CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF REELS COVERED WITH SILK OR OTHER SUITABLE MATERIAL USED AS MACHINES FOR THE PURPOSE OF DRESSING FLOUR
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Smith, Millwright, of Tenter Lane, Leeds,
Thomas Moore, Corn Miller, of Upper Mills, Wandsworth, near London,
and Major Burrell, Corn Miller, of King's Mills, Leeds, for the Invention
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF REELS COVERED WITH
SILK OR OTHER SUITABLE MATERIAL USED AS MACHINES FOR THE PURPOSE
OF DRESSING FLOUR."
Sealed the 2nd October 1863, and dated the 20th June 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Smith, Thomas
Moore, and Major Burrell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 20th June 1863.
We, THOMAS SMITH, Millwright, of Tenter Lane, Leeds, THOMAS MOORE,
Corn Miller, of Upper Mills, Wandsworth, near London, and MAJOR
BURRELL, Corn Miller, of King's Mills, Leeds, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF REELS
COVERED WITH SILK OR OTHER SUITABLE MATERIAL USED AS MACHINES. FOR THE
PURPOSE OF DRESSING FLOUR," to be as follows:-
In order to separate flour from the offal or bran and pollard of the wheat
or other grain after being ground into meal, two kinds of machines are used;
one consists of a cylinder laid at an angle of from 15 to 50°, the inside of
which is covered with wire cloth, the meshes of which being coarser or finer
as may be required to separate the fine from the coarse flour, middlings, or
refuse, ejecting the offal, pollard, and bran, having a reel with brushes on.
the periphery of the same revolving inside of this cylinder, and driven at

page_text: about from 400 to 600 revolutions per minute, which brushes or forces the
flour, middlings, or refuse through the wire cloth, the meal entering at the
one end, the offal being delivered at the other, the whole being contained in a
framed box or case.
The other machine cousists of a reel, also laid at an angle, made of a
polygonal form, generally sexagonal or octagonal, which is covered with silk
cloth, the meshes of which are of the required size to permit the several
qualities of flour or middlings to pass through when the said reel is caused to
revolve, the meal also entering at the one or upper end of the reel, and the
offal flowing out at the lower or opposite end, and the flour passing through
the silk cloth. These machines are well known by millers and millwrights.
It is in certain improvements upon the latter machine that our Inventions
consist, the objects being to expedite and regulate the quantity of flour to be
dressed and improve its quality. For this purpose we fix the reels of these
machines in such a manner that one or both ends may be raised or lowered
when in motion or at rest by means of screws or other mechanical equivalents
connected to the bridge trees which support the bearing of the axis or.shaft of
the reel, thus giving, as may be required, more or less angle of inclination,
thereby detaining the flour or meal in its passage along the machine by
lessening the angle of inclination or causing it to flow faster along by
increasing the angle of inclination according as the meal may be more or less
clamp, or as more or less meal may be required to pass thro' the machine to
be dressed.
It is usual in these machines to apply what is termed rappers or beaters to:
them; these are small pieces of heavy hard wood or metal, which are made to
slide on the arms and support the outer rails of the reel, which arms are
fixed to the shaft of same. As the reel revolves and the arms are upwards
these beaters fall on the shaft or axis, and when the arms are downwards
the beaters fall on the rails of the reel, when it gives a blow to the rails, causing
á vibration on the same, which being communicated to the silk causes the
flour to pass more readily through the meshes of the silk. This action 'is'
requisite in these machines when the meal is damp or in humid weather, but.
when the meal is dry, and the temperature of the air is high, these beaters are
not required.
Our improvement in this case consists of applying simple means either to
put these rappers or beaters in motion, or to suspend their action when'
required instantaneously, thereby precluding the necessity of taking off the
silk clothing of such reels to effect the same purpose:
A-third improvement consists in fixing on the inside of the bars of these,

page_text: reels a metallic wire fringe or comb the object being, that as the reel
revolves, and the meal falls. thereby from the upper to the lower part, it passes
through this metallic wire fringe- or comb; and in. so passing the flour is
scraped or rubbed off the bran or pollard, which is thereby deprived of the
flour adhering to it, and thus cleaning the bran and pollard more perfectly
from the flour which it would otherwise carry away with it..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Smith, Thomas Moore, and Major Burrell in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th December 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
SMITH, Millwright, of Tenter Lane, Leeds, THOMAS MOORE, Corn Miller,
Wandsworth, near London, and MAJOR BURRELL, Corn Miller,. King's Mills,
Leeds, send greeting.
"
WHEREAS Her most. Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of. Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Thomas Smith, Thomas Moore, and Major Burrell, Her special licence
that we, the said Thomas Smith,, Thomas Moore, & Major Burrell, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas
Smith, Thomas Moore, and Major Burrell, our 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
66 CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION. OF REELS COVERED WITH SILK OR
OTHER BUITABLE MATERIAL USED AS MACHINES FOR THE PURPOSE OF DRESSING
FLOUR," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Smith,
Thomas Moore, and Major Burrell, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our, 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 we, the said Thomas Smith, Thomas Moore, and
Major Burrell, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in

page_text: what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say:―
In order to separate the flour from the offal or bran and pollard of the
wheat or other grain after being ground into meal, two kinds of machines are
used; one consists of a cylinder laid at any angle of from 25 to 50°, the inside.
of which is covered with wire cloth, the meshes of which being coarser or
finer as may be required to separate the fine from the coarse flour, middlings,
or refuse, ejecting the offal, pollard, and bran, having a reel with brushes
on the periphery of the same revolving inside this cylinder, and driven at
about 400 to 600 revolutions per minute, which brushes or forces the flour,
middlings, or refuse through the wire cloth, the meal entering at one end; the
offal being delivered at the other, the whole being contained in a frame, box,
or case.
. The other machine consists of a reel, also laid at an angle made of a
polygonal form, generally sexagonal or octagonal, which is covered with silk
cloth, the meshes of which are of the required size to permit the several
qualities of flour or middlings to pass through when the said reel is caused to
revolve, the meal also entering at the one or upper end of the reel, and the
offal flowing out at the lower or opposite end, and the flour. passing through
the silk cloth. These kind of silk machines have been in use for some years
without any arrangement for making one silk machine to dress flour with a
light or heavy feed, or from soft or dry wheats, or in damp or dry seasons
with perfect regularity and evenness.
It is in certain improvements upon the latter machine, that our Invention
consists, the object being to facilitate the regulating of the reel to the
quantity and kind of meal to be dressed, thus causing the flour to be of a more
uniform quality when dressing direct from one or more pair of millstones.
In carrying out these improvements, we fix the reel of these machines in such
a manner that one or both ends may be raised or lowered when either in or out
of motion by means of screws or other mechanical equivalents, as described.
$
It is usual, in the ordinary kind of silk machines, to apply what is termed
rappers or beaters; these are small pieces of hard wood or metal, which are
made to slide on the arms that support the outer rails of the reel, which arms
are fixed to the shaft of the same as the reel revolves, and when the arms
are upright these beaters fall on the shaft or axis, and when the arms are a
downward the beaters fall on the rails of the reel, when it gives a blow to the
rails, and causes a vibration on the same, which being communicated to the
silk causes the flour to pass more readily through the meshes of the silk.
This action is only required in these machines when the meal is damp, or in

page_text: pinions or suitable levers, or any other equivalent méchanism, might be made
to answer the
purpose.
In Fig. 4 is shewn a method by which the driving band or belt H may be
made to adjust itself to the height of the reel II is the driving pulley on
the reel shaft; J, the pulley on the worm shaft; K is a slide fixed to the
bridge tree L, having the guide pulley. M. fitted to the said slide, and having
the rack N in which works the pinion O; on the same shaft as the pinion is
fixed the groved pulley P, round which passes the cord Q, which suspends.
the weight R. The cord passes round: the pullies I, M, J, the weight R
always keeping the driving band or belt at the proper tightness. S, S, are
two guide pullies for causing the strap or band H, H, to lap more round the
pullies I, J.
-The means by which we suspend the rappers or beaters are as follows
(Fig. 2 and 3):-K, K, K, are flat rods or bars of iron passing through the
bosses L, L, L, which support the reel; on these rods or bars are screwed the
forked catches M, M, M, which correspond in number to the rappers or
beaters to be taken up. By moving the bars K, K, K, K, longitudinally, the
forked catches come in contact with the rappers 0, 0, 0, 0, which slide on
the rails forming the reel, thus preventing them from falling. The bars or
rods are to be moved when they are on the upper side of the reel shaft, as the
rappers or beaters are then nearest the bosses. L, L, L, L; these bars are
kept in their places by the set screws S; S, or instead of the flat bars, round
bars might be used, having forked clutches B, B, B, B, (Fig. 6), keyed
on to the rods A, A, A, corresponding to the rappers to be taken up. By
turning the said rods round on their axis, the catches B, B, B, B, come in
contact with the rappers C, C, C, C, thus preventing them from falling.
Fig. 7. shews a method of suspending the rappers or beaters by means of
cords. Into the bosses A, A, supporting the rails of the reel, are screwed the
small eyes a, a, a, a, and on the arms of the reel slide the hoops B, B, B, B,.
having fixed to them the small eyes d, d, d, d.
D, D, D, D, are the rappers
and d, d, d, d, pass the cords
or beaters. Through the small eyes a, a, a, a,
e; e, e, e, to the outside of the reel, so that by drawing the cords e, e, e, e, the
slides B, B, B, B, may be drawn to either of the arms, thereby suspending or
releasing the rappers or beaters as may be required.
Figs. 8 and 9 shew an improved way of fixing the rappers or beaters.
A, A, A, A, are the rails forming the reel; B, B, B, B, the arms for supporting
the same; C, C, C, C, are rods of iron passing from one side of the reel to the
other, on which slide the rappers or beaters D, D, D, D; these rods C,.C, C, C,

page_text: are supported at each end by cross bars E, E, E; E, which are fast to the rails
A, A, A, A; the rappers D, D, D, D, may be taken off by rods and catches,
as explained in the foregoing Figures, or in any similar manner.
The wire fringe or combs shewn in Figs. 2 and 6, P, P, P, P; the comb
or fringe may be either fixed parallel to or at any angle with the rails.
In order to keep the silk clean and the mesh open, we suspend a piece of
cloth upon the rod a, to hang down as shewn at y (see Fig. 2), so that the
lower edge rests upon the silk; this cloth as the reel rotates acts as a wiper,
and thus effects the object before stated.
For varying the speed of the reel we use a coned pulley on the reel at 2, or
drive the same from a coned drum, or by multiple gearing with changing
wheels.
Having now described the nature and object of our said improvements, and
the manner of carrying the same into effect, we hereby further declare that we
do not confine ourselves to the precise details shewn and described, as the said
details may be modified in their forms, arrangement, and design, and that we
claim the several systems, or their equivalents, for raising the reels or silk
machines as herein described, and for taking the rappers or beaters up, and
the metalic wire fringe or comb for more effectually separating the flour and
husk or refuse, as herein explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Moore, on behalf of myself and
the said Thomas Smith and Major Burrell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of December, in the year
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
THOMAS MOORE. (L.S.)