IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING FLOUR
Year: 1885

page_text: I JOHN AUGUSTE ARNOLD BUCHHOLZ of Twickenham in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING FLOUR," to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in the machinery for crushing grain and
dressing meal for which I obtained Letters Patent dated respectively May 1st 1882.
N° 2054, and September 17th 1883, No 4439.
In the specification of the Patent of 1882 I described an arrangement of roller
mill in which the crushing rollers were so speeded and their respective diameters so
proportioned that the laying out of the skin or bran of the several grains, and
the separation of the flour forming particles, was ensured.
I now find that to give the utmost efficiency to this improvement, it is desirable
to control the supply of grain to the rollers in such a way that its speed, when
entering the bite of the rollers, shall closely approximate to the surface speed of the
slower roller; that it shall enter in a tangential line common to both rollers and in
a stream so thinned that the grains shall separately be presented to the bite of the
rollers.
To attain this result I use preferably a hopper which has both vertical and
horizontal adjustment relatively to the trough which underlies it and I guide the
grain from the hopper to the rollers by means of an inclined reciprocating trough,
the floor of which is stepped in a peculiar manner.
The top step, or that which is nearest the hopper, is the deepest of the series
and that which is nearest the bite of the rollers is the most shallow.
Again the top step is made horizontal or nearly so, and the following steps have
a gradually increasing dip until the last of the series is in line with the tangent
common to both rollers such tangent making a right angle with the plane of the
axes of the rollers.
.
By delivering the grain down this inclined trough, its speed of traverse gradually
increases as it proceeds, and the grains are thereby separated and delivered to the
bite of the rollers in the manner best adapted for ensuring their efficient action.
The trough is carried by pairs of radius rods, and it receives a to and fro motion
in the line of the tangent common to the two rollers, it being connected with a
short-throw excentric.

page_text: In order to control the delivery from the trough its lower end is not seated direct
on the radius rod, pairs of right and left handed screws being interposed with
sleeve nuts for adjusting the vertical position of the nose of the trough.
An obvious application of the same principle would be to substitute for the
reciprocating steps having a progressively increasing declivity, a series of small
feed rollers driven at a gradually increasing surface speed and arranged in horizontal
slots to render their relative position adjustable for the purpose of directing the
feed in the proper tangential direction.
It is well known that most Roller Mills, to enable the re-adjustment of the
parallelisin of rollers disturbed by unequal or irregular wear and tear in the bearings
have one of the pair of rollers fitted to swing against the other upon a neutral
axis which is generally made adjustable to compensato any disturbance in the
parallelism of the two rollers. But all such adjustments and compensations are
extremely delicate; they are dependent on extraordinary mechanical skill of the
workmen and attendants, and are therefore precarious.
To meet this difficulty I cause the parallelism of the pair of rollers to be
dependent on the distance adjustment gear and in every other respect to be
automatic. For this purpose I mount the adjustable or swinging roller upon a
pair of arms keyed to a shaft which is carried by a central ball and socket support
which support is adjustable between two set screws to enable this roller to be
brought in line with the fixed roller. This ball and socket joint it will be
understood will offer no resistance to the automatic adjustment of the pressing
roller.
The rollers I actuate by the improved belt driving arrangement described in the
specification of my above mentioned Patent of 1883, but to relieve the belt of the
weight proper of the lower roller I mount a pair of levers upon pins projecting
from the two standards which carry this roller. One end of each of these levers
is fitted with bearings which embrace the axle of the roller, and the other end is
weighted either by counter weights or by causing the arms which carry the upper
roller to bear upon these arms through the distance adjustment gear.
To enable the rollers the better to grind wheat and other bran producing grain,
I flute them with ribs of a ratchet tooth section making the ribs of the fast roller
preferably coarser than those of the slower roller. The direction of rotation of
these rollers will be such as to present the edges of the ribs to the incoming grain
in such a manner that the inclined surfaces of the ribs on the fast roller will press
the grain against the edges of the ribs on the slow roller.
My improved roller mill I propose to fit with a peculiar construction of inclined
double sieve, onto the lower end of which the meal to be dressed is delivered.
The meal as it leaves the rollers falls into a hopper which delivers it into a
horizontal trough that overlies the head of the sieve.
Fitted to the bottom of this trough is a slide made up of two thin plates
pivotted together by a stud near their inner ends and carried by a horizontal
sliding bar. A pair of links pivotted to a sliding pin on the horizontal bar is
attached to these plates and by means of a right and a left handed screw they are
caused to turn the plates on their pivot pin and thereby present wedge shaped
openings for the discharge of the meal onto the sieve below. The bar together
with the adjustable plates may be drawn back or forward by means of a hand lever
for the purpose of regulating the discharge openings.
Mounted in this trough is a right and left handed archimedean screw or worm
which rotates on the bottom of the trough and serves to traverse the meal as it
enters at about the middle of the trough, towards the ends thereof allowing it to
fall over the edges of the plates and through the wedge shaped openings which
they form at the bottom of the trough.
The sieve consists of two rectangular frames made of tubular iron (gas piping)
and secured together at the angles by cast blocks. These frames are set a few
inches apart, and secured together by two pairs of cast iron links strung upon them

page_text: longitudinally. Projecting through these links are transverse tubes which form
studs from which the sieve is supported upon radius rods. A short throw excentric
serves to give the requisite reciprocating motion to the sieve.
:
Each frame is clothed with silk or its equivalent, the upper surface being coarser
than the lower. The silk may be held at tension by lacing it to studs on the
longitudinal rods and further to facilitate the tightening up of the silk the longi-
tudinal rods may be made to turn in the angle blocks and held fast against. the
tension of the silk by pawles and ratchet wheels or their equivalent.
The worm trough with compound slide and the tubular sieve frame are equally
applicable to dressing, sorting or purifying machinery.
I, JOHN AUGUSTE ARNOLD BUCHHOLZ of Twickenham in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :—
This invention relates to improvements in the machinery for crushing grain and
dressing meal for which I obtained Letters Patent dated respectively May 1st 1882,
No 2054, and September 17th 1883, No 4439.
In the specification of the Patent of 1882, I described an arrangement of roller
mill in which the crushing rollers were so speeded, and their respective diameters
so proportioned, that the laying out of the skin or bran of the several grains, and
the separation of the flour-forming particles, was ensured.
I now find that to give the utmost efficiency to this improvement, it is desirable
to control the supply of grain to the rollers in such a way, that its speed, when
entering the bite of the rollers, shall closely approximate to the surface speed
of the slower roller; that it shall enter in a tangential line common to both
rollers, and in a stream so thinned that the grains shall separately be presented to
the bite of the rollers.
To attain this result, I use preferably a hopper which has both vertical and
horizontal adjustment relatively to the trough which underlies it, and guide the
grain from the hopper to the rollers by means of an inclined reciprocating trough,
the floor of which is stepped in the manner to be hereafter described.

page_text: was part of my invention is mutated in figs, 1, 4, and I accompany tug
drawings:-
Fig. 1 being a side elevation of a two roller mill with the improved feed applied
⚫thereto.
Fig. 2 a plan view of the same; and
Fig. 3 a sectional end elevation, the section being taken on the line 1, 2 of
Fig. 1.
In these Figures, A A is the framing of the mill, and B B¹ the crushing or
grinding rollers.
The lower roller B is mounted in fixed bearings, and the roller B¹ turns in
bearings carried by arms B2 keyed to a cross shaft B³.
This shaft, at the middle of its length, has a spherical projection, which is
embraced by a cup shaped bearing B' mounted adjustably on the framing A.
These rollers, it will be seen, are so mounted with respect to each other, that a
line drawn through their centres will stand at an angle of 45° with the horizontal.―
This is the position which I prefer for the rollers, as being best suited to receive
the grain from the feeding apparatus.
The rollers in this mill approach the disc form, and for the purpose of supplying
them with grain, I use a funnel shaped hopper C, below which is situate the
narrow stepped trough D.
To provide for the vertical and forward and backward adjustment of the hopper,
I form on its discharge spout a screw thread, which takes into a screwed socket
carried by a horizontal fraine C.-This frame is free to slide in guides formed by
a pair of brackets A' bolted to the main framing.
The sliding frame C¹ is cast with a lug to receive the stem of a screw C³, which
screw is tapped into a boss on the main framing.
The lug of the sliding frame is embraced by a fixed collar on the spindle of the
screw and a clamping nut attached to the spindle.
By turning this screwed spindle to the right or left, the sliding frame with its
hopper is advanced towards or drawn back from the rollers to a slight extent, to
adjust it relatively to the uppermost step of the trough D, and by simply turning
the hopper in its supporting socket, its adjustment vertically with respect to the
trough D will be effected.
By reference to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the top step, or that which is nearest
the hopper, is the deepest of the series, and that which is nearest the bite of the
rollers is the most shallow.
Again, the top step is made horizontal or nearly so, and the following steps
have a gradually increasing dip, until the last of the series is in line with the
tangent common to both rollers, such tangent making a right angle with the plane
of the axes of the rollers.
By delivering the grain from the hopper C down this inclined trough to the
rollers, its speed of travel will gradually increase as it proceeds, and the rolling
grains falling from step to step, are thereby separated and delivered to the bite of
the rollers in the manner best adapted for ensuring their efficient action.
The trough D is carried by two pairs of radius rods D' D₁* pivotted to the side
brackets A, and it receives a to and fro motion in the line of the tangent common
to the two crushing rollers B B'.-For this purpose it is connected at its upper end
with a short-throw excentric D³, keyed to a transverse shaft D³, which has its
bearings in the brackets A' of the framing A. This shaft is driven from an
overhead belt passing round a pulley keyed on the shaft.
In order to control the delivery from the trough, its lower end is carried by the
radius rods D*, which are composed each of a right and left handed screw
connected together by a sleeve nut, the turning of which in one direction elongates
the rod, and in the other contracts its length, and thus provides for the adjustment
vertically of the nose of the trough with respect to the bite of the crushing rollers.
An obvious modification of this part of my invention would be to substitute for
the reciprocating steps, having a progressively increasing declivity, a series of small

page_text: feed rollers driven at a gradually increasing surface speed, and arranged in
horizontal slots to render their relative position adjustable, for the purpose of
directing the feed in the proper tangential direction.
Fig. 4 shews in longitudinal section a feed shute for the grain constructed on
this principle, and leading from the feed hopper to the bite of the crushing rolls.
In this Figure, C is an ordinary feed hopper fitted with an ordinary feed roller d,
and an adjustable gate. The feed roller d is by preference grooved.
Below the roller d is a series of rollers d¹ d² d³, the number and adjustment of
which will vary to suit the speeds of the crushing rolls, the inclination required
for the travelling grain, and the nature of the material to be operated upon. By
means of suitable gearing, the roller is driven at a greater surface speed than
the roller d, the roller dat a greater speed than d¹, and so on in progression, the
last roller having the greatest surface speed, which is about equal to that of the
slower crushing roller.
In order to give each roller sufficient hold or the feed to ensure an acceleration
in the velocity of the feed, I provide for the setting of the rollers more or less in
advance the one of the other; thus, d¹ is set adjustably in advance of d; ď² in
advance of d¹; and d³ in advance of d².
As a rule for determining the mean positions of the feed rollers for delivering
the grain at the required rate to the crushing rolls, I may state that I take the
angle of bite of these rolls, and divide it by the number of the feed rollers to be
used (say three, four or more), and use the angle thus obtained for determining the
height that these rollers shall be set one above the other.
This will be clearly understood by reference to the diagram Fig. 4*, where A B C
represents the angle of bite, and D E the lines dividing the angle of bite into three.
parts corresponding to the number of rollers used.
The lowest roller, 3, which is by preference of of smaller diameter than the
others, touches the line BC, which is a tangent common to the two crushing rolls.
Applying now the angle A B D, obtained as just described, to the tangent line,
making the side B D coincide with that line, the upper side of this angle will
gauge the height for, or touch the periphery of, the roller 2.
Extending this side of the angle upwards, and applying thereto a like angle, the
upper side of this angle will similarly determine the height of the roller 1.
By this means the inclination of the feed shute is obtained, and any adjustment
that is requisite to vary the delivery of the grain to the rolls, may be obtained
either by regulating the gate of the hopper, shifting the rollers laterally in their
supports, or by changing the speed gear.
It is well known that most Roller Mills, to facilitate the readjustment of the
parallelisin of rollers disturbed by unequal or irregular wear and tear in the
bearings, have one of the rollers fitted to swing against the other upon a neutral
axis, which is generally made adjustable to compensate any disturbance in the
parallelism of the two rollers.-But all such adjustments and compensations are
extremely delicate.-They are dependent on extraordinary mechanical skill of the
workmen and attendants, and are therefore precarious.
To meet this difficulty, I cause the parallelism of the pair of rollers to be
dependent on the distance adjustment gear, while in other respects the adjustment
is automatic. It is for this purpose that I mount the adjustable or swinging roller
upon a pair of arms keyed to a shaft which is carried by a central ball and socket
bearing, as shewn at B*, Figs. 1 and 2.-This bearing, which is supported on the
framing A, is adjustable in the direction of the length of the shaft B³, between two
set screws B5 on the framing to enable this roller to be brought parallel to the
fixed roller. This ball and socket joint, it will be understood, will offer no
resistance to the automatic vertical adjustment of the pressing roller.
To guard against the swaying of the arms which carry the pressing roller, and
the consequent motion of that roller through an arc of which the ball and socket
support is the centre, the arms B' are fitted with square headed set screws Bº,
which bear against planed surfaces on the opposite sides of the framing A, and thus

page_text: prevent all lateral movement of the arms, while they are free to move vertically
under the pressure put upon the roller B¹.
The limit of the approach of this roller to the roller B is determined by the
distance adjustment mechanism claimed under my Patent of September 17th 1883.
Thus, the arms B³ rest upon lock nuts carried by vertical rods B7, which are
supported on crank pins of a transverse crank shaft Bs having its bearings in the
framing A.
An axial motion transmitted to this crank shaft by means of a worm and worm
wheel, simultaneously raises or lowers the arms B2 and determines the distance
adjustment of the roller B¹ from the roller B.
The rollers, it will be seen, are actuated from both ends of their axles by the
belt driving arrangement described in the specification of my above mentioned
Patent of 1883; and applied to this mill is a novel arrangement of sieve for sifting
the meal as it leaves the crushing rollers.
This sieve, which forms a distinct head of my invention, will be described after
I have explained a further improvement in relation to the crushing rollers.
In the mill shown at Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the roller B runs in stationary bearings,
and as these bearings become worn, the weight of the roller is thrown upon the
driving belt.
To avoid this defect is the object of the arrangement of mill shewn at Figs. 5, 6,
and 7.
Fig. 5 being a side elevation of a two roller mill with the improved belt driving
gear relieved of the weight of the lower roller.
Fig. 6 a plan view of the same; and
Fig. 7 an elevation of the left hand end of the machine.
Fig. 8 is a partial end elevation of the machine, shewing the mode of adjusting
the hopper.
In this mill, additional bearings for the axle of the lower roller B are carried by
a pair of counterweighted levers b, which have for their fulcrums, pins
jecting from extensions of the fixed bearings which carry this roller.
pro-
The rear ends of the levers b form bearings for the distance adjustment crank
shaft 62, the crank pins of which enter eyes in the rods 63, which rods support the
forward end of the arms b' which carry the adjustable pressure roller B¹, as in the
first described arrangement.
From this explanation it will be seen, that the weight of the upper roller is
transmitted to the levers b in such a manner as to counterbalance the weight of
the roller B, and ensure its axle being held up in contact with the caps or upper
halves of its fixed bearings.
By this arrangement, therefore, the driving belt is relieved from the weight of
the roller B, and the rattling of the lower roller axle in its bearings is avoided.
a
In the mill shewn at Figs. 5, 6, and 7, the crushing rollers are of the usual
length; they will therefore, unlike the rollers in the first described mill, require
broad feed. To provide for this, the hopper C and the feed trough D are made of
a breadth corresponding with the length of the rollers.
This necessitates a modification in the vertical adjustment of the hopper, which
modification is best shewn in Figs. 5 and 8.
The hopper is carried by a sliding frame C¹, as before, which is provided with a
pair of threaded sockets c to receive a pair of screwed stems c¹, by which the hopper
is supported in position.
These stems are embraced by lugs projecting from a yoke c, into which the
hopper fits, and the lugs are supported by collars fitted on the screwed stems.
Keyed to the upper ends of the stems are mitre pinions, in gear with which, are
other mitre pinions carried by a shaft c³ running longitudinally of the hopper, and
having its bearings in prolongations of the yoke c².
Fitted to one end of this shaft c³ is a hand wheel for turning it, and trans-5
mitting motion simultaneously to the two screw stems, the turning of which effects
the vertical adjustment of the hopper.

page_text: I will now explain the construction and mode of action of the improved sieve
shewn as applied to the first described mill, and more particularly in the plan view
Fig. 9, which shews it separated from the mill.
The meal, as it leaves the crushing rollers, falls into a hopper E, which delivers
it into a horizontal trough F that overlies the head of the sieve.
Fitted to the bottom of this trough (which is fixed to the base part of the
framing A) is a slide made up of two thin plates ff, pivotted together by a pin fi
near their inner ends, and carried by a horizontal sliding bar f2-A pair of links f³
pivotted to a sliding pin f' on the horizontal bar, is connected to these plates
through swivel pins f formed with threaded eyes. Passing through these threaded
eyes, and lying transversely of the sieve, is a right and a left handed screw f6, to
which an axial motion is imparted by means of a winch handle. By turning this
screw to the right or left, the swivel pins will be traversed along the screw, and
thereby caused to turn the plates ƒ on their pivot pin f¹-This movement will
present adjusted wedge shaped openings for the discharge of the meal onto the
sieve below. The bar f³, together with the adjustable plates f, may be drawn
back or forward by means of a hand lever f', for the purpose of regulating the
breadth of the wedge shaped discharge openings.
Mounted in the trough F is a right and left handed Archimedian screw or
worm, which, through an overhead band, is caused to rotate on the bottom of
the trough. The use of this screw f8 is to traverse the meal, as it enters from the
hopper E, at about the middle of the trough, towards the ends thereof, allowing it
to fall over the edges of the plates, and through the wedge shaped openings onto
the sieve below.
This sieve consists of two rectangular frames G G¹ made of hollow rods (iron gas
piping), and secured together at the angles by cast blocks g.–The upper of these
frames is made longer than the under frame, and overlaps it, for the purpose to bo
presently explained. The frames are set a few inches apart, and secured together
by two pairs of cast iron links g' strung upon the side rods.-Projecting through
these links are transverse tubes, which form supporting studs for the double
sieve. These studs enter sockets in two pairs of radius arms g² g³, fulcrummed on
the sides of the framing, the arms g² being fulcrummed higher than the arms g³, for
the purpose of giving the sieve an inclination upwards from the head.-The
arms have each a forked extension below their fulcrums, to embrace excentrics
on a transverse shaft g, to which a continuous rotary motion is given from an
overhead belt.
This is for the purpose of imparting the requisite reciprocating endway motion
to the sieve.
The frames G G are each clothed with silk or its equivalent, the upper cloth
being coarser than the lower. The silk may be held at tension by lacing it to
studs on the longitudinal rods, and further to facilitate the tightening up of the
silk, the longitudinal rods may be made to turn in the angle blocks g, and held fast
against the tension of the silk by pawles and ratchet wheels or their equivalent.
When the screening surfaces are brought properly to tension, and the adjust-
ment of the delivery of the meal from the hopper to the sieve is properly effected,
the apparatus is ready for working. The driving belts being set in action, the
milling operation will proceed, and the grain reduced to meal will fall into the
hopper E.
From this hopper the meal will pass to the sieve, it being spread evenly by
means of the trough F, and the mechanism in connection therewith, across the
sieve.
As it falls upon the sieve, it will, owing to the quick reciprocating motion
imparted thereto, travel up the inclined surface of the sieve, the finer particles
falling through the upper screen onto the one below,
Those particles which do not pass through the screen will travel upwards, and
fall over the top end thereof, into a receptacle provided for the purpose.

page_text: A similar sifting of the finer particles received onto the lower screen will here
take place, the coarser particles travelling to the end of the screen, and falling into
a second receptacle, while the finest particles, which have passed through the two
screens, will be received into a third receptacle.
To enable the rollers the better to grind wheat and other bran producing grain,
I flute them with ribs of a ratchet tooth section, making the ribs of the fast roller
preferably coarser than those of the slower roller. The direction of rotation of
these rollers will be such as to present the edges of the ribs to the incoming grain,
in such a manner that the inclined surfaces of the ribs on the fast roller, will press
the grain against the edges of the ribs on the slow roller.
I may here remark that the meal delivery trough F, and the tubular sieve
frames, are equally applicable to dressing, sorting, or purifying machinery.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1st The application to roller mills of grain feeding apparatus constructed and
operating in the manner and for the purpose above described.
2nd The means above described for adjusting and maintaining the parallelism of
the crushing rollers, without interfering with the automatic vertical movement or
distance adjustment of the pressing roller.
3rd In combination with my improved roller mill and belt driving gear, the
arrangement above described for counterbalancing the weight of the lower crushing
roller.
4th The means above described for sifting meal, whether applied directly to
roller mills, or used apart therefrom as dressing or sorting machinery.
Dated this 13th day of November 1885.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.