AN IMPROVED PORTABLE MILL, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO MILLSTONES GENERALLY
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edward. Gedge at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
August 1866. A communication from abroad by François Cailleaux, of
Barjonville, near Chartres, France.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of No.
11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PORTABLE
MILL, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO MILLSTONES GENERALLY," (a com-
munication to me from abroad by François Cailleaux, of Barjonville, near
Chartres, France,) to be as follows:--
The improved portable mill the subject of this Invention is composed of a
hopper into which is to be put the corn, barley, or other matter to be ground;
a distributing spout passes these matters from thence into a funnel, a cap or
wheel having three points. or spokes, and the axle of which turns at the same
speed as the running stone, giving motion to the said spout. The funnel
which receives the grain from the spout passes it directly on to the bed stone.
Checking gear is provided to regulate the speed in the bolting compartment,
and the grist passes by a mill scuttle from the drum into the bolter.
drum or casing enclosing the stones has a cover or lid in two pieces to
facilitate getting at the eye of the runner. Barley or oats ground for
cattle or analogous matters pass by another scuttle to the outside to be received
in sacks. The mill is provided with an ordinary bolting room or compartment,
from the floor of which the flour is withdrawn through two small doors by
The

page_text: the aid of a scraper. A scuttle receives the bran lifted at the tail of the
bolting room by a gatherer. The mill is driven by the aid of a pulley and
band from an agricultural engine which always travels with the mill, and is
worked by two horses, or it may be driven by any available power.
I will now describe in detail the arrangement of parts in connection with
the eye of the stone. A tin funnel is fixed on the drum or casing, and a hollow
leather cylinder joined on to the funnel guides the descent of the grain or
matter to be ground. A cast-iron double crank case of a particular shape
permits the complete descent of the above-mentioned cylinder in the eye, and
the ascent as far as possible of another hollow leather cylinder fixed on the
bed stone by means of a sheet iron ring and three small iron feet riveted on
the ring in such a way, however, as to leave between the bottom of this
cylinder and the bed stone a space of about an inch in order not to hinder the
entrance of the grain or other matter under the stones. A small cast-iron
button fitting on to the crank case, and a claw keyed on the iron of the runner,
turns with them, and the axle of the three-pointed cap or wheel is tapped in
this piece, which replaces the ordinary semi-spherical wooden vessel, and has
also another function, which is that in turning it forces the grain to introduce
itself into the eye and fall directly on the bed stone without striking against
the sides of the eye of the runner and without collecting there, as happens in
the ordinary arrangement. On the matter to be ground arriving in the
funnel the little button in turning with the crank case and the claw forces it
to enter the free passage existing around it within the first-mentioned hollow
leather cylinder; the grain or other matter thus introduced falls directly on
to the bed stone after passing through the second leather cylinder, which
prevents its striking against the sides of the eye of the running stone and
there accumulating, as in ordinary eyes, which is a very great defect, because
the grain collecting in the eye by the centrifugal force finishes by falling in a
lump, and the stone is encumbered by this irregular feeding, which is obviated
by placing the arrangement above described in the eye, which arrangement is
not only applicable to the stones of a small portable mill such as here described,
but also to any sort of flour mill.