IMPROVE- MENTS IN MIDDLINGS' SEPARATORS OR MACHINES FOR PURIFYING MIDDLINGS, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR PURIFYING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Pritt, Corn Miller, and William Hind, Engineer,
both of Preston, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MIDDLINGS' SEPARATORS OR MACHINES FOR PURIFYING MIDDLINGS,
APPLICABLE ALSO FOR PURIFYING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN."
Sealed the 5th March 1878, and dated the 10th September 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Pritt and William
Hind at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th September
1877.
RICHARD PRITT, Corn Miller, and WILLIAM HIND, Engineer, both of Preston, in
the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MIDDLINGS' SEPARATORS OR
MACHINES FOR PURIFYING MIDDLINGS, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR PURIFYING WHEAT
AND OTHER GRAIN."
This Invention has for its object improvements in middlings' separators or
machines for purifying middlings, applicable also for purifying wheat and other
grain, and is designed to produce a simple machine of few parts, occupying less space
and requiring less driving power, and at the same time of greater efficiency than
other constructions of machines at present used for the same purposes.
We employ an upright tube of suitable section (it may be square) open at the top
for the reception of the middlings from which the bran or other light substances are
to be extracted, and open at the bottom for the egress of the purified material.
Down the centre of this tube, in suitable bearings, is a shaft, to which rotary motion
may be imparted by geared wheels or otherwise; upon the shaft are fastened agita-
tors or beaters designed to agitate or spread the material as it passes down the tube.
These agitators or beaters may be described as pulleys, having upon their arms
projections or wings in suitable position for beating against and distributing the
material. Around the tube, about midway of its length, is a box or case from whose
interior passages or vacuum chambers run towards the respective ends of the tube
at each of its sides. The passages are closed to the outer air at the ends furthest
[Prins G73

page_text: from the box or case, but communicate through suitable openings with the interior
of the tube. The box or case communicates with the chamber of an exhaust fan
provided with a governor or controlling apparatus for the purpose of regulating the
amount of suction power through the passages and tube openings.
Heretofore the suction has been regulated by air valves and other devices which
are liable to get out of order, and are more or less unreliable and irregular in their
action; but the employment of self-regulating apparatus for preserving the speed of
the fan at one uniform rate effectually overcomes the defects arising from the use
of air valves and other arrangements by which the outer air is admitted to reduce
the suction power within. Above each of the passages or vacuum chambers we
place a suction indicator, whereby the amount of suction in any one of the passages
may be ascertained, and we also arrange apparatus adjustable from the outside of
the machine for contracting or extending the width or opening of each of the said
passages, so that the amount of suction in each may be regulated and equalised.
The middlings to be treated are delivered from the mouth of a suitable hopper at
the upper end of the tube, and as they descend are acted upon by each of the
agitators or beaters in turn.
By the time the material has reached the bottom end of the tube, the air drawn
through it by the action of the exhaust apparatus will have carried off the bran and
lighter particles through the tube openings and passages, thence by way of the box
or case surrounding the upright tube through the exhauster to be deposited in any
suitable receptacle.
It will be evident that apparatus as above described may be employed for
separating husks and dirt from wheat, rico, and other grain or seeds.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Richard Pritt and William Hind in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th March 1878.
RICHARD PRITT, Corn Miller, and WILLIAM HIND, Engineer, both of Preston,
in the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MIDDLINGS' SEPARATORS OR
MACHINES FOR PURIFYING MIDDLINGS, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR PURIFYING Wheat
AND OTHER GRAIN."
This Invention has for its object improvements in middlings' separators or
machines for purifying middlings, applicable also for purifying wheat and other
grain.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation partly in section; and
Fig. 2 is an end view of a machine for purifying middlings constructed according to
our said Invention.
We employ an upright tube A of suitable section (it may be square, as shewn in
sectional plan at Fig. 3) open at the top a for the reception of the middlings, from
which the bran or other light substances are to be extracted, and open at the
bottom 6 for the egress of the purified material. Down the centre of this tube in
suitable bearings c, c', is a shaft B, to which rotatory motion may be imparted by
geared wheels, or by a belt and pulley, as shewn in Fig. 1. Upon the shaft B are
fastened agitators or beaters C, designed to agitate or spread the material as it
passes down the tube A. These agitators or beaters may be described as pulleys,
having upon their arms projections or wings d in suitable position for beating against
and distributing the material. Other wings d¹ projecting inwardly (see plan view,
Fig. 3) may advantageously be employed. w is a disc placed above the agitators,
so as to spread the middlings centrifugally in the first instance, as they fall into the
tube A. Around the tube A is a box or case D, somewhat larger than the tube,
leaving a space or passage e between the inner surface of the case D and the outer
surface of the tube A. The case D is closed to the outer air at the top and bottom
ends, but communication with the interior of the tube is established by means of
narrow openings through the sides of the tube A. The tube A may consist of
uprights ff, to which are screwed plates g at a slight distance from each other, so
as to leave intervals or spaces between them.
In Fig. 3 a square tube is shewn, but the tube may be made round or octagonal,
as shewn at Fig. 4, or of any other suitable section. The tube A may be arranged
so as to revolve instead of remaining stationary as above described.
In our Provisional Specification, we described the tube as having around it, about
midway of its length, a box or case from whose interior passages or vacuum cham-
|bers ran towards the respective ends of the tube at each of its sides. We find
however in practice that we may dispense with the separate passages, and that if
a fan is employed of larger capacity than the combined area of the narrow openings
in the tube, a similar amount of suction power will be exerted at the side furthest
from, as well as at the side nearest to the fan. The interior of the box or case D
communicates with the chamber of an exhaust fan E, through passages 8, one on
each side of the fan. The fan is provided with a governor or other controlling
apparatus for the purpose of regulating the amount of suction power in the spaces
between the tube A and the box or case D. This we effect in one arrangement by
means of governor balls F, which influence the position of the belt or strap on a pair
of cone pulleys h, h¹.
Fig. 5 shews a mode whereby a strap guide i may be caused to move laterally by
the raising and lowering of the governor rod j; k, k¹, are discs fastened upon a shaft
or axis ; m, m³, are bevel wheels, m' constituting a nut through which the screw n
travels from right to left, or vice versa, according to the direction of rotation of the
discs k, k¹; o is a friction pulley mounted on the shaft p, which rotates when
the middlings' purifier is in motion. The shaft p works in a bearing o̟ capable
of moving in an up-and-down direction in the slide r.

page_text: When the speed of the purifier is accelerated, the rod; will lift the shaft p, thereby
causing the friction pulley o to rotate the disc k and wheel m¹, so that the guide
will move the belt towards the thicker end of the cone pulley h, and towards the
smaller end of the cone pulley h¹, thus decreasing the speed of the fan. On the
other hand, if the speed of the machine be decreased, the friction pulley o will
descend upon the disc ¹, thereby causing the shaft or axis and the wheel m¹ to
rotate in the contrary direction, and consequently to move the guide i towards the
smaller end of the cone pulley h, and towards the thicker end of the cone pulley h¹,
thus increasing the speed of the fan.
Heretofore the suction has been regulated by air valves, and other devices which are
liable to get out of order, and are more or less unreliable and irregular in their action,
but the employment of self-regulating apparatus for preserving the speed of the fan
at one uniform rate effectually overcomes the defects arising from the use of air
valves and other arrangements by which the outer air is admitted to reduce the
suction power within.
The middlings to be treated are delivered from the mouth of a suitable hopper G
at the upper end a of the tube A, and as they descend are acted upon by each of the
agitators or beaters C in turn.
The air drawn through by the action of the exhaust apparatus carries off the bran
and lighter particles through the tube openings and passages, thence by way of the
box or case D surrounding the upright tube through the exhauster, to be deposited
from H in any suitable receptacle, and the purified material leaves at the bottom
end of the tube.
It will be evident that apparatus as above described may be employed for
separating husks and dirt from wheat, rice, and other grain or seeds.
In Figs. 1, 3, and 4 small arrows indicate the direction of the air currents in the
several views.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner of
performing it, we would have it understood that what we claim as secured to us by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is as follows (that is to say) :-
First. The use for purifying middlings, wheat, and other grain, of a tube provided
with agitators, and communicating, as described, with a space e, whence air is
exhausted by a fan or exhauster controlled by a governor or other suitable controlling
apparatus.
Secondly. The tube A with its box or case D, constructed and arranged as
described and shewn.
Thirdly. The herein described combination of the tube A, agitators C, case D,
and exhausting fan E, all as shewn in the Drawings.
Fourthly. The construction of machine shewn in and described with reference to
Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 5 of the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Pritt, for myself and on behalf of the
said William Hind, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day
of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
eight.