CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF PREPARING AND CLEANSING RICE
Year: 1830

page_text: 10 ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
SHEILS, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS, in consequence of a communication made to me by a foreigner
residing abroad, I am in possession of an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PROCESS OF PREPARING AND CLEANSING RICE," and whereas His present
most Excellent Majesty King. William the Fourth, by His Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifth
day of August; in the first year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs, and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Sheils, His especial
licence, that I, the said Charles Sheils, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Sheils, my executors, adminis-
trators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all-His said Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, the said Invention; in which said Letters Patent is. con-
tained a proviso, obliging. me, the said Charles Sheils, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be enrolled in His said. Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Sheils, do hereby declare the nature of, the said Invention to consist
in rubbing off the inner pellicle or skin of what is called shelled rice, by sub-
mitting it to friction or trituration between one hard and one soft or elastic
surface. And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Charles 5
Sheils, do hereby describe the manner in which the said Invention is to be
performed by the following description thereof (that is to say) :-
After paddy or rough rice has been sifted through a screen of wire cloth in.
the ordinary way to separate it from the defective light rice and dust or sand,
it usually descends or is conveyed to a pair of millstones for the purpose of
shelling or removing the external husk or shell from the stones, and then
passes a wind fan to separate the chaff or outer husk from the shelled rice,
which is next conveyed to a screen of wire cloth of two degrees of fineness; the
finest part, being at the most clevated end, is adapted is adapted to let out the
dust or sand, and the lower or coarser part to allow the shelled rice to pass
through, and such grains as may have escaped from the stones without being
shelled not to pass through this wire cloth, but to be delivered at its lower end,
to be returned again to the stones, and the process so far described has been
known and used for a long period of time.. But at this part of the process
the said improvements are introduced, and it should be stated that rice has also
an internal pellicle or skin, which, although very thin, requires.to.be-removed
before it is fit for culinary use, and which is not effected by the previous
operation of the stones or screens, but which I perform as follows:-I place
the shelled rice between a millstone, commonly called the bedstone, and a
runner made of wood or other substance, faced of covered with sheep skins
with the wool on, or any such other elastic substance which will press the rice,
whirled in rapid motion, close against the bedstone, not so hard as to break
the rice, but sufficiently so to cause the grain to be rubbed while in rapid
motion close against the stone, which takes off the extraneous substance from
'the grains, leaving the pearly substance of the grain bright and clear; this
process is to be repeated as many times as the quality or state of the rice
requires, and it should be screened and fanned between each operation; the rice
is then in the ordinary manner to pass through screens and fans to the spout
which delivers into the barrel or sack. The application of this Invention may
be varied by making the runner of stone, and what would otherwise be the
bedstone of wood or other substance, faced with sheep skins with the wool on,
or any such other elastic substance which will press the rice in close contact
with the stone. The bedstone and runner which have been used by the
Inventor are six feet in diameter, and the runner moves at the rate of one

page_text: hundred and twenty revolutions per minute, though it is not limited to any
particular dimensions or speed, but these have been found to answer every
purpose. The bedstone being stationary may be of any shape, provided its
face is oval and of as much or greater dimensions than the runner. It is only
necessary further to state that when sheep skins are used, the skin should
come in contact with the rice, and not the wool, which is only intended to serve
as a cushion or elastic back or support to the skin.
Now, whereas I claim as the Invention aforesaid the taking-off the pellicle
or skin of shelled rice by means of the wooden runner or bedstone, as the case
may be, with the sheep skins or other such elastic covering as aforesaid; and
such Invention being to the best of my knowledge and belief entirely new, and
never before used within that part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England, His said Dominion of Wales, or
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, nor in any of His said Majesty's Colonies or
Plantations abroad, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the
same, and that I do verily believe this my said Specification doth comply in
all respects, fully and without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby
claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to the said Invention.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-
fourth day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-one.
Signed, sealed, and delivered in the
presence of
C. W. CLAY, Sol., Liverpool.
W. H. GROGAN, his Clerk.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-fourth day of
January, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Charles Sheils came
before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inselled the Twenty-ninth day of January. in the year above written.