IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR SEPARATING CORN FROM STRAW
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBINSON, of Halsham, in Holderness, in the East Riding of the County of
York, Machinist and Agricultural Instrument Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Eleventh day of January, in the
fourteenth year of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, my exors, adñors,
and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said William Robinson, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said William Robinson, my exors, admors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britian and Ireland called England, the Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in Her said Majesty's Islands
of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR SEPARATING CORN FROM STRAW;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso that if I, the said William Robinson, shall not
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, and cause the same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after

page_text: the date of the said recited Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent,
and all the privileges and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should
utterly cease, determine, and become void, any thing therein-before contained to
the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding, as by the said Letters Patent,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Robinson, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawing therein referred to.
My improved machinery for separating corn from straw consists of a series of
rollers or axles, with leaves, commonly called flaps or flies, moving in the same
direction, whereby the straw as it leaves the threshing machine is received
and shaken so as to separate the corn from the straw.
In the apparatus
shewn in the Drawing there are two sets or series of rollers or axles, one set
or series having three leaves each (marked A, A), and the other set or series
having two leaves each (marked B, B), with their axes all on the same level.
Each roller is about six and a half inches in diameter, and of the same length
as the beaters of the drum of the threshing machine to which it is to be
attached. The flaps revolve ou iron axles which project beyond the ends of
the flaps, and work through brass bushes placed on the outside rails, which
go all the length of the sides of the trough or frame herein-after described.
These axles constitute the middle or centre of each flap, and the flaps in their
revolutions move uniformly and in circles. The number of flaps is regulated
by the length which may be required of the straw shaker. The flaps are
placed at the distance of about half an inch from each other, for the purpose of
enabling them to work without touching one another. When in motion the
flaps all revolve the same way round, and in a direction from that end of the
frame or trough where the straw enters. Upon the straw entering into the
frame or trough it is beaten or shaken by the successive rising of the sides
or edges of the flaps, whereby the grain is separated from it and falls upon
the floor beneath the straw, being at the same time propelled or carried
forward by the. rotary motion of the flaps. The frame or trough confines the
straw in its passage over the flaps, and consists of two sides (marked C, C,)
made of wood, placed at the ends of and rising about ten and a half inches
above the centres, and four inches below the centres of the flaps, legs and rails
of wood are framed together and the sides of the trough are bolted on to them.
On each side of the trough is a rail two inches square which projects one
and a half inches from the sides of the trough, and brass bushes are placed

page_text: in those rails for the ends of the axles to revolve in.
Toothed or cog
wheels (marked D, D, D, D, D, D,) are wedged on to the axles on
one side, so as to work between the rail and the side of the trough, which
are connected together and worked by intermediate toothed or cog wheels
(marked E, E, E, E, E, E, E,) which go between the said rail and side of
the trough, and are put in motion either by hand or by any means used to
drive machinery of a similar kind, through the assistance of the sheeve F.
Uniformity of motion is by these means given to the flaps, which work
simultaneously. Cast-iron flanged wheels (marked G, G, G,) are fixed on to
the iron axles at each end of the flaps, and the ends of the leaves of the flaps
are made fast to those flange wheels with screws or rivets, and a series of
round boles are cut through the sides of the trough C, C, of about four inches
diameter, for the circular part of the flange wheels at each end of the flaps
to revolve in, to prevent straw from lapping or getting entangled at the ends
of the flaps. The axles of the flaps are made of round malleable iron five
eighths of an inch in diameter. The middle or centre flap, where the sheeve
is fixed, has a round malleable iron axle of seven eighths of an inch in
diameter. These flaps, as shewn in the Drawing, are set in motion by a
series of cog wheels, but it will be obvious that the flaps may be set in motion
by a strap applied as is well understood in driving machinery; also the
dimensions of the flaps may be varied; but I would observe that the straw
should be moved uniformly forward, which will be the case if the edges of
the flaps move with the same linear velocity, as is well understood by
mechanicians.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what
I claim as my Invention is a series of flaps or flies in a frame arranged and
contrived in such manner as to receive the straw from the threshing machine,
and separate the corn therefrom as the straw is carried forward, as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robinson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of June, in
the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid William Robinson came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the "Spécification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
T
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