AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SHELLING PEAS AND BEANS, STONING FRUIT,. AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Grainger Smith, of 33; Great Sutton Street,
Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, Shopfitter, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SHELLING PEAS AND BEANS, STONING FRUIT,.
AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Grainger Smith
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th May 1865.
I, EDWARD GRAINGER SMITH, of 33, Great Sutton Street, Clerkenwell, in
the County of Middlesex, Shopfitter, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SHELLING PEAS AND BEANS,
STONING FRUIT, AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention is more especially adapted to such uses as shelling peas or
beans, and stoning fruit.
To shell peas according to my Invention I provide for the unshelled peas a

page_text: proper receptacle, from which they are carried by a suitable feeding con-
trivance to a pair of rollers, between which the peascods alone pass, falling
outside, while the peas being too large to pass the rollers are separated from
the peascods, and allowed to fall into a receptacle by themselves.
If it be required not only to shell the peas, but also to separate those of
good quality from those that are inferior, as the quality depends on the specific
gravity, I use any known contrivances, by means of which, in obedience to the
Jaw of gravity, the heavier peas are caused to roll or fall into a place by
themselves, and thus become separated from those which are lighter, and
consequently inferior; or I sometimes use with the appliances before men-
tioned any known contrivance for sifting or separating the larger peas from
the smaller ones, so that those which are sold for the best shall be nearly
alike both in size and quality.
By various modifications, not departing from the general principles of con-
struction above mentioned, I adapt the same Invention to shelling beans,
seeding or stoning raisens, stoning cherries, and to the preparation of a great
variety of vegetables and fruits for culinary and for other purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Grainger Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 4th November 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
GRAINGER SMITH, of 33, Great Sutton Street, Clerkenwell, in the County of
Middlesex, Shopfitter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edward Grainger Smith, Her special licence that I, the said
Edward Grainger Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edward Grainger Smith, 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 "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SHELLING PEAS AND BEANS, STONING

page_text: FRUIT, AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Edward Grainger Smith, 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 Edward Grainger Smith, 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 statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
My Invention is more especially adapted to such uses as shelling peas or
beans, and stoning fruit.
To shell peas according to my Invention I provide for the unshelled peas
a proper receptacle, from which they are carried by a feeding contrivance to
a pair of rollers, between which the peascods alone pass, falling outside, while
the peas being too large to pass the rollers are separated from the peascods,
and fall into a receptacle by themselves.
I sometimes use with the appliances before mentioned any known con-
trivance for sifting or separating the larger peas from the smaller ones, so
that those which are sold for the best shall be nearly alike both in size and
quality.
By various modifications, not departing from the general principles of con-
struction above mentioned, I adapt my Invention to shelling beans, stoning
fruit, and to the preparation of a great variety of vegetables and fruits for
culinary and for other purposes.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side elevation, Figure 2 an
end elevation, Figure S a plan, and Figure 4 a longitudinal section of an
apparatus for shelling peas constructed according to my Invention. Figure 5
is a section on an enlarged scale of the parts by which the shelling is
performed.
A is a frame or case, and B, B, are two side plates formed thereon or fixed
thereto. These plates form bearing plates for the axes of rollers hereafter
mentioned. C is a shaft held in the plates B, B, and carrying a hand
wheel D, by which rotary motion can be imparted to the shaft C when
required. The shaft C carries tappets E, E, which act upon tappet bars F, F,
pivoted to the sides of the frame at G; springs H, HI, draw back these bars

page_text: after being acted on by the tappets; I is a shoot hinged at one end to the bars F
at J, and resting at the other end on a roller K. This roller is formed with a
groove to receive a rib L on the under side of the shoot. The roller K iscarried
on one end of the rocking bars L', L', hinged to the frame A at M, and the
other end of which is drawn down by springs N; 0, 0, are pins or projections
to limit the upward movement of the bars L', L. The shoot I is formed with
corrugations as shewn, and the ribs of the corrugations are continued at the
front end by dividing boards P, P. The corrugations are formed gradually
deeper as they approach the dividing boards, The shaft C bas a roller Q
fitted thereon, and a travelling belt R passes over this roller and over another
roller S free to revolve, the axes of which are supported in the sides of the
frame A. The shaft C carries a pinion in gear with a pinion T on the axis
of a roller U, shown detached, partly in section, in Figure 6. This roller is
ribbed, and is covered with vulcanized india-rubber or other like yielding
substance. The pinion on the shaft C is in gear with an intermediate pinion,
which in its turn gears into a pinion on the axes of a roller V; the last-named
pinion gears into a pinion X on the axes of a roller W. The rollers V, W,
are clothed with vulcanized india-rubber or other suitable soft material;
Y, Z, are guard boards to prevent the peas or cods getting out of the appa-
ratus until separated. The action is as follows:-The peas to be shelled
having been put into the shoot I, rotary motion is imparted to the shaft C by
the hand wheel D, whereby all the rollers are caused to revolve, and the
tappets E are caused to strike against the bars F; after each action of the
tappets the bars F are drawn back by the springs H, so that jogging motion
is imparted to these bars and to the shoot I. This jogging motion alternately
increases and diminishes the weight borne by the roller K, whereby and by
the action of the springs N the shoot also receives an up-and-down motion.
These motions of the shoot cause the unshelled peas to travel endwise in the
corrugations towards the front end of the shoot until they reach and are
received upon the travelling belt R between the dividing boards P. The
belt R carries the unshelled peas between the rollers Q and U, which guide
them to the rollers V, W, by which the peas are forced out of their cods, they
fall down between the rollers Q and V, while the cods are carried on by the
rollers V, W, and ejected at the front of the apparatus. The apparatus is
provided with a drawer or box a into which the shelled peas fall; this drawer
may be fitted with one or more division plates b formed with holes, through
which the smaller but not the larger peas are able to pass, whereby the peas
are separated according to their size.

page_text: To adapt the apparatus for cutting beans and other vegetables I fit cutters
in front of the rollers V, W, to the action of which the beans are submitted
after passing through these rollers. The rollers V, W, in this case are placed
a little farther apart.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Grainger Smith, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-five.
EDWARD GRAINGER SMITH. (L.S.)