surrounding perforated plate for cleaning grain,
as herein-before described.
3rd, the making of the outer casing or body of the cleaner in a series of
detachable rings, held together by bolts or otherwise, for the purpose herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)