Improvements in and in the Construction of Purifiers for Middlings, Semolina, or other Mill Products.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Sept., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 12th July, 1894-Accepted, 18th Aug., 1894
:
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and in the Construction of Purifiers for Middlings,
Semolina, or other Mill Products.
I, JAMES JONES of 16 Eaton Road, West Kirby, Cheshire, Milling Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to purifiers such as are commonly known as "middlings
purifiers" or purifiers for middlings sèmolina or other mill 'products for which same
may be suitable and of the type of purifier known as "dustless."
My present invention is as follows:-
In a suitable case or enclosing wall forming the body of the machine I arrange
and mount a trough or receptacle or receptacles at the bottom part thereof for the
purified products which receptacle has an Archimedean screw or other "conveyor "
or suitable means for withdrawing the purified products and also this case encloses
an exhaust fan in the upper part thereof or other suitable means to draw in air at
the lower part and eject same at the top in any well known or other suitable
nanner- all of which parts are (in principle) old and well known and form no part
separately of my present invention.
At the centre or other convenient part of the interior of the case or enclosing
walls forming the body of the purifier I arrange and mount (horizontally or
thereabouts) a sieve or sieves consisting of the ordinary or any suitable kind of
sieve provided with means to vibrate or quickly shake the said sieve or sieves and
means of access to same for feeding thereonto the mill product to be purified and
for cleaning repairing etc. etc.
Over this sieve (or sieves) I arrange and mount so as to closely fit thereonto a
shallow or other suitably shaped secondary air chamber (or chambers) or box which
fits down or is formed to fit down snugly upon the aforesaid vibrating sieve or sieve
Frame or this secondary chamber may be otherwise suitably mounted above said
ieve and either correspondingly vibrate with same or may be stationary.
The special construction and manner of use of this secondary air chamber is as
follows:-
It is made to fit down closely- all round the sieve or it may overlap or extend
beyond the sieve or sieve frame but in any case whether all in one part or if in
everal divisions same is or are caused to approximately fit over and divide off the
ower part of the body of the machine and the aforesaid sieve or sieves from the
xhaust fan etc. in the upper part so that all air (approximately) drawn from
the lower part of the machine to the upper must necessarily pass through the sieve
and said secondary chamber.
For this purpose these secondary chambers have one or more slots or openings
n the top thereof and a reticulated bottom advantageously of perforated metal-
therwise these secondary chambers are entirely closed in.
The operation is as follows:-
The "extractor" (fan etc.) causes or induces an up draught and partial vacuum
n the upper part of the machine above the said sieve and secondary chamber by
means of the aforesaid slots (which may have slide doors or other means to control
and vary the size of these openings) this is communicated to said secondary
chambers and is thereby evenly spread over the entire bottom reticulated surface

page_text: and accordingly exerts or induces an even up-draught all over the sieve (or sieves)
and thereby the dust etc. carried upward by this draught passes up through the
secondary chamber and through the said slots therein out into the upper or
expansion chamber and can there readily expand and the dust or other impurities
etc. falls down or settles upon the top of the said secondary chamber or on other
suitable surfaces (in the expansion chamber) to receive same and is thence shaken
off or brushed or otherwise suitably removed from the said surface-while the air
expelled into the slive room or other place is (approximately) free from dust etc.
· Dated this 19th day of September 1893.
TONGUE & BIRKBECK,
34, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and in the Construction of Puriflers for Middlings,
Semolina, or other Mill Products.
I, JAMES JONES of 16 Eaton Road, West Kirby, Cheshire, Milling Engineer,
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 relates to purifiers such as are commonly known as "middlings
purifiers" or purifiers for middlings semolina or other mill products for which same
may be suitable and of the type of purifier known as "dustless."
My present invention is as follows:-
"
In a suitable case or enclosing wall forming the body of the machine I arrange
and mount a trough or receptacle or receptacles at the bottom part thereof for the
purified products which receptacle has an Archimedean screw or other "conveyor
or suitable means for withdrawing the purified products and also this case encloses
an exhaust fan in the upper part thereof or other suitable means to draw in air at
the lower part and eject same at the top in any well known or other suitable
manner all of which parts are (in principle) old and well known and form no part
separately of my present invention.
At the centre or other convenient part of the interior of the case or enclosing
walls forming the body of the purifier I arrange and mount (horizontally or there-
abouts) a sieve or sieves consisting of the ordinary or any suitable kind of sieve
provided with means to vibrate or quickly shake the said sieve or sieves and means
of access to same for feeding thereonto the mill product to be purified and for
cleaning repairing etc., etc.
Over this sieve (or sieves) I arrange and mount so as to closely fit thereonto a
shallow or other suitably shaped secondary air chamber (or chambers) or box
which fits down or is formed to fit down snugly upon the aforesaid vibrating sieve
or sieve frame or this secondary chamber may be otherwise suitably mounted above
said sieve and either correspondingly vibrate with same or may be stationary.
The special construction and manner of use of this secondary air chamber-or
sieve enclosing chamber-which I term my "air distributing chamber"-is as
follows:-
It is made to fit down closely or formed just over the sieve or it may overlap
or extend beyond the sieve or sieve frame but in any case whether all in one part
or if in several divisions same is or are caused to approximately fit over and divide
off the lower part of the body of the machine and the aforesaid sieve or sieves from
the exhaust fan ete, in the upper part so that all air (approximately) drawn from
the lower part of the machine to the upper must necessarily pass through the sieve
and said air distributing chamber.

page_text: For this purpose this air distributing chamber (or chambers) has one or more
slots or openings on the top thereof and a reticulated bottom or partition of an
openwork character advantageously of perforated metal.
The operation is as follows:-
The "extractor" (fan, etc.) causes or induces an up draught and partial vacuum
in the upper part of the machine above the said sieve and air distributing chamber
by means of the aforesaid slots or openings (which may have slide doors or other
suitable means to control and vary the size of these openings) this is communicated
to said air distributing chamber or chambers and is thereby evenly spread over the
entire bottom reticulated surface and accordingly exerts or induces thence an even
up-draught all over the sieve (or sieves) and thereby the dust etc. carried upward
by this draught passes up through the said sieve enclosing chamber and through
the said slots or openings therein into the upper or expansion chamber and can
there readily expand and the dust (or other impurities) etc. falls down or settles
upon the top of the said air-distributing chamber or on other suitable surfaces (in
the expansion chamber) to receive same and is thence shaken off or brushed or
otherwise suitably removed from the said surface-while the air expelled into the
stive room or other place is (approximately) free from dust etc.
And in order that my present ivention may be easily understood and readily
carried into practice I will proceed to describe same as applied to and carried out
in a purifier of the usual type in which a vibratory sieve extends across the full
width of the interior of the chamber the mill products being fed onto this sieve in
any well-known or suitable manner and such sieve vibrated or shaken in any usual
or suitable manner as is well understood.
Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings hereunto annexed :-
a is the ordinary case or enclosing wall of the purifier.
bare sliding doors to permit access to the interior of the expansion chamber..
c is the converging bottom upon which the sifted products drop and are guided
into the lowermost portion where they are carried away by the conveyor" d
as is well understood.
e is the exhaust fan or air extractor carried on the shaft and rotated by the
driving belt g passing round a pulier on said shaft and also passing round
another pulley h' carried on the shaft which shaft in its turn is revolved by
the driving belt i (driven from any suitable source of power) passing round a
second pulley on said axle a third pulley 3 on this axle driving the belt j
which latter through the pulley k and suitable connections drives the "conveyor" d
and also vibrates the sieve in any well known or suitable manner.
All these parts from a to kare well-known and in themselves form no part
separately of my present invention and may be considerably varied or modified
as desired and same need not therefore be more fully described or illustrated.
m is the sieve carried in the side bearers or sieve frame n n and which all
vibrate together to cause the silting action on the mill products deposited on m
in the usual manner.
Over the sieve m I introduce a reticulated surface or partition o so that the
sieve m is completely separated from the air extractor e by this reticulated
surface or partition o.
This partition o extends over all that part of the sieve m which is subject to
the action of the air drawn through m by the extractor e-the feed end of m
being formed in any suitable way to receive the mill products which are fed to
same in any suitable manner and the tail end of m being arranged in any
suitable manner to drop the "tailings" or mill product remaining at the tail end
of the sieve m.
Over this reticulated partition same is enclosed by the cover pupon the upper
surface of which drop the dust or other impurities or particles carried up by the air
from the mill product on m into the expansion chamber ..
Any suitable number of longitudinal slots or other suitable openings may be

page_text: used but for the sake of example I have illustrated three longitudinal slots in the
top plate p-the passage of the air through each such slot being controlled or
regulated by a kind of V-shaped trough r of reticulated or openwork material each
such trough having an upwardly extending flange on each top edge thereof so
that same rest snugly and closely along the edge of the longitudinal opening or
slot in the said top plate p so that these V-shaped troughs r entirely control
the passage of the air drawn through the sieve m up into the expansion
chamber c.
In order to vary this control the troughs r may be readily removed and
re-placed by others having a larger or smaller number of holes therein or having
holes of a larger or smaller size as may be desired-according to the character of
the mill product and the treatment desired to be imparted thereto.
Or as an alternative these troughs may be formed with any suitable means for
varying the size of the reticulations or openings therein for instance these troughs r
may be made of two reticulated plates as shown in Fig. 2 the one plate s sliding
upon the other plate. so that the position of the boles in s is made to more or less
coincide with the corresponding holes in t and thereby vary the size of the openings
or the passages for the air-one of these plates being slotted and the other carrying
fixed pins or studs travelling in said slots with pinching screws u so as to fix the
said two plates s and t together in any desired position and thereby regulate the size
of the reticulations to any required extent.
Or the size of the reticulations or openings in the sides of the trough » may be
varied in any other equivalent or suitable manner.
This means of regulating the size of these reticulations will be found especially
advantageous in the different treatments desired to be imparted to different mill
products.
On referring to Fig. 1-it will thus be seen that the sieve m the reticulated
partition o cover plate p and troughs (which may be either fixed or merely rest in
said cover p) together with the side bearers n or frame carrying mop are thus
all mounted and vibrated together-the dust etc. deposited on the plate p being
shaken down over the tail end of p by the vibratory movement imparted thereto these
tailings being led into a compartment or other suitable receptacle separate from
that which receives the tailings from the sieve m.
Or as an alternative arrangement the sieve m only may be caused to vibrate or
the sieve and partition o may be caused to vibrate while the cover and troughs r
carried therein are fixed and stationary in which case the dust etc. falling from the
expansion chamber r upon the top of the cover p is removed therefrom by a
mechanical brush or scraper or periodically swept therefrom by hand or in any other
suitable manner.
ppare vertical flanges at the extreme outside edge of p to prevent the dust etc.
deposited on from falling down between same and the inside wall of the chamber
into the purified products below the sieve m.
The operation is as follows:-
The contraction of the air in the chamber (caused by the extractor e) seeks
relief through the sieve m and by reason of my novel interposed air distributing
chamber thereby is caused the even distribution of this force over the upper surface
of the partition o (by means of the adjustable openings at rr) and this latter in its
turn assists the very even distribution of the air equally over the whole sieve and
consequently the air is very evenly drawn through the sieve m at all points and
therefore very thoroughly acting on the mill product on all parts of the sieve m
and effecting a very thorough even and regular purifying action on same and thus
obviating a great drawback in purifiers as heretofore usually constructed; viz. where
the sieve is not evenly covered with the mill product or only partially covered
thereby the air naturally seeks relief through such uncovered part or only partially
covered part and thus the more thickly covered parts do not receive the proper and
equal share of the action of the air whereas by my present improvements a most even

page_text: and regular application of the air is ensured to all the min product anкe a¦ over the
sieve.
Another advantage is that my present improvements may be fitted at small
expense to many of the existing purifiers (to which same may be applicable) and
thereby convert what are now imperfect machines into machines capable of doing
much better work.
If the partition o be omitted very good results will still be obtained by the
troughs distributing an even action of the air all over the sieve m but in practice
I have found that the use of the reticulated partition o is very advantageous.
I wish to point out that in operation I have found no dust-depositing action takes
place in the sieve-enclosing air-distributing chamber i e. between the top or cover p
and the sieve m of said chamber-the expansion of the air and consequent dust-
depositing action taking place only after the dust-laden air has passed upwards
through said regulated slots or outlets such as r (or equivalent) from said sieve-
enclosing chamber.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is;-
1. In a purifier for middlings or other mill products for which same may be
applicable the combination therein of a sieve completely enclosed in au air
distributing chamber with prolonged slots or openings in the top cover of this said
chamber and a reticulated partition or division interposed therein in such a manner as
to completely divide said sieve from said slots or outlets so that the air cannot pass
from the sieve to the slots except through this reticulated division.
2. In a purifier for middlings or other mill products for which same may be
applicable I claim the combination with an air distributing chamber enclosing the
sieve and having prolonged slots or openings in the top thereof of a V-shaped or
other equivalent suitably shaped trough or appliance (such as marked r in the
drawings hereunto annexed) of a reticulated formation adapted to fit into said slots
for the purpose of evenly distributing over the whole sieve the action of the air
drawn through said slots or outlets.
3. In a purifier of the character described for middlings etc.-the combination
with the main expansion chamber of an air distributing chamber enclosing the
vibratory sieve or sieves prolonged slots or openings in the top of said sieve
enclosing chamber and a reticulated partition in the latter chamber so arranged as
to necessitate the air being drawn through such partition thereby to evenly
distribute the action of the air over the whole sieve and means to regulate the
area of said slots substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein before
described.
4. In a purifier for middlings etc.-the combination with a sieve enclosing.
chamber of a reticulated or openwork partition such as o arranged and mounted
within said sieve enclosing chamber substantially in the manner and for the purposes
described.
5. In a purifier for middlings etc. the combination with a sieve enclosing chamber
having prolonged slots or openings in the top thereof of a reticulated or openwork
V-shaped trough such as r adapted to fit into each such slot arranged and mounted
and acting in connection with said sieve enclosing chamber substantially in the
manner and for the purposes herein before set forth.
6. In a purifier of the character described for middlings etc. etc. having a vibratory
sieve or sieves completely enclosed within an air distributing chamber and
completely dividing the upper part of the main chamber froin the lower part
thereof the combination therewith of a reticulated partition such as o a cover such
as p having prolonged slots or openings therein and V-shaped troughs such as r of
reticulated material or of other suitable construction adapted to fit in said slots or
openings substantially in the manner and for the purposes hereinbefore described
and illustrated in the drawings hereunto annexed.

page_text: 7. The improved construction of purifier of the character described for middlings
etc. arranged combined and acting substantially in the manner and for the purposes
herein before set forth.
Dated this 12th day of July 1894.
TONGUE & BIRKBECK,
34, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.