IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HULLING AND FINISHING RICE, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO HULLING AND POLISHING OTHER GRAIN
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HULLING AND FINISHING
RICE, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO HULLING AND POLISHING
OTHER GRAIN."-A communication from abroad by Stephen Oscar Ryder,
of the City and State of New York, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th July 1866.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HULLING AND FINISHING
RICE, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO HULLING AND POLISHING OTHER
GRAIN," to be as follows:-
The first part of this Invention relates to an apparatus for bulling rice or
other grain. The grain is fed by or from a hopper or otherwise on to the
periphery of a cylinder of stone or other hard and suitable material hung on
a horizontal revolving shaft. The rice is fed to the stone at its top on the

page_text: inner side of a vertical line running through its axis, and is carried by its
weight and the rotation of the stone partially round the latter, and between
it and an adjustable but stationary rubber embracing or nearly so at a limited
distance from it the inner half of the periphery of the stone, which has its
other half or portion exposed to facilitate "dressing." The stationary rubber
is lined with india-rubber or other elastic material. These devices, that is,
the revolving stone and stationary elastic rubber combined, rub, abrade, and
crack off the hulls, and the hulls and rice are delivered or worked off below
at the bottom of the stone and rubber into a chamber or space, where they
are exposed to the action of a fan or other blast to blow off or clear away
the hulls, dirt, and other impurities.
The second part of the Invention relates to apparatus for polishing the rice
or other grain after its hulls have been removed, and it consists of a cylinder
or casing of cylindrical or slightly conical form having its ends open and its
interior lined with a suitable scouring and polishing material or composition
of mineral character, and having inserted longitudinally and centrally through
it a shaft, to which are attached a series of beaters composed of alum, dressed
hide, india-rubber, or other soft flexible material. The shaft and beaters and
the cylinder rotate in opposite directions, and the rice or grain is fed into the
cylinder or casing at one end, and as it rolls gradually toward the other end
(owing to the inclination of the lower part of the cylinder or casing) it is
subject to the action of the flexible beaters, by which, and by the scouring and
polishing material hereafter described, with which the cylinder or casing is
lined, it is thereby polished. In order to provide for the escape of the dust
and fine particles removed from the grain by the polishing process openings
are provided in the casing at suitable intervals in its length, and these openings
are fitted with screens through which the dust and fine particles escape while
the grain is retained until it reaches the last-mentioned end of the cylinder,
where it is delivered. The same openings which provide for the escape of
the dust also serve for the more perfect ventilation of the grain, by which it is
prevented from becoming injuriously heated. Instead of the cylinder being
lined throughout with mineral scouring and polishing material, a portion of its
length near its exit end may be lined with similar soft, material to that of
which the flexible beaters are composed. for the purpose of giving a finer
polish or pearl-like finish to the surface of the grain.
The third part, of the Invention consists in the employment for the lining
of the polishing cylinder or casing of a preparation composed of about ninety
parts of corundum, two parts of plaster of Paris, to which may be added, say,
eight parts of sand and a menstruum of shellac, and rosin dissolved in alcohol

page_text: to hold the mineral substances together. Sufficient of the menstruum must
be added to bring the mass to about the constency of mortar, so that it may
be laid on as a plaster with any suitable tool.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th January 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Edward Newton, Her special licence that I, the said William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HULLING AND FINISHING RICE, WHICH
IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO HULLING AND POLISHING OTHER GRAIN,"
being a communication to me. from abroad, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 William Edward Newton, 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 Drawing hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
The first part of this Invention relates to an apparatus for hulling rice or
other grain. The grain is fed by or from a hopper or otherwise on to the

page_text: periphery of a cylinder of stone or other hard and suitable material hung on
a horizontal revolving shaft. The rice is fed to the stone at its top on the
inner side of a vertical line running through its axis, and is carried by its
weight and the rotation of the stone partially round the latter, and between
it and an adjustable but stationary rubber embracing or nearly so at a limited
distance from it the inner half of the periphery of the stone, which has
its other half or portion exposed to facilitate "dressing." The stationary
rubber is lined with india-rubber or other elastic material. These devices,
that is, the revolving stone and stationary elastic rubber combined, rub, abrade,
and crack off the bulls, and the hulls and rice are delivered or worked off
below at the bottom of the stone and rubber into a chamber or space, where
they are exposed to the action of a fan or other blast to blow off or clear away
the hulls, dirt, and other impurities.
The second part of the Invention relates to apparatus for polishing the rice
or other grain after its hulls have been removed, and consists of a casing of
cylindrical or slightly conical form having its ends open, and its interior lined
with a suitable scouring and polishing material or composition of mineral
character, and having inserted longitudinally and centrally through it a shaft,
to which are attached a series of beaters composed of alum, dressed hide,
india-rubber, or other soft flexible material. The shaft, and beaters, and the
cylinder rotate in opposite directions, and the rice or grain is fed into the
cylinder or casing at one end, and as it rolls gradually toward the other end
(owing to the inclination of the lower part of the casing) it is subject to the
action of the flexible beaters by which and by the scouring and polishing material
hereafter described with which the casing is lined it is thereby polished. In
order to provide for the escape of the dust and fine particles removed from the
grain by the polishing process openings are provided in the casing at suitable
intervals in its length, and these openings are fitted with screens, through which
the dust and fine particles escape, while the grain is retained until it reaches
the last-mentioned end of the cylinder where it is delivered. The same openings
which provide for the escape of the dust also serve for the more perfect ven-
tilation of the grain, by which it is prevented from becoming injuriously heated.
Instead of the cylinder being lined throughout with mineral scouring and
polishing, material, a portion of its length near its exit end may be lined with
similar soft material to that of which the flexible beaters are composed for the
purpose of giving a finer polish or pearl-like finish to the surface of the
grain.
The third part of the Invention consists in the employment for the lining
of the polishing cylinder or casing of a preparation composed of corundum,

page_text: plaster of Paris, either with or without sand, and a menstruum of alcohol, shellac,
and rosin.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a rice
hulling and finishing machine with the above-mentioned improvements; and
Fig. 2 is an end and partly sectional elevation at right angles to the former
Figure.
:
;
A is a hopper, into which the rice to be hulled and finished is thrown; B is
the hulling stone hung on a horizontal rotating shaft a driven by a pulley b
or in any other manner, and supported in a frame or standard c. If preferred,
instead of the hulling. stone B, a cylinder of any other suitable material may
be used, either plain or covered on its periphery with mineral or other substance,
as, for instance, artificial stone of a porous and gritty nature. One, two, or
more of such cylindrical hullers or stones may be hung on and run by the one
shaft, each stone or buller acting in conjunction with a rubber C; this rubber
C is a block which has its face hollowed concentrically with the stone B, and
extending for about a semicircle or thereabouts, and though stationary in or
on the frame which supports it is adjustable thereon by set screws d nearer to
or further from that side or portion of the periphery of the stone to which it
is adjacent. The rubber may be of wood, metal, or other suitable material,
but is covered on its rubbing hollowed surface with an india-rubber or other
elastic facing e; E is a fan or other blower arranged at one side underneath
the stone, and may be driven by a strap or belt passing round a pulley on
its shaft, and round a pulley on the huller shaft, or in any other manner. The
blast from the fan E serves to clear. the rice of the hulls and other impurities
detached from it by the abrading action of the stone and elastic-faced rubber
combined as the rice passes down in between them, and is delivered below
into a.chamber or. space where the blast is brought to bear upon it in its
course by a spout F to the finisher; this finisher may be arranged on a floor
beneath the one which carries the hulling devices, and sifter, or blower just
described; it is composed partly of a cylinder q formed with open ends to
near the bottom of one of which, say, the smallest end, when the cylinder is
made tapered, the spout F conducts the bulled rice. This cylinder may be of
any suitable diameter and length, and is supported by bearings or journal
boxes at its ends on a horizontal shaft b, which it surrounds and is made to
rotate in an opposite direction to by means of a belt passing round a pulley r,
on one of its ends, while a pulley r¹ on the shaft 6 gives the latter an opposite
rotary course. The cylinder q is provided with a suitable number of openings
in its periphery at proper intervals or distances apart, which openings are
covered with fine wire netting z to permit of the escape of the remaining dust,

page_text: and to act as ventilators for airing and keeping the rice cool, the screens not
allowing, however, of rice to pass out. The general interior of the cylinder q
may be coated with any suitable scouring substance, but preferably with a
composition consisting (say) of a menstruum in the proportions or thereabouts
of one gallon of alcohol or other suitable solvent, having dissolved in it two
and a half pounds of shellac, and two and a half pounds of white rosin, and
this admixed with ninety-eight parts by weight of corundum, and two parts of
plaster of Paris, or the amount of corundum slightly reduced by a small
proportion of saud, the whole being worked up to the consistency of mortar,
so as to permit of its being spread or laid on the interior of the cylinder with
or by a trowel or other implement. This composition must be allowed to dry
before the apparatus is used. The shaft 6 carries arms 8, 8, on to which are
attached longitudinal clamping bars t, t, that are or may be adjustable on
the arms nearer to or further from the shaft b. These clamps hold or confine
flexible beaters u, which may be designated "flaps," in contradistinction to
bruslies, and are made of alum dressed hide, but may be of india-rubber or other
flexible material. Alum dressed hide is preferred as it possesses a peculiar
fitness for pearling or finishing rice, as the glutinous skin of the rice does not
adhere thereto or become sticky, and the peculiar velvety character of such
dressed hide renders it especially adapted to this use, because the grains of
rice partially imbed themselves and are more thoroughly polished. The lower
or furthest and exit end of the polishing cylinder q may (where not coated by
the scouring or polishing composition herein described) be also lined, say for
a distance of one or two feet in length with alum dressed hide, or the same
material of which the flap beaters u are made to give a finer finish or polish
to the rice ere it is discharged from the cylinder than is or may be attainable
by the action of the beaters and composition surface of the cylinder. By
means of the adjustable bars t, t, the wear of the flexible beaters u may be
compensated for, and when desirable beaters of a different material substituted
or interspersed with the others. The rice passing into the cylinder q by
the spout F is as it travels along and through the former pearled or finished
by the action of the revolving cylinder and rotating flaps or beaters com-
bined, and escapes by the openings at the lowest or furthest end of the
cylinder into a trough v ready for market, while the "douse" or refuse matter
works off through screens in the cylinder into a box or casing w surrounding
the latter.
Having now described the Invention of improvements in machinery for
bulling and finishing rice and other grain, and having explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, as communicated to me by my

page_text: foreign correspondent, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters
Patent, as aforesaid,-
First, the employment for hulling rice or other grain of a rotating stone or
other cylinderical huller B, hung on a horizontal shaft or axis, with a portion of
its periphery exposed to facilitate dressing, combined with stationary rubber C,.
lined with a soft or flexible material, and made to embrace at a suitable distance
therefrom a portion of the periphery of the cylindrical huller for action
together on the grain passing between them as specified.
Second, the combination with a polishing cylinder of an internal rotating
shaft armed with flaps or beaters made of alum dressed hide, india-rubber, or
other soft and flexible material, as herein set forth.
Third, lining or coating the interior of the polishing cylinder with a com-
position made up of the ingredients herein described, or their equivalents, as
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)