IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CHOPPING BARLEY
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Holben, of Barton, Cambridgeshire, for the.
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CHOPPING BARLEY."
Sealed the 30th May 1856, and dated the 12th December 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Holben at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th
December 1855.
I, RICHARD HOLBEN, of Barton, Cambridgeshire, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CHOPPING BARLEY"
to be as follows:-
Heretofore this operation has either been performed wholly by hand, or the
barley has been placed in a cylinder and acted upon by revolving cutters.
Now, my Invention consists in employing knives raised up and down by a
crank or in other suitable manner. These knives descend upon a table, on to
which the barley is thrown by an endless chain of buckets. The table has a
horizontal to and fro movement, which, acting with the knives, throw the barley
forward after it has been operated upon..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Holben in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th June 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
HOLBEN, of Barton, Cambridgeshire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Holben, Her special licence that I, the said Richard Holben, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard
Holben, 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
POR CHOPPING BARLEY," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Richard Holben, 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 Richard Holben, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by: the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
Heretofore this operation has either been performed wholly by hand, or the
barley has been placed in a cylinder and acted upon by revolving cutters.
Now, my Invention consists in employing knives raised up and down-by a
crank or in other. suitable manner. These knives descend upon a table, on to
which the barley is thrown by an endless chain of buckets. The table has a
horizontal to and fro movement, which, acting with the knives, throw the
barley forward after it has been operated upon.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side view, Figure 2 is a plan, Figure 3 an end view, and
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section, of an apparatus for chopping barley,
arranged according to my Invention. a is an axis, to which motion is given
by the crank handle b; c is a pinion fixed on the end of the crank axis e.
This pinion receives motion from the toothed wheel d on the driving axis a.
g is a rod which connects the crank on the axis e with the knives h, which
thus receive an up and down motion. i is, the table which supports the barley
while it is operated on by the knives h. If the apparatus is arranged so that
the rise and fall of the knives h is vertical,. it is necessary to give a backward
and forward motion to the table i, so as to propel the barley forward, and
cause it to pass regularly through the apparatus; but I prefer that the table i
should be fixed, as is shewn in the Drawings, and then the forward motion to
the barley under operation is given by the knives h, which are governed in
their motion by the side bars j. h³, h¹, are projections fixed on the table to
prevent the barley passing too rapidly from under the action of the knives;
1 is a piece of coarse wirework through which the barley is discharged, and
which also acts so as to retard the escape of the grain; m, m, is an endless
chain of buckets which passes over pulleys on the axis n, n', the upper one of
which receives motion from the axis a by means of the toothed wheels d and
d. This endless chain of buckets raises the grain from a heap or receptacle
at the foot of the apparatus, and discharges it into a hopper at the end of the
table i, from which it escapes on to this table, and the rate of discharge on to
the table is regulated by the sliding board q.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Holben, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
SAND
HOLBEN, Jr.
Barton, Cambridgeshire.
RICHARD HOLBEN. (L.B.)