IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR DRESSING FLOUR
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Render, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Miller and Corn Merchant, for the Invention of
“IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR DRESSING FLOUR."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Render at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, ou
the 8th October 1872.
I, FREDERICK RENDER, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Miller and Corn Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR DRESSING FLOUR," to be as
follows:-
My Invention refers to those machines for dressing flour which are
provided with a silk or other such covering which acts as a sieve for
dressing the material, and consists in a method of keeping the said silk
or other such material free from accumulative material so as to leave the
pores open.
For this purpose I propose to use a stream of air projected
forcibly against the surface during the revolution of the dressing cylinder,
the said air being propelled by a fan, pump, or other ordinary apparatus

page_text: of a like character, and this may be accomplished by a perforated pipe
or pipes, or by a continuous slit or slits.
The silk dressing machine as ordinarily made are not cylindrical but‘
are formed as polygons, and in order in such cases to keep the stream of
air near to the surfaco upon which it is intended to act I propose to t
move the orifice or orifices through which it issues by cams, excentrics,
or similar ordinary apparatus, so that they will move clear of the angles
of the frame and direct the air if desired from points equidistant from
the revolving surface.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
-
filed by the said Frederick Render in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th April 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
RENDER, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Miller and Corn
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederick Render, Her special license that I, the said Frederick
Render, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Frederick Render, 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 MACHINES FOR DRESSING FLOUR," upon the
condition, amongst others, that I, the said Frederick Render, 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 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 Frederick Render, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, and accompanying Drawings, that is to
say:
My Invention refers to those machines for dressing flour in which
what is commonly called a silk reel is employed, and consists in a
method of preventing the said silk being clogged with flour. For this
purpose I use a stream or streams of air impinging by means of a fan
or other blowing apparatus upon the exterior surface of the silk.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents in longitudinal
section the two ends of a flour dressing machine with my improvement
adapted; Fig. 2 an end view thereof; and Fig. 3 a detached view in
cross section.
At a is the frame which carries the end 6 of the reel c; at d is the
fixed central board through which the flour to be dressed is fed; and at e
is the silk covering of the reel, all of which parts are of the well known
ordinary construction; and I will now proceed to describe an arrange-
ment by which my Invention may be carried into operation. At fis a
pipe passing through the framing of the machine at one end and closed
at the other end, at which situation it is provided with an axis g turning
in a fixed bearing. This pipe passes into a stuffing box carried by a
fixed pipe which is in communication with a fan or other ordinary
blowing apparatus. From the pipe there extend a series of branches i
constituting air channels communicating with a pipe k extending
throughout the length of the silk reel, and provided with a slit or
a number of perforations at *. To the pipe fis fixed a lever jointed
to a rod m, which at its other end is connected to a crank pin extending
from a disc n which is carried by a short shaft o carrying a pinion p in
gear with a wheel q, mounted on the shaft of the reel.
The operation is as follows:-It being assumed that a blast of com-
pressed air is driven into the pipe ƒ by a fan or other ordinary means,
and that the shaft is driven by the motive power, as the reel c
revolves the toothed wheel q by driving the pinion p will cause the
crank alternately to thrust forward and draw back the rod m, which will
thus impart a vibrating motion to the lever 1, and consequently to the
pipe which turns at one end by its axis g, and at the other in the
stuffing box s. By these means the flattened pipe k will be caused to
approach and retire from the silk covering of the reel so as by the latter

page_text: motion to be carried clear of the path of the increasing diameter of the
reel, and by the former to approach the decreasing diameter. This
explanation refers to one section of the recl, but as there are in the
present case six faces thereof the toothed wheels p, q, are as six to one,
and the same operations therefore take place six times for each complete
revolution of the recl. According to the above described arrangement
it has been seen that the pipe k retires from and approaches the centre
of motion of the recl, but in doing so it maintains nearly the same
relative positions with regard to the silk surface e, and by discharging a
blast or blasts of air thereon keeps the pores clear of an accumulation of
flour. I have described one method of causing the pipe to move from
and approach the surface of the reel, but it will be evident that other
mechanical arrangements may be employed; for instance a cam might
be fixed to the reel or its shaft acting against a lever projecting from the
pipe f
I would also remark that although I have described the pipe k as
moveable, it might be stationary at a sufficient distance from the reel to
be clear of the angular parts, but the effect would not be so good; if
however a silk reel were formed as a cylinder by being placed upon a
rigid network like the usual wire reels, it is obvious that the said pipe
might be stationary.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to
bo understood that I claim as secured to me under the above in part
recited Letters Patent, and for the purpose above set forth, the use of
a blast or blasts of air to the external surface of what are commonly
called silk reels in machines for dressing flour.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Render, have hereunto
.
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three..
FREDERICK RENDER. (L.S.)