AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF GRAIN AND SEED SEPARATOR
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Peverett, Manager of the East Surrey
Iron Works, Croydon, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF GRAIN AND SEED SEPARATOR."
Sealed the 11th July 1871, and dated the 3rd May 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Peverett at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd May 1871.
I, WILLIAM PEVERETT, Manager of the East Surrey Iron Works,
Croydon, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF GRAIN AND SEED
SEPARATOR," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce a seed separator which
shall be cheap in construction and efficient and economical in working.
In place of the rotating wire cylinders heretofore used, the lower
portion of which only are the acting surfaces, I use a flat screen
slightly inclined, which receives on its surface the seeds to be assorted
as they fall from an adjacent hopper. This screen I fit in a case and
mount the case upon end spindles, to which a to-and-fro axial motion
is “given, and thus the screen is caused to rock from side to side and

page_text: agitate the seeds as they fall upon its surface. The screen is composed
of transverse wires carried by and secured to a pair of helical springs
extending from end to end of the screen. Through these springs are
passed guide rods, which are made fast to the ends of the oscillating case.
The free ends of the wires enter guides secured to the sides of the case,
and the wires are made fast to the coils of the springs in a manner
that will ensure their lying parallel one with the other. One of the
screen spindles carries a cross head, which is free to slide over the guide
rods, and against it the lower ends of the springs bear. This spindle
has a screw cut on it to receive a hand wheel, the boss of which is
threaded to fit the screw, and which works within fixed plates. By
turning this wheel the cross head may be advanced and caused to
compress the springs, thereby bringing the wires closer together and
forming a finer screen. When the wheel is reversed the cross head
will retire and the springs being allowed to expand the wires will be
adjusted to a wider gauge. In order to graduate the spaces in the
screen I propose to use different gauges of wire, the coarser gauge being
at the upper end. Thus the small seeds will pass through the upper
portion of the screen leaving the larger seeds to discharge through the
lower portion.
In some cases it may be desirable to retard the passage of the seed
over the screen, and to effect this I fit over the screen plates set on
the incline, which will cause the sced to take a zig-zag course.
I may remark that the Invention is intended to be used either in
the form of a distinct machine, or as constituting part of a threshing
machine
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Peverett in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 3rd November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM 3
PEVERETT, Manager of the East Surrey Iron Works, Croydon, in the
County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty- 3
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,

page_text: give and grant unto me, the said William Peverett, Hor special licence
that I, the said William Peverett, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Peverett, 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 CON-
STRUCTION OF GRAIN AND SEED SEPARATOR," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Peverett, 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 Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Peverett, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say)
The object of this Invention is to. produce a sced separator which
shall be cheap in construction and efficient and economical in working.
In place of the rotating wire cylinders heretofore used, the lower
portions of which only are the acting surfaces, I use a flat screen
slightly inclined, which receives on its surface the seeds to be assorted
as they fall from an adjacent hopper. This screen I fit in a case
mounted upon end spindles, to which a to-and-fro axial motion is given
for the purpose of rocking the screen from side to side and sifting and
assorting the seeds as they fall upon the screen surface.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a side elevation partly in
section of the improved grain and seed separator, representing it as
mounted on wheels to facilitate its transit from place to place; Fig. 2
is an end clevation of the same partly in section, shewing the arrange-
ment for rocking the screen; and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the seed
separator, a portion of the rocking case being broken away to show
more clearly the construction of the screen which it carries.

page_text: A, A, is the screen composed of transverse wires a, a, carried by and
secured to a pair of helical springs b, b, extending from end to end of
the screen. Through these springs are passed guide rods c, c, which
are made fast to the ends of the oscillating case B, B, in which the
screen is mounted. The case B is fitted at its opposite ends with
trunnions d, d¹, which work in bearings carried by the outer casing or
close framing C of the machine; D is the elevated hopper, from which
the grain to be screened is discharged on to the screen A. E; E, are
adjustable transverse plates for interrupting the downward progress of
the grain, and causing it to take a zig-zag course over the surface of
the screen. The space below the screen is divided up by transverse
partitions into three compartments F, F, F, into which the grain and
seeds are discharged according to their size. These compartments are
provided as usual with shutes for discharging their contents. The
wires a are severally made fast to a coil of the springs b by binding
wires, and in a manner that will ensure their lying parallel the onc
with the other. These wires and springs I propose to submit to the
galvanizing process, which besides rendering their connection with
cach more perfect will protect them from corrosion. I have stated that
guide rods c, c, are passed through the coiled springs when the screen
is inserted in the case B. This is for the purpose of supporting the
screen, but the guide rods c serve also to carry a cross head G situate
at the foot of the screen. This cross head is fitted with a long scrow G³,
which passes through the hollow trunnion d, and is fitted with a hand
wheel G. The boss of this wheel is confined between the end of the
trunnion d and a metal strap G³ which embraces the wheel. By this
means it is permanently secured in the position shewn in the Drawing.
When therefore it is turned it will give an endway motion to the screw
G¹, and thereby advance or draw back the cross head G. The advance
of the cross head will cause the springs to be compressed, or their coils
crowded together. By this act the wires will be brought closer together,
and a finer screen will thereby be produced. When the wheel G³ is
reversed the cross head will retire, and the springs being allowed to
expand the wires will be adjusted to a wider gauge. In order to
graduate the spaces in the screen I propose to use different gauges of
wire, the coarser gauge being at the upper end. Thus the small seeds
will pass through the upper portion of the screen leaving the larger
seeds to discharge through the lower portion.

page_text: Keyed to one end of this shaft
motion thereto, and keyed to
The pin of this crank is fitted
The oscillating of the screen is effected in the following manner :--
His a shaft extending from one end of the machine to the other, and
turning in bearings in the outer casing.
is a hand wheel H' for imparting rotary
the other end of the shaft is a crank H.
with a link rod, the other end of which is made fast to an elastic arm I
made fast at its lower end to the casing C, but frce to move at its upper
end by the throw of the crank H. This clastic arm I is fitted at its
upper end with a sector rack I', into which gears a pinion keyed to the
trunnion d' of the case B. As therefore rotary motion is given to the
shaft H an oscillating motion will through the crank H² and gearing
just described be transmitted to the case B, and consequently to the
screen contained therein. The grain and seeds, therefore, as they fall
on to and remain upon the screen will be thrown from side to side of the
casc, and they will thus be presented to the spaces in the screen in
the most favorable manner for discharging them through the screen
into the receptacles below. The larger grains will travel gradually
down the inclined screen until they meet with a surface so graduated
as to allow of their discharge through the screen, and those which are
not thus discharged will escape at the tail of the screen and fall into the
last compartment.
I may remark that the Invention is intended to be used either in the
form of a distinct machine, as shewn in the Drawing, or as constituting
part of a thrashing machine.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of an improved
construction of grain and seed separator, and 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 use of an oscillating
screen constructed and operating as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Peverett, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Third day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
WILLIAM PEVERETT. (L.S.)