IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DECORTICATING, CLEANING, AND POLISHING RICE AND OTHER GRAIN AND SEEDS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Wace Gray, of 19 and 20, St. Dunstan's
Hill, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR DECORTICATING, CLEANING, AND POLISHING RICE AND
OTHER GRAIN AND SEEDS."
Sealed the 6th March 1874, and dated the 22nd September 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Wace Gray
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd September 1873.
I, JOSEPH WACE GRAY, of 19 and 20, St. Dunstan's Hill, in the City
of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DECORTICATING, CLEANING, AND POLISHING
RICE AND OTHER GRAIN AND SEEDS," to be as follows:-
: This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
decorticating, cleaning, and polishing rice and other grain and seeds.
For this purpose I employ two discs set at a short distance apart, face
to face, like millstones, and one or both of them are caused to revolve.

page_text: The discs may be of wood, iron, or other material coated with a
composition of cement, emery, and glue. The grain or seed to be
decorticated, cleaned, or polished is fed in at the eye or centre of one
of the discs and escapes around their peripheries. The discs are set at
some distance apart so that the grain or seed may not be broken.
The passage of the grain from between the decorticating, cleaning,
and polishing surfaces is regulated to the extent necessary to ensure the
proper amount of friction upon the grain or seed. This may be done by
making the face of the lower disc concave, and that of the upper disc
convex..
Sometimes in place of coating both of the discs with cement and
emery I so coat only one of them, and I cover the other surface with
cork, or with leather, or with skin, with the wool upon it, or with wire
gauze, or with other such like material.
In place of using two discs three or more discs may be similarly
worked, or a single disc revolving in proximity to a fixed bed may be
employed.
I employ also in some cases an apparatus resembling a pestle and
morter. It consists of a fixed bowl with a plunger worked up and down
within it by a crank, and I coat the pestle and the inner surface of the
morter, or one of them, with cement and emery and gluo. I cause the
grain to be supplied by a shoot, and I allow it to escape by an orifice,
which is capable of being adjusted so that the grain may only escape
and pass out of the apparatus when it has been exposed to friction for a
sufficient time.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Wace Gray in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st March 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH 30
WACE GRAY, of 19 and 20, St. Dunstan's Hill, in the City of London,

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Wace Gray, Her special license
that I, the said Joseph Wace Gray, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Wace Gray, 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 DECORTICATING, CLEANING, AND POLISHING RICE AND OTHER
GRAIN AND SEEDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Joseph Wace Gray, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly 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 Joseph Wace Gray, do hereby'
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
decorticating, cleaning, and polishing rice and other grain and seeds.
For this purpose I employ two discs set at a short distance apart, face
to face, like millstones, and one or both of them are caused to revolve.
The discs may be of wood, iron, or other material coated with a
composition of cement, emery, or other such like hard cutting material
(ground glass may be used, but emery is better), and glue or other such
like adhesive matter. The grain or seed to be decorticated, cleaned, or
polished is fed in at the eye or centre of one of the discs, and escapes
around their peripheries. The discs are set at some distance apart so
that the grain or seed may not be broken.
The passage of the grain from between the decorticating, cleaning,
and polishing surfaces is regulated to the extent necessary to ensure the
proper amount of friction upon the grain or seed. This may be done by

page_text: Figure 1 is a plan, and Figure 2 an elevation partly in section of
apparatus arranged according to my Invention.
a, a, a, are three columns carrying the bearings of the vertical shaft b,
which is driven at a considerable velocity by a driving belt passing
around one or other of the belt pulleys 61, 61. The columns also carry
the stationary cast-iron discs c, c, and the shaft carries the corresponding
rotating discs d, d. These discs are coated with a composition con-
sisting by preference of Roman cement one part, of fine emery two
parts, and glue from one-half to one part, according to quality. The
glue should be of the finest quality, and in this case the smaller
proportion will be sufficient. The glue is dissolved in the usual way,
and is then thoroughly united with the other ingredients; the consistency
of the glue should be such that the compound may be semi-fluid, and
in this state it is applied by means of a brush to the discs, and it rapidly
hardens. Several coatings are applied until the discs are covered to the
thickness of half an inch or thereabout; or the composition may be
applied as a dough to the surface of the disc, and in this case a former
is used to mould the dough and press it into close contact with the face
of the disc; a heavy pressure is required.
The distance between the discs of each pair can be adjusted by raising
or lowering the shaft 6 a short distance, its bearing being so formed as
to admit of this adjustment. The rice or other grain or seed to be

page_text: treated is fed by the spout e to the opening in the centre of the upper
disc of the pair, and ultimately it passes out from between the discs at
their peripheries, but it is retained some time between them in con-
sequence of the concave form of the lower disc. The discs are surrounded
by a cage of wire gauze, outside which again there is a close casing.
The dust resulting from the operation passes through the gauze and
away by the spout f, which may be connected with an exhaust fan, or
the draft of air thrown off from the revolving disc may suffice in some
cases to carry off the dust. The grain as it is thrown out from between
the discs strikes the cage and falls down within it, and a small finger on
the periphery of the rotating disc sweeps it round to the spout g,
which carries it on to the next pair of discs or discharges it as the case
may be.
To polish and to separate the remaining dust and meal from the grain
or seed I employ a stationary bed disc of wire gauze, or it may be of
perforated metal suitably supported on rods, and over this I arrange a
revolving disc carrying rubbers.
The rubbers may be of skin with the wool upon it, or they may be
thick, soft, chamois leather, or soft brushes may be used.
In the Drawing 9* is the wire gauze disc, and h the revolving disc
with rubbers. The dust passes through the gauze and is discharged by
the spout i, whilst the grain is delivered by the spout k, to which it is
brought by a finger upon the revolving disc c, as already described. The
disc h is able to slide with a groove and feather upon the shaft b, and
it's distance from the gauze 9* can be adjusted by means of the forked
lever and rod l, l.
Figure 3 shews to a smaller scale a complete machine with six pair of
discs, but the number may be varied. The rice, grain, or seed passes
first to the uppermost discs, and when delivered from between these it
descends to the next pair of discs, which are similar to the first, both
being coated with emery composition. The second pair delivers to a
third pair, but the upper disc in this case is provided with rubbers, and
the lower disc is of gauze. The rice, grain, or seed having been thus
freed from meal and dust passes to a fourth, fifth, and sixth pair of discs
corresponding in all respects to the three upper pairs, and when com
pletely decorticated, cleaned, and polished it is discharged from between
the lowest or sixth pair of discs, the polishing being the final operation.

page_text: Figure 4 is a vertical section of an apparatus which may be used as a
substitute for discs for decorticating and cleaning rice and other grain
and seeds. It consists of a cast-iron pot a about four feet high con-
taining a plunger b, also of iron, and having a motion up and down
communicated to it by means of a crank; these instruments are not
new.
The stroke of the plunger may be six or eight inches, and the Drawing
shews it in its lowest position. Both it and the interior of the pot a or
either of them are coated with composition containing emery or other
such like hard cutting material, by preference I use the composition
already described.
a¹ is a metal plug with a conical head fitted into the bottom of the
pot; it can be changed and a new one substituted when it becomes
worn. a² is an aperture in the side of the pot; it is fitted with a door,
which is opened when the operation is complete to discharge the rice, 1
grain, or seed.
What I claim is, the use of discs mounted horizontally and coated
with a composition containing emery or other such like cutting material,
such discs acting to decorticate and clean rice and other grain or seeds,
all substantially as described.
I also claim the forming such discs concave and convex, substantially
as described.
I also claim the construction of machinery for decorticating, cleaning,
and polishing rice and other grain and seeds, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Wace Gray, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
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