IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING GRAIN AND SEEDS FOR DECORTICATING AND POLISHING PURPOSES, AND IN MILLS OR APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John August Arnold Buchholz, of No. 2, Ravens-
court Square, Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING GRAIN
AND SEEDS FOR DECORTICATING AND POLISHING PURPOSES, AND IN MILLS OR
APPARATUS THEREFOR."
Sealed the 1st June 1875, and dated the 4th December 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John August Arnold
Buchholz at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 4th December 1874.
I, JOHN AUGUST ARNOLD BUCHHOLZ, of No. 2, Ravenscourt Square,
Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING
GRAIN AND SEEDS FOR DECORTICATING AND POLISHING PURPOSES, AND IN MILLS OR
APPARATUS THEREFOR," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in treating grain and seeds
deccutiontin and nolishing nurnoses. and in mills or annaratus.

page_text: therefor, and chiefly but not exclusively to those mills in which the
blocks composed of blades yielding material in alternate order, and with
conical working faces are employed to rub the grain or seeds upwards in
close compact order, and with their axes vertically inclined, the object
being according to the first part of my Invention to cause or establish the
formation of a yielding triturating pile by the retention of hulled grain or
seeds within the frame or chamber and above the drum to act as a weight
on and to check the upward speed of the grain or seeds which are for
the time being under operation, the result being that the grain is
triturated and thereby polished to a higher degree than usual, and the
hulling better effected. The pile forms itself to any given height before
any clean grain or seed is allowed to escape from the casing or chamber
in which the decorticating and first polishing takes place.
The second part of my Invention relates to forming drums or rubbers
to be used for decorticating grain or seeds with conical exterior surfaces
upon the lower portions of their circumferences, and, with vertical
exterior surfaces upon their upper circumferences, within which and the
casing a pile of cleaned grain or seeds can be formed, so that the grain
or seeds in their upward motion, while being rubbed or decorticated, can
be checked, and the grain or seeds which have been decorticated polished
by the trituration they receive from the rotation of the drum.
The third part of my Invention relates to forming one or more
openings or apertures in the drum casing, and providing those openings
or apertures with vertical or other sliding or removable shutters, which
can be adjusted as to height to suit the grain or seeds under operation,
the object being to retain the grain or seeds within the machine and
upon the drum after the decortication, and to enable grain of dif-
ferent degrees of hardness of their skins or bran to be treated in one
machine. I prefer to use a screw adjustment, but bolts or other appliances
for effecting the object may be employed.
The second and third parts of my Invention can be used in combina-
tion or separately, or in conjunction with conical or vertical sided drums,
and conical or vertical casings or screens, as found convenient.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John August Arnold Buchholz in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 4th June 1875.
•
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
AUGUST ARNOLD BUCHHOLZ, of 2, 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 December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John August Arnold
Buchholz, Her special licence 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 Treating
GRAIN AND SEEDS FOR DECORTICATING AND POLISHING PURPOSES, AND IN MILLS OR
APPARATUS THEREFOR," 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 scals, 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 my 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 relates to improvements in treating grain and seeds for
decorticating and polishing purposes, and in mills or apparatus therefor,
and chiefly but not exclusively to those mills in which the blocks com-

page_text: posed of blades or wires of yielding material in alternate order and with
conical working faces are employed to rub the grain or seed upwards
in close compact order, and with their axes vertically inclined, the object
being, according to the first part of my Invention, to cause or establish
the formation of a yielding triturating pile by the retention of hulled
grain or seeds within the frame or chamber and above the drum to act
as a weight on and to check the upward speed of the grain or seeds
which are for the time being under operation, the result being that the
grain is triturated and thereby polished to a higher degree than usual,
and the hulling betted effected. The pile forms itself to any given height
before any clean grain or seed is allowed to escape from the casing or
chamber in which the decorticating and first polishing takes place.
The second part of my Invention relates to forming drums or rubbers
to be used for decorticating grain or sceds with conical exterior surfaces
upon the lower portions of their circumferences, and with vertical
exterior surfaces upon their upper circumferences, within which and the
casing or pile of cleaned grain or seeds can be formed, so that the grain
or sceds in their upward motion, while being rubbed or decorticated, can
be checked, and the grain or seeds which have been decorticated polished
by the vibration they receive from the rotation of the drum.
The third part of my Invention relates to forming one or more
openings or apertures in the drum casing, and providing those openings
or apertures with vertical or other sliding or removable shutters, which
can be adjusted as to height to suit the grain or seeds under operation,
the object being to retain the grain or seeds within the machine and
upon the drum after the decortication, and to enable grain of different
degrees of hardness of their skins or bran to be treated in one machine.
I prefer to use a screw adjustment, but bolts or other appliances for
effecting the object may be employed.
The second and third parts of my Invention can be used in combina-
tion or separately, or in conjunction with conical or vertical sided drums
and conical or vertical casings or screens, as found convenient.
My Invention will be clearly understood on reference to the accom-
panying Drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical section through a mill
or apparatus constructed according to my Invention, and Figure 2 is a
horizontal section on the lino X, X, of Figure 1.

page_text: A drum a upon a vertical shaft b is arranged within a fixed casing c, a
small rigger d being fitted to the top of the drum spindle, as shown,
which receives its motion by a strap from a prime mover, and so com-
municates a rapidly revolving motion to the drum within the casing.
The periphery or working face of the drum is of a slightly conical or
tapering form, the largest diameter being uppermost, and the sides of
the casing are made with the same taper or nearly so so as to correspond
with the side of the drum. One or more apertures e are formed in the
side of the casing, which are governed by a sliding shutter having a
vertical or other sliding motion by means of the screw f', so that the
amount of the opening is regulated or governed by the height of the
shutter, which may be raised above the level of the top of the drum, and
so retain a portion of the hulled grain within the chamber c so as to
form a cushion of hulled grain or seed, which regulates the pressure
upon the grain being decorticated, and also the time it remains within
and consequently under the action of the mill. An opening is formd
at g in the cover of the casing for the entry of the grain, which leaves
the mill through the opening or openings at the side of the casing down
the sloping lip g¹ on the top edge of the sliding shutter. The drum is
fitted with blades all round its periphery for acting on the grain or
seed, 'similar blades i in segments being arranged in blocks around the
interior of the casing, between which perforated plates; are fitted for
ventilating the mill. The closeness of the periphery of the revolving
drum to the inside face of the casing depends upon the nature or size of
the grain or seed to be decorticated or polished, and this is regulated by
a set screw at the bottom of the casing acting upon the lower end of
the vertical shaft b, the turning of which screw raises or lowers the drum
and brings its periplicry closer to or farther from the inside face of the
casing, as required.

page_text: casing to the top of the lip of the adjusting shutter, which pile checks
to a certain extent the speed of the upward motion of the grain while
being rubbed or decorticated by the trituration it receives from the
rotation of the revolving drum so as to ensure its thorough decortication
and a high degree of polish from the friction which one grain exerts
upon another. When the grain reaches the level of the lip of the
adjustable shutter it passes over it and leaves the mill at the opening or
- openings through the outer casing in a thoroughly hulled and highly
polished state.
casing to the top of the lip of the adjusting shutter, which pile checks
to a certain extent the speed of the upward motion of the grain while
being rubbed or decorticated by the trituration it receives from the
rotation of the revolving drum so as to ensure its thorough decortication
and a high degree of polish from the friction which one grain exerts
upon another. When the grain reaches the level of the lip of the
adjustable shutter it passes over it and leaves the mill at the opening or
openings through the outer casing in a thoroughly hulled and highly
polished state.
Figure 3 shows a modification of the mill or apparatus shown in
Figures 1 and 2.
In Figure 1 the sliding shutter f and the outer blocks fitted with
wires are arranged in the outer casing c, and are consequently
stationary, but in Figure 3, which is a vertical section through a
modified form of mill the sliding shutter and outer blocks revolve as
well as the drum, being fitted as before in the outer casing in o, which is
now carried by and revolves in a reverse direction upon the vertical
shaft carrying the inner drum, the whole being enclosed in a outer
frame 1. The revolving casing c has a spout or shoot m fitted to it
opposite the sliding shutter f to guide and deliver the seed or grain aftor
it has been decorticated and polished. A pulley or rigger m¹ is fitted at
the top of the outer revolving case c of larger diameter than the rigger d
on the centre shaft b, causing the outer frame to revolve in a different
direction at about half the speed of the inner drum, the centre of the
pulley m being provided with a hopper n and opening 9 to guide and
feed the grain or seed into the mill, where it is acted upon in a similar
manner to that already described in reference to Figures 1 and 2. In
this modification, in consequence of both the drum and the casing
revolving, it is impossible for any grain to escape decortication when
passing up between the drum and casing..
Figures 4 and 5 show respectively in partial plan and vertical section
a method of fixing the blocks for holding the decorticating wires upon
the drum. These blocks ¹ are fitted in short segments all round the
periphery of the drum, and are tightened in their places by means of
wedge pieces p with threaded stems 2 on their inner ends, which when
drawn towards the centre of the drum by the action of the nuts », assisted

page_text: by other stems q' with nuts ², jam as it were the two adjacent blocks
agains the wedge pieces s fixed all round the circumference of the
drum.
The form of drum just shown is to be used in the mill described with
reference to Figures 1 and 2, when wires are used for decorticating
instead of blades, and will give better results. In Figure 6 I have shown
a drum with the lower portion of the exterior rubbing surface of conical
form, and the upper portion vertical or parallel, between which and the
casing the grain can be decorticated in the manner already described.
Sometimes I make the exterior rubbing surface of the drum with one
or more steps or recesses in it, as shown at t in Figure 7, the grain or
seed entering these recesses whilst undergoing the decorticating and
polishing process, and so forming cushions in addition to that formed at
the top of the drum, see Figure 1, by which the upward motion of the
grain or seeds is checked or retarded, as before explained, and a more
thorough decortication is effected.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as
my Improvements in Treating Grain and Seeds for Decorticating and
Polishing Purposes, and in Mills or Apparatus therefor,”.
--
Firstly. Forming a cushion of decorticating grain above the drum,
whereby the ascent of the grain up between the drum and the outer
casing is checked or retarded, and the pressure against the hulling edges
regulated in proportion to the thickness or weight of the cushion, sub-
stantially as herein-before described and as shown in the accompanying
Drawings.
Secondly. The use for the above purpose of a sliding shutter, as
described and as shown in Figures 1 and 3 of the accompanying
Drawings.
Thirdly. The construction and arrangement of apparatus for decorti-
cating grain, as herein-before described and as shown in Figures 1 and 2
and 4 and 5 of the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: •
And, Fifthly. The form of drum as herein-before described, and as
shown in Figures 6 and 7 of the accompanying Drawings when used in
the apparatus already described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John August Arnold Buchholz,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Third day of June Onc
thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
J. A. ARNOLD BUCHHOLZ. (L.S.)