IMPROVEMENTS IN WINNOWING AND DRESSING GRAIN AND SEEDS. AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Hall Nalder, of Alvescott, in the County of
Oxford, Farmer, and Thomas Nalder, of Challow Works, in the County
of Berks, Engineer and Agricultural Implement Manufacturer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WINNOWING AND DRESSING GRAIN AND
SEEDS. AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 31st August 1859, and dated the 5th July 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Hall Nalder and
Thomas Nalder at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 5th July 1859.
We, JAMES HALL NALDER, of Alvescott, in the County of Oxford, Farmer,
and THOMAS NALDER, of Challow Works, in the County of Berks, Engineer
aud Agricultural Implement Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WINNOWING AND DRESSING GRAIN
AND SEEDS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
inclined revolving cylindrical wire screen and cleaner to be used therewith,
applicable generally to the dressing and sorting of grain and seeds, whether
employed in flour mills, or used in winnowing or dressing machines, or in
fixed or portable combined thrashing machines.
According to this Invention we construct the cylindrical screen of a number
of parallel rings or circles of wire or of other suitable material, with

page_text: interstices between the wires, such interstices being maintained by passing
each wire through holes made in a series of longitudinal bars, which form the
frame or skeleton of the screen. The axis of this wire cylinder is slightly
incliued from the horizontal, and the cylinder is divided into two or more
lengths, each length from the upper end downwards having the interstices
between its wires of a wider pitch, so that the grain or seeds to be operated
upon, which is admitted at the upper end of the screen, will, by the rotation
of the screen, be thoroughly sifted and sorted by the time it reaches the lower
portion or mouth. The finest refuse or worst tailings will drop through the
interstices of the upper or finest length of the screen, the next best will pass
through the interstices of the next length, and the finished and perfect grain
will pass through the lowest length (where three sections or degrees of fineness
are used), whilst stones or other large bodies will pass out of the discharge
mouth of the screen. The lowest length, through which the best grain is
intended to fall, is made horizontal, or nearly so, so that less facility is afforded
for the finished grain being accidentally shot out at the mouth. its descending
tendency on arriving at this length being considerably checked.
The cleaner which I propose to use in combination with the cylindrical
screen above described, for the purpose of removing any grain which may
become lodged between the wires, consists of a series of thin plates or blades
mounted at proper distances apart upon an axis, and so arranged and shaped
that they shall individually pass through the several interstices left between
the parallel rings or circles of wire of the screen, thereby forcing into the
interior of the screen any grain lodged between the wires. The cleaning
plates are so formed also as to gear with the longitudinal bars or frame of the
screen, so that the screen may be rotated by simply turning the axis of the
cleaners, or the cleaners driven by the rotation of the screen, or both may
be driven independantly of each other. Cleaners of a similar nature to
those above described may be made to reciprocate in place of rotating with
the screen, in which case they would simply drop in and out of the interstices
between the wires.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Hall Nalder and Thomas Nalder in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 5th January 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
HALL NALDER, of Alvescott, in the County of Oxford, Farmer, and THOMAS

page_text: NALDER, of Challow Works, in the County of Berks, Engineer and Agri-
cultural Implement Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
James Hall Nalder and Thomas Nalder, Her special license that we, the
said James Hall Nalder and Thomas Nalder, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Hall Nalder and Thomas
Nalder, our executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and 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 WINNOWING
AND DRESSING GRAIN AND SEEDS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said James Hall
Nalder and Thomas Nalder, by an instrument in writing under our 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 we, the said James Hall Nalder and Thomas
Nalder, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say :-
Our said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
cleaners, to be used in combination with rotatory or partially rotatory wire
screens, applicable generally to the dressing and sorting of grain and seeds,
whether employed alone as a separate implement, or in winnowing or dressing
machines, or in fixed or portable combined thrashing machines.
According to our said Invention we construct a cylindrical or polygonal
rotatory or partial rotatory screen of a number of parallel rings or polygons
of wire or of other suitable material, with interstices between the wires, such
interstices being maintained by passing each wire through holes or slots made
in a series of longitudinal bars, which form the frame or skeleton of the
The axis of this wire screen is slightly inclined from the horizontal,
and in some cases the screen is divided into two or more lengths, each length
screen.

page_text: from the upper end downwards having the interstices between its wires of a
wider pitch or guage, so that the grain or seed to be operated upon, which is
admitted at the upper end of the screen, will, by the rotation or partial rotation
of the screen, be thoroughly sifted and sorted by the time it reaches the
lower portion or mouth. The finest refuse or worst tailings will drop through
the interstices of the upper or finest length of the screen, the next best will
pass through the interstices of the next length, and the finished and perfect,
grain will pass through the lowest length (when three sections or degrees of
fineness are used), whilst stones or other large bodies will pass out of the
discharge mouth of the screen. When two sections or degrees of fineness
only are used, as in the case of winnowing machines, the perfect grain is shot
out at the lower mouth of the screen. The lowest length (where three
lengths are used, as is intended when applied to a thrashing machine), through
which the best grain is intended to fall, is made horizontal, or nearly so. By
making that length of a slightly conical form, in place of cylindrical, like the
rest of the screen, whereby less facility is afforded for the finished grain being
accidentally shot out at the mouth, its descending tendency on arriving at this
length being considerably checked. In many cases it will be found sufficient
to have one uniform pitch or guage of the interstices between the wires from
end to end of the screen, thereby, of course, only separating one class of
tailing.
The cleaners, which form one of the essential fentures of our Invention,
and which we propose to use in combination with rotatory or partial rotatory.
wire screens, are for the purpose of removing any grain which may become
lodged between the wires. These cleaners consist of a series of thin plates
or blades, mounted at proper distances apart upon an axis, and so arranged
and shaped that they shall individually pass through the several interstices left
between the wires of the screen, thereby forcing into the interior of the screen
any grain lodged between the wires. The cleaning plates are so formed also
as to gear with the longitudinal bars or frame of the screen, so that the screen
may be rotated by simply turning the axis of the cleaners, or the cleaners
driven by the rotation of the screen, or both may be driven independently of
each other. Or the spindle of the cleaners may be driven from the screen by
the aid of a toothed wheel on the end of the screen gearing into a spur pinion
on the end of the cleaner spindle. Cleaners of a similar nature to those above
described may be made to reciprocate in place of rotating with the screen, in
which case they would simply drop in and out of the interstices between the
wires.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood, we shall

page_text: now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose we
shall refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Sheet of Drawings represents a winnowing
machine fitted with an inclined cylindrical wire screen and our improved
cleaner, a portion of the side of the machine being broken away to shew the
points of novelty. The rest of the figures are separate details and modifi-
cations, which we shall herein-after more particularly describe and refer to.
A is an inclined revolving cylindrical wire screen, composed of a series of
parallel rings of wire or other suitable material, represented by blue lines in
the Drawing. These parallel rings are strengthened and supported by passing
the wire or other suitable material through holes or slots made in the several
longitudinal bars or rods B, B, or secured to such bars or rods in any other
convenient manner, and the cylindrical form of the screen is maintained by
the rings C, C, which also have holes drilled in their rims at proper distances
apart, through which holes the longitudinal bars or rods are passed, their
extremities being rivetted or otherwise secured to the two end rings of the
screen. These end rings are provided with cross arms c, c, and a central boss
for securing them firmly to the shaft or spindle D of the screen. When
applied to a winnowing machine, the parallel rings of wire forming the
screen are disposed in two sections or lengths of different guage, that is to say,
the parallel rings are set nearer to each other in one section or length than
they are in the other, the narrower guaged or closer set portion of the screen
being at the upper end thereof, as shewn in our Drawings. The object of this
arrangement is to separate two different tailings from the corn, that which
falls through the fine guage being the worst tailing, composed of very small
fragments of grain, dust and other fine refuse matter; whilst the tailing
which drops through the coarser or wider guage at the lower portion of the
screen will be of a better description, consisting of small grains and larger
broken fragments that are too large to drop through the fine guage in the
upper portion of the screen. The perfect and large grain is shot out at the
lower end or mouth of the screen, being too large to pass through the wider
guage of wires in the screen. Each of these three samples passes down a
shoot of its own, and is received in a separate sack. The shoot E receives
only the worst tailing, the next one F the better tailing, and the shoot G the
large and perfect grain. The spindle of the screen is supported at the upper
and lower end in the bearings II, H, carried by cross bars, which also serve
to support the brackets I, I, for carrying the spindle of the cleaner herein-after

page_text: described. A rotatory motion is imparted to the screen from the main shaft K
of the winnowing machine by the driving belt L, and pullies M, N, the latter
pulley being fast on a transverse spindle O, which carries a small mitre
wheel P, gearing into a corresponding mitre wheel fast on the lower end of
the screen spindle.
The general construction and arrangement of the winnowing machine is
the same as that described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to
James Hall Nalder and John Thomas Knapp, on or about the Eleventh of
October, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, No. 2831; and as it
consequently forms no part of our present Invention, except in so far as it is
combined with our improved cleaner, we do not consider it requisite to give
any detailed description of it here. We wish it to be understood, however,
that although we have represented our present improvements as applied to a
certain particular form and arrangement of wire screen and winnowing
machine, we do not confine or restrict ourselves to such application or combi-
nation, as it is obvious that the same or a mere modified construction of
cleaner may be applied to other forms of rotatory or partial rotatory screens
and winnowing machines. The corn, as it leaves the riddles of the winnower,
falls down the spout or shoot Q, which directs it into the conical shaped
mouthpiece R, fixed on to the upper end of the screen. Whilst passing down
the screen the grain is winnowed by a fan blast directed up the centre of the
screen, as shown by the arrows, and fully described in the Specification herein-
before referred to. In order to keep the interstices between the several
parallel rings of wire free from clogging by the lodging therein of grains of
corn, we propose to use a peculiarly constructed rotatory or vibrating cleaner
composed of metal blades, which are constantly working through the several
interstices between the wires, and thereby removing any substance fixed
therein as the screen rotates. Figure 2, represents the inclined cylindrical
screen of the winnowing machine detached, with its accompanying rotatory
cleaner S. In this view the cleaner is shown on the front side of the screen
so that the combination may be more clearly understood. T represents the
spindle of the cleaner, which rotates in suitable bearings in the vertical
brackets I, I, herein-before referred to. This spindle is of a square section, in
order to prevent the cleaning plates or discs i, i, which may be of any conve-
nient form, and which are placed upon it side by side, from rotating loosely
on their axis. The several discs i, i, are maintained at a proper distance apart
to correspond exactly with the interstices between the parallel rings of wire
composing the screen by means of loose washers k, k, (shewn more clearly in
the sectional view, Figure 4) interposed between the several discs, or, if

page_text: preferred, the discs may each have a projecting central boss formed upon
them, which would answer the same purpose. In Figure 4 these discs are
represented as being notched in their peripheries, the notches gearing into the
several longitudinal bars or rods of the screen as they revolve, and thereby
allowing the edges of the discs to protrude through the interstices between the
wires, and remove any grain or substances which may be fixed therein. A
rotatory motion may be imparted to the spindle of the cleaners by placing a
pinion U on the end of the spindle, which gears into cog teeth formed on the
lower ring of the screen, as shown in Figure 3, the motion of the screen being
transmitted to the cleaners, as in Figure 1; or the cleaners may be made to
actuate the screen by applying the first motion to the cleaner spindle in place
of to the screen, or both the screen and cleaner may be driven independantly
of each other. In Figure 5 a vibrating cleaner is represented consisting
simply of a number of teeth or blades i placed on a shaft and dropping into
the interstices between the wires of the screen as it revolves, the longitudinal
bars or rods lifting the teeth as they pass, and allowing them to drop again
between the wires after they have released them. A spring or counterweight
connected with the spindle of the cleaners may be employed for ensuring their
dropping into their places again after the passage of each longitudinal bar or
rod of the screen. Figure 6 represents another modification of cleaners,
whereby the use of the spur wheel and pinion for driving the spindle is
obviated. In this arrangement the cleaner plates are so shaped as to gear
with the longitudinal bars or rods of the screen, and to fill or nearly fill the
intervening space between each pair of bars, as will be clearly understood on
referring to the Drawing. In this way the rotatory motion imparted to the
screen will be transmitted to the cleaners or vice versa; the cleaners acting as
a pinion, and the bars or rods of the screen as a spur wheel in gear therewith.
Figure 7 represents a detail side elevation of an improved inclined cylindrical
wire screen as constructed for thrashing machines or mills. In this case there
are three different lengths or sections 1, 2, 3, the interstices between the wires
in each section, as before, being of a finer or coarser pitch or guage than the
other. The lowest length or section 3 has the interstices between the several
wires of a sufficient width to allow the perfectly finished grain to drop through,
whilst stones and other large bodies are shot out at the mouth of the screen.
But, in order to retard the grain when it arrives at this lowest section, and to
prevent it from being accidentally thrown out at the mouth, we make this
lowest section of a conical form, so that the portion of the screen upon which
the corn lies will be horizontal, or nearly so; the amount of taper requisite
to accomplish this object being, of course, dependant upon the greater or less

page_text: inclination of the screen, as will be obvious on referring to Figure 6. Any
of the cleaners herein-before described may be applied to the screen illustrated
by Figure 7, but they need only extend along the two upper sections or
lengths 1 and 2. In cases where the wirework of the screen is applied in
the form of a continuous helix, having parallel convolutions, the blades of the
cleaners should be set in a spiral direction upon their axis so as to follow the
convolutions of the coiled wire of the screen.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, we would observe in conclusion, that we are aware that inclined
revolving cylindrical wire screens made of spirally wound wire have been used
for the purposes herein-before mentioned, and therefore we lay no claim to
such screens so constructed, but what we consider to be novel and original,
and as the Invention secured to us by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general construction, arrangement, and combination of apparatus
for winnowing and dressing grain and seeds, as herein-before described.
Second, the peculiar constructions and arrangements of rotatory or vibratory
cleaners, as herein-before described.
Third, the constructing of the lower end or section of an inclined revolving
cylindrical wire screen of a conical or tapered form, for the purpose herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Hall Nalder and Thomas
Nalder, have hereunto set our bands and seals, this Second day of
January, One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JAMES HALL NALDER. (L.S.)
THOS. NALDER.
(L.S.)