IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RICE STARCH
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Wace Gray, of 19, St. Dunstan's Hill, in
the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF RICE STARCH."
Sealed the 3rd July 1866, and dated the 10th January 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Wace Gray at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 10th January 1866.
I, JOSEPH WACE GRAY, of 19, St. Dunstan's Hill, in the City of London,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF RICE STARCH," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
rice starch. Heretofore in the manufacture of starch from rice it has been
the practice to treat the rice chemically and dissolve the starch in water.
And heretofore also when making rice flour it has been usual to grind the
rice and to sift the meal by means of sieves to remove the fibrous matters
therefrom. The flour thus obtained (consisting of the whole as nearly as
may be of the starch and gluten of the grains of rice,) has been and is
largely employed for mixing with wheaten flour, and is also otherwise
employed for food when cooked. Now I have, by a course of experiments,
discovered that the starch of rice may be obtained in a highly pure state
separate from the gluten by mechanical means, by which the cost and time

page_text: occupied in the chemical treatment of the rice, and in dissolving the starch
and reproducing the same separate from the water employed in the process
may be avoided.
My Invention consists in causing rice to be ground as when for the
production of rice flour, and then in place of using sieves suitable for
removing the fibrous matters therefrom I employ sieves of such degrees of
fineness as will separate the starch from the gluten, which I am enabled to
do by reason of the grains of starch being finer than the grains of gluten,
and for this purpose I employ sieves of about the degree of fineness
obtained when using French silks known as 16 and 15, and form each
sieve, by preference, in three divisions, two of 16 and one of 15 silk.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Wace Gray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th July 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
WACE GRAY, of 19, St. Dunstan's Hill, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Joseph Wace Gray, Her special licence that I, the
said Joseph Wace Gray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Joseph Wace Gray, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RICE STARCH," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph, Wace Gray,
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Wace Gray, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
rice starch. Heretofore in the manufacture of starch from rice it has been
the practice to treat the rice chemically and dissolve the starch in water.
And heretofore also when making rice flour it has been usual to grind the
rice and to sift the meal by means of sieves to remove the fibrous matters
therefrom. The flour thus obtained (consisting of the whole as nearly as
may be of the starch and gluten of the grains of rice,) has been and is
largely employed for mixing with wheaten flour, and is also otherwise
employed for food when cooked. Now I have, by a course of experiments,
discovered that the starch of rice may be obtained in a highly pure state
separate from the gluten by mechanical means, by which the cost and time
occupied in the chemical treatment of the rice, and in dissolving the starch
and reproducing the same separate from the water employed in the
process, may be avoided.
My Invention consists in causing rice to be ground as when for the
production of rice flour, and then in place of using sieves suitable for
removing the fibrous matters therefrom I employ sieves of such degrees of
fineness as will separate the starch from the gluten, which I am enabled to
do by reason of the grains of starch being finer than the grains of gluten,
and for this purpose I employ sieves of about the degree of fineness
obtained when using French silks known as 16 and 15, and form each
sieve, by preference, in three divisions, two of 16 and one of 15 silk.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
Although the form or arrangement of sieves used in carrying out my
Invention may be varied, I prefer to employ for the purpose the following
construction and arrangement of sieves, to which however separate and
apart from my Invention I make no claim. The ground rice is first passed
through a rotating cylindrical sieve about eight feet two inches long made
in three lengths of nearly equal length, the first part or length being of
French silk known as 15, and the other two lengths being of French silk
known as 16. After the ground rice has been sieved by this sieve it is
further in succession sieved through three other flat horizontal sieves
which receive a to-and-fro motion by a crank; the first is of French silk

page_text: known as 15, the two others are of French silk known as 16. By these
means the starch of rice is manufactured of a very high degree of purity
and at comparatively small cost.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Wace Gray have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.