IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TREATING MALT
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Gritton, of Burton-on-Trent, in the County
of Stafford, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
TREATING MALT."
Sealed the 26th October 1866, and dated the 1st May 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Gritton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st May
1866.
I, FREDERICK GRITTON, of Burton-on-Trent, in the County of Stafford, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA-
RATUS FOR TREATING MALT," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for treating
malt. In order to separate the "comb" or rootlets from malt it is usual for
men to tread the malt whilst in the kiln and afterwards to pass it over &
screen to separate the grain from the dust or waste.
Now, according to my Invention, I remove the "comb" from the malt
without treading. I place the malt as it comes from the kiln in a hopper
from which it falls in a graduated stream on to an inclined surface and passes.
underneath a rotating brush by which the "comb" is detached; the malt.
then passes on down an inclined screen and the dust or waste passes through.
In order to ensure the complete separation of the "comb" I employ two such
rotating brushes, and the malt after passing over the first screen falls on to
another inclined surface, passes under the second brush, and over a second

page_text: screen beyond. The rotating brushes are driven by pulleys and straps or
otherwise. In place of the above arrangement the malt may be passed
between two revolving brushes working in contact with each other and then
over a screen, as described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filėd
by the said Frederick Gritton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st November 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
GRITTON, of Burton-on-Trent, in the County of Stafford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederick Gritton, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick Gritton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Frederick Gritton, 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
APPARATUS FOR TREATING MALT," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Frederick Gritton, my executors or administrators, 'by an instru-
ment 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 Frederick Gritton, 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 apparatus for treating
malt. In order to separate the "comb" or rootlets from malt it is usual for
men to tread the malt whilst in the kiln, and afterwards to pass it over a
screen to separate the grain from the dust or waste.
':
Now according to my Invention I remove the "comb" from the malt

page_text: without treading. I place the malt as it comes from the kiln in a hopper,
from which it falls in a graduated stream on to an inclined surface, and passes
underneath a rotating brush, by which the "comb" is detached, the malt then
passes on down an inclined screen and the dust or waste passes through. In
order to ensure the complete separation of the "comb," I employ two such
rotating brushes, and the malt after passing over the first screen falls on to
another inclined surface, passes under the second brush, and over a second
screen beyond. The rotating brushes are driven by pulleys and straps or
otherwise. In place of the above arrangement the malt may be passed
between two revolving brushes working in contact with each other and then
over a screen as described.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe
more fully the manner of performing the same.
-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
:
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have shown a machine constructed
in the manner above described. Figure 1 is a plan view, Figure 2.a front
elevation, Figure 3 a. side-elevation, and Figure 4 a vertical section of
the machine.
a is the hopper, into which the malt is placed, below the mouth of the
hopper is a rotating brush 6 of stiff bristles or whalebone, or it may be of wire,
card, or other suitable material; this brush is driven by a strap or band
from a pulley & on the axis c which is caused to revolve by the crank handle c³,
the brush is caused to revolve in the direction of the arrow in Figure 4, and
the malt 'that falls upon it from the hopper is thereby carried round on to the
wires of the inclined sieve d and is rubbed between the brush and the wires
of the sieve and thereby the comb is detached. As the malt passes from
under the brush it falls down the inclined screen, and any of the comb that
has been detached from the malt falls through the wires of the sieve, and is
thus separated. The malt as it falls from the end of the sieve d is received
on to a second brush e (driven as shewn from the axis of the brush 6), by
which the malt is again rubbed against the wires of a second screen fin order
to detach any of the comb that has not been removed by the first brush, and
the comb by passing away between the wires is sifted from the malt as it falls
down the inclined screen f. In place of the screens & and f being fixed
screens, as shown in the Drawing, they may be carried in such manner that
a vibratory motion may be imparted to them.
It will be seen from the sectional view, Figure 4, that where the brushes
rub against the screens the screens are made of a curved form to fit against

page_text: a portion of the circumference of the brush, by which greater rubbing surface
is obtained. If it be desired to obtain a still greater extent of rubbing surface,
then more brushes may be employed either to rub against the wires of the
sieves d and f, or against the wires of other sieves. In place of the brushes
which detach the comb from the malt being caused to rub against the wires
of sieves the malt may be passed between two circular revolving brushes,
as above stated; both brushes are then by preference caused to revolve in
the same direction, one brush being caused to revolve at a greater speed than
the other brush in order that the malt may be rubbed as it passes between
them; or the malt may be rubbed by being caused to pass between a circular
revolving brush and a curved stationary, or may be otherwise rubbed by
means of brushes, so as to detach the comb. After the comb has been rubbed
off by brushes it may be separated from the malt either by passing it over
stationary inclined sieves, as in the machine shown in the Drawing, or re-
volving screens may be employed, or the broken-off comb may be separated
from the malt by a blast of air, as in machines for dressing grain, or be other-
wise separated from the malt.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Gritton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this 30th day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
ADURTON