Improvements in "Middlings" Purifiers or Machines for Separating “Middlings,” Semolina, and like Materials in the Manufacture of Flour.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Feb., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 20th Nov., 1894-Accepted, 22nd Dec., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in "Middlings" Purifiers or Machines for Separating
“Middlings,” Semolina, and like Materials in the Manufacture of
Flour.
We, JAMES PORTER ROBINSON, Foreman Miller, and SAMUEL GREENWOOD,
Corn Mill Superintendent, both of the Town Green Corn Mill, near Ormskirk, in
the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention consists in an improved construction of middlings purifiers or
machines for separating middlings semolina and like materials in the manufacture
of flour and has for its object to simplify the construction of and to reduce the
risk of firing in such machines. Our improved machine or apparatus-hereinafter
described-dispenses with the use of silk or sieves dust collectors and the exhaust
fan or air current-heretofore usually employed in such machines-and moreover
requires less driving power.
In carrying out the said invention we employ an oblong box or closed chamber
suitable doors (preferably glazed) being provided so as to afford ready access to the
interior of the apparatus. Over one end of the machine is a hopper and feed
roller through which the material to be treated passes down into the interior of a
stationary drun or cylinder arranged internally across one end of the chamber.
Within the drum is a flanged roller fitted on its periphery with a series of blades
or wings set at an angle. The said roller is caused to revolve at a quick speed
and drives the material received from the hopper above through a slot or opening
Underneath are
in the drum horizontally towards the other end of the chamber.
arranged a series of hoppers each provided at its upper part with a hinged wing
or shutter which may be raised or turned to a more or less vertical position as
required from the outside of the machine the said hoppers each communicating
through suitable exit spouts or pipes with the floor below.
The action of the apparatus as above described is as follows:-As the material
is driven out from the drum the heaviest particles are thrown to the furthest or
last hopper of the series whereas the lightest particles and fine dust fall into the
first or nearest hopper. Thus according to the distance of the several hoppers
from the drum the material thrown out therefrom will be graded in various degrees
of fineness the position- or height of the upper edges of the wings or shutters
being so adjusted as to impede or let pass the material in its passage through the
chamber and so to regulate the quality of the material dropping into each particular
hopper.
It is desirable in practice to admit as little air as possible into the interior of
the chamber so as to prevent any internal air current or disturbance.
Dated this 20th day of February 1894.

page_text: Improvements in "
66
"
Middlings Purifiers or Machines for Separating
Middlings," Semolina, and like Materials in the Manufacture of
Flour.
We, JAMES PORTER ROBINSON, Foreman Miller, and SAMUEL GREENWOOD,
Corn Mill Superintendent, both of the Town Green Corn Mill, near Ormskirk, in
the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention consists in an improved construction of middlings purifiers or
machines for separating middlings semolina and like materials in the manufacture
of flour and has for its object to simplify the construction of and to reduce the
risk of firing in such machines. Our improved machine or apparatus-herein-
after described-dispenses with the use of silk or sieves dust collectors and the
exhaust fan or air current-heretofore usually employed in such machines-and
moreover requires less driving power.
In carrying out the said invention we employ an oblong box or closed chamber
having doors preferably glazed although they may be of any of the usual kinds
employed in middlings purifiers-so arranged as to afford ready access to the
interior of the apparatus. Over one end of the machine is a hopper and feed
roller through which the material to be treated passes down into the interior of a
stationary drum or cylinder arranged internally across one end of the chamber.
Within the drum is a roller fitted on its periphery with a series of wings or blades
set at an angle. The said roller is caused to revolve at a quick speed-say at
from 600 to 650 revolutions per minute-and drives the material received from
the hopper above through a slot or opening horizontally towards the other end of
the chamber. Underneath are arranged a series of hoppers each provided at its
upper part with a hinged wing or shutter which may be raised or turned to a
more or less vertical position as required from the outside of the machine the said
hoppers each communicating through suitable exit spouts or pipes with the floor
below.
'
The action of the apparatus as above described is as follows:-As the material
-is driven out from the drum the heaviest particles are thrown to the furthest or
last hopper of the series whereas the lightest particles and fine dust fall into the
first or nearest hopper. Thus according to the distance of the several hoppers
from the drum the material thrown out therefrom will be graded or separated in
various degrees of fineness the position-or height of the upper edges of the
wings or shutters being so adjusted as to impede or let pass the material in its
passage through the chamber and so to regulate the quality of the material
dropping into each particular hopper.
-
It is desirable in practice to admit as little air as practicable into the interior
of the chamber so as to prevent as far as possible any internal air current or
disturbance.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is a side view (partly in section) of a middlings purifier embodying our
said invention and
Fig. 2 is another similar view shewing certain additions or modifications which
we find in practice to increase the efficiency of the apparatus hereinabove
described.
"In the said figs. A is the closed chamber B the hopper and C the feed roller.
D is the stationary drum or cylinder-open at its upper part to receive the
material from the hopper B-within which is the roller R having on its periphery

page_text: the wings or beaters a a. The material received from the hopper B is driven by
centrifugal force through the horizontal slot or opening 6 which is preferably
provided with a regulating sliding damper c (see Fig. 2). E E are the several
hoppers into which the material falls or drops as it is thrown out horizontally from
the drum D and F F are the hinged wings or shutters which as herein before
stated may be raised or turned to a more or less vertical position as required from
the outside of the machine. G G are the exit spouts or pipes through which the
material from the hoppers E E is conducted away from the apparatus.
At Fig. 2 is shewn the addition of an expansion or eddying chamber H in
which the very finest particles or dust may settle and ultimately deposit themselves
on a tray or platform I extending across the chamber A from side to side whence
they are swept off and drop into the furthest hopper E¹ by the action of a slowly
moving creeper or endless band d and a brush e. f is a partition or division wall
between the hopper E' and its adjoining hopper E³.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. A middlings purifier in which the material to be treated is separated or
graded by being driven or thrown out in a horizontal direction over a series of
receiving hoppers in manner substantially as described and shewn in the drawings.
2. The improved middlings purifier constructed arranged and operating
substantially as described and shewn in the drawings.
Dated this 20th day of November 1894.