A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OR PROCESS OF TREATING VEGETABLE AND OTHER BODIES FOR SEPARATING, SORTING, AND CLASSIFYING THEIR CONSTITUENT PARTS AND APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Lloyd Wise, of 7, Whitehall Place, in the City
of Westminster, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OR
PROCESS OF TREATING VEGETABLE AND OTHER BODIES FOR SEPARATING,
SORTING, AND CLASSIFYING THEIR CONSTITUENT PARTS AND APPARATUS
THEREFOR." A communication from abroad by Monsieur Paul, fils ainé, of
Paris, in the Republic of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Lloyd Wise at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th July 1879.
"
'À
A
WILLIAM LLOYD WISE, of 7, Whitehall Place, in the City of Westminster.
NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OR PROCESS OF TREATING VEGETABLE AND OTHER
BODIES FOR SEPARATING, SORTING, AND CLASSIFYING THEIR CONSTITUENT PARTS
AND APPARATUS THEREFOR." (A communication from abroad by Monsieur Paul,
fils ainé, of Paris, in the Republic of France.)
This Invention relates to a combined chemical and mechanical process for dis-
integrating mineral, vegetable, and other substances, and afterwards classifying
and sorting them in the order of their density. Vegetable bodies, feculent, legu-
minous, farinaceous products, comprising cercals, namely, rice, barley, beans, maize,
oats, wheats, millet, canary seeds, etcetera, are subjected firstly to a bath of water
acidulated by means of sulphuric or hydrochloric (non-arsenical) or other acid.
The substance so treated is washed, drained, and if need be dried, according to the
particular case. The disintegration of the substance is afterwards effected by
bruising and laminating or by trituration or grinding. The bruised or triturated
substances are then bolted or sifted so as only to leave a mealy substance to be
treated, of which all the molecules are of equal or like size or dimensions; this is
slaked in an equal quantity of water so as to obtain a fluid paste, which is poured
into the drum of a hydro-extractor, that being the mechanical medium for effecting
the classification by putting the drum in motion, the speed at which it is
driven (which may be as high as 3000 revolutions per minute) depending on
circumstances.

page_text: Under the influence of centrifugal force the fluid substance poured into the drum
of the hydro-extractor rises, but it is retained or brought back by a projecting rim
_cast_on_or_attached_to_the_mouth or aperture of the drum. This projecting rim
prevents the substances projected against the wall or interior circumference-of-the-
drum, which rise upward by the-effect of the centrifugal force, escaping out of the
drum, and causes them to return to the centre of the drum to be again projected
against its wall or interior circumference. It follows that the substances treated
are classified or sorted in layers in the order of their density.
--When-the-classification-is considered to have been effected, a brake, with which
the hydro-extractor is fitted, is gradually applied by operating a screw in con-
nection with suitable levers, and the fluid portion lying on the surface is drawn off
by the suction tube of a pump; after the gradual stoppage of the machine has been
effected the semi-liquid parts are withdrawn by hand, and the more solid portions
which adhere to the wall or interior circumference of the drum are withdrawn in
zones or layers.
Referring to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings
A is the frame of the hydro-extractor'; B, the rotary drum in which the classifi-
cation is effected; C, the rim of the rotary drum, which prevents the substance
subjected to the action of centrifugal force escaping from the drum; D, oil-box
fixed to the vertical shaft which is for the purpose of receiving the oil dripping
or oozing from the vertical guide or bearing of the vertical shaft; E, brake pulley;
F, brake band; G, brake lever; H, brake rod; I, brake hand-wheel; J, strong
spiral spring acting at the end of the horizontal driving shaft, so as to keep the
bevilled surface of the friction wheel a in constant contact with the friction
pinion b; K, starting and stopping handle; L, screw of striking gear operating
somewhat slowly in order to avoid shock; M, striking fork, provided with friction
rollers; N, suction pipe connected to any suitable pump, which draws the liquid
from the surface and bottom, when the classification having been effected, the
methodical stoppage of the apparatus is proceeded with. The other parts of the
apparatus being all well known it is unnecessary to specify them.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Lloyd Wise in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th
January 1880.
"A
WILLIAM LLOYD WISE, of 7, Whitehall Place, in the City of Westminster.
NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OR PROCESS OF TREATING VEGETABLE AND OTHER
BODIES FOR SEPARATING, SORTING, AND CLASSIFYING THEIR CONSTITUENT PARTS
AND APPARATUS THEREFOR." (A communication from abroad by Monsieur Paul,
fils ainé, of Paris, in the Republic of France.)
This Invention relates to a combined chemical and mechanical process for dis-
integrating (desagréger) vegetable, mineral, and other substances, and afterwards
classifying and sorting them in the order of their density. Vegetable bodies,
feculent, leguminous, farinaceous products, comprising cereals (including rice,
barley, beans, maize, oats, wheats, millet, canary seeds, etcetera), are subjected
firstly to a bath of water acidulated by means of sulphuric or hydro-chloric non-
arsenical acid. This addition of acid varies in quantity between one gramme and
two thousand grammes per 100 kos of water, according to the hardness and volume
of the body to be treated, or according to whether one or other part of the product
to be obtained is intended for human food or for agricultural purposes. The
substance so treated is washed, drained-off, and if need be dried, according to the
nature of the substance and the means or method to be employed for pulverising
or disaggregating it. To effect the disaggregation I employ two methods:-First,
I bruise or laminate certain kinds of grain, as, for example, maize and like sub-
stances; I then brush it by causing it to pass through a scrubbing apparatus
(une colonne), such, for example, as a drum provided with metallic brushes,
arranged so as to remove only the farinaceous or starchy part. Second. In the case
of other substances I have recourse to trituration by means of vertical or horizontal
mill stones or by any other suitable process. The products obtained by these two
methods (bruising and brushing or trituration) are treated in a bolter analogous
to those employed in flour mills, fitted, with silk of 60 threads to the square
centimétre so as to get only the farinaceous matter from the grain or other
substance under treatment, eliminating not only the epidermis but also the embryo
membrane, and, if required, the cellulose. Thus a powder or flour is obtained, the
grains or particles of which are of equal size. I mix this powder or flour in an
equal quantity of water by weight, so as to obtain a sufficiently fluid paste which
I pour into the drum or rotary chamber of a hydro-disaggregator, classifier, or
separator.
The second part of the process is then proceeded with; it consists in separating
and extracting the gluten, starch, and all foreign matters, which are classified and
separated in the order of their density for separate withdrawal.
The drum or rotary chainber of the apparatus being put in motion naturally
retains all its contents, and being driven so as to revolve at a speed which may
vary from 2000 to 3000 revolutions per minute (say for not less than from 15 to
20 minutes) the substances under treatment become by the action of centrifugal
force and of gravity classified according to relative weight and density around the
rotary chamber or drum, and when the operation is terminated the classification
is almost mathematically complete. I then successively withdraw, firstly, the
liquid portion by means of a pump, the suction tube of which I place within the
drum, then the solid parts, starch, and gluten, which I remove in zones or layers.
The starch may be used for the manufacture of glucose, or it may be dealt with
commercially as may be convenient. The substances treated may, including the
gluten, be employed for agricultural purposes, such as cattle feeding and manure;
or I may employ the resulting or acid water and the liquid gluten in the manu-.
facture of biscuits and bread, and the dense gluten for making alimentary pastes

page_text: (des pâtes alimentaires). As regards mineral bodies and industrial products I also
subject them to an acidified bath (un bain également saturé ou additionné
d'acide), and in the case of some_of_these_bodies I employ a very large dose, which
and the nature of the acid varies according to the products to be treated, that is
to-say that for the operation all acids in general may be employed, the subsequent
operations being in this case similar to those hereinbefore described with reference.
to vegetable substances. The powder produced being as impalpable as possible.
The object of the hydro-extractor and divider or classifier is to continue and
_complete. the-chemical--process-commenced-by-the-acidulated bath (le-bain-saturé
d'acide) to which the bodies to be treated are subjected, disentegrating them and
classifying their various component parts according to their density.
Referring to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings:-
Figs. 1 and 2 are respectively a sectional view and an elevation of a hydro-
extractor, constructed for the purpose of carrying out this Invention.
This machine in the main is somewhat similar to the turbine or hydro-extractor
which is in general use in sugar refineries, but it differs in the following
features:-
1. The inner rotating chamber is of galvanised or tinned sheet iron, cylindrical
in form and closed at all points except the top, which is provided with a large
opening and with an inwardly projecting rim or lip which is of great importance
during the time of working. This rim or lip projects obliquely downward a
distance of from four to five centimetres, and prevents the substances which may
be projected against the wall or interior circumference of the drum, and which rise
upward, from escaping out of the drum, compelling them to return again to
the centre to be again projected against the wall or interior circumference of the
drum.
2. The vertical shaft on which the drum is fixed is provided with a tinned iron
box, having an inwardly projecting rim or lip similar to that of the drum for
receiving and holding the oil which may drop from the bush or guide in which the
vertical shaft revolves, thus preventing it from falling into the drum or from being
projected outwards.
3. The horizontal shaft carrying the loose and fixed pullies and the bevil wheel,
which acts by friction on the small bevil wheel fixed on the vertical shaft, for the
purpose of putting the drum in motion, carries at one of its ends a spiral spring of
great power, having for object to prevent vibration and jerks by keeping the said
bevil wheels in constant contact during the working of the apparatus.
4. The vertical shaft is provided with a brake firmly fixed and adjusted; it
consists of a cast iron wheel turned at the circumference and inner edges of the
shoulders or flanges, a wood brake envelope connected to a metal band being
applied to the said circumference. A hand wheel and levers fixed to the frame of
the apparatus enable the stoppage of the drum to be effected in a short space of
time without commotion or perturbation. This is most important, as violent-
or sudden stoppage would destroy, at least partially, the classification of the
substances treated in the order of their density.
A is the frame of the hydro-extractor; B, the rotary drum in which the classi-
fication is effected; C, the rim or lip of the rotary drum which prevents the
substance subjected to the action of centrifugal force escaping from the drum ; D,
oil-box fixed to the vertical shaft; E, brake wheel or pulley; F, brake band; G,
brake lever; H, brake rod; I, brake hand wheel; J, strong spiral spring acting at
the end of the horizontal driving shaft, so as to keep the bevilled surface of the
friction wheel a in constant contact with the friction pinion b; K, starting or
stopping handle; L, screw of striking gear operating somewhat slowly in order
to avoid shock; M, striking fork provided with friction rollers; N, suction pipe
connected to any suitable pump, which draws the liquid from the surface and
bottom whilst (the classification having been effected) the gradual stoppage of the
apparatus is effected. The other parts of the apparatus being well known it is
unnecessary to specify them.

page_text: Having now described the nature of the said Invention as communicated to
me by ny foreign correspondent, and the manner of carrying the same into
practical effect, I would have it understood that I do not claim generally the use
of acids for separating the constituent parts of substances, nor do I claim generally
centrifugal apparatus; but that what I consider to be novel and original and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein before in part recited
Letters Patent is,--
1. The method or process of treating vegetable and other bodies by the opera-
tions conducted in the order or sequence, and substantially as herein before
described, thereby separating, sorting, and classifying their constituent parts, as
above set forth.
2. Obtaining in separate layers or zones pure gluten and starch from cereals, by
treating such cereals substantially in the manner and by the means hereinabove
described.
3. Treating mineral and other substances, substantially as and for the purpose
described.
4. The improved apparatus constructed, arranged, and operating substantially
as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying Drawings, for the
purposes specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Lloyd Wise, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
317
WICH
W. LLOYD WISE. (L.S.)