IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLS OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING MID- DLINGS AND GRAIN, PARTLY APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES.
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Henry Fenwick at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th January 1878.
ROBERT HENRY FENWICK, of Dublin, in the County of Dublin, Ireland, Miller
and Millwright. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLS OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING MID-
DLINGS AND GRAIN, PARTLY APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES.
My Invention has reference, first, to the use for supporting the rollers in mills, or
apparatus for crushing or grinding middlings and grain of roller-neck bushes or
antifriction bearings, constructed and arranged as herein-after described; secondly,
to the method of adjusting such bearings for the purpose of regulating the pressure
of the crushing or grinding rollers; and thirdly, to means for reducing the mid-
dlings after they have passed between the said rollers.
According to the first part of my Invention each crushing or grinding roller
bearing is composed of a series of conical antifriction rollers (frustums of cones)
arranged between a couple of suitably connected slotted rings or annular plates,
within a box of cast iron or other suitable material; this box is of rectangular form
externally, but of circular form internally, the diameter gradually increasing from
one end towards the other end of the box. The axis of the crushing or grinding
roller passes through the centre of the box, and is surrounded by the conical anti-
friction rollers; those surfaces of the peripheries of these rollers adjacent to the
crushing or grinding roller axis are parallel to it; the axes of the antifriction
rollers are situated angularly relatively to the axis of the crushing or grinding
roller.
The edges or peripheries of the rings or annular plates are formed with open-
ended radial slots to receive the axes of the conical antifriction rollers. On these
axes the said rollers run loose, and the said axes being set in an inclined position as
described, the antifriction rollers, as they rotate, each on its respective axis, and all
arranged around the crushing or grinding roller axis as described, will present their
peripheries to the said axis perfectly parallel, while their outer surfaces will bear
against the inclined internal surfaces of the box. By this arrangement the weight
or pressure of the crushing or grinding roller axis is transmitted directly through
the diameters of the conical antifriction rollers to the internal surface of the box in
D...931

page_text: contact with which the said conical rollers travel, thus saving wear and tear. It
will be observed the antifriction rollers rotate upon their own axes besides having
a motion around the axis of the crushing or grinding roller.
The position of the group of antifriction rollers in its conical box is adjusted by
means of set screws suitably operated, so that when my improved neck-bushing is
employed for horizontal shafting, the true position of the group of antifriction
rollers in the said box can be maintained, and the lateral play of the shafting
regulated at pleasure.
According to the second part of my Invention I mount the above-described anti-
friction bearings or roller neck-bushes on suitably constructed framework, for the
reception of the shafts, spindles, or journals of the crushing or grinding rollers. The
bearings to support the one crushing or grinding roller of each pair are fixed to the
framework of the machine, while the bearings which support the other roller of the
pair are capable of movement in suitably formed guides. A long flat compound or
other spring is secured by its centre to the framework in front of and parallel to
the moveable roller, and the ends of this spring are caused to act by pressure against
rods which in their turn act on the moveable bearing boxes, and thus regulate the
pressure of the crushing or grinding surfaces.
According to the third part of my Invention I mount a pair of discs of Cologne
stone on the framework of the machine. The lower disc is caused to revolve, being
keyed to a suitable shaft or spindle which receives motion at its lower end through
the medium of a belt or other means. The upper disc is fixed stationary to a
suitable frame, and has its lower face provided with brushes, the action of which on
the lower revolving disc completely breaks up and reduces the middlings, which are
fed on to the top stationary disc near its centre, and carried by the centrifugal force
towards the circumferences of said discs.
It will be obvious my Invention, especially the first part thereof, may be applied
to shafts of different kinds for various purposes.