HULLING AND DRESSING RICE AND OTHER GRAIN
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Waugh MacArthur, formerly of Melbourne,
Victoria, Merchant, but now of 38, Chapel Street, Belgrave Square,
London, for the Invention of "HULLING AND DRESSING RICE AND OTHER
GRAIN." A communication from abroad. by Thomas Sutherland, of
Melbourne, Victoria, Millowner.
Sealed the 14th June 1861, and dated the 18th December 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Waugh Mac
Arthur at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 18th December 1860.
I, RICHARD WAUGH MACARTHUR, formerly of Melbourne, Victoria,
Merchant, but now of 38, Chapel Street, Belgrave Square, London, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "HULLING AND DRESSING
RICE AND OTHER GRAIN," being a communication as aforesaid, to be as
follows:-
The rice or other grain to be operated upon is submitted to the friction of
stone cylinders revolving at a high speed within casings formed of wire cloth.
These stone cylinders may be either of the same diameter throughout, or
tapering so as to form the frustrum of a cone, the form of the exterior casing
of wire gauze or wire cloth being in every case similar to that of the stone
cylinder which it encloses, and they are adapted to the purpose both of hulling
the grain and of dressing it; or they may be applied to the dressing of grain
that has been hulled by any of the methods commonly in use for that purpose.
On the grain leaving the cylinders in a dressed state, it passes into the polishing
machine, where it is submitted to friction between two surfaces padded &
covered with buff leather, the lower surface being fixed and the upper one

page_text: moveable, and moving back and forward at a high rate of speed. From this
polishing machine the grain passes into a winnowing machine, which removes
all dust, and finally discharges it in a finished state.
What I claim as the Invention for which I apply for the Patent now
applied for is, the use of stone cylinders revolving in wire gauze or cloth cases,
and also the mode of polishing the grain when the process of dressing in the
cylinders is complete.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Waugh MacArthur in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
WAUGH MACARTHUR, formerly of Melbourne, Victoria, Merchant, afterwards
of 38, Chapel Street, Belgrave Square, London, and now of 26, Lansdowne
Crescent, Glasgow, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Waugh MacArthur, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Waugh MacArthur, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Waugh MacArthur, 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 "HULLING AND DRESSING RICE AND OTHER GRAIN," a communication to me
from abroad by Thomas Sutherland, of Melbourne, Millowner, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Waugh MacArthur, 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 per-
formed, 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 Waugh MacArthur, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
Inside each cylinder is
The first part of the Invention consists in the use of cylinders. Two kinds
of cylinders are used, of which the following is a description:-The cylinder, as
shewn on the plan marked A, is arranged in a nearly horizontal position, having
an inclination of about one inch to the foot. The other kind of cylinder is
conical, as shewn on the plan marked B. The latter, from its shape, I prefer
and use, as the case or cylinder can, when the stone, herein-after described as
enclosed within it, wears down, be always kept up to its proper distance from
the stone by screwing the case further on to the larger end of the stone by
four thumb screws, as shewn on the plan B. This cannot be done with the
round stone and cylinder. When the round stone wears away it leaves a
wider space than there ought to be between the stone and the cylinder, and
does not sufficiently dress the rice, and smaller cylinders have to be put on,
which is avoided by using the conical cylinder, which is made longer than the
stone, and by moving it by hand screws towards the larger end of the stone
the space between the surface of the stone and the interior surface of the
cylinder can always be regulated as may be required.
suspended a stone supported by a strong iron shaft, and running at the same
angle as the cylinder. The periphery of the stone works within a quarter of
an inch of the internal surface of the wire covering of the cylinder. The
stones are caused to revolve from 350 to 450 times (say, from three hundred
and fifty to four hundred and fifty times) per minute, according to the
description of rice to be cleaned. The rice or other grain to be operated upon
falls through a hopper at one end of the cylinder, and soon fills up the space
between the end of the cylinder and that of the stone. It then comes in
contact with the stone, by which it is carried round and round at a great
speed, undergoing in consequence a high degree of friction between the
periphery of the stone and the interior surface of the cylinder, and by the time
it reaches the other end of the cylinder it is completely cleaned and dressed,
and falls out at a small opening in the end of the cylinder into the polishing
machine, which is constructed as follows:-It consists of two flat surfaces of
wood or other suitable material, the lower one or bottom being fixed with two
sides, and placed at an angle of forty-five degrees. The top or working part
works up and down by means of a crank and two small sides, and is kept true
to its place by the sides of the lower part, which is stationary. The two
surfaces of the upper or moving part, and under or fixed part of the polishing
machine which thus come in contact, are padded and covered with buff leather.
The top or sliding part is caused to move up and down about one hundred

page_text: THE
Figure I. shews a section of the cylinder; Figure II., an elevation; Figures
III. and IV. shew a section of the polishing machine; Figures V. & VI. are
end views of the cylinder. In the different Figures the same letters are used
to indicate the same parts.
A is the stone, which turns on an axis B on C in the framework of the
machine; D.is the outer casing or cylinder, which is made of wire gauze.
The process of cleaning rice can be carried on from one cylinder to another,
the surfaces of the stones being changed, at the same time it is not necessary,
as the whole of the process can be performed in one cylinder; and I would
remark that I prefer that rice to be cleaned and dressed by the process above
described-should-have been previously hulled by a separate process, although
the hulling can also be done, if necessary, by my cylinder apparatus, as above
specified. Motion is communicated to these cylinders by a steam engine or
other power by means of a band working over a pulley placed on a shaft E;
F and G are the two surfaces which form the polishing machine, F being
fixed, and G moveable; H is a crank, by means of which motion is com-
municated to the working portion of the polishing machine G, which is set to
work by means of bands and pullies, as shewn in sections of the polishing
machine, Figure IV.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details, so long as the character of the Invention be
retained; but what I claim as my improved method of hulling and dressing
rice and other grain is, submitting it to the action of stones, cylinders, and
otherwise, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Waugh MacArthur, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
R. WAUGH MACARTHUR. (L.S.)