IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING SUBSTANCES ACCORDING TO WE NAME OR QUALITY PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO CORN AND SEEDS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Brook Nunn and Joseph Phillips Nunn,
both of Royston, in the County of Cambridge, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING SUBSTANCES ACCORDING TO
WE NAME OR QUALITY PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO CORN AND SEEDS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Brook Nunn and
Joseph Phillips Nunn at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 16th April 1867.
We, EDMUND BROOK NUNN and JOSEPH PHILLIPS NUNN, both of Royston,
in the County of Cambridge, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING SUBSTANCES ACCORDING TO
THEIR NATURE OR QUALITY, PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO CORN AND SEEDS," to be
as follows:-
Our Invention consists in fitting plates or surfaces, plain, ground, or corru-
gated, of glass (preferably), or of wood, metal, porcelain, "compo," or other
suitable material, in adjustable frames capable of being inclined in one
direction or in more than one direction at the same time; the frames and
plates have vibratory motion imparted to them by any convenient mechanism,
or they are allowed to remain at rest as the nature of the material under
operation may require. All seeds vary in weight and in form to a certain
extent, some being round or spherical and others many sided, and our appa-
ratus enables advantage to be taken of this difference by allowing the seeds

page_text: most approaching the spherical or round form to run down an incline, while
those with flat sides are carried across the plate by the other incline, whereby
a division or separation is effected according to the nature or quality of the
seeds, which cannot be obtained by ordinary sieves.
Our Invention is particularly useful in testing or dressing corn and seeds.
When the plates are in a fixed position, that is to say, without receiving a
vibratory motion, we place them in an inclined position in an adjustable frame,
one following the other in a broken or irregular line, a space being left
between every two adjoining plates, in order that when the seeds are fed from
a hopper or otherwise upon the highest plate those seeds which are flat sided
and therefore slide may fall through the spaces, while those that are spherical
or round and therefore run may pass over the spaces and reach the bottom of
the apparatus without falling through.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edmund Brook Nunn and Joseph Phillips Nunn, in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th October 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDMUND
BROOK NUNN and JOSEPH PHILLIPS NUNN, both of Royston, in the County of
Cambridge, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and six-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Edmund Brook Nunn and Joseph Phillips Nunn, Her special licence
that we, the said Edmund Brook Nunn and Joseph Phillips Nunn, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Edmund
Brook Nunn and Joseph Phillips Nunn, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING SUBSTANCES ACCORDING TO
THEIR NATURE OR QUALITY, PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO CORN AND SEEDS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Edmund Brook Nunn and
Joseph Phillips Nunn, or one of us, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our, or one of our, or their, or one of their hands

page_text: 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 Edmund Brook Nunn and Joseph
Phillips Nunn, 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 thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
Our Invention consists in fitting plates or surfaces, plain, ground, or corru-
gated, of glass (preferably), or of wood, metal, porcelain, "compo," or other
suitable material, in adjustable frames, and so that they occupy an inclined
position in such frames; the frames and plates have vibratory motion
imparted to them by any convenient mechanism, or they may remain at rest,
as the nature of the material under operation may require. All seeds vary in
weight and in form to a certain extent, some being round or spherical and
others many-sided, and our apparatus enables advantage to be taken of this
difference by allowing the seeds most approaching the spherical or round form
to run down one portion of the incline, while those with flat sides are carried
across the plate and run down another portion of the incline, whereby a
division or separation is effected, according to the nature or quality of the
seeds, which cannot be obtained by ordinary sieves.
Our Invention is particularly useful in testing or dressing corn and seeds.
The construction of the apparatus will be understood by the annexed
Drawings.
Figure 1 is a plan, and Figure 2 a section through x, x, of Figure 1.
A, A, is a frame; B, B, are a series of inclined plates set in two rows in
frames B', B', hinged together at C; the outer ends of the frames B', B¹, are
connected to longitudinal beams D, D, and in order to regulate the inclination.
of the plates B I carry transversely through the beams D, D, a right and
left-handed screw E, by turning the handle F of which in one direction or the
other the beams D, D, are moved nearer to or further from each other, and
the inclination of the plates B, B, thereby increased or diminished as the case
may be. There is an opening G at one side of each plate, and below that a
guide G leading to a trough H extending the length of the apparatus. I is a
second, and K a third trough, also extending the length of the apparatus; L, L,
are cans for supplying the seed or corn to the plates B; these cans being
themselves supplied from a receptacle M above, acting similarly to an ordinary
sced drill. The frame A has a vibratory motion imparted to it in any con-

page_text: venient manner, but preferably by a cam which noves it in one direction, and
by a spring which moves the frame with a quicker motion in the opposite
direction. The cans L, L, feed the seed to the upper corners of the plates
adjoining the openings G; the spherical seeds run down the plates through
these openings into the guides G¹ to the trough H, while the remainder of
the seeds are carried partly across the plates by the vibratory motion, the next
roundest falling over the ends of the plates into the trough I, while those least
round are carried across the plates before reaching the bottom and are guided
by the lips N into the trough K. The troughs H, I, and K may be open at
the bottom to allow the seeds to pass into convenient receptacles.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim constructing
apparatus for separating corn, seeds, or other substances, according to their
nature or quality, such apparatus being arranged and acting substantially as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Brook Nunn, for myself, and on
behalf of the said Josoph Phillips Nunn, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twelfth day of October, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-seven.