IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TREATING OR PURIFYING GROUND WHEAT, SUCH AS IS KNOWN AS SHARPS OR MIDDLINGS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Young, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TREATING OR PURIFYING GROUND WHEAT, SUCH AS
IS KNOWN AS SHARPS OR MIDDLINGS."
Scaled the 11th May 1875, and dated the 16th November 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Young at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on tho
16th November 1874.
I, ROBERT YOUNG, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TREATING OR PURIFYING GROUND WHEAT, SUCH
AS IS KNOWN AS SHARPS OR MIDDLINGS," to be as follows, that is to say :—
This Invention has for its object to improve the construction and
action of apparatus of the kind used for treating or purifying what is
known in the flour manufacture as sharps or middlings.
In the improved apparatus there are two horizontal sieves placed one
below the other, and the lower one receives a rapid reciprocating motion

page_text: directly from a revolving crank or cranks of small eccentricity, and
being connected at the end opposite the crank to the lower arms of bell-
crank levers, to the upper arms of which the upper sieve is jointed,
imparts to such upper sieve a similar motion but reversed in direction.
The ground wheat is supplied to one end of the upper sieve, and both
what passes through the silk and what remains on the upper side travel
to the other end thereof, the part passing through the silk being caught
by the closed bottom of the sieve frame, and being led off by a spout at
the end. The ground wheat which does not pass through the first sieve
is led from the end thereof down a duct or spout made of flexible
material to the end of the lower sieve for a second treatment. The
under side of this lower sieve is boxed or closed in, and a current
of air from a fan is admitted into it by a duct of flexible material. This
can get out only by passing up through the silk sieve cloth, and in doing
so it separates from the ground wheat the small bran and other light
particles, and prevents them passing through the sieve with the purified
flour. The air is prevented from getting away at the outlet from the
bottom compartment of the sieve by a roller placed in the outlet and
formed with flutes or cavities, which as the roller revolves carry down
the flour in successive portions. The upper compartment of this lower
sieve is also closed in, this being done by a sieve cloth stretched across
the top of it, and the inlet and outlet of this compartment are closed by
fluted rollers which pass the flour through whilst stopping the air. The
air has consequently to get away through the upper sieve cloth, and in
doing so it becomes freed from all but the very finest particles which it
has lifted from the ground wheat on the sieve below. If considered
desirable for still further freeing the air it may be made to pass through
one or more additional sieve cloths.
An important advantage of the improved arrangements herein-before
described is that as the air does not carry away with it any fine dust the a
apparatus does not require to be connected to a dust or stive room but
can be placed in any part of a flour mill.
and
The frame of each sieve is by this Invention made in two parts,
the sieve cloth is stretched over the edge of the upper part and laced
externally to eyelets fixed to the outside, the upper part of the frame a
being afterwards fixed down upon the other part and holding the edges
of the sieve cloth in the joint. With this arrangement the lacing can at
any time be very easily readjusted.

page_text: For cleaning the sieve cloth a series of light narrow brushes is
arranged transversely beneath the cloth, one end of the series being held
by rubber or other springs, and the other end having a cord attached and
passed through a small hole in the end of the frame. The attendant
pulls the cord whenever he thinks the sieve cloth requires cleaning, and
on letting it go the springs draw back the brushes and make them
operate on the cloth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,.
filed by the said Robert Young in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
YOUNG, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert Young, Her special
licence that I, the said Robert Young, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Young, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 Ohannel.
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN Apparatus
FOR TREATING OR PURIFYING GROUND WHEAT, SUCH AS IS KNOWN AS SHARPS OR
MIDDLINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert
Young, 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 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 Robert Young, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
-

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say :—
My said Invention has for its object to improve the construction and
action of apparatus of the kind used for treating or purifying what is
known in the flour manufacture as sharps or middlings.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing
apparatus as made with my improvements. In these Drawings the same
reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever
they are repeated.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a sectional elevation of one end; Figure 2
is a longitudinal vertical section; Figure 3 is an elevation of the other
-A 1
end; and Figures 4 and 5 are horizontal sections as at the lines A-
and B B respectively in Figures 1, 2, 8.
Figure 6 is an enlarged view explanatory of the mode of tightening
the silk of the sieves.
The various working parts are carried by an open rectangular wooden
framing consisting of four corner posts 1 connected by longitudinal and ¦
transverse pieces 2, 3; within the framing there are two horizontal
sieves 4, 5, placed one below the other, and the lower one 5 receives a
rapid reciprocating motion directly from cranks of small eccentricity on
a transverse horizontal shaft 6, carried in bearings fixed to two of the
corner posts 1; the sieve 5 is connected to the cranks by plummer:
blocks 7, and at its other end it is connected by joint pins to the lower
arms of a pair of bell-crank levers 8 fixed on a rocking shaft 9 carried in
plummer blocks 10 upon two of the corner posts 1; the upper sieve 4 is
near one end connected by joint pins to the upper arms of the bell-crank
levers 8, and near its other end it is similarly connected to a pair of
levers 11 fixed on a rocking shaft 12 carried in plummer blocks attached
to the frame posts 1. In consequence of these arrangements the upper.
sieve 4 receives a reciprocating motion similar to that of the lower sieve 5,
but always reversed in direction. The ground wheat is supplied to one
end of the upper sieve 4 by a spout 13, and both what passes through
the silk (shown by a red line in Figure 2) and what remains on the

page_text: upper side travel to the other end thereof, the part passing through the
silk being caught by the closed bottom 14 of the sieve frame, and being
led off by a transversely inclined spout 15 at the end. The ground
wheat which does not pass through the silk of the upper sieve 4 is
led from the end thereof down a duct or spout 16 made partly of a
flexible but impermeable material to the end of the lower sieve 5 for a
second treatment; the under side 17 of this lower sieve 5 is boxed or
closed in, and a current of air from a fan 18 is admitted to it by a duct 19
of flexible material; this air can get out only by passing up through
the silk sieve cloth 20, and in doing so it separates from the ground
wheat the small bran and other light particles, and prevents them
from passing through the sieve with the purified flour; the air is
prevented from getting away at the outlet 21 from the bottom compart-
ment 17 of the sieve 5 by a roller 22 placed in a box 23 connected by a
flexible duct 24 to the outlet 21, this roller being formed with cavities
or flutes, which as the roller revolves carry down the flour in successive
portions; the upper compartment 25 of this lower sieve 5 is also closed
in, this being done by a sieve cloth stretched across the top of it, and
the outlet of this compartment is closed by means of a fluted roller 26
) which passes the flour through whilst stopping the air, whilst in the
inlet 16 to it there is a valve 27 which is to be adjusted to suit the
stream of ground wheat, so that whilst the ground wheat passes down
little or no air can get up. The air has consequently to get away
through the sieve cloth covering the upper compartment 25 of the lower
› sieve 5, and in doing so it becomes freed from all but the very finest
particles which it has lifted from the ground wheat on the sieve cloth 20
below. If considered desirable for still further freeing the air it may be
made to pass through one or more additional sieve cloths.
An important advantage of my improved arrangements, herein-before
) described, is that as the air does not carry away with it any fine dust the
apparatus does not require to be connected to a dust or stive room, but
can be placed in any part of a flour mill.
The various shafts may be driven and connected in various ways, but
in the modification shown in the Drawings the shaft of the fan 18 is
5 made the first-motion shaft, being fitted with fast and loose pulleys for
a driving belt from the main shafting of the mill. Motion is communi-.
cated from the fan shaft by means of belts and pulleys to the crank

page_text: shaft 6, and to an intermediate speed-reducing shaft 28, from which last
is driven the shaft of the fluted outlet rollers 22, 26.
In some cases a buffer bar 29 (Figure 2), faced with rubber may be
fixed transversely to brackets or other fastenings, not shown, for the
lower sieve 5 to strike against at one end, with the view of aiding the
separating action by the concussion to which the sieve is thus subjected.
The bearings 10 of the rocking shaft 9 with the bell-crank arms 8 are
made adjustable on slotted plates fixed to the frame posts 1, and the
bearings of the crank shaft 6 are made adjustable in a similar way, as
are also those of the rocking shaft 12 in order that the levels of the two
sieves 4, 5, may be arranged to give what can be ascertained by trial to
be the best results.
The frame of each complete sieve 4 or 5 is made in two parts, an
upper and a lower one 30, 31, Figure 6, and the sieve cloth 32 is
stretched over the edge of the upper part 30, which is afterwards fixed
down on the lower part 31 with the edges of the sieve cloth in the joint.
The sieve cloth has its edges sewn between a folded tape, and at one
side and one end this edging tape is simply tacked to the outer side of
the frame 30; at the other side and end the edging tape 33 has eyelets
flxed in it, and it is laced to a similar tape 34 with eyelets, which is
tacked to the frame 30. With these arrangements the sieve cloth can
at any time be easily tightened by readjusting the lacing.
For cleaning the sieve cloth a series of light narrow brushes 35 are
arranged transversely beneath the cloth with their ends set in grooves in
the sides of the sieve frame; the several brushes are connected to each
other by pairs of longitudinal cords, and the brush at one end is con-
nected to the end of the sieve frame by rubber or other springs 36,
whilst the brush at the other end has attached to its middle a cord
passing out through a hole in that end of the frame. The attendant
pulls the cord whenever he thinks the sieve cloth requires cleaning, and
on letting it go the springs 36 draw back the brushes 35 suddenly and
make them operate on the cloth. The lower sieve frame 31, Figure 6,
is in each case made with a longitudinal centre piece, indicated by
dotted lines, to support the sieve cloth along its middle, and there are
separate sets of brushes 35 on each side of this partition.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict

page_text: myself to the precise details herein described or delineated, but that
what I believe to be novel and original and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The arranging or combining together of the parts of apparatus for
treating or purifying ground wheat in the improved manner substantially
as herein-before described.
2. The communicating of the motion to the upper sieve (4) by means
of the bell cranks (8) actuated by the lower sieve (5), as herein-before
described.
3. The confining of the air current substantially in the manner and for
the purposes herein-before described.
4. The constructing of the sieve frames and fixing the sieve cloth in
the improved manner herein-before described.
5. The applying of brushes (35) substantially as and for the purpose
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Young, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
ROBERT YOUNG. (L.S.)