IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HULLING GRAIN OR SEED
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to. William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," Southampton Buildings, London, Consulting En-
gineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HULLING
GRAIN OR SEED."-A communication from abroad by John Tucker
Daines
D
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 6th December 1869, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAMI
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," Southampton
Buildings, London, Consulting Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTA
IN MA CHINERY FOR HULLING GRAIN OR SEED," and have petitioned Her
Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Decla

page_text: ration that it has been communicated to me from abroad by John
Tucker Prince, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings
forming a part of this Specification :-
This Invention relates to the construction of machines for hulling
rice, coffee, and other grains or berries, and consists chiefly in forming
the periphery of a wheel with grooves, around part of which periphery
is a curved stripper formed with stripping teeth, the ends of which stand
concentric with the periphery of the wheel, the stripper being attached
to segmental blocks, which are made adjustable with respect to the
adjacent surface of the wheel, while the wheel itself is mounted in
bearings which are made capable of a vertical yielding motion; in com-
bination with the segmental stripper plates and serrated wheel is a
gauge or throat piece arranged to operate substantially as herein-after
described.
The Drawings represent a machine embodying the said Invention.
a
A shews the machine partly in vertical section and partly in side
elevation; B is a vertical central cross section of the machine.
denotes a frame or case, upon the top of which are two bearings 6 in
which is journalled the axis of a rotary metal or metal surfaced wheel or
cylinder c. The upper half of the wheel is covered by a shell d in
which is a mouth or spout e for introducing grain to be hulled to the
surface of the wheel c. On the upper part of this shell are segmental
metal plates feach applied to the end of a screw g which passes through
a bar h, each plate being pressed downward by a spring i. Near the
opposite ends of each plate are set screws k, which work through screw
threads in the plate, the end of each screw acting against the perimeter
of one of the side plates of the shell d. To the under surface of the
plates fis secured a stripper card m having teeth n, the ends of which
(when the machine is in operation) are concentric with the axis of the
wheel c. The peripherial surface of the wheel c is formed with transverse
serrations or grooves o, as seen at A and at B, (the lower half of the wheel
in the latter view being represented in elevation). The bearings 6 of the
wheel are made adjustable vertically, and are preferably supported on

page_text: springs p, the wheel being carried permanently down by turning down
the screws q or so as to prevent or limit its upward movement, while as
the screws pass loosely through the ears of the bearings the wheel can
be pressed down, the springs p returning it to position when releived
from pressure.
When the machine is set up the wheel is first mounted
in its bearings, the bearings being screwed down nearly to their position,
and the shell is then placed over it without the segment plates f. The
plates with the stripper card attached to them are then placed upon
the wheel, the card teeth resting on the periphery of the wheel, and the
screws are then set so that their ends abut against the perimeter of the
side plates, the acting surface of the stripper card being thereby
adjusted in concentric position with reference to the periphery of the
wheel c. The bearing screws q are now turned down slightly so as to
leave a narrow space between the peripheral surface of the wheel and the
ends of the card teeth to allow the grains to be carried through by the
wheel, and grain being then fed in at the spout e and the wheel being
rotated in the direction of the arrow the grains or seeds will drop upon
the surface of the wheel and into the grooves thereof, and being carried
on by the teeth of the wheel the hulls will be rasped and rubbed and torn
off by the card teeth, the concentricity of which will cause the whole
surface to be kept in action against the grains carried under them. The
hulled grains and hulls fall into the case a, from which they are
delivered and seperated by any suitable mechanism. The springs i
permit the segment plates f to yield to any obstructions which may
collect between the wheel and the stripper. To keep the wheel from
taking up the grains to fast a gauge or throat piece is fixed to the
under surface of the first segmental plate just adjacent to the spout e,
and in front of the stripper teeth, this throat piece gauging the amount
of grain taken by the teeth of the wheel, and only permitting such
quantities to be introduced to the action of the stripper as may be
advantageously acted upon to remove therefrom the hulls. Instead of
constructing the stripper card with card teeth the segmental plates may
have attached to them teeth similar to the teeth of the wheel c, such
stripper teeth being preferable in hulling coffee and some other grains
to the card teeth, which are particularly applicable to stripping the hulls
from rice. The wheel c may be cast with its peripheral serrations, or
the periphery of a cylindrical wheel may have grooves planed in its
surface, but it is preferable to cast the wheel with the grooves. By this
construction of the machine a hulling apparatus is made which is very

page_text: durable and effective, inexpensive to build, and simple in its arrange-
ment and operation. The end of the last stripper plate may have a
brush on its lower surface, into contact with the bristles of which the
grains or seeds are carried by the wheel after the hulls are removed, the
action of the brush polishing or cleaning the hulled grains or seeds.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.s.)
Witness,
HARRY WRAIGHT,
Clerk to Messrs. Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.