IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR Purifying MiddLINGS
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR Purifying MiddLINGS."
A communication from abroad by the Electric Purifier Company, Incorporated,
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COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th February 1882.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING MIDDLINGS." A communication from abroad by the
Electric Purifier Company, Incorporated, of New Haven, Connecticut, United
States of America.
This Invention relates to improvements in apparatus for separating from ground
or broken wheat or other grain or material the lighter particles which depreciate
the quality of the flour if permitted to remain, such apparatus being commonly
known as "middlings purifiers."
In practising the present Invention the principal features of the Invention
described in the Specification of former Letters Patent dated February 18th, 1880,
No. 727, are employed. In that Specification rolls were shown so arranged as to
present an electrified surface over the material to be operated upon, which moves
in an agitated state beneath the revolving rolls, so that the lighter particles are
attracted by the electrified surface of the rolls, and by the movement of the said
rolls are taken away and stripped therefrom.
The object of the first part of the present Invention is to use reciprocating
plates as a substitute for the revolving rolls shown in the said former Specification,
retaining in the said plates the electrified surface whereby the impurities are
attracted from the material passing in an agitated condition beneath them, and the

page_text: first part of the said Invention comprises the combination with a receiver for the
ground material, which will by agitation or otherwise cause the material to
gradually pass over its surface, of an electrified plate or plates arranged to move in
a plane substantially parallel with the plane of the grain carrying or agitating
device and devices which will remove from the said plate as it moves back and
forth the particles which may be attracted thereto from the ground material, as
more fully hereinafter described.
This first part of the said Invention is illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 of
⚫ the accompanying Drawing, in which
Figure 1 is a side elevation.
Figure 2, a plan or top view, and
Figure 3, a transverse section of my improved apparatus.
Figure 4 is a vertical section of a portion of the same drawn to an enlarged
scale.
A is the frame on which the apparatus is supported. B is the carriage which
receives and carries the grain to be purified, and which is arranged in suitable
guides, and is provided with means to impart to it a rapid reciprocating movement,
or such a movement as will give to the material it carries the desired agitation.
This agitation is best effected by means of an eccentric a on the driving shaft b,
arranged in connection with the carriage or receiver, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2 ;
this shaft as it revolves rapidly imparts a short rapid reciprocating movement, so as
to give to the material on the carriage the required agitation.
In the Drawing the carriage is represented as divided longitudinally into two
parts C, D. Across the top of each of these two parts is a sieve-cloth d (see
Figure 3). E is the hopper into which the ground material is placed, and from
which it is delivered onto the sieve-cloth on the carriage, and by the agitation
given to the carriage, the material so delivered passes along over the surface of
such sieve-cloth.
Extending-transversely-across-the-machine are any desired number of plates F,
arranged to move in suitable guides f; these plates are preferably formed of hard
india-rubber, or so constructed as to present a surface of hard india-rubber upon their
under side, or other surface which may be electrified. To these plates a recipro-
cating movement back and forth across the machine is imparted by means of a
crank g which operates a rock-shaft G through a pitman and lever i. From this
rock-shaft levers 7 project upward, and from them connecting rods m extend and
are connected to the plates, so that the oscillating movement which is imparted to
the rock-shaft G will communicate the requisite back and forth movement to the
plato, that is to say, from the position shewn in full lines in Figuro 3, to the
position shewn in dotted lines in the same Figure.
At each side and at the centro are arranged stationary brushes n of wool, catskin,
or other material which will properly electrify the surface of the plates. In the
Drawing I have represented one brush at each side, and a third brush in the middle
between the two compartments, so that as the plates reciprocate their surface
passes in contact with tho said brushes.
The material passing beneath theso plates in a similar manner to that in which
the material passed beneath the belt described in the Specification of the said
former Letters Patent, the lighter particles are brought to the surface by the
carriers, and are attracted from the mass to the under surfaces of the plates, and
attaching themselves to the plate are carried to one side or the other, according to
the direction in which the plate is moved.
The particles thus carried on the plates come in contact with the brushes, or if
desired, with a stripper forward of the brushes, that is to say, between the brushes
and the sides of the compartments. The particles on coming in contact with the
said brushes or stripper are caused to fall from the surface of the plate in to
receptacles beneath, whence they are removed by travelling brushes or otherwise.
When the parts are travelling in one direction the material is removed by the

page_text: brush or stripper upon the opposite side; in this case the central brush serves to
remove the particles when the parts are travelling in both directions.
Instead of the rapid reciprocating movement which is imparted to the carriage
for the purpose of agitation, other devices may be applied to produce the same
result. Other mechanism may also be applied to impart the reciprocating movement
to the plates, and where several are used they may all be moved together, as in the
construction shewn, or the reciprocating movement may be imparted to each plate
at a different time, it only being essential to this Invention that the electrified
plate or plates shall reciprocate above the surface of the material to be ground, and
some device should be provided to remove from the surface of the plate the particles
which have been attracted there.
It is desirable to adjust the relation of the plates to the material passing beneath
them, as well as the relation of the brushes to the plates; to this end the guides fin
which the plates F reciprocate are held in place by adjusting screws L, see Figure 4;
each screw passes down through the guide, and its lower end is held in the
frame so as to prevent its vertical movement. The threaded portion of the screw
passes through a nut & in the top of the guide, so that by turning the said screw
the guide may be lowered or raised, and its level or position relatively to the
material passing beneath it adjusted.
The brushes n are arranged upon a bar N (see Figure 4), and this bar is held to
the guides by means of an adjusting screw t working through a nut 18 in the guide,
so that by turning the said screw the brush-bar may be raised or lowered to
increase or reduce the pressure of the brush upon the plate.
The object of the second part of this Invention is to employ stationary electrified
plates instead of a moving belt, and comprises the employment of such plates and
mechanism for cleaning the particles therefrom.
The second part of the said Invention is illustrated in Figures 5, 6, and 7 of the
accompanying Drawing, in which
Figure 5 is a slide elevation with parts broken away; and
Figure 6 a plan or top view of my improved apparatus.
Figure 7 is a transverse section drawn to an enlarged scale through one of the
electrified plates.
A is the frame on which the mechanism is arranged; longitudinally in this
frame a receiver B is arranged in suitable guides. To this receiver a rapid short
recipocating movement is imparted by means of an excentric a on the driving shaft
C through a pitman b, so that the ground material placed on the sieve cloth d, or
bottom of the receiver, will be shaken or agitated as it passes along over its
surface; over the said receiver and transversely across it one or more plates D are
secured to a frame E, so as to remain stationary. The said plates are so constructed
as to present upon their under side an electrified surface, preferably of hard indin-
rubber, and are arranged with that electrified surface substantially parallel with
the surface of the receiver, so that the ground material passing along the latter
comes in to close proximity to the electrified surface of the plates D, and the
lighter particles will be attracted to the plates.
To remove the particles so attracted to the plates a longitudinal shaft Fis
arranged on one of the sides of the machine, and is caused to revolve by the
application of power thereto as shown or otherwise, and on the opposite side is a
second shaft G parallel to the said shaft F. On these shafts are pulleys H, H, (one
on each side of each of the plates), and over these pulleys pass endless bands I,
the uppermost surface of which is slightly below the line of the under surface of
the plates, but parallel therewith (see Figure 7). Beneath the plates and con-
necting the bands I, I, are any desired number of cross-bars e, which travel with
the bands and pass beneath the surface of the plates; these bars carry a brush f
of a woolly character, which travels in contact with the surface of the plates to
electrify that surface and at the same time brush therefrom the particles which
may have been attracted thereon. In front of each of the brushes is an apron h

page_text: on to which the particles so brushed will fall, and by which they will be carried
along until they arrive at the pulley, when the particles will fall into a receptacle
L below.
The number of plates employed is immaterial, but a smaller number will be
required than when rolls are used as described in the Specification before
referred to, for the reason that a roll, say four inches in diameter, presents but a
fraction of its surface for action upon the material, whereas a plate four inches
wide, which would occupy the same space as the four inch roll, will present its full
width for active surface.
The plates may be made adjustable with relation to the surface of the receiver,
or the receiver adjustable with relation to the plates, so that there will be a greater
or less distance between the two as occasion may require.
While it is preferred to employ the brushes which serve to electrify the surface
of the plates as strippers to remove the particles, an independent stripper may bo
employed slightly in advance of the brushes, it only being essential that there shall
be some device moving parallel with the surface of the plate which will strip
therefrom the particles attracted to the saine. Brushes Peither revolving or
stationary may be arranged at or near the receptacle, to remove from the brushes f
or the strippers any particles which may adhere thereto.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondents, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it
understood that I claim,-
First. The combination of a receiver arranged and operated to agitate the ground
inaterial passing thereon, with one or more plates arranged substantially parallel
with the surface of the moving material, and so as to present an electrified surface
to the latter, and in adjustable or other guides transversely across the said receiver,
and with mechanism for imparting to the said plates a reciprocating movement
substantially-as-above described.and for the purpose specified.
Second. The combination of a receiver arranged and operated to agitate--the-
ground material passing thereon, with one or more plates arranged substantially
parallel with the surface of the moving material, and so as to present an electrified
surface to the latter, and in guides transversely across the said receiver, with
mechanism for imparting to the said plates a reciprocating movement, and with
adjustable or other brushes to electrify the working surface of the said plates, all
substantially as above set forth and for the purpose specified.
Third. The combination of a receiver arranged and operated to agitate the
ground material passing thereon, with one or more plates arranged substantially
parallel with the surface of the moving material, and so as to present an electrified
surface to the latter, and in guides transversely across the receiver, with mechanism
for imparting to said plates a reciprocating movement, and with strippers to take
from the plate the particles which have been attracted to it in its passage over the
moving material, substantially as above set forth and for the purpose specified.
Fourth. The combination of a receiver for the ground material arranged and
operating to agitate the said material passing thercon, with one or more stationary
electrified surfaces above the surface of the ground material passing in the receiver
substantially as above described and for the purpose specified.
Fifth. The combination of a receiver for the ground material arranged and
operating to agitate the said material, passing thereon with one or more stationary
electrified surfaces above the surface of the ground material passing in the receiver,
and the brush or brushes v arranged to travel on the working surface of the said
plates, and between the surface and the ground material, substantially as and for
the purpose specified.
Sixth. The combination of a receiver for the ground material arranged and
operating to agitate the said material passing thereon, with one or more stationary
electrified surfaces above the surface of the ground material passing in the receiver,
and with a stripper or strippers arranged to travel between the surfaces of the

page_text: ground material and the electrified surface of the plates, to take from the surface of
the said plates the particles attracted thereto, and carry them to a receptacle,
substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
W. ROB, LAKE.. (L.S.)