IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLS FOR GRINDING CATTLE FOOD AND OTHER MATERIALS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walkden Thompson and Thomas Stather, of the
Town and County of the Town of Kingston-upon-Hull, carrying on
Business there as Engineers under the Style or Firm of "Thompson
and Stather," for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLS FOR
GRINDING CATTLE FOOD AND OTHER MATERIALS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED
THEREWITH."
Sealed the 21st June 1870, and dated the 23rd April 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walkden Thompson
and Thomas Stather at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 23rd April 1870.
We, WALKDEN THOMPSON and THOMAS STATHER, of the Town and
County of the Town of Kingston-upon-Hull, carrying on Business there
as Engineers under the Style or Firm of "Thompson and Stather," do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MILLS FOR GRINDING CATTLE FOOD AND OTHER MATERIALS, AND IN APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows :-
This Invention has for its object further improvements on the mills
invented by us, and described in the Specifications of the Patents granted

page_text: to us, and dated respectively the 13th day of July 1866 (No. 1841),
and the 22nd day of January 1868 (No. 226).
We make the spindle of the mill taper or conical at its two ends, and
we mount these taper ends in bearings of a corresponding form, and
sometimes we also employ an intermediate parallel bearing. In this
manner we obtain very steady running at high speeds. We make the
driving pulley on the spindle of leather, the spindle has a feather upon
it, and discs of leather are threaded upon the spindle and feather, which
they are made to fit. In this way a pulley of the desired width is built
up. The discs are clamped tightly between collars, one of which screws
as a nut upon the spindle. In place of making the sides of the mill
case flat, as heretofore, we make them concave, so that the space between
them may be wider around the axis than at the periphery; this enables
us to use narrow beaters and yet to preserve sufficient space near the
centre to allow the materials to be ground to be fed into the mill
without difficulty. We provide the feed opening with a slide actuated
by a rod and hand lever for regulating the feed. In place of forming
the feed opening vertically over the axis, as heretofore, we form it to onc
side of the vertical centre line, namely, on the side on which the beaters
as they rotate descend; by so doing the tendency there is when the
feeding opening has to be of large size to throw out the feed in place
of drawing it in is removed. In some cases, in place of allowing the
mill to discharge the ground material together with the air which is
drawn through with it into the open air we cause it to discharge into
a chamber, so that the dust may be retained and the same air circulated
through and through the mill. To prevent this air from becoming
unduly heated we allow a small escape of air from the chamber through
a screen of woven fabric, and we permit by means of small apertures
in the case of the mill a corresponding quantity of fresh air to enter.
When the discharge of the material from the mill is on to a riddle
arranged to return into the mill the portions not sufficiently reduced, in
place of fixing the riddle as heretofore we give to it a vibratory motion.
When the materials are discharged from the mill through a grating or
screen, we form the screen by laying into a sand mould straight wires
or bars suitably spaced, and we cast a frame on to them. The frame
is divided in parts to obviate the effects of contraction, and is held
together by a wrought-iron frame to which it is rivetted..

page_text: We also according to our Invention combine with the mill a chaff
cutter in such manner that the chaff as it is cut may fall into the mill
and is ground into a meal.
We also according to our Invention employ in some cases in place of
beaters a disc with projections upon its side or sides near it periphery
and the case also has projections on the side or sides. There is a wide
clearance between the projections of the disc and case, as they are not
intended to grind the materials between them, but to break the materials
by concussion. The materials are fed in near the centre of the disc, and
are delivered near the periphery by an opening in the circumference or
side of the case.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Walkden Thompson and Thomas Stather in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WALKDEN
THOMPSON and THOMAS STATHER, of the Town and County of Kingston-
upon-Hull, carrying on Business there as Engineers under the Style or
Firm of "Thompson and Stather," send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Walkden Thompson and Thomas Stather,
Her special licence that we, the said Walkden Thompson and Thomas
Stather, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said Waldken Thompson and Thomas Stather, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 MILLS FOR GRINDING CATTLE
FOOD AND OTHER MATERIALS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Walkden Thompson
and Thomas Stather, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and

page_text: seal of one of us or them, 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 Thomas Stather, on behalf of
myself and the said Walkden Thompson, 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 further improvements on the mills
invented by us and described in the Specifications of the Patents granted
to us, and dated respectively the 13th day of July, 1866, No. 1841, and
the 22nd day of January, 1868, No. 226.
A mill with some of our improvements embodied in it is shewn at
Figures 1 and 2; Figure 1 is a longitudinal, and Figure 2 a transverse
section. This mill consists of an axis or spindle a driven at a high
velocity and having upon it arms or beaters a¹, a', these arms or beaters
are closed in a case b grooved at its periphery, and the material to be
ground is fed in to the casing at 6' or be near to the axis, and it is
discharged at the openings 6, 63, near the periphery, these openings
'being covered with screens or perforated plates with openings in them
of such a size as to prevent the escape of the material until it is
sufficiently reduced.
i One of the improvements which forms the subject of our present Patent
.consists in making the spindle a of the mill taper or conical at its
two ends, and we mount these taper ends in bearings a*, a*, of a
:corresponding form, and sometimes we also employ an intermediate
.parallel bearing. In this manner we obtain very steady running at high
speeds.
Another of our improvements consists in making the driving pulley c
on the spindle of leather, the spindle has a feather upon it and discs of
eather are threaded upon the spindle and feather which they are made
to fit. In this way a pulley of the desired width is built up. The discs
are clamped tightly between collars c¹, c', one of which screws as a nut
upon the spindle.

page_text: According to another of our improvements, in place of making the
sides of the mill case flat as heretofore, we make them concave, so that
the space between them may be wider around the axis than at the
periphery; this enables us to use narrow beaters and yet to preserve
sufficient space near the centre to allow the materials to be ground to be
fed into the mill without difficulty.
According to another of our improvements we provide the feed opening
with a slide d actuated by a rod d'and hand lever d for regulating
the feed.. The feed opening is employed when the material to be
ground is too large to enter by the opening 6. The hopper in connection
with the opening & can be enclosed by a trap when not in use.
According to another of our improvements, in place of forming the
feed opening vertically over the axis as heretofore, and as is shewn at
Figure 1 in black dotted lines, we form it to one side of the vertical
centre line, namely, on the side on which the beaters as they rotate
descend, as is indicated in blue lines; by so doing the tendency there is
when the feeding opening has to be of large size to throw out the feed
in place of drawing it in is removed.
According to another of our improvements in place of allowing the
mill to discharge the ground material together with the air, which is
drawn through with it into the open air we cause it to discharge into
a chamber, so that the dust may be retained, and the same air circulated
through and through the mill. To prevent this air from becoming unduly
heated, we allow a small escape of air from the chamber through a screen
of woven fabric, and we permit by means of small apertures in the case
of the mill a corresponding quantity of fresh air to enter. Figure 3.
is a vertical section; and Figure 4 a horizontal section of a mill thus
constructed; e is the chamber into which the material is delivered from
the mill case, by an opening near the top of the case. The arms or
beaters in revolving maintain a constant circulation of the air in this
chamber in the direction of the arrows, that is to say, the air is constantly
issuing from the delivery opening in the case, and re-entering it at the
inlet or feeding orifice; e' is an opening in the chamber e, covered with
calico or such like material, to allow of a sufficient change in the air
of the chamber to prevent it from becoming overheated, and with the
same object small holes are formed in the mill case at *. In this mill
the materials are allowed to issue freely from the case, there being no
screen over the delivery opening, but after their discharge from the case

page_text: they fall on to a riddle ƒ, through which the portions which are sufficiently
ground pass and fall to the bottom of the chamber e where they
accumulate, and they are removed from time to time. The material
which falls upon the riddle and is unable to pass through it runs down
its incline and again enters the mill case; g is the feeding hopper ;
and h, a screw which draws the material forward in regular quantity,
and drops it down the trunk i to the feeding orifice of the mill case.
According to another of our improvements, when, as is shewn in
Figures 3 and 4, the discharge of the material from the mill is on to a
riddle, arranged to return into the mill the portions not sufficiently
reduced, in place of fixing the riddle as heretofore we give to it a vibratory
motion. In Figures 3 and 4, k is a lever receiving in any convenient
manner a rapid vibratory movement through a small are, and this lever
is by a rod connected with the riddle, which is so supported at its lower
end as to be free to vibrate.
According to another of our improvements, when the materials are
discharged from the mill through a grating or screen, we form the screen
by laying into a sand mould straight wires or bars suitably spaced, and
we cast a frame on to them. The frame is divided in parts to obviate
the effects of contraction, and is held together by a wrought-iron frame
to which it is rivetted. Figures 5 show a screen thus constructed.
a, a, are bars, with a frame cast upon them; this frame is divided at
the points b¹, b¹; c is an angle iron, rivetted on to the frame over the
divisions.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Stather, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.