IMPROVEMENTS IN THRASHING MACHINES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Smith, senior, of Coven, near Wolverhampton,
in the County, of Stafford, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THRASHING MACHINES."
Sealed the 11th November 1862, and dated the 14th May 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
May 1862.
I, JOHN SMITH, senior, of Coven, near Wolverhampton, in the County of
Stafford, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THRASHING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in thrashing machines: In
a former Provisional Specification filed by me, and dated the 28th of February
last (No. 531), I have described an Invention consisting (in part) in
artificially heating the current of air which is employed for raising the grain
from the lower part of the thrashing machine to the upper. I have since
discovered that a current of artificially heated air may also be usefully applied.
in a thrashing machine in the following manner:-The current of artificially
heated air may be employed in winnowing the grain as it passes over the
riddles and falls from riddle to riddle; or where the grain is raised by a'
mechanical elevator in place of a current of air, the artificially heated air may
be made to pass along the elevator trunk.. Or a current of artificially heated

page_text: air may be made to pass through the barley hummeller, which is a horizontal
or inclined passage through which the grain passes, and where it is kept in
constant motion by revolving instruments, which by the friction they produce
brighten the grain, and in the case of barley knock off the spike. Or the
grain may be made to descend a passage or spout traversed by a current of
artificially heated air, which may then if desired be used to separate the light
from the heavier grains, as is in some cases practiced; or the passage or spout
may be placed borizontally, and the grain may be carried along it by a screw
or other similar instrument; or the current of air may be sufficiently strong to
carry the grain with it. In all cases, however, in which a current of arti-
ficially heated air is used in conjunction with thrashing machines, I have
found it most advantageous to obtain the artificially heated air required by
causing a fan to draw its supply of air from the smoke box or flue of the
engine employed to drive the thrashing machine; or if a current of artificially
heated air of comparatively small force be required, then it will suffice simply
to direct it from the smoke box or flue of the engine to the passage through
which the grain passes. In some cases I cause the grain as it passes from
one part of a thrashing machine to another to pass through a passage sur-
rounded by a steam jacket, or heated by steam pipes or cases, and I connect
the steam jackets, pipes, or cases by suitable pipes with the boiler of the
engine which drives the thrashing machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th
November 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SMITH, senior, of Coven, near Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One-
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her. heirs and successors, give, and grant unto me, the
said John Smith, Her special licence that. I, the said John Smith, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Smith, 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,

page_text: and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THRASHING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Smith, 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 John Smith, do bereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in. and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in thrashing machines. In
a former Provisional Specification filed by me, and dated the 28th of February
last, No. 531, I have described an Invention consisting (in part) in artificially
heating the current of air which is employed for raising the grain from the
lower part of the thrashing machine to the upper. I have since discovered
that a current of artificially heated air may also be usefully applied in a
thrashing machine in the following manner :-The current of artificially heated
air may be employed in winnowing the grain as it passes over the riddles.
and falls from riddle to riddle; or where the grain is raised by a mechanical
elevator, in place of by a current of air, the artificially heated air may be
made to pass along the elevator trunk. Or a current of artificially heated"
air may be made to pass through the barley hummeller, which is a horizontal
or inclined passage through which the grain passes, and where it is kept in-
constant motion by revolving instruments, which by the friction they produce
brighten the grain and in the case of barley knock off the spike. Or the
grain may
be made to descend a passage or spout traversed by a current of
artificially heated air, which may then, if desired, be used to separate the light
from the heavier grains, as is in some cases practised, or the passage or spout
may be placed horizontally, and the grain may be carried along it by a screw-
or other similar instrument, or the current of air may be sufficiently strong to-
carry the grain with it. In all cases, however, in which a current of artificially-
heated air is used in conjunction with thrashing machines, I have found it-
most advantageous to obtain the artificially heated air required by causing a
fan to draw its supply of air from the smoke box or flue of the engine
employed to drive the thrashing machine, or if a current of artificially heated"
air of comparatively small force be required, theu it will suffice simply to

page_text: direct it from the smoke box or flue of the engine to the passage through
which the grain passes. In some cases I cause the grain as it passes from
one part of a thrashing machine to another to pass through a passage
surrounded by a steam jacket, or heated by steam pipes or cases, and
I connect the steam jackets, pipes, or cases by suitable pipes with the boiler 5
of the engine which drives the thrashing machine.
And in order that my said Invention may be better understood, I will
proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Figure 2 a plan, shewing such portions of. 1
a portable steam engine, and a portable steam thrashing machine as will
serve to illustrate one method of carrying out my Invention.
A is the front part or smoke box end of a portable steam engine; Bis
part of a portable steam thrashing machine; in which a is an ordinary -
mechanical elevator; b is the first riddle, through which the grain passes; cis: 1
the fan which supplies the blast for the riddle b; d is the second riddle, and
e, the fan which supplies the blast for the same; f is the barley horner.;, g is:
a steam jacket round it, which is supplied with. steam from the engine by the
pipe h; i is a tube for conveying the heated air from the steam; engine to the
thrashing machine; k is a passage from the tube i; into the elevator a;l, is. 2
a passage from the tube i, into the fan c. The fan & draws the hot air from
the steam engine through the tube i, and the passage l, and supplies the
riddle 6 with a blast of heated air. The fan e draws hot air from the tube i,.
through the passage k, along the elevator trunk a, and through, the barley,
hornerf, and directs the current so as to meet the grain as it falls from the 2
riddle d. The grain is thus subjected to the action of a current of heated
air (in this case drawn by a fan from the smoke box of the engine, which
drives the thrashing machine), as it passes through and falls from the first-
riddle.. It is also subjected to the action of a second, current of heated air.
(likewise drawn from the smoke box of the engine), in its passage up the 3
elevator trunk, and through the barley horner, and the second riddle. The
barley horner is here shewn furnished with a steam jacket connected by a pipe.
with the boiler of the engine which drives the thrashing machine, and may be
used in conjunction with the currents of heated air already described or
otherwise.
Having now described the nature of, my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise arrangement of parts shewn on the Drawings, for it is.
3

page_text: obvious that as portable and fixed thrashing machines are different in the
arrangement and nature of the parts intended to perform the various functions
of thrashing and dressing the grain, so the application of my Invention will
require modifications of the arrangement above described and illustrated, but
what I claim is,―
First, the employing of a current of artificially heated air (obtained from
the steam engine which drives the thrashing machine or other source) for
winnowing the grain as it passes over the riddles and falls from riddle to
riddle.
Second, subjecting the grain as it passes from one part of the machine to
another to a current of artificially heated air continuously or at various stages
of its passage.
Third, causing the grain as it passes from one part of a thrashing machine
to another to pass through a passage surrounded by a steam jacket, or heated
by steam pipes or cases connected by suitable pipes with the boiler of the
engine which drives the thrashing machine.
In witness whereof I, the said John Smith, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
JOHN SMITT L
JOHN SMITIT
(L.B.)