IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HULLING COFFEE AND FOR SEPARATING THE HULLS AND REFUSE MATERIALS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hyde Pendleton, of Brooklyn, in the State of New
York, United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR HULLING COFFEE AND FOR SEPARATING THE HULLS AND
REFUSE MATERIALS."
Sealed the 25th January 1878, and dated the 30th October 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hyde Pendleton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th October 1877.
JOHN HYDE PENDLETON, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York, United States
of America. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HULLING COFFEE, AND FOR
SEPARATING THE HULLS AND REFUSE MATERIALS."
The coffee berries are put into a hopper above a cylinder, having a roughened
surface and supported upon a horizontal shaft between two plates. There is a
yielding mouth at the lower end of the hopper to regulate the discharge of the
berries, they are carried along by the roughened surface of the cylinder beneath
yielding rubbers.
These yielding rubbers are made as cast metal sections with diamond-shaped
projections on the surfaces, when employed for hulling, or as brushes when used for
polishing.
These rubbers are in parallel spaces found between the side plates and V shaped
cross bars from one plate to the other.
The yielding rubbers are preferably made as several sections held by rods passing
through cap plates and provided with nuts, and there are springs to press the

page_text: rubbers towards the revolving cylinder; they, however, yield as the coffee berries
pass beneath the rubbers.
The springs are adjustable, preferably, by a frame and set screws. There are two,
three, or more groups of rubbers arranged above, and at the descending side of the
revolving cylinder, and the coffee berries, as carried beneath the same, are separated
from the hulls and fall with the refuse and hulls against a diagonally ascending
current of air from a fan,
The fan is at the end of a case made of sheet metal between cast metal frames,
constructed with reference to strength, the metal being preferable to the wooden
frames before used in separators, as the latter are liable to shrink and become loose
and worm eaten.
Within the case there are inclined screws. The first of these, upon which the
materials from the huller fall, is of coarse wire; the coffee berries fall through the
same, and dust and larger pieces of hull are blown away. The coffee falls on a
second screen of fine wire, through which the air passes freely, but the coffee runs
to the distant end and passes off upon another incline leading towards the fan.
In this last incline there are openings, through which broken pieces of coffee may
pass, and the coffee is thoroughly cleaned by passing down towards the fan and
against the action of the air, and it runs off below the fan into any suitable
receiver.

page_text: Fig. 4 is a detached section; and,
Fig. 5, a plan of a modification in the construction of the yielding rubbers; and,
Fig. 6 is a section in smaller size of the winnowing apparatus that receives the
coffee and hulls from the hulling machine and separates the hulls from the coffee.
The cylinder a is between two frames or plates b and the shaft c of the said
cylinder is supported in bearings upon such plates, and it is revolved by suitable
power. There will usually be a crank handle, as this machine can be run by hand
power. The periphery of this cylinder a is corrugated or roughened to form the
hulling surface. The plates b, b, are kept apart by the shaped cross pieces d, d,
that are bolted in place so as to leave box-shaped openings with parallel sides
around the cylinder a, and into these openings I introduce blocks e, e, that are
formed with flanges f resting upon the edges of the cross pieces d, so as to prevent
them approaching the cylinder α, and there are cross rods g that hold the blocks e
in place.
There may be adjusting screws through the edges resting upon the cross pieces d
to adjust their position, and it is preferable to introduce leather or other yielding
material in a groove in the block e beneath the cross rod g so as to prevent the
block being held in place too rigidly.
The rubber sections / are made with roughened surfaces formed by diamond
shape projections having inclined surfaces standing in the direction in which the
berries and grains of coffee are forced against them, as seen in Fig. 1, and each of
these rubber sections is fitted with studs passing through the plate e and pressed
towards a by springs 8, the extent of motion being limited by cross pins through
the said studs.
It will now be understood that the rubbers are to be adjusted so as to act upon
the coffee berries supplied through the hopper, and moved on through the machine
by the revolution of the cylinder a. Care must be taken to allow sufficient space
to prevent the grains of coffee being cracked, but the hulls will be broken and split
off and the skin of the kernel will be rubbed, loosened, and detached by the action
of the diamond projections upon the surfaces of the rubbers, and these rubbers
yield to the respective coffee berries or to lumps of foreign substances as they pass

page_text: into the machine, so that the parts of the machine are not broken, but the hulls are
cracked, peeled off, and the skin separated, so that a winnowing operation finishes
the preparation of the coffee for market.
The hopper into which the coffee berries are supplied may be of any desired
character; it is however preferably made with a movable throat that regulates the
quantity passing into the machine, and also directs the berries against the revolving
cylinder a.
The lower part n of the hopper t is a vertical oblong and parallel throat, in
which is the movable regulator formed of a sliding gate v with a horizontal lip 10
faced on the bottom with leather or similar material
The gate has a central pin 11 that serves as a guide, and also arrests the down-
..ward movement of the gate by stopping upon the movable nut 20 that is clamped
by the screw 13, and can be raised or lowered to vary the width of opening as
required by the size of the berries or speed of revolution of the cylinder a. When
the hopper is full, the weight resting partially on the lip 10 is a force acting to
hold the gate down and lessen the amount fed, and so counteract the tendency of
the weight to increase the feed. As the pressure lessens, the gate rises and the feed
remains nearly uniform, because the weight of berries in the hopper has also been
lessened.
'
In the section, Fig. 4, and partial sectional plan, Fig. 5, I have shown rubbers
that are easily adjusted to regulate the pressure upon the berries. The rods are jointed
to the rubber sections and extend through the stationary cap plate e, and are pro-
vided with nuts 14, so that the rubbers may be raised or lowered, but are free to
yield to the pressure of the berries as they pass beneath. I employ in addition the
frame e' for the spring s to rest against; this frame is perforated for the free
passage of the rods l, but by adjusting this frame by the screws 15 the springs may
be increased or lessened in the force with which they press the rubbers to the
cylinder.
In all cases the yielding rubbers k are within the parallel spaces formed
between the V cross pieces, and they are guided but are free to move up or down
as the berries pass beneath.
When this machine is to be used for polishing the coffee, the rubbers may be
removed and brushes substituted, so that the cylinder may carry the coffee around
in contact with the brushes.
The coffee kernels and hulls fall away from the machine and are separated by a
current of air in a fanning machine next described.
The fan a2 is at the end of a case made of sheet metal 62 between cast metal
frames c, constructed with reference to strength, the metal being preferable to the
wooden frames before used in separators, as the latter are liable to shrink and
become loose and worm eaten.
Within the case there are screens or sieves, some of which are inclined. The first
screen dupon which the materials from the huller fall is of coarse wire; the coffee
berries fall through the same, and dust and larger pieces of hulls are blown away.
The coffee falls upon a second screen e² of finer mesh, through which the air passes
freely; but the coffee runs to the distant end and passes off upon another inclined
sieve leading towards the fan. In this last incline there are meshes or openings
through which broken pieces of coffee or small berries may pass and be delivered at
the mouth h² in the incline 8, and the coffee is thoroughly cleaned by passing down
towards the fan and against the action of the air blast, and the berries run off
below the fan into any suitable receiver.
The screens or sieves are supported or suspended between the sheet metal sides
of the inclosing case, and a shaking movement is given to the sieves laterally by
any of the usual or known devices employed in winnowers or separators to prevent
the coffee hulls lodging upon the inclines.
I claim as my Invention,-
First. The combination with the cylinder a and plates 6 of the V shaped cross

page_text: Second. In a coffee hulling machine the combination with the cylinder a, side
plates b, and V shaped cross pieces d of the blocks e and yielding rubbers held in
place by the cross rods g, substantially as set forth.
Third. The combination with the hulling cylinder and hopper of the throat,
movable gate v, and lip 10, substantially as set forth.
Fourth. The adjustable frame e' in combination with the adjustable rubbers k
and springs 8, for the purposes set forth.
Fifth. The combination in the coffee huller of side plates b and the cross V shaped
plates d, forming parallel spaces for the rubbers, substantially as set forth.
Sixth. The combination with the hulling machine of the inclined separator sieves
and blast fan, substantially as set forth.
Seventh. In combination with the blast fan and the inclined seives of the
separating machine, a frame of cast iron, and a casing enclosing the sieves of sheet
metal, substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hyde Pendleton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of April, A.D. 1878.
TATIN
DENDLETAN
Ta
JOHN HYDE
DENDLETON
Witnesses,
CHAS. H. SMITH, 76, Chambers St., New York.
GEO, T. PINCKNEY,
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