IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CLEANING RICE AND OTHER GRAIN
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent. Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman,
for the Invention of." IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CLEANING RICE AND OTHER
GRAIN." A communication. from abroad by Albert Hubbell Wright, of
New York in the United States of America..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th August 1861.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CLEANING
RICE AND OTHER GRAIN," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to that class of rice-cleaning machines in which a
revolving Archimedian screw or spiral wings are employed to force the grains
of rice or other product against and past each other, and by the rubbing and
friction of their surfaces to clean the same.
The improvements consist, 1st, in curving and extending upward the rear
end of the cylinder or case containing the screw, and through which the grain
is passed for the purpose of cleaning it, and surrounding the extended portion

page_text: with a corresponding telescopic slide, by adjusting which vertically the length
of the passage for the grain may be increased or diminished. The telescopic
slide therefore will enable the weight and resistance of the rice forced through
the said upright extended portion by the screw to produce the required degreo
of friction and rubbing of the surfaces of the grains of rice to effectually clean
the same.
As a further improvement it is proposed to use a peculiarly formed hopper
divided by a vertical partition into two compartments, which are capable of
being brought into connection with the cylinder containing the screw. Into
one of these compartments the given quantity of rice to be cleaned is first
received, and a slide being withdrawn the grain will be admitted into the
cylinder below. The screw being now set in action, the grain will be pro-
pelled forward, and carried up the telescope tube, whence it will be discharged
in a moveable shute, which will conduct the grain into the second compartment
of the hopper. Here it is to be left to cool, and when cold it is to be allowed
to run into the cylinder below, where it will undergo the like rubbing action
through the action of the propelling screw. The shute being meanwhile
shifted, the grain after passing up the telescopo slide will be discharged into
the first compartment of the hopper, and so on alternately as the traverse
motion is repeated. Not only rice, but coffee, wheat, and other grain may be
beneficially acted upon by this apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 28th February 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS. SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifih.year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
aud at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and

page_text: lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom*
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CLEANING RICE AND OTHER. GRAIN," being
a communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe, and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-.
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the samo,
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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 fol-
lowing statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and,
to the letters and figures'marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
relates to that class of rice-cleaning machines in which a revolving. Archi---
median screw or spiral wings are employed to force the grains of rice or other
products against and past each other, and by the rubbing and friction of their.
surfaces to clean the same.
The improvements consist, first, in extending upwards the rear end of the
cylinder or case containing the screw, and through which the grain is passed
for the purpose of being cleaned, so that the extended end may receive a
corresponding telescopic slide, by adjusting which vertically the length of the
passage for the grain may be increased or diminished, the telescopic slide will,
therefore, enable the weight and resistance of the rice forced through the said
upright extended portion by the screw to produce the required degree of
friction and rubbing of the surfaces of the grains of rice requisite for effectually
cleaning the same.
As a further improvement, it is proposed to use a peculiarly formed. hopper
divided by a vertical partition into two compartments, either of which is
capable of being brought at pleasure into connexion with the cylinder. con---
taining the screw. The divided hopper is not, however, essential to the
efficient working of the machine.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation
of a rice-cleaning machine constructed after the improved plan; and Fig. 2 is
a plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional Diagram.
shewing-the construction of the divided hopper.
In Figures 1 and 2, A represents the Archimedian screw, formed on a-
hollow shaft B, which is mounted in a horizontal cylinder C... The screw. A

page_text: has a slight taper at the end next the upright trunk D, which communicates
with and forms a vertical continuation of the cylinder C; E are spiral wings
between the threads of the screw A, with their spiral course set reverse
thereto, for the purpose of increasing the agitation of the rice, and preventing
it going in a compact body between the threads of the screw, and thereby pro-
ducing an efficient rubbing friction on the surface of the grains; F is the
driving shaft, which passes through and has keyed to it the hollow shaft B.
This shaft Fworks in a stuffing box, to prevent the rice being forced out
of the opening through which the shaft passes. It is also supported in
boxes G, and is provided with a tight and loose driving pulley II at one end,
and a bevil ceg wheel I at the other, which bevil cog wheel slides on the
shaft to throw it in or out of gear with a larger bevil cog wheel J on the lower
end of a vertical shaft K, stepped in one of the boxes G, and supported at its
upper end by passing through a box in a horizontal plate L. This plate also
serves to hold together and support the tops of four vertical posts M rising
from longitudinal timbers N, which rest on transverse timbors N; O is a cog.
wheel on the upper end of the vertical shaft K, and gearing with a larger
cpg wheel P, which, like the smaller one 0, is represented by red lines in
Fig: 2, and is affixed to the upper end of a vertical shaft P'; turning and
supported in suitable boxes within the upright trunk D. This shaft carries two
propelling wings or blades Q at its lower end, so arranged in relation to each
other that their ends terminate in the same vertical plane, each blade con-
stitüting a half turn of a screw; Q' are diagonal wings secured on the same
shaft by set screws, so that they can be moved up and down farther from or
nearer to each other as judgment may dictate. Their number will be defined
also by the judgment of the operator. R is the hopper for receiving the grain,
and conveying it back to the cylinder C through the opening R provided with
n slide S. To the rear end of the cylinder C is secured by flanges' and screw
bolts'a' curved piece Cto the upper end of which the cylinder D, corre-
sponding in diameter with the cylinder C, and forming an upward continuation
of the 'same, 'is similarly attached. An aperture is formed in the curved
part C, and closed with a door C, for allowing the discharge of the rice from
the cylinder and its conduit branch D. This vertical cylinder D is surrounded
by a concentric sliding cylinder D', which exactly fits its outside, after
the manner of a telescopic slide, and is intended to receive vertical
adjustment. The upper end of this sliding cylinder D is provided with a
short spout D, inclining towards the hopper R, for the purpose of directing
the falling grain into the hopper. From the foregoing it will be perceived
that when a high degree of speed is given to the screw shaft by a belt on the

page_text: pulley H, and the rice to be cleaned.is introduced into the cylinder. C.from the.
hopper R, it will be forced by the screw A through the cylinder, and up
through its curved continuation into the cylinders D, where it will be assisted
to mount by the rotating blades Q and Q¹ on the shaft P¹. These may,
however, be removed. if thought desirable. The quantity of rice contained in
the cylinders and undergoing the cleaning process is determined by the heighte
of the short spout D of the sliding cylinder D', which can be raised or lowered
to increase or diminish the height of the column of rice to be maintained
therein.during the operation, and consequently determining the resistance to.
the propelling force of the screw A upon the rice under the. friction process.
This height of the outer cylinder D' will.depend in a great measure upon the
state of the rice undergoing the cleaning process, and will be regulated by the
judgment of the operator.
In operating the machine when fitted with a divided .hopper, as shewn. at:
Fig. 3, a given number of bushels of uncleaned rice is placed in one of the
compartments 1, 2, of the hopper, the slide S of that compartment is opened
to permit the passage of the rice therefrom into the cylinder, while the slide of
the other compartment into which the. spout. De will empty is closed. The
sliding cylinder being set to its proper height, the cylinders C and D will be
filled with the rice, which will be moved forward by the action of the screw A
upon it from the bottom of the open compartment of the hopper, and passing
up the sliding cylinder it will fall out of the spout D³ into the closed com-
partiment of the hopper. Here it will temporarily remain to cool, causing the
several grains in their unequal progress through the channels indicated to be
crowded together and rubbed against each other, and thereby be subjected to
the degree of friction requisite to clear them of the cuticle covering the same,
or other extraneous matter attached to them. When all the rice in the open
compartment of the hopper R has descended into the cylinder C, the slide S is
closed, and the spout D is directed over the empty compartment, the slide S
of the other compartment is now opened, and the rice previously operated on
is allowed to pass down again through the cylinders C, and be carried up
again and discharged in the closed compartment of the hopper, from whence it
was first taken. In this manner the slides S are alternately opened and
closed, and the spout D in like manner alternately transferred from com-
partment to compartment of the hopper until the rice has been passed through
the apparatus a sufficient number of times to become thoroughly clean; the
spout is moved over an adjacent bin or receptacle, and the sliding cylinder
lowered, and after all the rice that can be forced therefrom by the screw A is
deposited in the bin or receptacle R, the door C¹ in the curved part C✶ is

page_text: opened, and the remaining portion of the cleaned rice is discharged through
that opening. It will be understood that not only is the column of rice in the
conduit branch D, and its surrounding cylinder D', instrumental by its resisting
weight in producing the friction upon the rice within the horizontal cylinder-C,
but it also serves to produce or rather continue the friction and rubbing of the
surfaces of the grains of rice composing the resisting column within these
cylinders. The upward propulsion of the rice through these conducting
cylinders moreover dispenses with the usual elevator. It should be remarked
that this machine will clean coffee, wheat, and other grain requiring the like
operation equally as well as rice..
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Machinery
for Cleaning Rice and other Grain," as communicated to me from abroad, and
having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be
understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the
means above described for regulating the degree of friction to which the grain
or seed. shall be exposed while passing through the machine, and for facilitating
the return of the grain or seed to the machine, in order that it may be subjected
to a repetition of the rubbing operation.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)