Improvements in Malting Machines.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Apr., 1897-Accepted, 25th Sept., 1897
Improvements in Malting Machines.
I, MICHAEL ANGELO BARBER, of 259 Laurel Hill Avenue, Norwich, New London
County, State of Connecticut, U.S.A., Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of my Invention for "Improvements in Malting Machines" and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
―
My present invention consists of certain improvements in the class of Malting
Machines in which is provided a carriage mounted to travel forward and backward
within a suitable chamber, said carriage bearing a revoluble shaft with devices
of bucket form that are adapted to agitate and stir the malt.
The immediate purpose of this invention is to improve the mechanism provided
for thus agitating and stirring the grain during the period of germination, and
during the subsequent process of kiln drying, to the end that said grain may be
more thoroughly and uniformly stirred and separated throughout its mass, so that
each kernel thereof shall receive as far as possible the same treatment, and that
the mass, after treatment, shall be deposited in a layer, or sheet, of more nearly
uniform thickness than has been possible heretofore.
In some of the machines of this class, heretofore used, there has been found a
slight tendency, on the part of the buckets that scoop up the grain, to deposit it
into a succession of ridges and furrows extending transversely to the length of the
Malting Chamber, and one of the aims of the present invention is to correct said
defect.
I have also provided improved mechanism for imparting a rotary and
"Travelling" movement to the revoluble stirrer as well as means for causing the
reversible buckets to reverse in unison, all of which improvements are fully
described hereinafter.
Inasmuch as my invention has particular relation to the stirring apparatus,
I have considered it necessary to illustrate only those portions of a Malting
Machine that are closely related to, or in some measure depend upon, my present
improvements.
In the annexed drawings Figure 1 is a side clevation of a portion of the malting
chamber showing the ways (of rack and track form) on which the revoluble stirrer
travels; also a portion of said stirrer and the mechanism for driving it.
Figure 2 is a top or plan view of said driving mechanism.
Figure 3 is an end view of the stirrer and Figure 4 is a side elevation of the
same.
In these drawings 10 and 11 indicate, respectively, portions of the floor and side
walls of the malting chamber, said side walls being mounted parallel with each
other upon said floor, and 12 is a toothed rack mounted upon each of said side
walls or upon upward extensions thereof.
13 denotes a short shaft mounted to revolve in a journal bearing 14 that is
secured to, or formed as a part of, a light but stiff metallic frame 15. Such a
frame 15 is provided at each side of the malting chamber, and each frame section

page_text: is provided with grooved wheels 16 that travel on ways 17 of track form, thus
providing a carriage that may be moved from end to end of said chamber. This
frame has a provision for the vertical adjustment of the entire agitating device
carried upon it relatively to the carrying wheels or grooved wheels 16 by means of
suitable sliding carriages d mounted in ways e and adjusting screws ff.
Screws are mounted in threaded brackets formed as rigid parts of the frame 15
and the lower ends of said screws abut the vertical adjustable carriages d to
which are hung the grooved wheels 16. When it is desired to raise the frame 15
relatively to the fixed side walls 11, it is only necessary to screw the screws f
downward, as will be best understood by reference to Figure 1 of the drawings.
For the purpose of joining and stiffening the two opposing frame sections 15,
I provide cross rods 17" at the front and rear of the described carriage and also a
similar rod 18 that connects upwardly extending portions 15° of the said frame.
Upon the outer end of shaft 13 is fixed a pinion gear 19 that meshes with
rack 12. This pinion gear is made removable and interchangeable with supple-
mentary gears of diameters which can be substituted in place, so as to vary at will
the rate of linear travel, relatively to the rotary velocity of the revolving stirrer,
which is a useful provision for adapting the apparatus to different kinds of malt
or malt in different stages of treatment. This adjustment is made practicable by
means of the co-operative vertical adjustment of the frame 15 and the devices
carried thereon relatively to the carrying wheels by means of the screws f. f.
A third adjustment is provided for in the radially adjustable rods 32b on which
the reversible buckets are supported. In order to provide this last named adjust-
ment in a simple and inexpensive manner, I slot the arms 32 as at 32ª and place
upon the projecting ends of the bucket-supporting rods 32b nuts 32° which, when
screwed home, clamp said rods and the arms 32. Whenever it becomes desir-
able to vary the distance of the buckets from their common central shaft 22, it
is only necessary to first loosen the nuts 32°, second adjust the rods 32b to the
desired position and, finally, td screw home the nuts 32. The object of these
several adjustments is to properly proportion the linear feed and the action of the
buckets, each to each, with relation to the quality, condition and stage of treat-
ment of the malt under manipulation. Upon the inner end of said shaft 13 is
fixed a somewhat larger gear wheel 20.
Mounted in journal bearings 21, that are secured to, and depend from, the
frame 15 is a shaft 22 that bears a gear 23 which meshes with and drives the
gear 20 already referred to, and the shaft 22 also bears a large sprocket wheel 24
which is connected by a chain 25 with a small sprocket wheel 26 secured to a
shaft 27 whose ends are journalled in bearings 28 secured to frame 15, as is best'
seen in Figure 2 of the drawings.
28 denotes a large grooved bulley that is fixed on shaft 27, and 29-30 denote
small, grooved, guide pulleys that are journalled to revolve in an horizontal plane
at about the level of the top of pulley 28". It will now be noted that the guide
pulleys 29-30 are located at opposite sides of the pulley 28" in such positions
that they may serve to guide a cable 31 that is passed around the said pulley 28.
When the cable is drawn lengthwise in either direction it causes pulley 28*
and sprocket 26 to revolve and thus rotary motion is imparted to the large
sprocket 24 and its shaft 22. Gear 23 simultaneously drives the gear 20 and causes
the pinion 19 to travel on the rack 12 with which it meshes, thus moving the
frame 15, and all of the elements mounted thereon, forward or backward, according
to the direction of movement of the driving cable 31. The rate of speed imparted
to said frame will of course be governed by the relative sizes of the several gears
and sprocket wheels and by the rate of movement of the said driving cable.
The shaft 22 bears my revoluble stirrer and as the said stirrer embodies perhaps
the most important of my present improvements I shall proceed to describe it
in detail.
Said stirrer is supported by arms 32 (here shown as four in number) that are
secured to, and radiate from the shaft 22. Secured to these arms, near their outer

page_text: ends, is a shell 33 that is shown substantially square in cross section but may be
polygonal in cross section, of any number of sides. The angles are preferably
somewhat rounded as at 33. This shell extends from end to end of the stirrer.
Journalled on rods 32b that are adjustably secured to the upwardly projecting
portions of the arms 32 are substantially semi-circular reversible scoops or
buckets 34, each bucket being provided with a fixed rib 35 extending along its
central outer portion. These ribs 35 are provided to engage with the mass of
grain when the bucket-carrying mechanism is stopped and reversed. As the
bucket carriage starts on its return movement the grain acts upon the lowest rib
with sufficient resistance to reverse the bucket to which said rib is secured.
In order that the several buckets may be reversed in unison and with as little
frictional resistance as possible, I have provided a spider" 36 that is loosely
mounted on shaft 22 and have connected the radial arms of said "spider" with
the buckets by means of rods 37, the point of connection with the buckets being
so located that the swinging of either bucket (to reverse it) will serve, through its
rod 37 to rock the "spider," and thus simultaneously reverse all of the other
buckets of the series.
At each end of the shell 33 is a flange or guard rib 38 of peculiar shape, best seen
in Figure 4 of the drawings. These flanges. serve, as side boards, to prevent the
mass of grain from spreading in a lateral direction (that is to say, toward the side
walls of the malting chamber) when said grain is spilled by the buckets upon the
shell 33. As the stirrer revolves, such of the grain as falls into the angle formed
by the shell and guard rib is guided by the latter towards the centre of the malting
chamber by reason of the inwardly curved portions 38%, said angle being in effect
a trough down which the grain slides by gravity and is meanwhile directed by
the curve of said trough towards the centre of the chamber, being finally deposited
upon the floor of the malting chamber, to be picked up by the bucket when the
stirrer passes again through said chramber.
The shell 33 is so iocated between the shaft 22 and the reversible buckets that
the edges of the latter strike said shell during the act of reversing the buckets in
either direction, to prevent the complete revolution of said buckets, as will be best
understood by reference to Figure 3.
When the cable 31 is drawn lengthwise rotary motion is imparted to the stirrer
(of which the buckets form parts) and the stirrer carriage is at the same time
caused to travel upon the ways 17, as above explained.
The parallel rack bars 12, and pinions 19, meshing therewith, cause both ends
of frame 15 and the malt stirring buckets carried thereby to travel forward and
backward at the same rate of speed, thereby preventing the binding of said frame
in its bearings. This arrangement of racks and pinions or an equivalent therefor,
is absolutely essential to the proper working of my present improved stirring and
distributing mechanism and is a necessary feature of the complete working com-
bination. Owing to the greatly enlarged size of the revoluble stirrer over malt
stirrers as now used, by reason of the introduction of the polygonal shell, and the
consequent increased radial sweep of the reversible buckets, means for preventing
such binding of the frame is necessary and a change of the gearing parts was
necessitated, also a considerable increase in the length of the travelling frame.
All this however adds to the steadiness of the linear travel, which is quite
important, since the introduction of the shell or drum has greatly increased the
weight and mass of the rotary stirrer giving it the capacities and functions of a
fly-wheel, whereby great steadiness of movement is insured, but at the same time
enhancing the importance of the parallel motion provision embodied in the rack
bars and pinions of the combination. The revoluble stirrer may be several feet
in diameter and may weigh many hundred pounds, whereas heretofore a simple
rotary shaft with non-reversable buckets clinging closely thereto has been most
commonly used.
As the buckets are brought successively in contact with the grain each one
scoops a quantity of said grain and carries it upward nearly to the vertical centre

page_text: of the stirrer and then begins to spill said grain. In my present form of machine
the grain is first deposited upon the uppermost face of the shell 33 and, as said
shell continues to revolve, the grain is gradually spilled over the curved portion 33ª
and deposited upon the floor of the chamber in a sheet of even thickness, and in
order that the kernels of the germinating grain may be effectually separated and
individually exposed to the air, I prefer to provide upon the surface of the shell
radially projecting spurs or teats 39 so located and arranged as to isolate the kernels
to a certain extent and thus prevent them from sliding off from the shell in
entangled masses, but rather causing them to fall separately, receiving at the same
time a turning motion, which contributes to their eration during their descent
and aids their uniform distribution.
My described improvements are in no wise complex, neither are they expensive
to produce, yet they perform their work in a most satisfactory manner.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
-
1. In a revoluble stirrer of the class herewith described in combination a series
of reversible buckets and a shell located between the said buckets and the axial
centre of the stirrer, substantially as specified.
2. In combination with a suitably journalled shaft, radial arms secured to said
shaft, buckets journalled in the free ends of said arms, and a shell interposed
between the shaft and the buckets; said shell being substantially polygonal in
cross section.
3. In combination in a malt stirrer, a shaft with radial arms, reversible buckets
journalled in the outer ends of said arms, a shell between the said bucket and shatt,
having substantially flat portions adjacent to the buckets and curved portions 33*
intermediate each pair of buckets, and means connecting the several buckets
whereby the reversal of one bucket will act simultaneously to reverse all of the
others of the series.
4. In a revoluble stirrer, in combination, a series of reversible buckets and a
shell located between said buckets and the axial centre of the stirrer, the ends of
said shell being provided with guard flanges each formed with outward and
inward curves, substantially as specified.
.
5. In a revoluble stirrer, the combination of the journalled shaft, having radial
arms, reversible buckets journaled in the free ends thereof, each bearing a rigid
reversing rib, a shell interposed between the shaft and the buckets, a spider
loosely mounted on the shaft, and link connections between the said buckets and
the spider arms, whereby the reversal of one bucket causes all of the others to
revolve in unison, substantially as specified.
6. In a revoluble stirrer, the combination of the journalled shaft, with radial
arms having reversible buckets journalled in the free ends thereof, and a shell
interposed between the shaft and the said buckets, the said shell bearing on its
outer surface radialty projecting spurs or teats for the better distribution of the
grains, substantially as specified.
7. In a revoluble stirrer, the combination of the journalled shaft, having radial
arms bearing reversible buckets, journalled in the free ends thereof, with a shell
located between the said shaft and the reversible buckets, at such relative distance
from each that the edges of the reversible buckets shali strike and bear upon, the
shell in either position, whereby the said buckets are steadied and held against
further revolution during the act of stirring, substantially as and for the purpose
specified.
8. A revoluble stirrer for malting purposes consisting of a journalled shaft
having radial arms, a shell surrounding the said shaft at a suitable distance,
borne by the said arms and a series of reversible buckets journalled in the free
ends of the radial arms outside the shell in journal boxes made fadially adjustable
to and from the shell, whereby the working angle of the buckets may be varied

page_text: and adjusted at the will of the operator, in accordance with the varying character
of the work, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
9. In a malting machine, the combination of the revoluble stirrer consisting of
the central shaft, with radial arms, the reversible buckets and the reversing means,
the intermediate shell, the agitator frame travelling on ways, the transverse pinion
shaft and pinion borne on the said travelling frame, the rack bars, the driving
cable, and intermediate gearing between the said driving cable and the central
stirrer shaft, and also between the said shaft and the pinion shaft and pinions,
engaging the rack bar, all substantially as and for the purpose specified.
10. In a malting machine, the combination of the revoluble stirrer, consisting
of the central shaft with radial arms, the reversible buckets mounted in adjustable
bearings in the free ends of said radial arms, the reversing means, the intermediate
shell, the agitator frame travelling on ways, the transverse pinion shaft and
changeable pinion gear for affecting the relative speed of the travelling frame,
the rack bars, the driving cable, and intermediate gearing between the said
driving cable and the said changeable pinion gear and rack bars, including the
gear on the central stirrer shaft, all substantially as and for the purpose specified.
n
1
100%
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40 Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents.
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40 Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents.