IMPROVEMENTS IN MEASURING, AND MIXING, CRUSHING GRINDING. AND PULVERIZING WHEAT AND OTHER SUBSTANCES." CRUSHING GRINDING. AND PULVERIZING WHEAT AND OTHER Substances
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joel Spiller, of Battersea, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEASURING, AND MIXING,
CRUSHING GRINDING. AND PULVERIZING WHEAT AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
CRUSHING GRINDING. AND PULVERIZING WHEAT AND OTHER Substances."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joel Spiller at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
January 1854.
I, JOEL SPILLER, of Battersea, in the County of Surrey, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MEASURING, AND MIXING, CRUSHING, GRINDING, AND PULVERISING WHEAT AND
OTHER SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist, firstly, of a machine I call a meter, for drawing
or taking from any general bulk of grain or other matter any determined
quantity in a given time.
This meter consists of a solid cylinder, with projecting blades or floats, some-
what resembling a paddle wheel, revolving in a hollow cylinder or otherwise,
and is placed at or near the end of the delivery spout. As the said wheel
revolves, the cavities between the blades or floats are filled at one part of the
circumference and discharged at another part.

page_text: The quantity delivered in any given time is determined by the speed of the
wheel, which speed is adjustable, and when a mixture of different sorts of wheat
or other matter is required, I employ as many meters as there are sorts,
giving to each such speed as shall produce the relative proportions required in
such mixture.
Secondly, of a machine I call a crusher, the axis of which is generally
placed above and concentrically with the mill-stones. The wheat or grain to be
ground first passes through this crusher, and then falls through the eye of the
runner, to be ground in the usual way.
This crusher consists of a short solid cylinder fluted on its circumferential
surface, and fixed to the upper end of a vertical spindle. The lower end of the
spindle is coupled to the driving bar of the runner or other gear of the mill-
stones in such manner that the rotation of the runner stone shall cause the
said spindle and cylinder to rotate also. The fluted cylinder is surrounded by
a fixed casing of sufficient internal capacity to allow the grain to enter freely
between it and the cylinder. In the said casing are two or more abutment
pieces, in depth equal to the length of the cylinder. The rotation of, the
cylinder causes the grain to be drawn or forced between it and the abut-
ment pieces, whereby it is crushed. By certain arrangements in the casing,
the distance between the abutment pieces and the cylinder is adjustable so as
to produce a greater or less amount of crushing effect, and also to adapt the
crusher to different sizes of grain; also the abutment pieces are kept up to
their work by springs, which yield to admit of the passage of any substance
harder than grain, and prevent breakage of the machinery.
Thirdly, of an improved "dress" or mode of furrowing the grinding surfaces
of mill-stones.
In ordinary practice, the conformation and relative position of the furrows of
the fixed and runner stones are identical. All the furrows are straight, and
each series form a different angle with a radius line.
In my improved "dress," one of the stones has all curved furrows, and the
other stone all straight furrows. The mean angle formed by each and all the
curved furrows to a radius line on the stone in which they are cut is the same,
and the angle formed by each, and all the straight line furrows to a radius line,
is also constant.
The improvement consists of combining the action of curved line furrows on
the face of one stone with straight line furrows on the face of the other,
whereby the matter grinding has a more uniform "draft" to the circumference
of the stones.
Fourthly, of an improvement in the mode of treating or pulverizing

page_text: 'middlings" or "sharps." In grinding wheat, a portion of the available
part of the kernel is not sufficiently reduced to form flour, and in the act of
dressing the meal such portion is separated, and named "middlings" or
sharps," which are generally ground over again by the ordinary mill-
stones.
My improvement has reference to the substances employed in forming
pulverising surfaces, and to the mode of furrowing such surfaces for. pul-
verising such "middlings" or "sharps."
The substances I employ are marble, glass, and ivory, each of the substances
being employed separately or together.
The effects produced by the employment of the substances named are, an
increased quantity of flour of a better colour from any given quantity or
"middlings" or "sharps" than can be obtained by the ordinary mill-
stones..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joel Spiller in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOEL
SPILLER, of Battersea, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Joel Spiller, Her special license that I, the said Joel Spiller,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joel
Spiller, 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
MEASURING, AND MIXING, CRUSHING, GRINDING, AND PULVERISING WHEAT AND
OTHER SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joel
Spiller, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joel Spiller, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
First, my Invention relates to improvements in the construction and applica-
tion of machinery for measuring out or drawing from any general bulk of
grain any determined portion in a given time..
Secondly, to improvements in the construction and application of machinery
for crushing or bruising wheat or other grain, preparatory to its being
ground.
Thirdly, to improvements in the form and position of the furrows on the
grinding surfaces of mill-stones.
Fourthly, to the employment of certain substances in lieu of the ordinary
mill-stones, for pulverising or reducing middlings to the state of flour usually
termed "double grinding."
In order to render the first part of my Invention more easily understood, I
remark that it is often found advantageous to mix different sorts of wheat
together in certain relative proportions before grinding them, the flour made
from such mixture being of the more uniform and better quality than could be
obtained otherwise. Now, the first part of my Invention relates to certain
mechanical contrivances for making such mixtures embodied in a machine I
call a meter. In the annexed Drawing Fig. 1 represents a side elevation in
section; Fig. 2, a front elevation in section; and Fig. 3, an outside front view
of the meter complete.
A, Fig. 1, is a species of wheel composed of a centre boss with six webs
projecting from it, and which I shall herein-after call the regulator. B, a
spindle on which the regulator is keyed fast. C is a hollow cylinder or case
for the regulator to work in, having two flat passages D and E (see also
section). F and G, Fig. 3, are two conical pulleys; and H is a leather strap
of the ordinary description.
To give effect to the meter, it must be placed at some convenient distance
below the bin containing the bulk of grain to be drawn off or measured, and
communication between the meter and the bin formed by a pipe or wooden
trunk I, in which is a stop or slide J, for intercepting the passage of the grain
when required. The conical pulley F is supposed to be hung upon some shaft
of the mill having a convenient and uniform speed by which, and the leather
strap II, motion is communicated to the other conical pulley G, and the regu-
lator. In this state of things, if the slide J be drawn out the grain will

page_text: descend by its own gravity, pass through the flat passages, and fill the spaces
between the webs of the regulator, and by the same motion and gravitating
power be discharged through the flat passage E. The quantity of grain
delivered in a given time is determined by the size and speed of the meter;
for all ordinary purposes a sufficient variation in the quantity discharged or
measured is obtained by the regulation of the speed only, or shifting the strap
lengthwise on the conical pulleys. The Drawing represents a meter of suffi-
cient capacity to deliver one-tenth of a bushel at each revolution, or ninety
bushels per hour, when set to fifteen revolutions per minute. By reducing the
speed, the same meter may be made to deliver five or a less number of bushels
per hour. I employ as many meters as there are sorts of wheat to be mixed,
giving to each the necessary speed to produce the required quantity. When
convenient, I cause the meters to discharge into one trunk sufficiently inclined
for the whole to mix and run off at one end. In other cases I apply a creeper
screw to mix and carry it off. In some cases I attach a counter to the meter,
to register the quantity of grain passed through it, as represented on the right-
hand side of Fig. 3. This counter is put into motion by the tangent screw K,
cut on the end of the regulator spindle acting on the wheel L, and is adapted
to register from one to ten thousand bushels.
The second part of my Invention of improvements in machinery for crush-
ing or bruising grain preparatory to its being ground is embodied in a machine
I call a crusher, which, in the annexed Drawing, is represented as applied to a
pair of ordinary mill-stones..
Fig. 4 is a plan of the crusher complete; Fig. 5, a plan section of the main
working parts; Fig. 6 is an elevation, partly in section, and partly an outside
view; Fig. 7 is an elevation of the clutch plates for connecting the crusher to
the driving bar of the runner stone; Fig: 8 is a plan of the same; Fig. 9, a
plan of the lower clutch plate; Fig. 10, an elevation of the crusher, shewing
its connection to a pair of mill-stones and feeding apparatus complete; Fig. 11
is a plan of the same.
This crusher consists of a short fluted cylinder M, Fig. 5, which I call the
tumbler, revolving in the hollow cylinder or shell N. The latter. has two flat
passages 0, 0, in which two flat bolts P; P, are fitted; Z, Z, Z, Z, Z, are
cross heads, side bolts, and spiral springs to force the bolts towards the tum-
bler; QQ, two flat keys to regulate the distance between the ends of the flat
bolts and tumbler; R, upright spindle for connecting the tumbler with the
driving bar; S, pipe for conveying grain to the crusher; T, lever for regulating
the feed; U, U, stay rods to hold the crusher concentrically over the mill-
stones. If, now, the hopper, and feed-pipe S be supplied with grain, the mill-

page_text: stones started, and the feed pipe raised to allow of sufficient grain passing
under it, such grain will be carried out on the upper surface of the tumbler by
centrifugal force, and fall down into the two opposite spaces V, V, between the
tumbler and the shell, and by the motion and flutes of the tumbler be carried
forward and forced through the small space between the tumbler and the ends
of the flat bolts; and the said space being adjustable by the keys Q, Q, the
grain may be crushed to any extent required. After being crushed, the grain
falls by gravitation through the two channels W, W, and thence between the
stones to be ground. The flat bolts P, P, are kept up to their work by the
springs, side bolts, &c.; but in the event of a nail or other hard substance
getting into the crusher causing more than the usual pressure for crushing the
grain, the flat bolts will recede by the yielding of the spiral springs, so as to
allow of such hard substance passing through without doing injury. The
uncrushed grain is prevented from falling into the channels W, W, by two
projecting bits cast on the cover over the tumbler. In Fig. 7, 8, 9, is repre-
sented the clutch or driver I employ for connecting the crusher with the upper
mill-stone, the principle of which is that of equalizing the driving pressure on
each side the centre of motion, a very important object in this instance.
I make no claim to the Invention of the said clutch, which is known by the
name of "Clements chuck."
The third part of my Invention relative to the form and position of the
furrows on grinding surfaces of mill-stones is shewn in the annexed Drawing.
Fig. 12 represents the grinding surface of a runner stone; and Fig. 13,
that of a bed stone, both with the improved furrows to work together as
"a pair."
To elucidate more clearly the nature and object of this improvement, I
remark, that the universal practice is to make the furrows in the runner and
bed stone as nearly alike as possible; that is, generally, to divide the circum-
ference into ten equal parts, and cut ten straight furrows from the circumference
or "skirt" to the "
'eye."
These are called master furrows, and deviate about three inches from a
radial line, which is called the "draft;" the spaces between the furrows are
termed "harps," in each of which is cut three shorter furrows parallel to the
master furrows and each other, as represented by Fig. 16. In the ordinary
process of grinding the matter enters by the "eye," and is delivered at the
"skirt" of the mill-stones; it is carried out thus by two distinct forces, that is
to say, the centrifugal and that of the inclined plane. With uniform velocity
of the mill-stones the centrifugal force is constant; but the inclined force in
this case varies at similar parts of the stones surface in proportion to the

page_text: different angles at which the furrows are cut and cross cach other when the
stones are in motion, producing considerable irregularity in the draft of the
matter towards the "skirt." To remedy the defect just described is the object
of the improved position of the furrows represented in Fig. 12 and 18. In
the runner, Fig. 12, the feather edge of every furrow is cut to a radial line,
and every furrow on the bed stone to one and such a curve as will produce but
not exceed the necessary "draft" of the matter grinding. The improved furrows
produce perfectly uniform "draft" at all points of any concentric circle on the
stone's surface, whereby better work is produced than by stones of the same
quality furrowed in the ordinary way..
In order to describe the fourth and last part of my Invention, or the
employment of certain substances in lieu of the ordinary mill-stones for pul-
verising or reducing middlings to a state of flour, I remark, that in grinding
wheat by the most. perfect means yet known, a portion of its kernel escapes
out of the mill not fine enough for flour, and in the process of dressing the
meal such portion is separated from the other products, and termed middlings.
These are usually ground over again by the ordinary mill-stones, but the flour
produced from such "double grounds" is always of an inferior quality to the
main bulk. By a close examination of middlings, they will be found to con-
tain some minute portions of bran and other matter of a wirey appearance,
which, by the grinding action of the ordinary stones, is so reduced in the
double grinding as to pass through with the flour in dressing, to the injury
both of its color and quality.
My improvement consists in the employment of marble (of which I give
preference to the white), in lieu of the ordinary mill-stones, that substance
having the necessary qualities for pulverising the wheat kernel portion of the
middlings, without reducing in like manner the tougher particles of bran, &c.;
the colored matter is, therefore, more easily separated in dressing, and flour of
a better color and quality obtained by the employment of marble for double
grinding. The position and number of furrows I employ in the said marble
stones are represented in the annexed Drawing.
Fig. 14 is the runner, having forty straight line furrows; and Fig. 15, the
bed stone, having twenty curved furrows. These Figures represent stones
three feet diameter, which I find sufficient to pulverise two sacks of middlings
per hour.
I also employ glass or glass surfaces for the purpose of pulverising,
as above described. The glass is cast in one piece, or moulded into segmental
pieces embracing two or more furrows each, and cemented together on a
backing of stone or other convenient material.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said

page_text: Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom, without
deviating from the principles or main features of my said Invention; but what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general arrangement or combination of the parts comprising the
machine I call a meter, for measuring out a determinate quantity of grain by
self-acting machinery; but I do not confine myself to the particular size or
shape of the regulator, as described, but I claim the application of any con-
veniently shaped regulator rotating in a cylinder or portion of a case for this
purpose.
Secondly, the general arrangement and combination of parts for crushing
grain by a cylinder rotating between abutment pieces pressed up by a regulated
power, and capable of receding by excess of pressure, and the mode of con-
necting the spindle of the crusher with the runner, as described. I do not
limit myself to the cylindrical form of the tumbler, which may be conical or
otherwise, nor to the number of abutments, which may be increased if thought
advisable.
Thirdly, the combination of straight lines in one of a "pair" of mill-
stones, and curved lines in the other, so as to improve the "draft," as described.
I do not limit myself to the number or curve of the furrows, which depend
upon the size and texture of the stones.
Fourthly, the employment of marble or glass for pulverising middlings, as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joel Spiller, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Nineteenth day of July One thousand eight hundred and