IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOUR MILLS FOR THE COLLECTING AND GRADING OF DUST OF FLOUR AND GRAIN
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lionel Varicas, of 2, Montague Place, Russell Square,
London, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOUR MILLS FOR THE COLLECTING AND GRADING OF
DUST OF FLOUR AND GRAIN." A communication from abroad by Samuel
Lorenzo Bean, Gentleman, of the City of Washington, in the District of
Columbia, in the United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Lionel Varicas at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th May 1880.
LIONEL VARICAS, of 2, Montague Place, Russell Square, London, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOUR MILLS FOR THE
COLLECTING AND GRADING OF DUST OF FLOUR AND GRAIN." A communication
from abroad by Samuel Lorenzo Bean, Gentleman, of the City of Washington, in
the District of Columbia, United States of America.
This Invention relates in general to all mills where substances are reduced and
ground, but it is more especially designed for use in flouring mills, in connection
with which it will be herein described. Its objects are to prevent the escape of
dust from the various machines and appliances of flour mills, to collect this dust,
To these ends the
and to separate it into grades in the act of collecting it.
Invention consists in creating air currents from a plant of milling machinery, the
various machines and appliances of which produce substantially the same grade of
dust to a screen or screens, whereby the dust is strained off from the air, and is
collected, to be returned to its appropriate grade of flour, or to a separate receptacle,
as circumstances may require, or as may be deemed most expedient. It further
consists in collecting dust by a separate screen or screens from each plant of
milling machinery, which produces a different grade of dust, so as to grade the dust
of a whole mill in the act of collecting it, the different grades of dust being
returned to their appropriate grades of flour, or to separate receptacles.
In order that my Invention may be clearly understood I will proceed to describe
said method with the aid of the annexed Drawings, in which Figure 1 illustrates
a mode applying the Invention to a plant of machinery for operating on
flour chop.

page_text: Figure 2 illustrates a mode of applying the Invention to a middlings purifier,
producing the same grade of flour dust as the machinery illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 3 illustrates a mode of applying the Invention to a plant of machinery
for cleaning wheat.
Figure 4 is a partial cross section of one of the balloons shewing the preferable
construction thereof.
In the practical applications of my. Invention I prefer to employ a balloon or
balloons A for straining the dust of flour or grain from the currents of air drawn
from a plant of milling machinery and blown into said balloon or balloons through
the reticulated cloth covered sides of which the air may escape back into the mill
while the dust is strained off. The balloon has a hopper bottom to receive the
strained off dust, from which hopper bottom it can be spouted to its proper place;
if flour dust, it may be spouted to its appropriate grade of flour or chop;
if grain
dust, it will be spouted to a separate receptacle. Unless all the machines on which
such a balloon operates have themselves appliances for creating sufficiently strong
currents of air, a fan blower K (one or more) is combined with the balloon to
induce air currents from said machines to the balloon, the machines being connected
by separate air trunks N to the fan, which is in turn connected by a trunk N¹ to
the balloon. Where sufficiently strong currents of air are generated in the
machines the air trunks N lead directly to the balloons. The elevator B, bolting
chest C, crushing rollers D, stock bin E, spout M to stock bin, mill stones F,
conveyer G, are all supposed to yield substantially the same grade of flour dust,
which is returned from the balloon to the conveyer G. The flour dust from the
middlings purifier L is also supposed to be of substantially the same grade, and is
therefore returned to the crushing rollers D.
The smut mill H and the brush machine J are supposed to yield the same grade
of grain dust, which is therefore returned to a receptacle I connected with a
balloon operating on both the smutter and the brush machine.
An incidental, but nevertheless very important, advantage resulting from my
method of collecting the dust of flour and grain from all the machines and
appliances of a flour mill is, that the warm air from such machines and appliances
can be returned into the mill, thereby avoiding indrafts of cold air.
From the foregoing description it will be understood that by my method the dust
of flour or grain arising in a mill is separated into various grades in the act of
collecting it. Each screen or balloon acts upon a determinate plant of milling
machinery operating upon a given grade of material, which yields substantially the
same grade of dust in the various machines and devices of said plant. And by the
term "plant," as used here and in the claim, I mean a line of machinery which
operates upon a material (irrespective of its condition or stage of reduction) which
yields substantially the same grade of dust in the different machines and devices
through which such material passes.
The
The cloth covered portion of the balloon is constructed with deep furrows in
order to provide greater surface for the straining of the dust laden air.
balloons are also provided with suitable means for stretching the reticulated cloth
covering to the required tautness after it has been applied, and maintaining it in
its stretched condition.
Knocking mechanisms are provided to give the balloons a vibratory or trembling
motion at intervals, so that the dust of flour or grain which would otherwise adhere
to the reticulated cloth covering, and thus retard the passage of air through it,
may be freed from said cloth covering and pass into its proper receptacle.
Having thus described my Invention, what I claim as new is,―
Firstly. The method, substantially as before set forth, of collecting dust of flour
or grain from a plant of milling machinery operating upon a given grade of
material, which method consists in inducing air currents from the various machines
and devices (such as the stones, bolt chests, middlings, purifiers, &c.) of said plant to a
dust catching screen or screens, from which the collected dust is returned to its
appropriate grade.

page_text: Secondly. The method, substantially as before set forth, of collecting dust of four
or grain in mills, and separating it into grades, which method consists in inducing
air currents from each plant of milling machinery, operating upon a different grade
of material, to a separate screen or screens, from which separate screen or screens
the separated grades of collected dust are returned to their appropriate grades for
subsequent utilization.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lionel Varicas, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty.
LIONEL VARICAS. (L.S.)