Ix- PROVEMENTS IN ROTATORY SCREENS SUITABLE FOR SCREENING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN OR SEED
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathaniel Clayton and Joseph Shuttleworth, of
Lincoln, in the County of Lincoln, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
Sealed the 21st April 1863, and dated the 21st January 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nathaniel Clayton and
Joseph Shuttleworth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 21st January 1863.
We, NATHANIEL CLAYTON and JOSEPH SHUTTLEWORTH, of Lincoln, in the
County of Lincoln, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for " Ix-
PROVEMENTS IN ROTATORY SCREENS SUITABLE FOR SCREENING WHEAT AND OTHER
GRAIN OR SEED," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in rotatory screens suitable
for screening wheat and other grain or seed. For this purpose we make the
screening drum of polygonal section, and each side of the polygon we make of
two flat.metal plates, perforated with holes or slits; the plates are perforated to
correspond the one with the other, and are placed in contact. One plate of
each side of the polygon is fixed, and the other is able to slide thereon a short
distance, so that it may be set more or less to cover or close the holes or slits
in the first plate, and in this manner the guage of the screen is adjusted as
may be required. The sliding plates are by means of springs pressed constantly

page_text: towards one end of the screen, and they are caused to bear on a moveable
ring at the end of the screen; this ring is made with inclines upon it. The
end of the moveable plates have also inclines upon them corresponding with
those on the moveable ring, so that the position of this ring on the end of the
screen will regulate the position of the moveable plates. The moveable ring
is made in two parts, drawn together by means of a screw so as to make it
grip the end of the screen, and thus it becomes firmly held in whatever position
in which it may have been fixed. We also make the screen self-cleansing, that
is to say, we cause any grain, seed, or other substance which may become
jammed in the openings or spaces when the plates are sifting to be released,
when the plates come in the course of the rotation of the drum to the upper
side thereof. To effect this we mount a friction pulley at the top of the
screen, and near one end thereof; each of the moveable plates has a projection
upon it, and as the screen revolves these projections come in succession in
contact with the stationary pulley, and thus the plates receive a slight motion
sufficient to increase the width of the hole or slit, and so let anything which
may have become jammed therein to fall out. The springs cause the move-
able plates to return to their original position immediately after passing the
pulley.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Nathaniel Clayton and Joseph Shuttleworth in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 21st July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, NATHANIEL
CLAYTON and JOSEPH SHUTTLEWORTH, of Lincoln, in the County of Lincoln,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Nathaniel Clayton and Joseph Shuttleworth, Her special licence,
that we, the said Nathaniel Clayton and Joseph Shuttleworth, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Nathaniel Clayton
and Joseph Shuttleworth, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ROTATORY SCREENS SUITABLE FOR SCREENING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN OR SEED,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Nathaniel Clayton and
Joseph Shuttleworth, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of
one of us or them, 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 Joseph Shuttleworth, on behalf of
myself and the said Nathaniel Clayton, 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 rotatory screens suitable
for screening wheat and other grain or seed. For this purpose we make the
screening drum of polygonal section, and each side of the polygon we make
of two flat metal plates perforated with holes or slits; the plates are perforated
to correspond the one with the other, and are placed in contact. One plate of
each side of the polygon is fixed, and the other is able to slide thereon a short
distance, so that it may be set more or less to cover or close the holes or
slits in the first plate, and in this manner the guage of the screen is adjusted
as may be required. The sliding plates are by means of springs pressed
constantly towards one end of the screen, and they are caused to bear
on a moveable ring at the end of the screen; this ring is made with
inclines upon it. The ends of the moveable plates have also inclines upon
them corresponding with those on the moveable ring, so that the position of
this ring on the end of the screen will regulate the position of the moveable
plates. The moveable ring is arranged so that by means of a screw it may be
adjusted in position, and firmly held in whatever position it may have been
placed. We also make the screen self-cleansing, that is to say, we cause any
grain, seed, or other substance which may become jammed in the openings or
spaces when the plates are sifting to be released, when the plates come in
the course of the rotation of the drum to the upper side thereof. To effect
this we mount a friction pulley at the top of the screen, and near one end
thereof; each of the moveable plates has a projection upon it, and as the screen
revolves these projections come in succession in contact with the stationary
pulley, and thus the plates receive a slight motion sufficient to increase the

page_text: טייי
Figure 1 is a side elevation or a screen constructed
Invention, (a portion at the centre of the screen is shown broken away in
order to reduce the size of the Drawing.) Figure 2 is a portion of a longi-
tudinal section; Figure 3 is an end elevation, and Figure 4 a portion of a
transverse section of the same screen.
a, a, are the two ends of the screen; they are conveniently made of cast
iron, and are keyed on to the axis at b; c, c, are plates with slits in them of a
width somewhat in excess of the largest gauge at which it will be required to
work the screen; these plates are also conveniently made of cast iron; they
are attached to the ends a, a, by screws or otherwise; c', c, are guides formed
on the sides of the plates c, c, to receive the upper or sliding plates d; these
guides are made true by planing or otherwise; c³, c, are lugs projecting from
the plates c at one end. The plates & are similar to the plates c; they are
fitted to the guides c', c', so that they may be able to slide freely therein. At
one end they are pressed on by the springs e, e, which are each at the centre
attached by a rivet or similar fastening f to the lug c² of one of the lower
plates c; at their other ends the plates d have projecting flanges d², d², which
bear against the ring 9, and this in turn is retained in its place by the lugs c³
on the plates c. On the ring g is a small standard g', through which a screw
bolt h, with nuts upon it, passes, and the same bolt at its other end passes
through another similar standard i, which is fixed on the under side of one of
the stationary plates c, so that it will be seen that by turning the nuts on the
bolt h the ring 9 can be turned a short distance around the screen, and as this
ring g has cam projections upon it, as is clearly seen at g², g³, Figure 1, these
by acting on inclines on the flanges d¹, d', of the moving plates d, cause the
said plates to traverse in their guides so as either to close or open the slits in
the fixed plates c, according to the direction in which the ring g is moved.
The springs e keep the flanges d' of the plates d in contact with the ring g.
k is a friction pulley mounted on a stud on the case or frame in which the
screen works, it is at the top of the screen; it bears on the projecting flanges d'
of the plates d, and as in the course of the rotation of the screen the protruding

page_text: portions of these flanges come against the pulley; the plates d are pushed
back so as to open wide the slits in the plates c, and thus any grain or other
matter which may have become jammed in the slits is released, and allowed to
fall back into the screen.
By constructing screens as above described, great facilities are given for
altering the mesh or gauge of screen by sliding the top plate on the lower
or fixed one, thereby making the mesh or gauge finer or coarser as required.
Also a convenient and self-acting method of cleaning the screen is obtained,
and in consequence of the screen being made octagonal or polygonal the corn
is tossed from one flat surface to another by the revolving of the screen, and so
is cleaned more effectually than by the ordinary circular screen.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Shuttleworth, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
JOSEPH SHUTTLEWORTH. (L.B.)