AN IMPROVEMENT IN MILLS FOR GRINDING
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Fry, of Wrotham, Sevenoaks, in the County
of Kent, Miller, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN MILLS FOR
GRINDING."
Sealed the 29th November 1859, and dated the 30th May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Fry at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
May 1859.
I, JAMES FRY, of Wrotham, Sevenoaks, in the County of Kent, Miller, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
MILLS FOR GRINDING," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide mills with grinding surfaces,
which shall act efficiently and without requiring constant dressing like the
ordinary millstones. To this end I form the grinding surfaces of circular
plates of cast iron, in which are a series of small holes decreasing in size from
the centre to the periphery. These grinding surfaces I mount in a vertical
position, and back them with boards to prevent the escape laterally of the
grain and meal. The grain is introduced through an eye in the fixed plate.
and means are provided for setting up and adjusting the grinding surfaces
to each other. Instead of the ordinary bearings for the shaft of the runner,
I propose to use those known as antifriction bearings. Should the edges of
the holes in the grinding plates become dull with wear, their efficiency may
be restored by means of a drill.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Fry in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
FRY, of Wrotham, Sevenoakes, in the County of Kent, Miller, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Iler reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Fry, Her special licence that I, the said James Fry,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Fry, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN MILLS FOR GRINDING," upon the condition. (amongst others) that I, the said
James Fry, 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 James Fry, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in providing a means of grinding the coarser kinds
of farinaceous meals used chiefly by agriculturists for feeding purposes.
Hitherto this has only been effected by means of millstones, which are not
only expensive in their first cost, but the nicety and skill required in keeping
them continually in order by dressing is such as to render their use always
expensive, and generally impractical to any but skilled hands. I propose then
to substitute for these stones two cast-iron plates of dimensions proportioned
to the work required to be done with them. In each of these plates I form
series of round holes, the diameter of which vary in extent, the largest near
the centre of the plate, being about an inch and a half or a little more or less,
and then gradually and proportionally decreasing in size as they approach the

page_text: outer edge to about one quarter of an inch. The number of these holes may
be as many as can be cast in the plate, so as to allow sufficient thickness of
metal in it. I propose also in some cases to furrow or slot the plates, and
also when thought requisite I would case-harden them. The plates being
now formed, each has a back fixed to it, and may now be arranged like an
ordinary pair of millstones, and actuated by the usual driving gear, either in a
horizontal or vertical plane, or for portable purposes turned by the hand, and
having the usual adjusting or regulating screws for approximating the surfaces;
either plate may be the runner, or there may be two runners with a central
fixed one.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same acts and is formed, I wish it understood that
what I claim and want secured by the before in part recited Letters Patent,
is the use and application of cast-iron plates, either case-hardened or not,
having their surfaces perforated with holes of varying diameter, decreasing
from the centre outwardly, and either furrowed or slotted or not upon their
faces, for the purpose of grinding or pulverizing wheat, oats, barley, peas,
beans, or other similar bodies, substantially as described in this Specification.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Fry, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirtieth day of November, in the year One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Vitness,
JAMES WRIGHT,
42, Bridge Street,
Blackfriars, London.
JAMES FRY. (L.S.)