AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR DRESSING, SIFTING, CLEANING, AND POLISHING FRUIT, COFFEE, GRAIN, AND OTHER MATTER, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO COFFEE PROVISIONAL SP
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Whele, of Aston, near Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MACHINE FOR DRESSING, SIFTING, CLEANING, AND POLISHING FRUIT, COFFEE,
GRAIN, AND OTHER MATTER, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO COFFEE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Whele at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th December 1865.
I, EDWIN WHELE, of Aston, near Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " AN IMPROVED
MACHINE FOR DRESSING, SIFTING, CLEANING, AND POLISHING FRUIT, COFFEE, GRAIN,
AND OTHER MATTER, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO COFFEE SIFFING, ROASTING,
COOLING, AND CLEANING, AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My improved machine consists of a rotatory sieve or cylinder of the proper
mesh or description to suit the fruit or matter to be dressed or acted upon; this
should be of about two feet diameter and eighteen inches long, with a door
or opening. This cylinder rotates upon an axis fitted upon a frame or stand;
that part of the axis to which the windlass is attached is fixed firm upon one end
of the cylinder, and by this means the cylinder is put in motion or rotates by the
action of the windlass; the other end of the cylinder works or revolves upon a rod
which passes into the cylinder extending through it and taking a bearing in a
hole at the other end, but loose so as to allow the cylinder to revolve. This rod
is fixed firm and immoveable in one end of the frame so that it may carry a
stationary brush or brushes acting in the inside of the cylinder, but not rotating

page_text: with the cylinder; this brush is fitted upon a board which is screwed or fitted
to the rod and divides the cylinder, but allowing sufficient play for the cylinder
to revolve. This board may be placed perpendicular or at any suitable angle,
but must be so placed as to break the rotatory or onward motion imparted to
the matter inside by the rotation of the cylinder, causing the matter that is
being dressed to fall downwards in the cylinder, and not rotate with the
cylinder. I also propose to make the mesh of the sieve moveable so that it can
be adjusted to any size required.
In another form of my Invention I use sliding or oscillating sieves, or sieves
of the form now in use, fitted on a perpendicular revolving frame. I do not
confine myself to any particular material or size, and what I principally claim
as my Invention is a rotatory cylinder, having fixed brushes and fixed partition
inside, and not rotating with the cylinder preventing the fruit or matter rotating
with the cylinder as before described; and I claim a moveable mesh. The
manner I regulate the mesh is by making it of two parts, and by lacing or joining
every other bar or wire to the cross bars or wires, placed at the top, and every
other bar or wire, counting the reverse way, to the cross bars placed at the
bottom, so that they are moveable. And in roasting coffee I use the cylinder
and its partition as before described with a fire underneath; such parts as come
under the influence of the fire to be made of metal. And in cooling coffee I
use the wire cylinder and partition as before described, simply cooling the
coffee by the motion given to it by the action of the machine. And what I
principally claim in the use of a rotating cylinder or sieve for this or other
purposes is the stationary partition inside.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edwin Whele in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st
June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWIN
WHELE, of Aston, near Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her.
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edwin Whele, Her special licence that I, the said Edwin Whele,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such, others as I, the said
Edwin Whele, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time.

page_text: 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 "AN IMPROVED
MACHINE FOR DRESSING, SIFTING, CLEANING, AND POLISHING FRUIT, COFFEE, GRAIN,
AND OTHER MATTER, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO COFFEE SIFTING, ROASTING,
COOLING, AND CLEANING, AND OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edwin Whele, my executors or administrators, 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 Edwin Whele, do hereby declare the
nature, of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
:
My Invention for an improved machine for dressing, sifting, cleaning, and
polishing fruit, coffee, grain, and other matter, parts of which are applicable
to coffee roasting, sifting, and cooling, and other purposes, will be understood by
the following description and explanation of the Drawings hereunto annexed,
in which the letters of reference apply to like parts throughout.
My improved machine consists of a rotating sieve or cylinder of the proper
mesh to suit the fruit or matter to be dressed or acted upon, which for raisins
or currants should be about two feet diameter and eighteen inches or two feet
long for hand power, and from four to six feet long for steam power, with a
door or opening from end to end of about six inches wide. This cylinder
rotates upon an axis fitted upon a frame or stand; that part of the axis to
which the windlass is attached is fixed firm upon one end of the cylinder, and
by this means the cylinder is put in motion or rotates by the action of the
windlass; the other end works or revolves upon a rod which passes into the
cylinder extending through it and taking a bearing in a hole at the other end
loosely so as to allow the cylinder to revolve. This rod is fixed firm and
immoveable in one end of the frame so that it may carry a stationary partition
dividing the cylinder, but not rotating with it. On this partition may be fitted
a brush or brushes or breakers, which will be seen and understood by
reference to the Drawings and following remarks.
In Figure 1, a is an iron frame,. an end view of which is shown in Figure 2,
also marked a; b is a wire cylinder of the proper mesh to suit the fruit to be

page_text: dressed, an end view of which is shown marked c in Figure 2. The wires of
this cylinder should run in a coil round the cylinder and be laced to cross bars
or wires of about one-quarter of an inch thick and placed about eight inches
apart. These pass through the iron plates that form the ends, as shown in
Figure 2, marked d; e is a windlass fixed firm on the spindle f, which is
attached firm or is a part of the iron end c, but does not pass through the
cylinder. The dotted lines ġ show a shaft passing through the cylinder and
taking a loose bearing in the right-hand end of the cylinder c, then passing
through the left-hand end c into the left end of the frame a; it is keyed or
firmly fixed to the frame so that it will not revolve. It will now be seen that
when the cylinder is put in motion by the windlass 6, the shaft 9 being firm in
the left-hand frame a, and passing loosely through the left end of the cylinder d
taking a loose bearing in the right end c, the cylinder will revolve but the
shaft g will be stationary, and so also will be the partition shown by the dotted
lines and marked h. This is made of metal or wood, dividing the upper part
of the cylinder but allowing it to turn free, and is screwed to or forms a part
of the shaft g. On the top of the partition h may be placed a brush
shown by the dotted lines i, i. In the cylinder 6 is a trap door opening
outwardly, and by theans of which the fruit is passed into the cylinder in order
to be, dressed.
g
Having described the machine I will now describe the process of dressing
the fruit, which is as follows:-Put into the machine 14 lbs. of fruit (say
Valentia raisins), and turning it at the rate of about sixty revolutions per
minute, the fruit will obtain the same motion as the cylinder, but coming in
contact with the fixed partition it will fall downwards in a shower, rouncing
and polishing itself by its own friction, and the stalks will pass out by the
centrifugál force imparted by the action of the machine. In the machine for
dressing currants I put a second fixed partition sloping downwards, as shown
in Figure 3 by a section marked k, and at the lower end of which I place a
brush fitted within about half an inch from the cylinder, or a row of teeth as
shown by Figure 4, or spikes about half an inch apart and a like distance
from the cylinder, or a revolving roller with teeth or spikes, as shown by
Figure 5, or the partition le may be indented or straight.
k
The object of these contrivances are to separate or break the currants or
fruit up, therefore it should be put into the machine on this side, that is,
between the upper and lower partitions, which form a hopper to receive it, and
the machine turned from the opposite side so as to pass the fruit downwards
against the partition k.
These machines may be made so that the size of the mesh may be regulated

page_text: by the cylinder being made double, the inner one sliding in the outer one and
lacing the cylindrical wires of the inner one to cross bars on the inside and
the cylindrical wires of the outer one to cross bars on the outside; or by an
inner and outer cylinder formed of metal and perforated with diamond
shaped holes, so that when the holes of the inner and outer cylinder come
opposite each other they will form a hole or mesh of the full size of the
perforation, and by sliding in opposite directions the mesh or holes will
contract.
Having described my machine generally I will show its application, and
what I claim as my Invention. The machine as simply shown and described
by Figures 1 and 2, when made with a raisin mesh is for dressing valentias
or such like fruit, and in this I claim the application of a fixed partition
marked in Figure 1 h, and described as dividing the cylinder, but not rotating
with it, and I also claim it in combination with the cylinder as before
described. In the currant machine or for such like fruit I make the cylinder
of a suitable mesh, and claim as my Invention the fixed partition and the
fixed partition in combination with the cylinder in like manner with the raisin
machine, and I also claim in the currant machine a second partition, as described
and shown in Figure 3, marked k, and as forming a stationary hopper in the inside
of the machine, and as a means of separating or breaking the fruit previous to
the rouncing process; I further claim the application of a brush, spikes, or
teeth attached to the partition k, or a roller, as shown in Figure 5 by a
sectional Drawing. In sifting of coffee, grain, tea, or other matter, I claim
the moveable mesh as described, and the fixed partition as shown in Figure 1.
In roasting coffee I claim the fixed partition shown in Figure 1, placed
inside a perforated or the usual roasting cylinder; and in cooling coffee I claim
this partition and the moveable mesh.
In this description of my Invention I do not confine myself to any parti-
cular form or size of machine or to any particular material, but have described
what I consider most useful.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Whele, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.