A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF CLEANSING AND TREATING COTTON SEED
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Downes Edwards, of No. 1, Bishopsgate
Street Within, in the City of London, for the Invention of "A NEW OR
IMPROVED METHOD OF CLEANSING AND TREATING COTTON SEED."
Sealed the 7th February 1865, and dated the 11th August 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Downes' Edwards
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 11th August 1864.
I, RICHARD DOWNES EDWARDS, of No. 1, Bishopsgate Street (Within), in
5 the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF CLEANSING AND TREATING COTTON SEED," to be
as follows:-
My Invention is for a mode of cleansing and purifying the cotton seed of
commerce by destroying by heat the cotton or fibres of cotton which are
generally found adhering to the seed or intermixed with the same; this cotton
entering into the composition of the oil-cake is found injurious to animales
fed upon it. The object of my Invention is to denude the seed from this
objectionable cotton, which I effect by passing the seed through a flame of
fire or otherwise exposing it to the influence of a high heat for such time as
shall scorch, char, or burn the adhering cotton, but so as not to burn the skin
of the seed or roast the seed. A short exposure to the heat will effect the
object of burning the fibres of cotton; but the duration of such time of
exposure must be found in practice, as the imported seed is always more or

page_text: less damp. When the fibrous cotton has become scorched or charred by the
heat the seed has been subjected to it should be passed through wire sieves or
cylinders by a brushing or frictional action, for the purpose of removing-and
cleaning the seed from the charred particles of cotton. I also, in order to
render the combustion of the cotton more rapid and to avoid the injury the
seed might sustain by the length of time it would otherwise be necessary to
expose it to the action of the heat, make use of brushes to separate the fibres
of cotton and raise a nap on the seed, especially when, as is often the case,
the seed is enveloped in a sort of skin of cotton. If the seed is not required
for immediate crushing it must be allowed to become quite cool before
bulking it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Downes Edwards in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th February 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
DOWNES EDWARDS, of No. 1, Bishopsgate Street (Within), in the City of
London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Richard Downies Edwards, Her special licence that I, the
said Richard Downes Edwards, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Richard Downes Edwards, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF CLEANSING AND
TREATING COTTON SEED," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Richard Downes Edwards, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Downes Edwards, 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 the cleansing or depriving cotton seed from
the fibrous cotton generally found adhering thereto when an article of com-
merce, and which cotton fibre entering into the composition of oil-cake made
from the cotton seed is found injurious to animals fed on it. The deprivation
of the seed from the adhering fibres of cotton I effect by means of heat
obtained by a gas or other flame, heated air, or by any other common and
well-known means of obtaining heat of a sufficiently high temperature, through
or over which I pass the cotton seed, with the fibre of cotton adhering to or
mixed with it, at such a speed as shall cause the fibers of cotton to scorch or
carbonize without injuring the pellicle or skin of the seed. The time required
to effect the destruction of the fibre and to avoid injuring the seed by burning
must be found in practice, as the imported seed is always more or less damp.
In practice I have found a machine of a similar arrangement to that shown
in the accompanying Drawing well adapted for carrying out my Invention.
A, A, are two drums revolving in and supported by the frames B, B, B, B ;
round A, A, is an endless wire cloth of such a mesh as will allow a flame to
pass through but not the seed; D, D, are gas pipes passing immediately
below and above the wire cloth; the jets of flame are made to impinge direct
upon the upper and undermost surface of the seed, which is placed evenly
upon the wire cloth prior to its coming under the action of the gas, through
which it is drawn by setting the revolving drums in motion, as will be readily
understood from the Drawing. Underneath the drums a brush should be
arranged (not shown in the Drawing) to cleanse the wire from any adhering
particles of cotton before it comes into position to receive another charge of
seed. After the seed has been subjected to the action of the heat, and to
cleanse it from any particles of burnt cotton that may still be adhering to it,
it is desirable that it should be passed through wire seives or cylinders by a
brushing or frictional motion. Any ordinary brushing machine of the descrip-
tion that is often employed for grain can be adapted to this purpose.
some descriptions of cotton seed are imported enveloped in a coating or skin
of cotton fibre, it is desirable to facilitate the combustion of this cotton by
separating the fibres, and for this purpose I also use brushes. The seed
should not lie in a heap immediately after it has passed through the heat, but
should be spread out to cool.
As
Having now described my Invention, I would have it distinctly understood

page_text: that I make no claim to the mechanical arrangements shown, by which the
process can be effected, or any of the parts thereof; but I claim to vary the
same, or to employ any other mode or arrangement by which I can carry out
my Invention for cleansing cotton seed by destroying by heat the fibres of
cotton mixed with the seed.

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