IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR HUSKING OR HULLING COFFEE
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Clayton Mewburn, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City.
of London, Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR HUSKING OR HULLING COFFEE." A com-
munication from abroad by Julio E. Vassaux, of Guatemala.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Clayton Mewburn at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st November 1879.
JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR HUSKING OR
Hulling CoffEE." [A communication from abroad by Julio E. Vassaux, of
Guatemala.]
This Invention has reference to the construction of a conical machine with sifter
for husking or bulling coffee.
The improved machine is constructed as follows:-Upon a suitable frame is
mounted a conical casing, within which, placed concentrically, is a cone carried by
a horizontal shaft or spindle. The casing has two openings at the top, viz., one at
the small end, to which a feed hopper is fitted, and another at the large end, to
which an outlet spout is fitted, the size of the outlet being made adjustable if
required. The inside of the casing, except at the lower part, is formed with
grooves or flutes extending from end to end thereof and preferably spiral. The
lower part of the casing, except near the small end, consists of a sifter, the openings.
in which are longitudinal, about 1 th of an inch wide and about 3/4ths of an inch
apart.
The periphery or acting face of the cone is composed of spirals (6, more or less),
and these spirals have grooves or flutes extending from end to end thereof. The
diameter of the cone is such that there is a suitable distance, say half an inch,
between the lands of the grooves in the casing and cone respectively, to receive and
properly act upon the coffee husks, and the grooves and lands must be properly
formed to remove the husks from the berries without breaking or crushing the
latter. The distance between the casing and the cone is regulated or adjusted as
required by means of a screw which acts against the end of the cone shaft.
The action of the machine is as follows:-The hopper being supplied with the
coffee to be husked or hulled rotary motion is imparted to the cone in any
convenient manner, the result of which is that the husks or hulls are removed owing
to the action of the grooved faces of the cone and casing; the husks pass through
the openings in the sifter, while the coffee, owing to the spirals of the grooves, is
gradually carried to the large end of the casing, where it is discharged by the outlet
spout.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Clayton Mewburn in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st May 1880.
"
JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer. IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR HUSKING OR
HULLING COFFEE." (A communication from abroad by Julio E. Vassaux, of
Guatemala.)
This Invention has reference to the construction of a conical machine with sifter
for husking or hulling coffee.
The improved machine is constructed as follows:-Upon a suitable frame is
mounted a conical casing, within which, placed concentrically, is a cone carried by
a horizontal shaft or spindle. The casing has two openings at the top, viz., one at
the small end, to which a feed hopper is fitted, and another at the large end, to
which an outlet spout is fitted, the size of the outlet being made adjustable if
required. The inside of the casing, except at the lower part, is formed with grooves
or flutes extending from end to end thereof and preferably spiral. The lower part
of the casing, except near the small end, consists of a sifter, the openings in which
are longitudinal, about 1/12th of an inch wide and about 3/4ths of an inch apart.
The periphery or acting face of the cone is composed of spirals (6, more or less),
and these spirals have grooves or flutes extending from end to end thereof. The
diameter of the cone is such that there is a suitable distance, say half an inch,
between the lands of the grooves in the casing and cone respectively, to receive and
properly act upon the coffee husks, and the grooves and lands must be properly
formed to remove the husks from the berries without breaking or crushing the
latter. The distance between the casing and the cone is regulated or adjusted as
required by means of a screw which acts against the end of the cone shaft.
The accompanying Drawings represent a machine constructed according to this
Invention. Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the machine, the cone being in
elevation; Figure 2 is an end view; Figure 3 is a horizontal section of the casing
on the line C, D, of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a cross section of the machine on the
line A, B, of Figures 1 and 3; Figures 3 and 4 are drawn to a larger scale than
Figures 1 and 2; Figure 5 represents the grooves in the casing; Figure 6, the
grooves in the cone at the large end; and Figure 7, the grooves in the cone at the
small end; Figures 5, 6, and 7 are full size views.
a is a frame, which may be of any suitable construction, supporting the conical
casing b. Within this casing and placed concentrically is the cone c, which is
carried by a horizontal shaft or spindle d. This shaft d may have rotary motion
imparted to it by any suitable means, such, for example, as the gearing e, e,
actuated from the driving shaft f. The casing b has an opening g at the top at the
small end, and to this opening the feed hopper h is fitted. The casing has another
opening at the large end, also ut the top, to which the outlet or delivery spout k
is fitted; the outlet may be made adjustable, if desired, by a regulator, such as that
shown at in the detached plan view, Figure 8. m, m, represent the grooves or
flutes in the inside of the casing b; these grooves are spiral and extend from end
to end of the casing, except at the lower part, where, except near the small end, the
casing is in the form of a sifter n, the openings in which are longitudinal and, as
already stated, should be about th of an inch wide and 3ths of an inch apart.
o, o, represent the spirals of which the periphery or acting face of the cone c is
composed, and p, p, the grooves or flutes in these spirals, extending from end to
end thereof. The distance between the lands of the grooves m, m, and the lands
of the grooves p, p, should be about half an inch, as has been already mentioned.
The form of the grooves is clearly seen in Figures 5, 6, and 7. q is the screw by
means of which the distance between the casing b and cone c can be regulated as
required.

page_text: h
The action of the machine is as follows:-The hopper / being supplied with the
coffee to be husked or hulled rotary motion is imparted to the cone c, the result of
which is, that the husks or hulls are removed owing to the action of the grooved
faces P and m of the cone c and casing b; the husks pass through the openings in
the sifter n, while the coffee, owing to the spirals of the grooves, is gradually
carried to the large end of the casing, where it is discharged by the outlet spout k.
The important features in the improved machine herein-before described are:-
The horizontal arrangement which permits of placing the outlet for the coffee at
the upper part, so that the machine is always kept full; the sifter n; the screw for
adjusting the distance between the casing and the cone; and the arrangement of
the grooves.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, the improved combination of
parts forming an improved machine for husking or hulling coffee, substantially as
herein before described and represented in the accompanying Drawings; and I
claim, specially, the sifter formed at the lower part of the casing, and the grooves
formed or arranged in the casing and cone, all substantially as and for the purposes
hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty ninth day of April, One thousand eight hundred
and eighty.