AN APPARATUS FOR REGU- LATING THE FEED TO MILLSTONES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Chapman, of Eaton, in the County of the
City of Norwich, Miller, for the Invention of "AN APPARATUS FOR REGU-
LATING THE FEED TO MILLSTONES."
Sealed the 13th June 1854, and dated the 30th January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Chapman at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
January 1854.
I, ROBERT CHAPMAN, of Eaton, in the County of the City of Norwich,
Miller, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN APPARATUS
FOR REGULATING THE FEED TO MILLSTONES" to be as follows:-
My apparatus is constructed on the principle of the ordinary centrifugal ball
governor used in steam engines, and acts on a valve placed in the hopper,
which supplies the grain to the millstones in a manner analogous to theacti on
of the steam engine governor on the throttle valve.
In the form of apparatus which I find to answer efficiently in practice I
connect to the running stone a vertical tubular shaft which partakes of the
motion of that stone. This shaft passes upwards through the supply hopper,
and serves as a guide for the valve plate or feeder to move up and down on.
The valve plate is moved up and down by means of a rod or spindle within the
tubular shaft, which is connected at its lower end to the valve plate, and at its
upper end to the arms of the governor balls by a suitable arrangement of
links. The tubular shaft is slotted or otherwise formed, so as to admit of the

page_text: rod or spindle within it being connected to the sliding valve plate or feeder.
It will be readily seen that according as the running stone is driven at a
greater or less velocity, so the valve plate will receive motion up or down by
means of its connection with the centrifugal balls, and the supply to the
millstones will be regulated accordingly. I do not confine myself to this
precise arrangement, as the working parts might be so disposed as to allow of
the valve plate being attached to a tube sliding outside the shaft connected
to the running stone, instead of to a rod or spindle moving within that
shaft.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Chapman in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
CHAPMAN, of Eaton, in the County of the City of Norwich,, Miller, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Chapman, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Chapman,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Robert Chapman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with. and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "AN APPA-
RATUS FOR REGULATING THE FEED TO MILLSTONES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert Chapman, 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 six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Chapman, 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
thereof, reference. being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to
sav

page_text: My apparatus is constructed on the principle of the ordinary centrifugal
ball governor used in steam engines, and acts on a valve placed in the hopper
which supplies the grain to the millstones in a manner analogous to the action
of the steam engine governor on the throttle valve.
The manner in which I construct my apparatus is as follows:-I connect
to the running millstone a vertical tubular shaft, which partakes of the motion
of that stone. This shaft passes upwards through the supply hopper, and
serves as a guide for the valve plate or feeder to move up and down on. The
valve plate is moved up and down by means of a rod or spindle within the
tubular shaft, which is connected at its lower end to the valve plate, and at its
upper end to the arms of the governor balls, by a suitable arrangement of
links. The tubular shaft is slotted or otherwise formed, so as to admit of the
rod or spindle within it being connected to the sliding valve plate or feeder.
It will be readily seen that according as the running stone is driven at a
greater or less velocity, so the valve plate or feeder will receive motion up or
down by means of its connection with the centrifugal balls, and the supply to
the millstones will be regulated accordingly. I do not confine myself to this
precise arrangement, as the working parts might be so disposed as to allow of
the valve plate being attached to a tube sliding outside the shaft connected
to the running stone, instead of to a rod or spindle moving within that
shaft.
Figure 1 of the Drawings annexed is an elevation, and Figure 2, a vertical
section of my apparatus. A is the running stone; and B, the spindle by which
it is driven; C is the vertical tubular shaft connected to the running stone
at D, and revolving with it; E is the shoe of the hopper, which is slightly
contracted by the ring F fitted in it; and G is the valve plate or feeder which
comes up against the ring F, when the millstone B is not at work; H is the
rod or spindle inside the tubular shaft, by which the valve plate is moved up
or down. This rod is connected at its lower end to the valve plate by the
cross piece I, and at its upper end to the arms of the governor balls J, J, by
a à pin K, the ends of which take into slots formed in the extremities of the
arms. L, L, are slots in the tubular shaft through which the cross piece I
passes; and M is a tube attached to the valve plate and moving with it on the
tubular shaft, so as to prevent grain or dirt getting to the slots L. N, N, are
the fulcra on which the arms of the governor balls are supported; O, is a
moveable cap to the top of the tubular shaft; and P, a bearing to give steadi-
ness to the tubular shaft.
The action of the apparatus will be readily understood from the foregoing
description. When the running stone is driven at a moderate and proper

page_text: speed the parts will be in the position shewn in the Drawings, and the feed
will be regular and constant; but when the velocity is increased the governor
balls will by their centrifugal tendency be raised more nearly into the hori-
zontal position, and the valve plate being thereby moved downwards the feed
will be proportionably increased; and when the speed of the running stone is
slackened the governor balls will fall, the valve plate will be thereby raised,
and the feed diminished accordingly.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
Invention is,
The apparatus for regulating the feed to millstones, constructed and working
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Chapman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four.
ROBERT CHAPMAN. (L.S.)