IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HULLING, POLISHING, AND SIZING COFFEE, AND FOR SEPARATING OR REMOVING THE REFUSE MATERIALS THEREFROM
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st February 1880. A communication
from abroad by Charles Fleming Hargreaves, of Rio de Jaueiro, in the Empire
of Brazil.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, Londou. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HULLING,
POLISHING, AND SIZING COFFEE, AND FOR SEPARATING OR REMOVING THE REFUSE
MATERIALS THEREFROM." [A communication from abroad by Charles Fleming
Hargreaves, of Rio de Janeiro, in the Empire of Brazil.]
My Invention relates to improved machinery for hulling, polishing, and sizing
coffee, and for removing the hulls and refuse materials therefrom to prepare the
coffee for the market.
In carrying the said Invention into practice I provide a strong frame, preferably
of wood, upon which all the mechanism is mounted. At the lower part of one end
of the frame work a hopper is provided, into which the unhusked coffee with all
the refuse matters usually accompanying the same is shot. In connection with
this hopper there is an elevator, consisting of scoops or buckets attached to and
travelling with an endless chain or baud, which passes over suitable pulleys. The
coffee with all the refuse materials is conveyed from the hopper by the said con-
veyor to the upper part of the framework, and is deposited into a hopper placed
there for the purpose. From this upper hopper the unhusked coffee with the
matters accompanying the same falls into a chamber, in which the operation of
detaching the hulls or husks from the berries is effected by mechanism constructed
as follows, that is to say -I provide within this chamber a grooved disc of metal,
which is fixed upon a shaft suitably connected with the driving shaft of the
machine, so that the said disc shaft and disc will have a continuous rotary motion.
This shaft is fixed horizontally in suitable bearings, and the disc revolves in a
vertical plane. An india-rubber circular plate covered with a sheet of steel wire
gauze is fixed on a wooden frame or block placed opposite to the said rotating
disc in such a manner that the latter and the plate are face to face. The said
india-rubber plate is stationary, and the coffee passes between its face and that of
the rotary disc. The rotation of the latter causes the coffee to be rubbed against
.

page_text: the wire gauze on the stationary plate in such a manner that the husks or hulls
are thereby loosened and detached. The india-rubber is provided in order that
berries of different sizes may all be effectually acted upon. From this chamber the
berries, hulls, and all impurities pass into a sieve beneath the said hulling chamber.
This sieve is a double one, that is to say, there is one sieve placed above another
in one frame, the meshes of the lower sieve being of finer grade than those in the
upper one. These sieves extend longitudinally along the machine, and are attached
to arms pivotted to the frame work of the same, the arms being so connected with
movable parts of the mechanism that the sieves have imparted to them a sidewise
rocking motion, so that their contents are being continually thrown from side to
side. As hereinbefore stated the berries, hulls or husks, and impurities fall together
from the hulling chamber into the aforesaid upper sieve, whence the husked coffee,
small husks, dirt, sand, and the like pass into the lower sieve. The large husks
and any coffee which may by any chance have passed through the huller without
the husks being detached are, by the rocking action of the sieve, thrown into the
elevator to be again passed through the huller. The husked coffee and all
inatters as aforesaid which are now in the lower sieve become separated from the
stones, dir, and other matters smaller than the berries, and fall through the meshes
of this sieve. These refuse substances fall upon an inclined shoot, whence they
escape to the ground outside the machine. The coffee, together with any husks
remaining in the lower sieve, passes out of the end of the latter into a third sieve,
below which is also connected to the pivotted arms carrying the frame containing
the two first named sieves. The sieves are all inclined longitudinally, the two in
the one frame being inclined in one direction, and the third sieve in the opposite
direction. A fan or blower is arranged in front of the third or lowest sieve, and
directs a constant blast of air along the same in a direction contrary to that in
which the coffee travels. The sidewise rocking motion given to the sieve causes
all the lighter substances to rise to the surface of the mass, and as they rise they
are caught by the blast from the blower and blown away, the coffee and any heavy
foreign matter passing downward along the sieve, whence it falls into a passago
leading into a second clevator, which carries it into another hopper at the upper
part of the framework. From this hopper the coffee falls into a cylinder whose
internal surface is lined with wire gauze. A shaft passes centrally from end to
end of this cylinder, extending outside one end thereof, where it is provided with
a bevel gear wheel gearing with a bevel wheel on the driving shaft. This internal
shaft is furnished with brushes arranged in such a position that they almost touch
the wire gauze.
The shaft rotates, carrying with it the said brushes, which thus
cause the coffee to be carried around, and it is thus rubbed and brushed, and so
the dust and any small husk or dirt which may have been carried up with the
coffee is removed therefrom, the coffee being thus well polished without any danger
of its being broken or injured. The dirt and any other impurities pass out of
the cylinder through the meshes of the wire. This cylinder is placed in an
inclined position, so that the cleaned and polished coffee descends gradually therein
to the lower end, whence it passes out of the cylinder, falling into a sieve fixed in
a frame, which is connected by a rod to one of the pivotted arins which rock the
three sieves herein before mentioned. A rocking sidewise motion is therefore also
given to the said sieve below the polishing cylinder, which sieve is also inclined
longitudinally.
A second fan or blower is arranged in front of this sieve, and acts upon the
coffee as it gradually passes down the same. This blast cools the berries and
removes any dust therefrom which may have accompanied them from tho cylinder.
The berries pass from this sieve into a cylindrical separator, which is caused to
revolve, and divides the coffee into the three ordinary market sizes.
Motion is given to all moving parts of the machine from a main shaft arranged
outside the frame-work, which shaft may be driven by a steam engine or by any
other suitable motor.

page_text: I prefer to so construct the frame work that it may be connected by bolts and
nuts to provide for readily setting up and taking down the parts as required.
I prefer to make all the sieves of concave form on their upper sides.
It will be seen that the operations are entirely automatic. The unhusked coffee,
with the usual foreign substances accompanying the same, is placed in the hopper
at one end of the machine, and the coffee is delivered at the other end ready for
the market.
The machine will thus prepare from four to five tons of coffee per day of
twelve hours.