IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HULLING AND SCOURING COFFEE AND SIMILAR SUBSTANCES
Year: 1857

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LETTERS PATENT to Robert Porter Walker, of the City and State of New
York, United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR HULLING AND SCOURING COFFEE AND SIMILAR SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 27th October 1857, and dated the 15th May 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Porter Walker at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition; on the
15th May 1857.
I, ROBERT PORTER WALKER, of the City and State of New York, United
States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said 'Invention for
2«IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HULLING AND SCOURING COFFEE OR SIMILAR
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
I make use of a revolving cylinder of wood or other material coated with
wire netting, and carrying hullers or beaters attached at suitable places"
around said cylinder in such a manner that they can be turned and set at
the desired angle to facilitate or retard the discharge of the coffee, as well as
to remove the hulls or husks' which surround the coffee berry. The aforesaid
cylinder and its hullers or beaters revolve in another cylinder formed of wire"
netting, and rotated in the opposite direction to the interior cylinder, so as to
expose the coffee to a beating operation to knock off the hulls, but not to
injure the coffee. The kernels of coffee, after the husk is removed, still retain
a gummy or glutinous coating that has to be removed, and for this purpose

page_text: I attach to the inner cylinder. aforesaid india-rubber or similar elastic
polishers or scourers, which are set at an inclination to the surface of said
cylinder, and are sustained on spring cushions or seats, so as to rub off the
inner coating of the berry and not injure the same. The coffee is supplied
between the said two cylinders at one end by a suitable hopper, and the hulls
and berries delivered at the other, to be separated by winnowing, and all the
dust and fine particles are retained in a tight case surrounding the said
revolving cylinders, and drawn away by a suitable exhaust blower. My
apparatus is thus simple, cheap, and very efficient, and does not injure the
coffee, and leaves the same in a better condition than when scoured by hand.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Porter Walker in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
PORTER WALKER, of the City and State of New York, United States of
America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Porter Walker, Her special license that I, the said Robert
Porter Walker, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Robert Porter Walker, 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 MACHINERY FOR HULLING AND SCOURING COFFEE AND SIMILAR
SUBSTANCES," upon condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Porter
Walker, 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.
NOW KNOW.YE, that I, the said Robert Porter Walker, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction of machinery, by which
the hulls are removed from the coffee berries, and the coffee itself is deprived
of a thin glutinous skin that adheres to the kernels, and the hulls, dust, and
chaff are separated from the coffee. My machine is also adapted to removing
mould or similar substance from coffee berries that have been exposed to
dampness, polishing the coffee, and rendering it fit for roasting; and by my
machinery the coffee is not broken and injured as much as when the hulls or
husks are removed by rubbing by hand.
.
In the Drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my machine without the
blower for winnowing the husks from the coffee; Fig. 2 is a vertical longi-
tudinal section of said machine; Fig. 3 is a cross section at the line a, a, of
Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a cross section at the line b, b, of Fig. 2, shewing the
winnowing apparatus. Similar marks of reference indicate the same parts.
c, c, is a suitable frame of wood or other material, enclosed at its sides and
bottom, as at d, to form a receptacle for dust, dirt, &c., or the same may be
formed by a semicylindrical metallic casing, as shewn in Fig. 1, and by
dotted lines in Fig. 3; e is the main shaft, set in bearings 1, 1, on the
frame c, and rotated with the proper speed by power applied to the drum or
driving pulley f, or otherwise. On this shaft e, heads 9, 9, 9, 9, are placed,'
receiving the interior cylinder h. This cylinder h is formed as a polygon, as
shewn, or may be round, if desired, and is to be covered throughout its entire
length with wire netting to protect the cylinder from wear, as well as to aid
in removing the hulls, &c., from the coffee. The ends of this cylinder h are
closed by a sheet metal disk or similar device to prevent the coffee getting
inside the same. On this cylinder h, beaters i, i, i, are placed at suitable
distances apart, and each beater is composed of a small metallic frame
attached to the cylinder h, and receiving small metallic plates set at an
inclination to the surface of said cylinder, and each of these plates is per-
forated in such a manner as to leave a roughened or rasping surface; k; k,
are flights formed of thin sheet metal, and perforated as aforesaid, and these
being set at suitable distances apart along the cylinder, and in a more or less.
angular position to the shaft (e), either accelerate or retard the delivery of the
coffee. is the outer cylinder surrounding the cylinder h, formed of wire net-
work within the circular supporting frame 6, and between the heads m and n:
These heads m and n have hollow journals 2, 2, surrounding the shaft e, and
running in bearings 3, 3, and the whole cylinder (l. m, n,) is revolved at the

page_text: desired and proper speed by means of a belt 5 or other device acting on the
head n, and giving a motion in the opposite direction to the cylinder h, as
indicated by the arrows, Fig. 3. The head n is formed almost solid except
near the centre, where a circular opening is left, and said head n is connected
to the journal 2 by means of arms 4, 4. Through the said circular opening
in the head n the coffee or similar substances are introduced from the shoot o
which is formed with the cap of the journal 2, and passes the material from
a suitable hopper (a) into the cylinder 7, between that and the cylinder h, and
these cylinders revolving in reverse directions, the coffee berries are exposed
to a severe agitation, which being increased by the rubbers or beaters i,.i, and
flights k, k, removes the hull or husk and also the gummy or glutinous skin
on the coffee kernels themselves, and polishes the same, and the beaters i, i,
and flights k, k, being slightly elastic and yielding, do not break or injure the
coffee or similar material. The fine refuse particles fall through the cylinder
of wire network into the box d, and the coffee and bulls pass out at the
delivery end from between the cylinders and h, in consequence of the diagonal
position of the flights.
In the hulling of coffee particularly there is so much dust that the
attendants are greatly inconvenienced and often injured thereby, I therefore fit
a cover p or semicylindrical casing over the machine, and also a semicircular
end piece q, and I apply a suction blower to draw air out of the space. thus
enclosed, and thus draw away all the dust; for this purpose I apply a fan or
other blower t, driven by a belt from the wheels on the end of the shaft e
(see dotted lines, Fig. 4), and connect with said blower the trunk u from the
box d and space aforesaid, and the dust may be conveyed away by any con-
venient pipe; I, however, prefer to make use of the blast thus generated to
winnow or partially winnow the hulls from the coffee, and to accomplish this
I convey said blast across the machine, as shewn in Fig. 4, in which 8 is the
pipe from the blower; 9 is a screen, through which the blast passes; 10 is
a vertical plate formed semicircularly at its upper edge to set up to the
head m; and r is an inclined plate up which the blast travels, and conveys
away any or all of the hulls, husks, or dirt from the coffee, which falls away
from said head m and runs away by the discharge orifice v, while the blast,
dust, &c., is led away by the pipe w. If my machine is to be used simply for
cleaning coffee of mould, &c., I prefer that a sheet metal covering surround
the wire net cylinder 7 for about three-quarters of its length, as at 7; to cause
a suction of air through between the cylinders by the blower in the opposite
direction to the coffee.
'Having thus described my Invention, what I claim and desire to secure

page_text: by Letters Patent is, the cylinder 7 revolving in opposite directions to the
cylinder h, which is provided with the yielding beaters, rubbers, or flights, as
specified.
I also claim the manner of constructing the head n and supplying shoot 0,
as set forth.
I also claim the manner of arranging the blast to convey away the dust
from the machine, and winnow or partially winnow away the hulls, &c., from
the coffee, as described and shewn.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Porter Walker, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witnesses,
LEMUEL W. SERRELL,
289, Broadway, New York,
THOMAS G. HAROLD,
289, Broadway, New York.
ROBERT P. WALKER. (L.S.)