IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED FOR HULLING, POLISHING, CLEANING, SEPARATING, AND DRESSING GRAIN AND GRAIN PRODUCE
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John August Arnold Buchholz, of Ravenscourt
Square, Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED FOR HULLING,
POLISHING, CLEANING, SEPARATING, AND DRESSING GRAIN AND GRAIN
PRODUCE."
Sealed the 3rd March 1876, and dated the 4th September 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John August Arnold
Buchholz at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 4th September 1875.
I, JOHN AUGUST ARNOLD BUCHHOLZ, of Ravenscourt Square,
Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
USED FOR HULLING, POLISHING, CLEANING, SEPARATING, AND DRESSING GRAIN AND
GRAIN PRODUCE," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in apparatus used for hulling,
polishing, cleaning, separating, and dressing grain and grain produce,

page_text: and consists, firstly, of an apparatus composed of a cone-shaped screen
drum rotated by a belt upon a rigger or band pulley upon its upper
portion. The drum has an adjustable plate to regulate the passage of
the grain to an outlet spout, the lower end of which rotates with the
drum within a casing. The plate is adjustable by a threaded rod, and its
height about the level of rotating wire blocks or blades of an inner
drum, which has a separate motion from a central shaft to determine the
quantity of grain which shall act as a weight upon the body of grain
under the action of the screen and wire blocks or blades, which has to
rise up the conical sides of the screen, as in a previous Patent granted to
me on the Fourth day of December, in the year 1874, No. 4170.
The grain to be operated upon is fed to the central part of the inner
drum through an adjustable ring piece encircling the central shaft, and
falls upon the base plate of the screen drum from which it is driven by
centrifugal action to the edge and up the cone-shaped screen, the
upward action being accelerated by the rotation of the inner drum, the
motion of which is derived from a belt or other agent working on or
into a wheel upon the central shaft, whose lower end is stepped into a
cup or socket piece forming a portion of the fixed casing.
+
The edges of the cone-shaped screen are fixed in the top plate and the
bottom or base plate of the outer drum by a jam or pinch of false plates
and screws, so that a faulty screen can be easily removed and another or
a change of mesh to suit the grain to be operated upon be placed in with
facility.
The blades or wire blocks of the inner drum may be made up in
segments of a circle with blank spaces between at intervals, or in
segments to touch each other, each segment being adjustable to reduce
or enlarge the diameter of the drum itself to suit the size of grain. For
this purpose I fit the wire blocks or blades with intervening pads or
filling pieces in a frame from which a screw pin projects, which pins
I pass through holes in the frame of the drum and adjust them by nuts
on either side.
The spaces between the segments may be filled up by a cement com-
posed of emery and alum or other suitable body.
My next improvement consists in making the screen drum of plates
with spaces between for the passage of dust and bran; the series of plates
are held at fixed distances apart by packing pieces at intervals, such

page_text: packing pieces and the plates having rods passed through them and
fastened. The inner edges of these plates act in conjunction with the
blades or wire blocks of the inner drum for hulling and polishing
purposes.
My next improvement consists in employing endless belts for driving
double drums, at the same or at different speeds, in the reverse direction.
I wrap a portion of an endless band upon a pulley of the inner drum,
and another portion upon a pulley of the outer or screen drum; I place
the two bights of the band upon separate pullics on the driving shaft,
and by a clutch or sleeve arrangement I make either of these pullies the
driver, the effect of which is to rotate the drums one to the right, the
other to the left. The pullies of the drums may be of the same diameter
or of different diameters for producing different speeds.
According to another improvement I feed the grain or grain produce
from a central spout on to a rotating base plate of a drum, and from
which the grain is thrown by centrifugal action through apertures into a
circular space between the edge of the base plate and the wall of the
fixed casing. Just below the level of the base plate the drum casing is
broken by one or more cone-shaped openings, through which air is
drawn into the casing by the formation of the base plate, which acts as
a suction fan for that purpose. The blast thus sucked in causes the
lighter particles of grain to rise into an upper chamber in the fixed
casing, from whence they are driven by the action of a forcing fan into a
receiving chamber, within which they fall by gravitation, the air
escaping through suitably protected openings.
The heavier particles of grain, and also the lighter that have not been
properly acted upon by the first blast, fall down the cone shelves of the
casing into another central feed spout, from which they fall on to a second
base plate, to be acted upon in a similar manner by a similar blast or by
a much stronger one according to the rotative speed of the base plate
and the upper fan. The heavier particles from the second casing can be
led into a third, and so on until the whole of the grain fed into the first
casing has been separated according to the specific gravity, that from
cach casing falling into separate receptacles. This is specially applicable
for cleaning semolina and middlings.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John August Arnold Buchholz in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 4th March 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
AUGUST ARNOLD BUCHHOLZ, of Ravenscourt Square, Hammersmith, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John August Arnold Buchholz, Her special
license that I, the said John August Arnold Buchholz, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John August
Arnold Buchholz, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED FOR HULLING, POLISHING,
CLEANING, SEPARATING, AND DRESSING GRAIN AND GRAIN PRODUCE," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John August Arnold
Buchholz, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John August Arnold Buchholz, 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, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to improvements in apparatus used for hulling,
polishing, cleaning, separating, and dressing grain and grain produce,
and consists, firstly, of an apparatus such as I have shown in Figure 1:
of the accompanying Drawings, and composed of a cone-shaped screen

page_text: drum A rotated by a belt upon a rigger or band pulley B upon its upper
portion. The drum has an adjustable plate C to regulate the passage of
the grain to an outlet spout D, the lower end E of which rotates with
the drum A within a casing F. The plate C is adjustable by a threaded
rod G, and its height above the level of the rotating wire blocks or
blades of the inner drum I, which has a separate motion from a central
shaft J, determines the quantity of grain which shall act as a weight
upon the body of grain then under the action of the screen K and wire
blocks or blades H, which grain has to rise up the conical sides of the
screen K, as in a previous Patent granted to me on the Fourth day of
December, in the year 1874, No. 4170.
The grain to be operated upon is fed to the central part of the inner
drum I through the hollow shaft J, or it may be through an adjustable
ring piece encircling the central shaft, and falls and travels upon the
base plate L to the outer edge of the base plate by centrifugal action,
and then up the cone-shaped screen K, the upward action being
accelerated by the rotation of the inner drum I, the motion of which is
derived from a belt or other agent working on or into a wheel upon the
central shaft, whose lower end N is stepped into a cap or socket piece P
forming a portion of the fixed casing.
The edges or ends (top and bottom) of the cone-shaped screen K are
fixed in the top plate Q and the bottom or base plate L of the outer
drum A by a jam or pinch of false plates R and screws, so that a faulty
screen can be easily removed and another or a change of mesh to suit
the grain to be operated upon be placed in with facility.
The blades or wire blocks of the inner drum I may be made up in
segments of a circle as in the sectional plan Figure 2, with blank spaces
between at intervals, or in segments to touch each other, each segment
being adjustable to reduce or enlarge the diameter of the drum itself. to
suit the size of grain. For this purpose I fit the wire blocks or blades
with intervening pads or filling pieces in a frame S, from which a screw
pin T projects, which pins I pass through holes in the frame of the drum
and adjust them by nuts U on either side.
The spaces between the segments may be filled up by a cement com.
posed of emery and alum or other suitable body.
My next improvement, which is shown in detached view, Figure 3,
consists in making the screen drum of plates a, a, with spaces b, b,

page_text: between for the passage of dust and bran. The series of plates a, a, are
held at fixed distances apart by packing pieces c, c, Figure 4, at
intervals, such packing pieces having rods d, d, passed through them
The inner edges of these plates a, a, act in conjunction
with the blades or wire blocks H of the inner drum I for hulling and
and fastened.
polishing purposes.
My next improvement, which is represented at Figures 5 and 6,
consists in employing endless belts V for driving double drums B, W, at
the same or at different speeds, in the reverse direction. I wrap a portion
of an endless band V upon a pulley W of the inner drum, and another
portion upon a pulley B of the outer or screen drum A. I place the
two bights of the band upon separate pullies X, Y, on the driving shaft
Z, and by a clutch or sleeve arrangement e I make either of these
pullies the driver, the effect of which is to rotate the drums one to the
right, the other to the left, and reversed at will. The pullies of the
drums may be of the same diameter or of different diameters for pro-
ducing different speeds.
According to another improvement, which I have shown in Figure 7,
I feed the grain or grain produce from a central spout J' on to a rotating
base plate L of a drum I, and from which the grain is thrown by
centrifugal action through apertures f,f, into a circular space and upon
a ledge between the base plate and the wall of the fixed casing F.
Below the level of the base plate L, the drum casing A is broken by one
or more cone-shaped openings h, h, through which air is drawn into the
casing, as indicated by the dotted arrows, by the formation of the base
plate, which acts as a suction fan for that purpose. The blast thus sucked
in causes the lighter particles of grain as they fall from the ledge G to
rise into an upper chamber i in the fixed casing F, from whence they are
driven by the action of a forcing fan j into a receiving chamber, within
which they fall by gravitation, the air escaping through suitably
protected openings.
The heavier particles of grain, and also the lighter that have not been
properly acted upon by the first blast, fall down the cone portion k of
the casing, as indicated by the full line arrows, into another central feed
spout J', from which they fall on to a second base plate, to be acted upon
in a similar manner by a similar blast or by a much stronger one
according to the rotative speed of the base plate and the upper fan,

page_text: The heavier particles from the second casing can be led into a third, and
so on until the whole of the grain fed into the first casing has been
separated according to the specific gravity, that from each casing falling
into separate receptacles. This is specially applicable for cleaning
semolina and middlings.
Figures 8 and 9 represent a modification of the foregoing improve-
ments, and in which the grain or grain produce is fed into the machine
at one side of the cover and air through another portion m, or it may
be portions m, m, of the same cover. The grain as it falls from the
spout n drops upon the base plate L of the rotating inner drum I, and
partakes of a sliding action towards the periphery by the centrifugal
force of the inner drum, accelerated by the vane arms p of the drum
which act as fans for the purpose. The inner cone 9 of the drum is
perforated at its upper part, and the light particles of grain or grain
produce in it fall from the spout passing through under the suction of
the exhaust fan blades ", which are fitted in the lower part of the
casing F, the exhaust from the drum taking place always through the
meshes of the screen if one be fitted, or through the spaces between
the blades a. In these Figures (8 and 9) I have shown the inner or
rotating drum I with blades and intermediate packing pieces c, forming
what I term bran exhausts, as well as the screen drum which is fixed
and enclosed in the casing. The fixed screen has at one part the
adjustable plate C and screw rod G, as before mentioned, for the purpose
of forming a pile of dressed grain above the level of the blades them.
selves, and by which the polishing of the dressed grain is effected to a
much higher degree than by my present method within the apparatus
itself.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim :-
Firstly. The improvements in detail, the parts being in combination,
as herein-before set forth and shown in the accompanying Drawings, for
the purposes described.
Secondly. I claim constructing the working parts of grain dressing
drums or screens or both drums and screens of blades or plates having
intermediate packing pieces at intervals, spaces being left between the
packing pieces for the passage of bran and other particles of grain
coverings that have been removed by the rubbing action of the blades

page_text: or plates in the upward passage of the grain, as herein-before described
and substantially as shown in Figures 3 and 4 of the accompanying
Drawings.
Thirdly. I claim the endless belt method referred to with reference to
Figures 5 and 6 of the annexed Drawings, by which the two drums of a
grain dressing apparatus can be driven in opposite directions and
reversed at will as regards the direction of rotation, as set forth.
Fourthly. I claim the modified construction and the arrangements of
the parts forming an apparatus, as shown in Figures 8 and 9 of the
annexed Drawings, as and for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John August Arnold Buchholz, have
_hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of March, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
J. A. ARNOLD BUCHHOLZ. (L.S.)