IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR HULLING, CLEANSING, AND POLISHING OR PREPARING COFFEE, RICE, AND OTHER BERRIES OR GRAIN
Year: 1869

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Bristow Hunt, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's
Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR HULLING, CLEANSING,
AND POLISHING OR PREPARING COFFEE, RICE, AND OTHER BERRIES OR GRAIN."
-A communication from abroad by James Fowle Baldwin Marshall
and Augustus Jones, of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States
of America.
Sealed the 19th October 1869, and dated the 27th August 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bristow Hunt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th August 1869.
I, BRISTOW HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR HULLING,
CLEANSING, AND POLISHING OR PREPARING COFFEE, RICE, AND OTHER BERRIES OR
GRAIN," (being a communication to me from abroad by James Fowle

page_text: Baldwin Marshall and Augustus Jones, of Boston, Massachusetts, in the
United States of America), to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce a machine or apparatus
capable of (and combining the three distinct operations of) hulling,
cleansing, and polishing coffee, rice, and other berries or grain, and
preparing them ready for shipping; and further in constructing a
durable and strong hulling plate which will wear well, and not be
subjected to the objections heretofore made against this part of the
machine, and which in combination with other parts herein-after
described will effectually remove the hull from the berry without
breaking the latter.
The hulling plate may be constructed either of reversible square steel
bars of any required length laid one upon another, so that one edge
projects beyond that of the succeeding one, the projecting edges being
in a line, or of a reversible and peculiarly formed solid plate. This plate
has a vertical reciprocating motion, and has opposite to it a series of
elastic plates and pads (with corrugated or diamond cut steel faces),
which are firmly secured to a suitable frame and receive a horizontal
reciprocating motion, thus rolling and rubbing the berries between the
hulling plate and the elastic plates and pads, thereby entirely freeing
the berry from the hull or chaff, but by means of the elasticity of the
elastic plates and pads preventing breaking or crushing the same.
As a modification of this a series of adjustable spring hullers may be
employed composed of pivoted, serrated, or roughened bars or strips
of metal provided with springs and adjustable screws in combination
with an endless belt or band composed of serrated or roughened metallic
plates for bringing the coffee or other berry or grain against the faces
of the hullers.
The Invention further consists in the application of a fan or blower
for blowing off the dust and chaff or broken hull as soon as the berry
leaves the hulling plate or strippers, and before it is carried to the
polisher.
A further part of these improvements is in the polisher, consisting of
a drum or shaft provided with stiff brushes which rotate within a partial
cylinder, against the inner and corrugated surface of which the brushes
closely sweep, carrying the berries around with them, freeing them
from all adhering particles, and delivering them to an inclined sieve

page_text: underneath. Or the berry after being hulled and subjected to the
blowing of the fan is carried by an elevating belt in buckets to the
polisher, which may consist of a stiff stationary brush and an endless
serrated or roughened belt, which passes over and is borne by rollers or
other equivalent supporting device, so that the grain may be made to
pass close to the brush and be thereby entirely freed from all dust or
broken hull and chaff. At the rear portion of the frame of the machine
is placed an upright frame or box provided with three sides, the front
being only partially covered by a board. At the rear of this box are
two stands supporting a shaft provided with a crank which acts upon
two studs or arms, the latter being firmly secured to the hulling plate,
causing the latter by the rotation of the crank to receive a reciprocating
vertical motion in the box. To one side of the hulling plate is attached
a rack, which operating on a pinion communicates thereto a vibrating
motion. Opposite the hulling plate is an elastic serrated steel plate, and
a series of elastic pads, the faces of which are either serrated, corrugated,
or diamond cut, and are turned towards or face the hulling plate, and
are attached to a movable frame in such a manner that they are held
to the same by means of spring bolts which make the pads yielding and
elastic. At the under edge of this frame is firmly attached a rack,
which gears also into the pinion above mentioned, and thereby receives
a reciprocating horizontal motion by the oscillation of the said pinion.
The spring bolts are held and secured to the movable frame by a cap
or box, which is provided with set screws and secured by screws for the
purpose of adjustment for the different sized berries. Above the elastic
plate and also secured to the movable frame is a corrugated roller
moving with the frame, and which is provided at one end with a ratchet
wheel and spring catch. The object of this roller is that if any large
berry or hard material should pass between the hulling bars and the
roller the latter will be rotated, thus acting as a feed roller and
preventing any clogging of the berries; the spring catch prevents too.
free a motion to the roller.
In a modification of this a grooved cylinder provided with corresponding
guards is arranged in each hopper, and so constructed as to allow the
grain to be fed to the machine without danger of choking the hopper,
thus preventing all unnecessary delay. An apron or inclined board
guides the berries from the hopper into the box containing the hulling

page_text: plate. Underneath this box and close to an aperture in the bottom of
the same is the mouth of a fan blower and an endless band which
carries the berries after they are hulled to the polisher at the forward
end of the frame. Underneath the polisher is a sieve placed at such an
inclination as to allow the cleaned berries to pass to the rear and to the
vessel provided for their reception. On one end of the shaft which by
means of the crank actuates the hulling plate is a pulley and hand
crank or driving pulley for imparting motion to the movable parts of
the machine; from this pulley a belt passes around the pulley of the
fan blower shaft to the pulley on the polisher shaft, and back again to
the first-mentioned pulley, thus connecting and moving these three
pullies by one belt. At the other end of the shaft is attached another
pulley which imparts motion by means of a belt to the pulley and
endless belt carrying the grain or berry to the polisher.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-After setting the machine
in motion the berries will drop through the hopper and between the
bars of the hulling plate, the corrugated roller, and the elastic plates
and pads, where they will receive a thorough scrubbing, and working by
means of the motion imparted to the machine, the hulls being com-
pletely separated from the kernel, after which both drop down through
the orifice at the bottom of the box, and there a strong current of air.
from the blower or fan will blow the light chaff away and through an
aperture at the end of the machine, while the berry will drop upon an
endless belt and be carried to the polisher, where it is rubbed and
cleaned by the brushes rotating within the cylindrical casing, from there
the berries pass over a suitable sieve, the dusty, small, or broken
particles falling through the same, and the clean berry is carried along
and placed into a proper bag ready for shipping. Or the berries after
being subjected to the operation of hulling may fall down an inclined
shaking board, being at the same time subjected to the blast of a fan
blower, and then carried up by an elevating belt and conducted to
either or both of the polishing devices herein-before described, and
thence carried to a proper receptacle, being again subjected to a blast of
air, by which they are thoroughly separated from all light particles
of the hulls and any impurities, and are ready for immediate shipment.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bristow Hunt in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th February 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRISTOW
HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Bristow Hunt, Her special licence, that
I, the said Bristow Hunt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Bristow Hunt, 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 OR APPARATUS
FOR HULLING, CLEANSING, AND POLISHING OR PREPARING COFFEE, RICE, AND OTHER
BERRIES OR GRAIN," (a communication to me from abroad by James Fowle
Baldwin Marshall and Augustus Jones, of Boston, Massachusetts, in the
United States of America), upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Bristow Hunt, 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 In-
vention, 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 Bristow Hunt, 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 in writing, and on reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, that is to say:-
The object of this Invention is to produce a machine or apparatus
capable of (and combining the three distinct operations of) hulling,
cleansing, and polishing coffee, rice, and other berries or grain, and

page_text: preparing them ready for shipping; and further in construction a durable
and strong hulling plate which will wear well, and not be subjected to the
objections heretofore made against this part of the machine, and which
in combination with other parts herein-after described will effectually
remove the hull from the berry without breaking the latter..
The hulling plate may be constructed either of reversible square steel
bars of any required length laid one upon another, so that one edge
projects beyond that of the succeeding one, the projecting edges being in
a line, or of a reversible and peculiarly formed solid plate. This plate
has a vertical reciprocating motion, and has opposite to it a series of
elastic plates and pads with corrugated or diamond cut steel faces, which
are firmly secured to a suitable frame and receive a horizontal recipro-
cating motion, thus rolling and rubbing the berries between the hulling
plate and the elastic plates and pads, thereby entirely freeing the berry
from the hull or chaff, but by means of the elasticity of the elastic plates
and pads preventing breaking or crushing the same.
As a modification of this a series of adjustable spring hullers may be
employed composed of pivoted, serrated, or roughened bars or strips of
metal provided with springs and adjustable screws in combination with
an endless belt or band composed of serrated or roughened metallic
plates for bringing the coffee or other berry or grain against the. faces
of the hullers. These plates may be made of one metal or of two con-
structed with a steel or other serrated face resting upon a cast-iron or
other frame or bearing. These plates being connected by links to each
other form the belt or band; this belt or band then passes over and is
borne by rollers or some other equivalent supporting device.
The Invention further consists in the application of a fan or blower
for blowing off the dust and chaff or broken hull as soon as the berry
leaves the hulling plate or strippers and before it is carried to the
polisher.
A further part of these improvements is in the polisher, consisting of
a drum or shaft provided with stiff brushes which rotate within a partial
cylinder, against the inner and corrugated surface of which the brushes
closely sweep, carrying the berries around with them, freeing them from
all adhering particles, and delivering them to an inclined sieve underneath.
Or the berry after being hulled and subjected to the blowing of the fan
is carried by an elevating belt in buckets to the polisher, which may

page_text: consist of a stiff stationary brush with an endless serrated or roughened,
belt which passes over and is borne by rollers or other equivalent
supporting device, so that the grain may be made to pass close to the
brush and be thereby entirely freed from all dust and broken hull or
chaff.
Such being the nature and object of the said Invention for " Improve-.
ments in Machinery or Apparatus for Hulling, Cleansing, and Polishing
or Preparing Coffee, Rice, and other Berries or Grain," I will now
proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to be
or may be performed or carried into practical effect, and in order that the
same may be distinctly understood, I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of
Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with figures
and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following
explanation thereof, that is to say:―
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Figure 1 represents a vertical
longitudinal section of the improved apparatus; Figure 2, an end view of
the same with a vertical cover plate removed; Figure 3, a detailed view;
Figure 4, a modification of the hulling steel ratchet plate; Figure 5, a
modification of the cleansing or polishing device; Figure 6, another
modification of the hulling device; Figure 7 represents one of the plates
of the travelling belt or band of the same with the provision for con-
necting it to the next on either side; and Figure 8, a modification of the
feeding apparatus.
At the rear portion of the frame a of the machine is placed an upright
frame or box 6 provided with three sides, the front being only partially
covered by a board. c; at the rear of this box b are two stands d, d,
supporting a shaft e provided with a crank f, which acts upon two studs
or arms g, g', the latter being firmly secured to the hulling plate h;
causing the latter by the rotation of the crank f to receive a reciprocating
vertical motion in the box b. To one side of the hulling plate h is
attached a rack i, which operating on a pinion j communicates thereto
a vibrating motion. Opposite the reversible square steel bars k, k, of the
hulling plate is an elastic serrated steel plate and a series of elastic
pads m, m, the faces of which are either serrated, corrugated, or' diamond
cut, and are turned towards or face the hulling plate h, and are attached
to a movable frame n in such a manner that they are held to the same
by means of spring bolts (Figure 1), which make the pads yielding and

page_text: elastic. In a modication of this a series of adjustable spring hullers
(Figure 6) may be employed composed of pivoted, serrated, or roughened
bars or strips of metal n'; provided with springs o' and adjustable
screws p¹ in combination with an endless belt or band composed of
serrated or roughened metallic plates q' for bringing the coffee or other
grain against the faces of the spring hulling plates n'. The face of each
of the plates q' is formed of a corrugated or serrated steel plate w¹
(Figure 7) backed by a slotted cast-iron plate 2 made in one piece with
the tongues y' and pieces z¹ which bear on the rollers. The tongues are
connected to each other by links a³, thus serving to connect the plates q¹
together and form the belt. The belt or band passes over and is borne
by rollers or other equivalent supporting device. At the under edge
of this frame n is firmly attached a rack o, which gears also into the
pinion above mentioned, and thereby receives a reciprocating horizontal
motion by the oscillation of the said pinion j. The spring bolts are held
and secured to the movable frame n by a cap or box p, which is provided
with set screws q, q, (Figure 3) and secured by screws r for the purpose
of adjustment for the different sized berries. Above the elastic plate l
and also secured to the moveable frame n is a corrugated roller 8, moving
with the frame, and provided at one end with a ratchet wheel t and
spring catch u (Figure 3). The object of this roller is that if any large
berry or hard material should pass between the hulling bars k and the
roller & the latter will be rotated, thus acting as a feed roller and pre-
venting any clogging of the berries, the spring catch u preventing too
free a motion to the roller.
In a modification of this a grooved roller u¹ (Figure 8) provided with
corresponding guards is arranged in each hopper, and so constructed
as to allow the grain to be fed to the machine without danger of choking
the hopper, thus preventing all unnecessary delays. The apron or
inclined board guides the berries from the hopper into the box b.
Underneath this box and close to an aperture to in the bottom of the
same is the mouth of a fan blower x and an endless band y, which carries
the berries after they are hulled to the polisher at the forward end of the
frame. The polisher z consists of the cylinder a', the surface of which is
provided with a number of stiff brushes f", which sweep against the
corrugations of the cylindrical shells 6'; or the berry after being hulled
and subjected to the blowing of the fan is carried by an elevating belt

page_text: in buckets to the polisher (Figure 5), which may consist of a stiff
stationary brush and an endless serrated or roughened belt & passing
over and supported by rollers . Underneath the polisher is a sieve c¹
placed at such an inclination as to allow the cleaned berries to pass to
the rear and to the vessel provided for their reception. On one end
of the shaft e is a pulley d¹ and hand crank or driving pulley for
imparting motion to the movable parts of the machine. From this
pulley a belt passes around the pulley e¹ of the fan blower shaft to the
pulley on the polisher shaft and back again to the pulley d', thus
connecting and moving these three pulleys by one belt.. At the other
end of the shaft e is attached another pulley h', which imparts motion
by means of a belt to the pulley i' on roller ", and to the endless belt
carrying the grain or berry to the polisher.
y
3
The operation of the machine is as follows:-After setting the machine
in motion the berries will drop through the hopper, and between the
bars k of the hulling plate h, the corrugated roller 8, and the serrated
plate I, and elastic pads m, where they will receive a thorough scrubbing
and working by means of the motion imparted to the machine, the hulls
being completely separated from the kernel, after which both drop down
through the orifice w at the bottom of the box 6, and there a strong
current of air from the blower or fan x will blow the light chaff away
and through an aperture 11 at the end of the machine, while the berry
will drop upon an endless belt y and be carried to the polisher, where
it is rubbed and cleaned by the brushes rotating within the cylindrical
casing; from there the berries pass over a suitable sieve, the dusty,
small, or broken particles falling through the same, and the clean berry
is carried along and placed into a proper bag ready for shipping. Or the
berries after being subjected to the operation of hulling may fall down an
inclined shaking board, being at the same time subjected to the blast of a
fan blower, and then carried up by an elevating belt and conducted to
either or both of the polishing devices herein-before described, and thence
carried to a proper receptacle, being again subjected to a blast of air, by
which they are thoroughly separated from all light particles of the hulls
and any impurities, and are ready for immediate shipment.
"
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention for
Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for Hulling, Cleansing, and
Polishing or Preparing Coffee, Rice, and other Berries or Grain," together

page_text: with the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or
carried into practical effect, I would remark in conclusion that I claim
as the Invention (communicated to me by the above-named James
.Fowle Baldwin Marshall and Augustus Jones), the general construction
and arrangement of the machinery or apparatus, substantially as herein-
before described and illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
constructed and operated in the manner and for the purposes set forth;
.but more especially I claim,-
Firstly. The hulling plate h in combination with the elastic pads and
bars m, l, and roller 8.
Secondly. The square steel bars k.
Thirdly. The adjustable cap p of frame n in combination with the
serrated plate and series of square and corrugated pads m.
Fourthly. The rotating brushes f³ within the stationary corrugated
casing 6¹.
Fifthly. The hulling apparatus in combination with the fan blower x,
endless band y, polishes r, and sieve c¹.
And, sixthly. The construction of the serrated plates q¹ and the
manner in which they are connected and form the travelling belt or
band, as herein-before described and for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bristow Hunt, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.