IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLS FOR GRINDING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Morris, of Wednesfield, in the County of
Stafford, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLS FOR GRINDING
WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN."
Sealed the 24th October 1866, and dated the 2nd May 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Morris at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd May 1866.
I, JAMES MORRIS, of Wednesfield. in the County of Stafford, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLS FOR
GRINDING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists. firstly, of a pair of millstones so placed as to work
horizontally. A shaft passes through the eye of each stone, the said shaft being
supported by and resting upon two or more cast-iron standards which are fixed
upon a cast-iron bed plate. The runner stone is firmly 'secured upon the said
shaft by an universal or vibrating driver. so that the said runner stone may
always keep in a horizontal position with the bed stone. The said bed stone is
fixed in a cast-iron pan which has two flanges cast upon it, projecting one on
each side. These flanges after being plained slide upon two iron rods which are
ID 71

page_text: also plained, and are bolted to the cast-iron standards, and are for the purpose
of carrying the said pan and bed stone: or if more convenient these two iron
rods may be made round or with a V, the said flanges being in each case
shaped to correspond. The object of this is of course to cause the bed stone
to move horizontally to and from the runner stone as may be required in the
process of grinding. The said bed stone is moved by means of a screw pin
which is fixed to the cast-iron standards, and an iron nut is screwed to the
said pin, a cross head of iron being made to slide upon it. Two wrought-iron
rods are also affixed to the said cross head and cast-iron frame. I propose
to feed the grain to the stones by means of a hopper in which is a roller
fitted in the bottom of the said hopper, and to which a revolving motion is
given by means of a girth or strap driven by the same shaft as that which
drives the runner stone. Or as a modification of this part of my Invention
there may be supplied instead a hopper ladder, and hopper, and shoe and
damsel, the damsel working horizontally by a girth or strap, and as in the
former case being driven by the same shaft as that which drives the runner
stone. I propose to deliver the grain from the said shoe into a spout fixed
in the eye of the bed stone. To insure an uniform feed 1 propose to fix upon
the said shaft a worm to revolve in the eye of the bed stone, by means of
which the grain may be worked up to the runner stone. I propose also to
aflix a small hopper upon the top edge of the bed stone, an aperture being
ent down the stone just above the eye to deliver the grain between the two
stones. One of the irons in the eye of the runner stone connecting the stone
to the driver and shaft. I propose to cast in two halves: this is for the con-
venience of disconnecting the driver and runner stone for repairs or otherwise."
1 propose fixing in the eye of the said runner stone a cast-iron bush with
four spiral springs and four bolts and nuts. Thus the springs are very simple
and effective as the stone is balanced by tightening the nuts as required.
According to my Invention a mill which is at once durable and compact is
constructed and which cannot possibly get out of order, the only parts which
are affected by ordinary wear and tear being the stones and the bearings.. I
propose also to fix a small dressing machine under the stones, so that the meal as
ground may fall direct into the dressing machine and thus finished at one
operation; the said dressing machine being driven by the same power which
drives the runner stone. In this manner a good deal of expensive machinery
may he dispensed with.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Morris in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd
November 1866.
TO. ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MORRIS, of Wednesfield, in the County of Stafford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent. bearing date the Second day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and sucessors. give and grant.
unto me, the said James Morris, Her special licence that I, the said James
Morris, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Morris, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MILLS FOR GRINDING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I. the said James Morris. my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, 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 James Morris, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement.
(that is to say)
I desire first to explain that owing to a clerical error the position of the
millstones was described in my Provisional Specification as being horizontal,
it will be
e apparent, however, upon the general description of my Invention that
the word vertical should have been used instead of horizontal, the vertical posi-
tion of the stones being of the essence of my Invention. With these exceptions
my Provisional Specification will sufficiently explain the object of my Inven-
I
tion, and the general nature of the Invention sought to be secured.
will therefore at ence proceed to the description of the Drawings hereunto
annexed, which will fully explain all the necessary details connected with my
said 'Invention.

page_text: Fig. is a longitudinal section, Fig. 2, an end elevation, and Fig. 3 a
plan of a mill constructed according to my improved method. The scale of
the Drawings is one-eighth full size, the stones being two feet and six inches
in diameter.
which is tapped for the screw
Similar letters of reference refer to like parts in the several Figs. a is
the main shaft driven by a band upon the driving pulley b. The shaft revolves
horizontally in bearings c upon the two side frames e, which are bolted to
the bed plate f. The bed stone d is cemented and bolted into the cast-iron
pang, which has two brackets h, h, cast upon opposite sides of it. Two slide
blocks i, i, are bolted to the under side of the brackets h, h, and vee grooves are
formed in the blocks to fit the transverse bars h, k, by which the cast-iron
pan and bed stone are supported, the bars k, l, are bolted between the two side
frames e, e; the bed stone can be moved along the bars k, l, to or from
the runner stone by means of the hand wheel
MI. The latter is secured to the frame by a bridge n, and bolts 1, 1; two
rods o, o, are secured to the bed stone pan g, and to them is bolted a cross bar
p having a hole through its centre for the screw m; a coiled spring 3 is
placed between the hand wheel I and the cross bar p, so that the bed stone
may yield slightly and injury be avoided should any hard substance find its
way between the two stones. Another coiled spring 2 causes the withdrawal
of the bed stone from the runner stone when the hand wheel is unscrewed;
r is the runner stone, shewn also in detail in Fig. 4. It is suspended upon
the main shaft by means of a universal swivel joint, also shewn in detail in
Figs. 5, 6, and 7; 4, 4, are two blocks of iron leaded into the runner stone r
(Figs. 4 and 5), and having each a round hole 16 to receive the trunnions 5, 5,
of the frame or ring s (Figs. 1, 4, and 7), which is made in two parts and
bolted together as shewn, so as to enable the centre boss (Figs. 1, 4, and 6) to
be introduced, the trunnions of which fit into the holes 6, 6, of the ring s, and
are placed at right angles to the aforesaid trunnions 5, 5; the boss is keyed
upon the shaft a, and when the two stones are brought together by the hand
wheel the universal swivel joint causes the accurate self-adjustment of the
grinding faces of the two stones, provided they have been previously dressed
flat. No adjustment of the stones at right angles to the main shaft is after-
wards necessary, they will maintain their proper positions until they are
completely worn out; is the fixed hopper into which the grain is put; vis
the moveable hopper shoe caused to vibrate upon the pin 7, by means of the
horizontal damsel 8 upon the horizontal shaft 9, which is drawn from the
main shaft a by the band 10 and pulley 11.
or lowered by the cord 12 passing over the pulley
The hopper is raised
13 and attached to the

page_text: handle 14. A third hopper
conducts. the grain through the plate 15 into
the eye of the bed stone, and an archimedean screw a advances the grain to
the space between the two stones.
The stones are enclosed by a casing not shewn in the Drawings which
may have a spout for the delivery of the flour in any convenient direction.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner.
in which the same is or may be performed. I wish it to be understood that
without limiting myself to the precise details herein-before described (as
these may be varied or modified to some extent without departing from
the nature of my said Invention). 1 desire to claim as the Invention to he
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent-
Firstly, the mode or manner of fixing or securing the bed stone in the cast-
iron pan, and the manner of moving the said stone to and from the runner
stone, as herein-before described.
Secondly, the application of the universal swivel joint so far as regards
the construction of mills having vertical stones, and especially the manner
of its application to the runner stone of such a mill, as herein-before
described.
Thirdly, the mode or manner of conducting the grain into the eye of the said
bed stone, and the application of an archimedean screw (or its equivalent)
for feeding the grain between the two stones.
Fourthly, the mode or manner of fixing the moveable hopper shoe so that
it may be caused to vibrate upon a pin by means of the horizontal damsel, as
herein-before described.
Fifthly, the combination of the several improvements herein-before contained
as a whole in the construction of a mill, substantially as herein-before set forth
and described.
In witness whereof, 1. the said James Morris, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
MORDIA
Witness,
G. R. HOLLAND,
Patent Office,
Birmingham,
AND
MORRIS