IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HULLING AND FINISHING RICE AND SIMILAR GRAINS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Porter Walker, of the City and State of New
York, United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR HULLING AND FINISHING RICE AND SIMILAR GRAINS."
Sealed the 31st December 1858, and dated the 23rd July 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Porter Walker
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd July 1858.
I, ROBERT PORTER WALKER, of the City and State of New York, United
States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HULLING AND FINISHING RICE AND SIMILAR
GRAINS," to be as follows:-
I make use of a surface of emery in combination with an india-rubber roller
or other elastic surface, to one or both of which surfaces a motion is com-
municated in such a manner that the surface of emery abrades the hulls for
removing the same, as the rice or other grain is partially imbedded in or
retained by the said elastic surface. For this purpose the rice or other grain
is conveyed from a suitable hopper in between said surfaces, and the motion
given to said surfaces is circular or otherwise, and derived from competent
power. The hulls are thus removed, and are winnowed away by a suitable.

page_text: blast before passing into the "finisher," which completes the operation by
removing the "douse" and "chit," or refuse matter between the hull and the
grain. This operation is usually termed "pearling" or "polishing," and is
effected by a revolving cylinder, coated on the inside with emery, and in which
openings covered with netting or gauze may be used for passing or sifting
out the fine particles (the "douse or "chit") abraded from the rice by the
emery in connection with a second cylinder or prism within the first, and
revolving in the opposite direction, coated on its surface with emery, and
provided with rubbers of gum elastic or equivalent material, which agitate
and remove said douse and chit as the rice is passed along between these
cylinders (which stand horizontally), by screw-formed sections or "flights;"
and the rice or grain is then polished with a sheepskin rubber, and delivered
in a finished state ready for use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Porter Walker in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 31st December 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
PORTER WALKER, of the City and State of New York, United States of
America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Robert Porter Walker, Her special license that I,
the said Robert Porter Walker, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the 'said Robert Porter Walker, 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 HULLING AND
FINISHING RICE AND SIMILAR. GRAINS," upon the .condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Robert Porter Walker, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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

page_text: six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Porter Walker, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
:-
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the whole machine for hulling; Fig. 2 is a
plan without the winnowing apparatus; and Fig. 3 is a vertical central section
of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal section of the apparatus for
pearling and finishing; and Fig. 5 is a cross section at the line A, A, of Fig. 4.
Similar marks of reference denote corresponding parts on the huller and
finisher respectively.
In many grains and seeds, and in rice particularly, the hull is so firmly
attached to the berry that the rubbing necessary to remove the same breaks a
large portion of the grains, involving considerable loss. With rice the hull
requires to be slid off endways, as in that manner the grain is less injured, and
the hull removed with greater ease.
Having arrived by experiment at the conclusion above stated, particularly in
regard to rice, it has been my object in the present Invention to accomplish by
machinery the operation above stated, and for this purpose I supply a thin flat
stream of rice on to a cylinder covered with emery, and cause the same to pass
beneath elastic rollers (I prefer india-rubber), whose surfaces travel at a
slightly different speed to the main cylinder, to cause a rolling and rubbing
motion between the cylinder and its rollers; and to said rollers I impart
simultaneously an endways motion, which slips the hulls endways off the rice,
From
ensuring a proper hulling, with very little waste from broken berries.
the hulling part of the machine the grains and hulls may pass to a winnower,
and thence to the pearler or finisher.
In Fig. 1, a winnower is shewn in which a is the blower; a', the pipe from
which the grains pass; and b, the pipe through which the hulls are blown
away.
In Fig. 1, 2, & 3, c is the frame of the machine, on which is the main
shaft d, driven. by any competent power. 1 is a belt to the main cylinder e
that revolves in journals on the main frame c; f is a hopper supported from
said frame, and receiving the rice or other grains to be hulled; 2 is a slide by
which the long narrow mouth for the discharge of grain is regulated; g is a
cylinder having strips or wings on its surface acting in connection with the
lower part 3 of the hopper to pass on to the cylinder e the required amount of

page_text: rice or other grains, said cylinder being rotated slowly by a belt 4 from the
shaft 8 to a pulley on its own shaft.
Above and partially surrounding the cylinder e, the main frame is adapted
to receive rollers h, h, h, h, which may be two, three, or more in number; I,
however, prefer four. These are set on shafts that are parallel and pass
through journals on a metal frame attached to the frame c, so that the rollers
can receive an endways vibrating motion as well as a rotary motion. These
rollers should be revolved with the surface next the main cylinder e, moving
in the same direction as said cylinder, but at a different speed, which should
be rather slower than the travel of the cylinder. The operation of this part is,
that as the rice or other grains travel with the main cylinder, they pass beneath
these rollers h, h, which are successively a very little closer to the surface of
the cylinder e, and covered with india-rubber or other elastic material; this
allows the grains partially to imbed themselves, while the cylinder e grinds
against and abrades the hulls; and for this purpose the cylinder e is to be
coated thoroughly with emery, and simultaneous with this operation the
rollers / receive an endways motion, by a means hereafter detailed, that acts to
slide the hulls endways off the rice or other grains, and in this manner each of
the rollers act successively until all the hulls are loosened and removed, and
the hulls and grains fall away into the blast of a winnower (a, Fig. 1), or are
taken by a suitable spout to a separate winnower. The manner of communi-
cating an endways motion to the rollers h, h, at the same time that they are
rotated by the belt x, is as follows:- is a shaft driven by a belt from a
pulley 5 on the shaft d, and on the end of this shaft i is a short crank or
eccentric 6, from which a rod 7 connects to a lever frame k, having the shaft
8 as its centre of motion. The ends of the arms of this lever frame k connect
with the double levers that are set on the fulcrums 9, and the ends of said
levers are notched to take the edges of discs attached to the shafts of the
rollers h, so that as the frame k vibrates by the crank 6, the said rollers h, h,
receive an endways motion for the purposes aforesaid. The endways motion
might be communicated to the cylinder e, instead of the rollers h, h, but it is
preferable to move the rollers. And these said rollers h, h, having elastic
surfaces, may be coated with emery to prevent wear.
I will now proceed to describe the apparatus shewn in Figs. 4, 5, 6, & 7,
which represent the means I use for finishing the rice after it has been hulled,
usually known as "pearling," the object being to remove from the rice what is
known as the "douse" and "chit," (i. e.,) the outer glutinous coating imme-
diately beneath the hull, and the germ or sprouting point of the berry. To
accomplish this purpose, it is necessary to bring the rice or grain in contact

page_text: with a rough or abrading surface, by a slightly yielding rubber, also to allow
the berry to turn up on end, and, lastly, to allow the escape of the douse and
chit thus removed, while the rice is brushed and finished or polished ready for
market.
To effect these operations I make use of a cylinder and surrounding casing
coated with emery on the inside of the one and the outside of the other, and
revolving in opposite directions, and acting in connection with screens and
rubbers to abrade, remove, and pass away the douse and chit, and deliver the
rice entirely cleaned and ready for market.
In Figs. 4 & 5, a is the framework, which is enclosed to formi a box b, the
sides of which can be removed for clearing out the douse and chit which are
deposited therein; c is a shaft set in journals 1, and carrying the cylinder or
prism d; e, e, are heads with hollow journals around the shaft c, running in
bearings 2, 2, and carrying the cylinder or casing f; g is a semicircular cover
over the casing f, forming, in connection with the box b, a chamber in which
the cylinders d and f revolve. These cylinders move in opposite directions,
and are rotated by competent power, and at the desired speed, the cylinder &
being rotated by a belt or otherwise to the pulley 3, and the cylinder or casing
f being rotated by a belt to a pulley at 4, on one of the heads e, e.
The hulled rice or grain is supplied from the hopper h through a spout i,
and thence it falls through an opening in the head e, and for this purpose the
arms 5 connect the journal with the head, and leave the necessary opening.
The grains thus pass in within the cylinder f, and between that and the
cylinder d. In order to effect the removal of the douse, chit, &c., the cylinders
f&d are constructed and operate as follows:-The cylinder f is formed of
sections bolted together, and to the heads e, e, and said cylinder is made close
for about two-thirds of its length, except narrow openings 6, 6, which are
covered with wire netting, or its equivalent, and the remainder of said cylinder
is a complete casing of fine wire netting, and occupies that end farthest away
from the hopper h, and the inside of the closed portions of this cylinder are
coated with emery attached by suitable glue or cement.
The cylinder & may be round or prismatic (as shewn), and on one or more
of its sides, and parallel with the axis. I provide sectional rubbers formed on.
a board k (see detached Fig. 6; I prefer that four of these rubbers be used),
and each is attached to the cylinder d, or its heads, by means of screws 7, 7,
and beneath this board springs 8, 8, are provided, so that the said board can
be adjusted by tightening or loosening the screws 7, 7; 9, 9. are rubbers
formed of gum elastic or equivalent material, occupying about two-thirds the
length of the board, and the surface of these rubbers should be grooved cross-

page_text: wise or diagonally, and lengthwise, so as to make a yielding and rubbing
surface; and 10 is sheepskin attached to said board k, and acting opposite the
screen l; m, m, are flights or flanges set on the cylinder d, in such a manner
and at such an angle that in their revolution they act to pass the grains along
with more or less speed. The outer surface of this cylinder d not otherwise
occupied is coated with emery.
The operation of this apparatus is, that as the rice passes in between the
cylinders d and f, it receives a very severe agitation, in consequence of said
cylinders revolving in opposite directions; the sectional rubbers of gum elastic
or equivalent material bring said grains into contact with the surface of emery,
and the grains being agitated and thrown from one cylinder against the other,
removes the douse and chit, and this refuse matter passing through the sieves
6, 6, keeps the rice from heating or being injured, and by the time it arrives
at the sheepskin rubbers 10, the rice is ready for the dust to be brushed off,
and pass through the screen e, while the rice passes away from an opening n
at the end of the cylinder d into a trough or spout o, and is ready for
market.
The value and importance of this machinery will be apparent, for the rice is
perfectly hulled, cleaned, and finished, and that without injury to the grains,
as is the case where the pearling and finishing are done in pestles and
mortars.
What I claim as my Invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent
is,-
First, a surface of emery in combination with an india-rubber or other
elastic surface for hulling rice or other grains, when motion is communicated
to one or both of said surfaces, in such a manner that the said surface of emery
abrades the hulls for removing the same, as the rice or other grain is partially
imbedded or retained by the said elastic surface, for the purposes and substan-
tially as specified.
Second, I claim imparting an endways motion to an elastic roller, or its
equivalent, in combination with a revolving roughened surface, when the same
is used for the purpose of hulling rice or other grains, substantially as
specified.
Third, I claim the revolving cylinder d, coated with emery, and carrying the
sectional rubbers of gum elastic or equivalent material, in combination with
the hollow cylinder f, revolving in the opposite direction to the cylinder d, for
the purpose of pearling and polishing rice or grains in substantially the
manner specified.
Fourth, I claim the arrangement of the screens in the cylinder d, to pass

page_text: away the douse and chit, as the same are removed from the rice while being
pearled or finished between the cylinders d and f, in the manner specified.
In witnesses whereof, I, the said Robert Porter Walker, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of December, A.D. One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witnesses,
LEMUEL W. SERRELL,
ROBERT P. WALKER. (L.S.)
289, Broadway, N. Y.
THOMAS G. HAROLD,
39
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