IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING RICE, COFFEE, AND OTHER GRAINS OR SEEDS HAVING AN OUTER HULL OR INNER PELLICLE
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING RICE, COFFEE, AND OTHER
GRAINS OR SEEDS HAVING AN OUTER HULL OR INNER PELLICLE."-A com-
munication from abroad by Nathanael Greene and Walter Clement
Key, of Marseilles, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 4th July 1865, and dated the 9th January 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th January 1865.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING RICE, COFFEE,
AND OTHER GRAINS OR SEEDS HAVING AN OUTER HULL OR INNER PELLICLE," a
communication to me from abroad by Nathanael Greene and Walter
Clement Key, of Marseilles, in the Empire of France, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to that class of machinery for cleaning rice, coffee,
or other grain or seed of a like nature, wherein the grain or seed is cleaned

page_text: by attrition in a vessel or mortar, such attrition being produced by the action
of a screw-bladed propeller revolving horizontally near the bottom of the
vessel or mortar.
According to this Invention it is proposed to roughen the surface of the
vertical propeller shaft, or to make it of stone or other substance of a grinding
or gritty nature, or to enclose the propeller shaft in a long tubular collar or
casing composed of stone or other substance of a grinding or gritty nature,
or to make the same of metal having its surface roughened, by which means
a better rubbing and cleaning action on the substances under treatment is
.obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of January, 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 John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said
John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or
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 Kingdoin
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING RICE,
COFFEE, AND OTHER GRAINS OR SEEDS HAVING AN OUTER HULL OR INNER PELLICLE,"
a communication to me from abroad by Nathaniel Greene and Walter
Clement Key, of Marseilles, in the Empire of France, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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

page_text: 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 John Henry Johnson, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to that class of machinery for cleaning rice,
coffee, or other grain or seed of a like nature, wherein the grain or seed is
cleaned by attrition in a vessel or mortar, such attrition being produced by the
action of a screw-bladed propeller revolving horizontally near the bottom of
the said vessel or mortar.
According to this Invention it is proposed to roughen the surface of the
vertical propeller shaft, or to make it of stone or other substance of a grinding
or gritty nature, or to enclose the propeller shaft in a long tubular collar or
casing composed of stone or other substance of a grinding or gritty nature,
or to make such part of the apparatus of metal having its surface roughened,
by which means a better rubbing and cleaning action on the substances under
treatment is obtained.
The accompanying Drawing represents a sectional elevation of an apparatus
constructed according to this Invention for cleaning or hulling and also
removing the inner pellicle from rice and other grain of a like character, and
from coffee and other seeds requiring such treatment.
A is the ordinary mortar or cleaning vessel into which the grain or seeds to
be operated upon are introduced. Near the bottom of this vessel rotates
horizontally a screw-bladed propeller B fixed to the lower end of a vertical
shaft C. The action of this propeller, as is well known, is to cause the grain
or seeds to rise along the inner sides of the vessel or mortar, against which it
is rubbed to a certain extent as it rises, and is then turned over as it arrives
at the surface by the curvature of the sides of the vessel, which sides direct it
towards the centre or vertical shaft C, down the sides of which it descends in
a continuous stream back to the propeller to be again forced outwards and
up the sides of the vessel, such process being continued until the attrition of
the grain or seeds against the sides of the vessel and against each other has
removed the skin or pellicle adhering thereto. The arrows in the Drawings
indicate the course of the grain or sceds.
It will be seen from the description given above that there is comparatively
little or no friction upon the grain whilst it is descending, as the surface of the
shaft has heretofore been perfectly smooth. Now, in order to increase the

page_text: area of effective rubbing surface in the apparatus, it is proposed according to
this Invention either to roughen the surface itself of the metal shaft C by
making file or rasp cuts thereon, or otherwise roughening the same, so that
the grain or seeds as they descend will receive an additional and effective
rubbing against the roughened surface of the shaft or spindle. It is preferred,
however, in lieu of roughening the metal itself of the propeller shaft or spindle
C, to enclose the same in a tubular collar or casing D of stone or other
grinding or gritty material, which extends along and covers that portion of the
shaft between the propeller and the top or nearly the top of the vessel or
mortar, as shown in the Drawing annexed. By this means a much larger
area of rubbing surface is obtained than when the ordinary shaft only is
roughened, as in the previous case, the circumference of the casing D being at
least three times the circumference of tho shaft.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, the roughening of the surface of the
propeller shaft of machines employed for cleaning grain and seeds, or the con-
structing of such shafts of stone or other suitable grinding or gritty material,
or the enclosing or surrounding such shafts in a tubular collar or casing of
stone or other suitable grinding or gritty material, substantially as and for the
purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of July, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-five.