IMPROVED MACHINERY.. FOR CRUSHING OR SPLITINY on Canne
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Hammond Bentall, of Heybridge, in the
County of Essex, Ironfounder, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY..
FOR CRUSHING OR SPLITINY on Canne"
Scaled the 22nd July 1856, and dated the 21st May 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Hammond Bentall
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st May 1856.
I, EDWARD HAMMOND BENTALL, of Heybridge, in the County of Essex,
Ironfounder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR CRUSHING OR SPLITTING GRAIN OR SEEDS, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the employment of a peculiar arrangement of
rotating serrated discs or circular saws for crushing and splitting grain or
seeds. For this purpose I mount on an axle a series of serrated discs of uniform
diameter and thickness, and I set between them washers of somewhat superior
thickness, so as to provide intermediate spaces to admit between these saws
the cutting edges of a second series of similar construction and arrangement:
These two sets I mount in the bottom of a hopper or box, and I adjust their
position relatively so that the space between the cutting edges of the one set of
saws and the intervening washers of the other set will be sufficiently small to

page_text: prevent the uncrushed grain or seed from falling through, and allow only the
broken grain to pass out of the box. The axles of the two sets of saws I
gear together, and impart rotary motion thereto by hand or other motive
power. I may find it convenient to fit up this apparatus in duplicate in the
same frame, one arrangement being of a coarser gauge than the other, to suit
different kinds of seeds, as, for example, one being adjusted for splitting beans,
and the other for crushing oats. I also propose (when such is required) to
mount in the same box two or more pairs of these sets of saws one above the
other, the upper ones being of a coarser gauge than the lower ones.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Hammond Bentall in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
HAMMOND BENTALL, of Heybridge, in the County of Essex, Ironfounder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Edward Hammond Bentall, Her special license that I, the said Edward
Hammond Bentall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Edward Hammond Bentall, 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 Invention for
"IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CRUSHING OR SPLITTING GRAIN OR SEEDS," being a
communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Edward Hammond Bentall, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 Edward Hammond Bentall, 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

page_text: statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon, (that is to say):-
This Invention of "Improved Machinery for Crushing or Splitting Grain or
Seeds," relates to the employment of a peculiar arrangement of rotating
serrated discs or circular saws for crushing and splitting grain or seeds. For
this purpose I mount on an axle or shaft a series of serrated discs of
uniform diameter and thickness, and I set between them washers of some-
what superior thickness, so as to provide intermediate spaces between the
serrated discs. Another axle.or shaft is provided with a similar arrangement
of serrated discs, and intermediate washers arranged alternately thereon, in
such a manner as to admit between the saws or discs of one axle or shaft the
cutting edges of the second series, similarly constructed and arranged on the
other shaft. These two sets I mount in suitable bearings at the bottom of a
hopper or box, into which is placed the grain or seeds intended to be operated
upon, and I adjust the position of the two sets of rotating discs relatively to each
other, in such a manner that the space between the cutting edges of the one set
of saws or discs and the intervening washers of the other set will be sufficiently
small to prevent the uncrushed grain or seed from falling through, and will
allow only the broken grain to pass out of the box. The axles of the two sets
of saws are geared together, and a rotary motion is imparted thereto by hand
or other motive power. It will sometimes be found convenient to fit up this
apparatus in duplicate in the same frame, one arrangement or pair of shafts
with their serrated discs being of a coarser gauge than the other, to suit
different kinds of seeds, one set of discs, for example, being adjusted for
splitting beans, and the other for crushing oats. I also propose (when such
is required) to mount in the same box two or more pairs of these sets of saws
one above the other, the upper ones being of a coarser gauge than the lower
ones.
In order, however, that the Invention may be clearly understood, I have
shewn in the accompanying Drawing two views of an oat or bean crusher or
splitter constructed according to the present improvements. Fig. 1 is a longi-
tudinal sectional view of an oat or bean crusher, one of the sets A of serrated
discs being shewn in elevation. Fig. 2 is a cross section through the pair of
shafts and discs A and B, and shewing the serrated edges of the discs a, a,
with the plain washers b, b, between them, and strung upon two shafts c, and c*.
These shafts are mounted in suitable bearings in the box d of the machine,
and each of them carries at one of its ends a toothed wheel, which gears into a
similar toothed wheel of the same diameter and number of teeth on the other
shaft. These shafts are actuated by means of a winch handle e on the fly

page_text: wheelf, which is keyed on to one of the shafts, and by, turning this wheel both
the shafts c and c, with the sets of, discs, thereon, are made to rotate in the
direction of the arrows in Fig. 2. The grain or seed to be operated upon is
put into the hopper g, from whence it descends into the space above the discs,
and is drawn down by the teeth of the latter, and passed between the two sets,
during which passage every individual grain, will be split, divided,. or crushed.
In order to prevent the interstices or spaces between the discs from being
clogged up, with the crushed grain, clearing combs h; h, having teeth projecting
into the said interstices, are adapted to the discs, as shewn in. the Figure. The
teeth on the edges of the serrated discs, may be made of various forms or
shapes according to the desire of the manufacturer, and the nature of the grain
or seed intended to be operated upon. For some grains or seeds, such as. oats,
teeth of the form shewn in Fig. 2 may be found most suitable, while for
other seeds teeth of the form. shewn in the. detached view, Fig. 8, may be
preferred., I do not, therefore, intend to 'confine myself to any particular
form of teeth for the serrated discs, nor. do I intend to confine myself to the
use of one pair of sets of discs, as shewn in the Drawing, as I sometimes pro-
pose to employ two pairs.
.. Having now described this Invention of" Improved Machinery for Crushing
or Splitting Grain or Seeds," and the manner of carrying the same into effect,
as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, I would observe, in con-
clusion, that what I claim as new in the above-described improvements is, the
use, for. the purpose above set forth, of discs with serrated or indented edges,
strung on a shaft alternately with plain discs or washers of smaller diameter,
so as to leave interstices or spaces to admit the serrated or indented edges of
a corresponding set of discs on another shaft, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Hammond Bentall, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
EDWARD HAMMOND BENTALL. (L.S.).