IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEPARATING FLOUR SHORTS AND DUSTINGS FROM BRAN AS IT COMES FROM THE BOLTING APPARATUS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Moses Poole, of Avenue Road, Regent's
Park, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEPARATING FLOUR SHORTS AND DUSTINGS
FROM BRAN AS IT COMES FROM THE BOLTING APPARATUS."-A com-
munication.
Sealed the 9th November 1853, and dated the 14th September 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Moses Poole at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th September 1853.
I, MOSES POOLE, of Avenue Road, Regent's Park, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare that the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEPARATING FLOUR SHORTS AND
DUSTINGS FROM BRAN AS IT COMES FROM THE BOLTING APPARATUS" to be as
follows:-
In some cases this machinery is composed of one exterior stationary
cylinder and two revolving cylinders, so formed and arranged that the
interior cylinders rotate in opposite directions, and separate the flour

page_text: shorts and dustings from the bran, depositing each quality of stuff in
different receptacles. The feeding apparatus is arranged in such
manner that the bran is fed into the machine by an inward current of
air, which at the same time permits the heavier substances to fall into
a spout and be excluded. Currents of air of different degrees of
strength are applied at the top and bottom of the bran duster, their
forces being so proportioned that the upper blast will feed the bran
into the machine, and drive the flour outwards thro' the enclosed
sieve, whilst the lower current only counteracts the downward pressure
of the upper blast, so as to prevent any flour from being discharged
with the bran. The teeth are arranged in lines ascending in such
directions that their action, by the revolution of the cylinder, tends
to lift the bran, or at least to prevent its falling too rapidly to the
bottom.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Moses Poole in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th March 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
MOSES POOLE, of Avenue Road, Regent's Park, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Moses Poole, Her special
licence that I, the said Moses Poole, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Moses Poole, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR SEPARATING FLOUR SHORTS AND DUSTINGS FROM BRAN AS IT COMES

page_text: FROM THE BOLTING APPARATUS," communicated to me from a certain
foreigner residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Moses Poole, 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 Moses Poole, 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 statement thereof (that is to say):.
The nature of the Invention consists in the construction of a
machine for separating the flour shorts and dustings from the bran as
it comes from the bolting apparatus, which machine or bran sepa-
rator is sometimes composed of one exterior stationary cylinder and
two revolving cylinder, so formed and arranged that the interior cylin-
ders rotate in opposite directions, and agitate the bran and other stuff
subjected to their action, and separate the flour shorts and dustings
from the bran, depositing each quality of stuff in different receptacles,
thereby saving a large per-centage of flour, &c., which would otherwise
be left in the bran, and consequently greatly increasing the profits of
flouring establishments.
Figures 1, 2, and 3, on Sheet 1, of the accompanying Drawings
represent the original plan and arrangement of the said bran duster;
Figure 1, being a longitudinal section; Figure 2, a perspective view;
and Figure 3, a section of the lower end of the same.
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, on Sheet 2, of the accompanying Drawings
represent sundry improvements on the said bran duster; Figure 1,
being an elevation of the cylinder, and a vertical section of the re-
mainder of the improved bran duster; Figure 2, a horizontal section
of the same in the line x, x, of Figure 1; Figure 3, a plan of the
lower end thereof; and Figure 4, a top view of the cylinder.
The nature of the said improvements consist, first, in the arrange-
ment of the feeding apparatus in such a manner that the bran is fed

page_text: into the machine by an inward current of air, which at the same time
permits all heavy substances to fall into a spout and be excluded.
Secondly, in the use of inwardly acting blasts of different degrees of
strength at top and bottom of the bran duster, their forces being pro-
portioned in such a manner that the upper blast will feed the bran
into the machine, and drive the flour outward through the inclosing
sieve, while the lower current only counteracts the downward pres-
sure of the upper blast, so as to prevent any flour from being dis-
charged with the bran at the aperture in the bottom of the machine.
The third improvement consists in the arrangement of teeth in lines,
ascending in the direction opposite to its motion around the revoly-
ing cylinder in such a manner that their action, by the revolution
of the cylinder, tends to lift the bran, or at least to prevent its falling
too rapidly to the bottom, substantially as herein-after set forth.
I will now proceed to describe the bran duster as represented on
Sheet 1, of the accompanying Drawings. The machine, as shown in
Figure 1, is composed of three cylinders, one within the other, of which
A¹, is the interior cylinder; D', the intermediate cylinder; and E', the
exterior stationary cylinder or frame.
The main central cylinder A¹, is formed of wooden staves framed
longitudinally into cast heads Z, Z, the staves being placed a little way
apart for the passage of air through the openings, as herein-after
explained. Through the centre of the cylinder A', runs a shaft B', on
the lower end of which is a pulley C. The external faces of the staves
forming the cylinder A¹, are covered with tin or other sheet metal per-
forated like a grater to make the surface rough. In the bottom of the
cylinder is a ventilator Y', as shown in Figure 3, for the admission of
air, which is provided with a revolving slide for regulating the quan-
tity of air admitted. This ventilator may be placed in the top, but the
bottom of the cylinder is preferable. Enclosing the cylinder A', with a
small space between, is the bolting or sifting cylinder D', which is a
light frame made in segments and screwed together, and on the inner
side covered with wire cloth of different qualities, varying in the mesh
according to the different qualities of stuff to be separated from the
bran; the finest quality of wire cloth is placed around the cylinder D'

page_text: at its upper end, as indicated by I', Figure 1; the next quality around
a section of the cylinder below, as indicated by 2, Figure 1; and the
next quality still lower, as indicated by 3, Figure 1. Between the
different kinds of wire cloth are bevelled or shelving rings X, X, which
encircle the cylinder D', and serve to conduct the flour and other stuff*
into circular or endless troughs W', W', that are placed on the inner
side of the exterior or stationary cylinder E', which encloses the two
cylinders A¹, and D', and is lined on the inside with zinc or sheet iron.
On the outside of the cylinder D', and at the lower edge of the different
qualities of wire cloth, are fastened small blocks or sweepers V, VI, V',
which set down in the troughs W, W', and on the lower head of the.
cylinder E, and by the revolution of the cylinder D', discharge the
flour, &c. at the spouts U¹, U', U', respectively; the bran passes off
through the spout q, under the bottom of the machine. The journal.
box p, of the lower end of the shaft B', rests in a bridge O; this-
and the upper journal box n', are cast in a pieco with the iron frames
of the respective heads of the cylinder E¹. The cylinder D', is operated
by a combination of gear wheels thus: the pinion m³, on the shaft B',.
drives the wheel 1, on the small shaft, which passes through the
upper head of the stationary cylinder E', and carries elose against the
inside a small pinion i', which works into cogs on the inner periphery.
of the wheel rim ', that is secured on the head of the cylinder D',
which thus receives its motion contrary to that of the main cylinder A'..
On the small shaft k', is a circular inclined plane or cam g', so
arranged as to lift a spring mallet or hammer f¹, at every revolution of
the shaft, and allow it to fall with a smart blow upon a block e...
Figure 2, which passes through the head of the cylinder E', and
strikes upon the upper rim of the cylinder D', to prevent it from
becoming foul or clogged with flour, &c. On the upper end of the
shaft k', is also a set of cams d', which shake a wire sieve c', on the
hopper F. The sieve receives the uncleaned bran, &c. from the bolts,
and carrying off the coarse matters, which might injure the machine,
drops the rest in the hopper F', from which it passes through the head
of the cylinder E', between the arms of the head of the cylinder D',
on to the head of the cylinder A', and down between these two revolving
cylinders.

page_text: The operation of the bran separator is as follows:-The bran and
other stuff adhering to and mixed with it being carried into the hopper
F¹, and thence through a hole in the head of the cylinder E', down
between the revolving cylinders D', and A', where the whole is sub-
jected to a powerful agitation and friction by the rapid revolutions of
the cylinders in opposite directions disengaging all the particles of
bran, flour, and dustings from each other, a strong current of air is
drawn into the cylinder A', through the ventilator Y', and is driven
by the motion of the cylinder through the spaces between the staves of
which it is made, forcing the finer particles or flour against and through
the wire cloth on the upper part of the cylinder D', whence it falls
into the upper endless trough W', and is carried around by the sweeper
V', to the spout U', where it is discharged. By the same means and
process the next or inferior quality of flour is driven through the coarse
wire cloth between the rings X', X', and discharged in like manner, a
in the same way the shorts or dustings are passed through the coarsest
wire cloth at the lower end of the cylinder, and discharged as before,
while the bran falls down between the two revolving cylinders, and
discharges through a spout at the bottom of the machine. By divisions
of the cylinder D', any number of qualities of stuff that may be desirable
can be separated from the bran.
, and
I will now proceed to describe the improvements on the said bran
duster, represented on Sheet 2, of the accompanying Drawings. I
usually construct the improved bran duster with two heads A, A, con-
nected by several ribs B, B, &c., arranged around the circumference of
a circle, to the inner sides of which is attached a cylindrical metallic
case s. Concentrically within the said case (s), and at a convenient
distance therefrom, is inserted a cylindrical sieve H, whose meshes may
be of equal fineness throughout, or portions may be of different degrees
of fineness in order to separate the different qualities of flour from
each other. The space between the case 3, and the cylindrical
sieve H, is separated into several compartments I, I, &c. by the ribs
m, m, &c. A cylinder c, provided with teeth or projections k, k, &c.,
upon its surface, and driven by power applied to a pulley F, on the
lower end of its shaft h, is made to revolve inside of the sieve H,
leaving a considerable space between it and said sieve for the teeth to

page_text: revolve in, and to receive the bran to be acted upon. A series of
obliquely set wings or fans g, g, &c. is arranged upon the top of the
cylinder, and over the space between it and the sieve H, in such a
manner (as shown in Figures 1, and 4,) that when the cylinder
revolves in the direction indicated by the arrows it causes a current
of air of the desired strength to be drawn in through the apertures d, b,
in the upper head of the machine down into the space around the
cylinder, whence it is distributed through the sieve into the compart-
ments I, I, and finally out through the apertures n, n, &c. in the bottom
of the bran duster. A similar series i, i, &c., is arranged upon the
lower end of the cylinder, but only of sufficient power to neu-
tralize the downward pressure of the upper draught, which becomes
much weakened in its force by finding vent through an enlarged surface.
A hopper E, is situated on the top of the machine so as to discharge
its contents ordinarily into a spout c, which conveys them therefrom
outside of the machine; but the apertures b, and d, through which the
inward current of air passes are arranged so that said current crosses
the path of the substances falling into the spout c, and draws all the
bran through the aperture d, into the duster, while any heavy substances
which may have been contained in the bran, and if allowed to enter
the bran duster would have injured or clogged it, are allowed to fall
into the spout c, so that a twofold purpose is thereby accomplished,
videlicet, cleaning the bran from heavy impurities, and feeding it into the
machine in a scattered state, very suitable for being immediately acted
on by the cylinder C. The hopper E, is agitated by means of a
rotatory disc G, turned by a band passing from the shaft h, of the
cylinder, which causes an arm e, reaching from said hopper to vibrate
The discharge of bran
by means of cams f, on said disc and arm.
from the hopper is restrained and regulated by a flap or board a,
oscillating on a pivot, and so balanced that its lower end very slightly
presses against the lower end of the hopper, but not with sufficient
force to prevent the bran's falling out gradually when the hopper is
shaken.
I also contemplate a modification of the feeding apparatus, by which
I substitute an inclined wire screen t, of about inch mesh for the

page_text: spout c, over which heavy and bulky substances slide while the bran
is drawn through it. The manner of vibrating the hopper and screen t
may be varied as convenience may require. The bran, when fed
into the machine, is immediately beaten by the teeth k, k, &c. of the
cylinder, whereby the fine dust or flour which adheres to it is separated
therefrom, and carried by the centrifugal draught of air through the
meshes of the sieve H, into the compartments I, I, &c., and is thence
discharged through the apertures n, n, &c. in the bottom of the duster.
The teeth, k, &c. are arranged spirally around the cylinder, or in
such a manner that each tooth next in order around the periphery
in the opposite direction to the motion of the cylinder is placed at a
uniform distance higher up than the one preceding, as shown at the
graduated lines at 1, Figure 1, so that the upward action produced by
this ascending succession of teeth prevents the bran from descending
too rapidly to enable it to be properly beaten by said teeth. The slight
upward current of air produced by the lower fans i, i, &c. does not
prevent the bran from being discharged through the aperture j, in
the bottom of the machine, and it only raises the flour which may
have settled at the bottom with the bran enough to be acted upon by
the centrifugal draught through the sieve, and thus be saved.
Having thus fully described the construction and operation of the
bran duster, what I claim as the Invention, and desire to secure by
Letters Patent, is,-
First, the combination and arrangement of the exterior stationary
shell or cylinder. E', the intermediate revolving cylinder D', covered in
sections with wire cloth of different qualities, and the central revolving
cylinder A', with the ventilator Y', for the admission of air, and the
openings between the staves in the cylinder for the emission of air to
drive the flour and other stuff separated from the bran through the wire
cloth; the several parts, with their driving gear, being constructed and
arranged substantially as herein described, and for the purpose set forth.
Secondly, I claim the combination of the hopper E, spout c, and
inwardly opening aperture d, in such a manner that an inward current
of air of the proper force, and produced by any suitable means, will
draw the bran as it falls from the hopper into the bran duster, while

page_text: all heavy substances which might injure or clog the machine will fall
outward by the spout c, substantially as herein set forth.
Thirdly, I claim the combination of the inwardly acting blasts of
different degrees of strength produced by the fans g, g, &c. when
their forces are proportioned in such manner that the upper blast
will feed the bran into the machine, and draw the flour through the
sieve H, while the lower current only counteracts the downward
pressure of the upper blast so as to prevent any flour from being
discharged with the bran at the aperture j, in the bottom of the duster,
substantially as described.
Fourthly, I claim arranging the teeth k, k, &c. in lines ascending in
the direction opposite to its motion around the cylinder C, in such a
manner that their action by the revolution of the cylinder tends to
lift the bran, or at least to prevent its falling too rapidly to the bottom,
substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Moses Poole, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of February, in the
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
year of
0 Witness, B. GOBEY,
12, Cursitor Street,
Chancery Lane.
MOSES POOLE. (L.S.)