AN IMPROVED SEPARATING MACHINE FOR-UNDRIED MALT
Year: 1884

page_text: I JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN of 169 Fleet Street in the City of London Fellow
of the Institute of Patent Agents do hereby declare the nature of my invention
for AN IMPROVED SEPARATING MACHINE FOR-UNDRIED MALT and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
It is well known that there is a serious difficulty in separating from undried
malt (that is to say, malt in the form of sprouted barley before being kiln dried)
those grains which have either failed to sprout or grow, or which have been divided
or damaged and therefore have become mouldy or musty during the malting or
growing process. This difficulty is mainly due to the peculiar form of the grains
of sprouted barley or undried malt with its radicles. It is of great importance to.
separate all such unfit or defective grains from the undried malt in order to
increase the beer producing quality of the dried or roasted malt as well as the
quality of the beer itself.
The present invention consists of an improved separating machine for effecting
this purpose and it is characterized by an arrangement of gratings or lattices
having slanting bars within a sifting cone in such manner that the front side of
each grating touches the inner periphery of the cone whereas the rear side of each
grating is removed from that periphery towards the centre of the machine so that
as the cone with the gratings rotates the barley or malt falls from one grating to
another and advances to the delivery end of the machine while all the defective
grains pass through the gratings and through the cone and any sound grains with
their radicles which happen to fall through the gratings are caught by the wire of
the cone and redelivered to the next grating.
ก
Figure 1 of the annexed drawings is an elevation of this machine, the wire of
the cone being partly removed. Figure 2 is an end view as seen from the delivery
end, Figure 3 is an end view as seen from the inlet end; in the latter figure also a
part of the wire of the cone is removed.
The cone a is set in slow rotary motion by the shaft b to which it is fixed by two
or more sets of transverse arms o. The sprouted barley or undried malt is
introduced into this cone by means of a funnel or hopper c: Within the cone a
series of gratings or lattices d (one of which is shown separately in Figure 4)

page_text: are arranged. These gratings mainly consist of parallel bars set in a slanting
position.
•
The arrangement of the gratings in the interior of the cone is such that each
grating is fixed by one side x to the inner periphery of the cone, whereas the other
side y of this grating is removed from the inner periphery of the cone, say for
about 2 to 3 inches towards the centre of the machine, it being well understood
that the side x forms the leading side in the direction of the rotary motion of the.
cone whereas the side y is the following or rear side:
The gratings therefore form, so to speak, abbreviated chords of circles, these
circles being formed by cross sectional planes laid through the cone.
The side y of each grating rests upon one arm o of the cross arins which carry the
cone a.
The gratings are constructed of a frame m (Figure 4) between which the
slanting parallel bars are arranged. The slanting position of the bars is such
that the undried malt, introduced by the funnel into the separating machine at its
small end and falling upon one of the gratings will slide along in the direction of
the bars and fall (by the rotation of the machine) from one grating to another and
will thereby travel through the machine from the entrance to the exit. In this
way and by the continuous falling of the malt from one grating to another, all
reduced or defective grains, also all mouldy or musty grains and all grains which
have failed to sprout or grow properly, in fact all grains without properly
protruding radicles will drop through the gratings and through the wire of the
cone. If by chance a sound and healthy grain properly grown or sprouted drops
through one of the gratings it will be caught by means of its radicles within the
wire of the cone and such grains by the rotary motion of the cone will be
redelivered upon the gratings through the aperture or opening which is formed
between the side y of one grating and the side of the next following grating.
The number of the wire cloth covering the cone and the width between the bars of
the gratings should be selected according to the description of barley or malt to be
separated. The machine which is shown in the drawing as mounted on standards
may be suspended in the line of transport of the undried malt from the malt floor
to the drying kiln.
The machine may be made double by feeding the two cones from one funnel.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
The construction of a separating machine for undried malt with an arrangement
of gratings or. lattices having slanting bars within a sifting cone in such manner,
that the front side of each grating touches the inner periphery of the cone, whereas
the rear side of each grating is removed from that periphery towards the centre of
the machine so that as the cone with the gratings rotates, the malt falls from one
grating to another and advances to the delivery end of the machine while all the
defective grains pass through the gratings and through the cone and any sound
grains with their radicles which happen to fall through the gratings are caught
by the wire of the cone and redelivered to the next grating, substantially as
hereinbefore described.