IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING FLOUR FROM MIDDLINGS OR SHARPS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fairclough and Henry Fairclough, of
Warrington, in the County of Lancaster, Corn Millers, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING FLOUR FROM
MIDDLINGS OR SHARPS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fairclough and
Henry Fairclough at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 29th January 1873.
WC, JOHN FAIRCLOUGH and HENRY FAIRCLOUGH, of Warrington, in
the County of Lancaster, Corn Millers, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING FLOUR
FROM MIDDLINGS OR SHARPS," to be as follows :-
Our Invention consists of certain novel combinations of mechanism
for separating flour from middlings or sharps, and also for freeing
middlings or sharps from fine dust during the separation of the flour.
In carrying our Invention into practice we support within suitable
carrying and enclosing framework a screen of silk or other woven

page_text: material. The said screen is suspended or left free to be vibrated or
shaken by crank, eccentric, or like means. The middlings or sharps as
delivered from an ordinary dressing machine are fed on the upper surface
of the said vibrating screen; its action combined with that of the
brushes hereafter described causes the flour to pass through the meshes
of the screen and the larger portions to be rejected. The brushes are
adapted to act on the under side of the screen so as to keep the meshes
in uniformly free condition. Endless flexible bands are used to carry
the brushes, or they (the brushes) may be made to travel and rotate, or
to move to and fro and rotate by a crank or like appliance and return
counterbalance weight or the mechanical equivalent of any of these.
Appliances for receiving and carrying away the flour are provided.
When it is desired to free the middlings from dust during the
separation of the flour therefrom, then we employ a current of air which
is caused to pass through the vibrating screen to carry away the dust
in mechanical suspension, and deposit it in a chamber fitted with zig-zag
collecting boards.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Fairclough and Henry Fairclough in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, JOHN
FAIRCLOUGH and HENRY FAIRclough, of Warrington, in the County of
Lancaster, Corn Millers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in
the thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said John Fairclough and Henry
Fairclough, Her special licence that we, the said Jolin Fairclough and
Henry Fairclough, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said John Fairclough and Henry Fairclough, 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

page_text: Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for “Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING FLOUR FROM MIDDLINGS OR SHARPS,”
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Fairclough
and Henry Fairclough, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Fairclough and Henry
Fairclough, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had
to the accompanying Sheet of illustrative Drawings, and to the letters
and figures marked thereon, that is to say :—
Our Invention consists of certain novel combinations of mechanism
for separating flour from middlings or sharps, and also for freeing
middlings or sharps from fine dust during the separation of the flour.
In carrying our Invention into practice we support within suitable
carrying and enclosing framework a screen of silk or other woven
material. The said screen is suspended or left free to be vibrated or
shaken by crank, eccentric, or like means. The middlings or sharps as
delivered from an ordinary dressing machine are fed on the upper
surface of the said vibrating screen. Its action combined with that of the
brushes hereafter described causes the flour to pass through the meshes of
the screen, and the larger portions to be rejected. The brushes are adapted
to act on the under side of the screen so as to keep the mcslics in uni-
formly free condition. Endless flexible bands are used to carry the brushics,
or they (the bruslics) may be made to travel and rotate or to move to and
fro and rotate by crank or like appliances, and return counterbalance
weight, or the mechanical equivalent of any of these. Appliances for
receiving and carrying away the flour and also the middlings are provided.
When it is desired to free the middlings from dust during the
separation of the flour therefrom, then we employ a current of air which
is caused to pass through the vibrating screen to carry away the dust in
mechanical suspension, and deposit it in a chamber fitted with zig-zag
collecting boards.

page_text: Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section, Fig. 2 a transverse section, and
Fig. 3 an end elevation, all of apparatus constructed in accordance with
our Invention for separating flour from middlings. Like letters deuote
the same parts in these views.
a, carrying and enclosing frame; b, screen of silk or other bolting
cloth or material; said screen may be made of the same mesh through-
out, or of different degrees of fineness; in the latter case the products
would be allowed to fall into different hoppers or receptacles. Tho
frame c of the screen is carried by jointed links d, and to-and-fro
motion is imparted to c and b by the adjustable eccentric c; f, shows a
spring to assist in returning and c; g are side bands of leather or
other material whercon the cylindrical brushes are carried. Frames
and chains may be used instead of the bands. These brushes are free to
rotate in the brackets secured to the bands, and the bands are carried on:
the carriers . The screens and brushes may be made to rise and fall as
well as move to and fro if desired. Motion is given to the bands and
brushes in one direction through the crank and connecting rod j, return
motion being imparted by the weight k. The flour caused to pass
through the screen is collected by the screw p, and discharged through
the opening m. The products which do not pass through the screen fall
through the shoot n. It will be seen that whilst the bands and
brushes are caused to move to and fro the brushes rotate, and keep the
screen 6 free so as to allow the flour in the middlings to pass through.
Figs. 4, 5, and G are views similar to Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of apparatus
provided with an exhausting fan and boards to collect smut and finc
dust, withdrawn directly during the operation of separating the floor.
The parts corresponding to those delineated in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 are
not marked with letters. o is the fan; p, collecting boards; openings
are provided for removing the fine dust or smut from these boards. The
current of air through the screen may be caused by a blast fan. Either
an exhaust or blast fan may be employed without the collecting boards,
and to discharge into a chamber or to the air.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and par-
ticularized the same in such manner that others will be enabled to carry

page_text: First. The screen
and brushes / operating in combination, sub-
stantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth.
Second. The screen b, brushes h, and fan o, operating in combination,
substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth.
Third. The screen b, brushes h, fan o, and collecting boards p,
operating substantially for the purposes set.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Fairclough, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, the Twenty-second day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
In the presence of
J. T. KING,
Patent Agent,
Liverpool.
HENRY FAIRCLOUGH. (L.S.)