IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANING GRAIN
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Young, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Millwright, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR CLEANING GRAIN."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Young at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th May 1860.
I, ROBERT YOUNG, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Millwright, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANING GRAIN," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to improvements in apparatus for cleaning grain
preparatory to its being ground, and has for object increased efficiency with
simplicity of construction, and comparatively low cost.
In a modification embodying the improvements the apparatus consists of
various parts carried by and rotating with a vertical shaft, and within a vertical
case, which last is for the most part cylindrical in form. The vertical shaft is
driven by means of a pulley on its upper end, and has fixed upon it a
cylindrical drum, upon the top of which the grain is introduced by a lateral
spout, and finds its way down between the drum and the cylindrical case,
where it is acted upon by longitudinal beaters fixed to the drum. The case is
at this part made, by preference, of strong wirework mounted in a suitable
frame. From the bottom of the space between the drum and case the grain
passes by a side duct down across an air blast, produced by a fan (of the
ordinary kind) fixed on the lower end of the vertical shaft. This blast carries

page_text: off nearly all the impurities left amongst the grain after its passage through
the case, and to insure a thorough cleaning the grain is subsequently sub-
jected to the action of the current of air which supplies the fan. The fan is
constructed to receive air at the under side only. The central part of the
upper side being closed, an annular space is, however, left or formed at the
upper side at the outer parts of the fan blades, through which space a portion
of the air is blown, and passing up the interior of the drum issues through the
top of the drum, made permeable for the purpose, and acts upon the grain as
it first enters the apparatus, carrying off the looser impurities.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Young in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th November 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
YOUNG, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Millwright, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Young, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Young, my exc-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Young, 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 "IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS POR
CLEANING GRAIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert
Young, 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 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 I, the said Robert Young, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to improvements in apparatus for cleaning grain
preparatory to its being ground, and has for object increased efficiency with
simplicity of construction, and comparatively low cost.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood and
carried into effect, I have delineated upon a Sheet of explanatory Drawings
hereunto appended, and will particularly describe a modification of apparatus
embodying my improvements.
The apparatus which is represented in sectional elevation in the Drawing
comprises various parts carried by and rotating with a vertical shaft A, and
within a vertical case B, C, D. The lower part of the case consists of a
cylindrical portion B encircling a fan E, and connected by a conical portion
with an upper cylindrical screen D of smaller diameter. This screen D is a
framework of iron lined with strong coarse wirework, and has fixed at 'its
upper end a bracket F for the upper bearings of the shaft A, the lower or foot-
step bearings of this shaft being upon the sole plate 6 of the lower or fan
casing B. The vertical shaft A is driven by means of a pulley a on its upper
end, and has fixed upon it a cylindrical drum G, above which the grain to be
cleaned is introduced by a lateral spout H. The drum G has a top covering
of wirework or other permeablo material, up through which a current of air
passes from below and acts on the grain as it first enters the apparatus,
carrying off the looser impurities, and discharging them through the annular
opening formed between the mouth of the casing D and an upper closed drum
I fixed on the shaft A. Bars J, which extend down the sides of the drum G
to form beaters, are continued above this drum to the top of the casing D, and
throw the grain against the wirework, which at this part is closed by an outer
shell. The upper ends of the bars are bent into a helical or spiral form to
strike the grain downwards through the upward current of air, or to prevent
the beaters from striking the grain in an upward direction, and to insure its
not being discharged above along with the impurities separated by the beating
action, and carried up by the current of air. The grain finds its way through
the narrow annular space between the top projecting flange g of the drum G
and the side of the casing D down between the drum and casing, where it is
acted upon by the longitudinal beaters J fixed to the drum G, being thereby
thoroughly screened. From the bottom of the space between the drum G and
casing D the grain passes by a duct K down in a broad open stream across an
air blast admitted from the fan E into the inclined duct or blast box L. This
blast carries off nearly all the impurities left amongst the grain, any remaining

page_text: sand, &c., passing through a fine wirework screen placed across an aperture
in the bottom of the blast box L, whilst to insure a thorough cleaning the
grain is subsequently conducted down a vertical passage M, and falls from an
inclined footboard across a current of air supplying or partly supplying the
fan E. The fan E is constructed to receive air from the under side only,
through openings formed in the sole plate 6 for that purpose, whilst the upper
side of the central portion of the fan is closed by a disc or plate N. An
anular space is, however, left between this disc N and the casing B, through
which annular space a portion of the air set in motion by the fan finds its way,
or is blown, and proceeds through the conical part C of the casing to the
interior of the drum G. This portion of the air passes up through the drum G
and acts on the grain above, as already explained, whilst the remainder
issues by an adjustable valve at O into the blast box L.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I have to state that I
do not restrict myself to the precise details herein described or delineated,
and that I do not claim to have invented every separate detail-herein described
and delineated; but that what I consider to be novel and original, and claim
as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent, is,
First, the herein-before described improvements in the general arrangement
or construction of grain-cleaning apparatus.
Second, the applying an air current up through the cylindrical beater
drum G, to carry off the impurities separated by the beater action above the
drum, and the deriving of this current from a fan on the shaft carrying the
drum, the same fan also supplying the main blast, substantially as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Young, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT, Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square,
Glasgow.
ROBERT YOUNG. (L.S.)