IMPROVEMENTS IN THRASHING MACHINES."
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Brinsmead, of Ipswich, in the County of
Suffolk, Machinist, and Richard Lyons, of the same Place, Machinist,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THRASHING MACHINES."
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THRASHING MACHINES.
"
Sealed the 24th September 1870, and dated the 4th June 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Brinsmead and
Richard Lyons at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 4th June 1870.
We, HENRY BRINSMEAD, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk,
Machinist, and RICHARD LYONS, of the same Place, Machinist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THRASHING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in thrashing machines.
It has hitherto been the practice in constructing thrashing machines
to employ a single cylinder or thrashing drum with its axis in a hori-
zontal position, and when the machines were intended to do large
quantities in a short time to lengthen the cylinder or thrashing drum

page_text: and employ two men to feed in the sheaves. This method does not
always effect the desired object, as the two men unless accustomed to
work together will hinder each other in their work, and will effect little
or no more than a single expert man.
Now our improvements consist in employing two thrashing drums
cach to be fed independently of the other, and the better convenience of
placing the feeders, as well as for other purposes to be presently
explained. We place the axes of the drums in a vertical position. We
also combine upon the vertical drum spindles apparatus for producing
the necessary currents of air for dressing, and likewise other apparatus
for chobbing wheat and awning barley instead of as heretofore employing
separate horizontal spindles for these several operations. We make a
feed mouth of peculiar form for each of the vertical drums, and place
them in such a manner that the two feeders have ample room to work
without obstructing each other. The peculiar form of these feed mouths
ensures every portion of the length of the beaters being occupied in
beating out the corn. The drums and concaves are also of a novel
construction, which will be described presently. The corn which escapes
through the concaves is collected by riddles placed immediately below
the drums. Beneath the riddles and on each of the drum spindles is a
fan for supplying the air for blowing out the chaff, the entering current
being also utilized for cleaning the grain. The corn is then delivered
by the riddles into an apparatus for removing the chobs from wheat or
the awn from barley, each drum spindle carrying such an apparatus from
which the corn is delivered into sacks. The motive power is applied by
preference by means of a driving belt, which gives motion to the two
thrashing drums simultaneously.
In constructing double-drum thrashing machines for horse-power, in
which the usual riddles and other appliances for dressing are dispensed
with, we utilize the current of air which is produced by the velocity of
the thrashing drums for separating the chaff. This is effected by placing
conical hoppers underneath the open ends of the vertical drums; the
grain is collected by these hoppers, and in falling through the apertures
at the bottom meets the currents of air entering to the drums; the chaff
is thus taken up and conveyed away with the straw.
In constructing the drums or thrashing cylinders of thrashing
machines it is usual to make the thrashing edges, commonly called
the "
heaters," in the form of continuous bars or surfaces of the same

page_text: length as the cylinder itself, and to attach them sometimes with a wood
backing to the exterior edges of discs or wheels keyed to the spindles by
bolts or screws to prevent their flying off by the centrifugal action
consequent upon the great velocity of revolution required in thrashing.
Now in our improvements we construct the exterior portion of the
drum of sheet iron of a polygonal prismatic form suitable for the required
number of beaters. At each angle of the prism we make suitable
perforations, through which we cause the raised portion of the ribbed
beater bars to project a sufficient distance to form the rubbing surface
which effects the thrashing. The sheet iron thus embraces the beater
bars, and is directly opposed to their centrifugal action.
Our improvements further consist in making the beater bars of short
pieces instead of in one piece of the same length as the cylinder. These
portions of the beater bars are made to overlap each other in such
manner that each alternate piece being pressed by set screws against the
interior surface of the sheet iron cylinder or prism, the intermediate
pieces are likewise firmly held. The raised projections of the beater
bars pass through the perforations of the sheet iron prism and form a
row of projections on the external surface of the thrashing drum,
representing what is commonly designated as the beater. We fix a
suitable number of castings (on drum heads) upon the spindle, and in
these castings we fix set screws radially with the axis, and so disposed
that each casting has a screw pointing towards each angle of the
prismatic sheet iron exterior. These screws fit into recesses in the back
of the beater bars, and when screwed up tight stretch the sheet iron
prism to the exact form required, and the projections of the beater bars
passing through the perforations of the sheet iron prism may be very
easily adjusted and with great accuracy to equidistance and parallelism
with the axis of the drum.
"
Another important part of our Invention consists in making the short
beater bars above described in cast iron with the projecting ribs hardened
by the process known as chilling;” we thus produce chilled cast-iron
peaters, which we consider best for our improved thrashing drum, but
ometimes we make them of ordinary cast iron, and sometimes of cast
teel or rolled iron or steel.
The next part of our Invention relates to that part of a thrashing
nachine known as the
" concave " or grating against which the
evolving drum´acts in thrashing out the corn. We construct our

page_text: together by bolts in such manner that when the edges of the flat bars
have become worn by use the concave may be readily taken to pieces
and the flat bars turned round, so as to present their opposite edges to
the wear of the drum, and thus form as it were a new concave. Our
improved drum and concave are applicable to thrashing machines in
general.
The next part of our Invention has for its object improvements in that
class of apparatus attached to thrashing machines for shaking the straw
known as
rotary straw shakers," and has especial reference to an
Invention for which Letters Patent were granted to Henry Brinsmead,
A.D. 1852, and numbered 572. That Invention, as is now well known,
consists of a number of rollers with curved spikes, so arranged that the
spikes of each roller pass between the spikes of the adjacent rollers, the
whole system or series of rollers is placed at an inclination, and by their
revolution convey the long straw upwards from the lowest to the highest
roller, and at the same time convey the short straws and corn which fall
through on to a board fixed beneath them downwards to the bottom
roller, where they are delivered on to the riddle for further separation.
Now in rapid thrashing in moist seasons it is well known that the grain
cannot be so readily shaken out of the straw, and to overcome this
difficulty it has been the practice to lengthen the above system of straw
shakers by the addition of several rollers to the series, and in con-
sequence the highest point of the shakers rises to a great distance from
the ground unless the inclination is diminished, which is known to be
detrimental to the efficiency of the apparatus. Now our improvements
consist in making the rotary shaker in divisions, each division containing
its proportion of the total number of rollers employed, and in placing
such divisions relatively to each other in the form of steps, so that there
shall be a considerable fall for the straw in passing from one division of
the shaker to the next. By this fall of the straw the grain is more
perfectly shaken out, and our new arrangement affords facilities for
lengthening the shaker when necessary while the highest point remains
much lower than as at present constructed, and the straw in passing over
the upper roller is not so much exposed to being scattered about by the
wind, the machine is less unwieldy in appearance, and much steadier
when travelling. Another important advantage is effected by our
improvement, viz., in hot and dry seasons it frequently happens that a

page_text: great deal of the straw is broken into short pieces in thrashing, and as
the short straws together with the grain have to be conveyed to the
lower end of the fixed board for delivery to the riddle it has been found
that when the short straw is in excess the rollers will sometimes carry
it over and bring up grain with it, and the separation becomes imperfect.
In our improvements each division of the shaker acts as an independent
shaker, but is very much shorter than those usually attached to thrashing
machines, and consequently the short straws and grain not having to be
moved so far have a much more ready escape from beneath the rollers,
and clogging becomes almost impossible.
In applying our improved system of rotary shakers to thrashing
machines we have to provide a suitable channel for conveying the short
straws and grain from each division of the shaker to the proper point on
the riddle.
The next part of our Invention relates to improvements in the riddles
which receive the short straws and the grain from the straw shaker.
The most approved method of constructing these riddles hitherto known
consists in making them of wood; the surface is grooved and the holes
are made in the bottom of the grooves, the object being to assist the
grain in finding the openings for escape; and in order to give sufficient
strength and to allow for the cutting away of so much of the wood in
forming the grooves and perforations it is found necessary to have the
wood of considerable thickness; the holes are also made taper, being
largest on the under side to prevent their being blocked up by short
straw, chaff, &c. They are usually made up of a number of pieces so
grooved and perforated and joined together to form the surface required
in order to prevent, if possible, the evils arising from a warping of the
wood. This mode of construction presents many objections, first, the
whole riddle is necessarily heavy, and its momentum causes great strain
and wear upon the crank and other parts usually employed to drive it ;
second, the holes will occasionally block up, although they are tapered
towards the bottom by the lodging and accumulating of small particles.
of straw, the thickness of the wood forming, as it were, a long passage
through which the grain has to find its way for escape; third, the
surface of the riddle will become rougher by use than when new by
the wearing away of the soft part of the grain of the wood; and, fourth,
despite the greatest care in selecting the wood from which the perforated
boards are made, the exposure to the open air will occasionally warp

page_text: them out of shape, and the uniformity of the surface of the riddle is
destroyed.
Now our improvement consists in constructing the surface of riddles
of thin corrugated sheet metal (by preference of iron or zinc) with the
holes in the bottom of the corrugations. The corrugations are formed
so as to afford the greatest facility to the grain in finding the holes, and
there being scarcely any thickness for it to traverse it is almost impossible
the holes should become blocked up by pieces of straw, the surface of
the riddle will become smoother by wear, and the action more and more
perfect; it will not warp, and we are enabled considerably to reduce the
weight of the riddle, and consequently effect a great saving in the wear
and tear of the machine. This part of our Invention is applicable to
thrashing machines in general.
The last part of our Invention relates to the manufacture of thrashing
drums when made entirely of iron. When such drums are of the length
required for large machines there is considerable difficulty and risk in
getting some kinds of the beater bars perfectly sound and straight. Our
improvement consists in making the beater bars in two or more pieces,
and, when desirable, in arranging them on the surface of the drum, so
that (when two pieces are employed to make up the total length of the
drum) instead of lying in the same line parallel with the axis those at
one end of the drum are placed opposite the spaces between the pieces at
the other end. In this case the separate pieces are made somewhat
longer than half the length of the drum, so when fixed the inner ends
overlap or fit each other. We are thus enabled to produce cast malleable
iron beater bars or steel bars perfectly sound and straight without risk or
difficulty. This part of our Invention is also applicable to thrashing
machines in general.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Brinsmead and Richard Lyons in the Great 30
Seal Patent Office on the 3rd December 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
BRINSMEAD, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, Machinist, and
RICHARD LYONS, of the same Place, Machinist, send greeting.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
BRINSMEAD, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, Machinist, and
RICHARD LYONS, of the same Place, Machinist, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said Henry Brinsmead and Richard Lyons, Her
special licence that we, the said Henry Brinsmead and Richard Lyons,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Henry Brinsmead and Richard Lyons, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 THRASHING MACHINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Henry Brinsmead
and Richard Lyons, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of us or them, 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 Richard Lyons, on behalf of myself
and the said Henry Brinsmead, 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 following statement
thereof, that is to say :-
It has hitherto been the practice in constructing thrashing machines
to employ a single cylinder or thrashing drum with its axis in a
horizontal position, and when the machines were intended to do large
quantities in a short time to lengthen the cylinder or thrashing drum
and employ two men to feed in the sheaves. This method does not
always effect the desired object, as the two men, unless accustomed to.
work together, will hinder each other in their work, and will effect little
or no more than a single expert man.
Now our improvements consist in employing two threshing drums,
each to be fed independently of the other, and for the better convenience
of placing the feeders as well as for other purposes to be presently
explained, we place the axes of the drums in a vertical position. We

page_text: also combine upon the vertical drum spindles apparatus for producing
the necessary currents of air for dressing, and likewise other apparatus
for chobbing wheat and awning barley instead of as heretofore
employing separate horizontal spindles for these several operations.
We make a feed mouth of peculiar form for each of the vertical drums,
and place them in such a manner that the two feeders have ample room
to work without obstructing each other; the peculiar form of these
feed mouths ensures every portion of the length of the beaters being
occupied in beating out the corn.
Sheets I. and II. of the accompanying Drawings shew several views
of a thrashing machine constructed according to this part of our im-
provements.
Figure 1 is a plan; Figure 2, a vertical section; Figure 4, a front
view; and Figure 5, a back view. The same letters refer to the same
parts in all the Figures.
a, a, are the vertical axes of the thrashing drums, the drums and
concaves are of a novel construction, which will be described presently,
but other constructions of drum and concave may be employed; b, b,
are fans for producing the currents of air for dressing, and are attached
to and rotate with the vertical drum; spindles a, a, below the fans and
also attached to the drum spindles is the apparatus c, for chobbing
wheat and awning barley. This apparatus may be of any ordinary
construction; d, d, are the feed mouths in the form of conical hoppers,
the sheaves are fed in in an inclined direction with the ears downwards
and slide down to the bottom of the hoppers, the drum then catches the
ears, and the straw is drawn in spirally, so that every portion of the length
of the beaters is occupied in beating out the corn. The straw on leaving
the vertical concave is directed down on to the straw shakers by the
inclined board c. The corn which escapes through the concaves is
collected hy the riddles e, e, and after being exposed to the blast from
the fans b, b, for separating the chaff, and having passed through the
sieve, is delivered by the bottom plate f into the before-mentioned
apparatus c, and is thrown out therefrom and up the spouts g, g, into
the receptacles h, h, for sacking. The portion f* of sieve f¹ has fine
perforations for seeds to pass through. Figure 10 shews a plan of the
chobbing apparatus c, and the bottom plate with its spout f", by which
the grain is delivered. Curved plates c', c³, are attached to the arms of
the chobbing apparatus, and in their rotation convey the stream of grain

page_text: issuing from the spout f" to the interior of the apparatus. Each drum
spindle is furnished at the top with a driving pulley i, the driving belt
passes round both so as to drive the two drums simultaneously; j is a
guide pulley for leading the belt to the lower part of the fly wheel of the
engine. In constructing drum thrashing machines for horse-power in
which the drums are placed vertically, and in which the usual riddles
and other appliances for dressing are dispensed with, we utilize the current
of air produced by the velocity of the thrashing drums for separating the
chaff; this is effected by placing conical hoppers underneath the open ends
of the vertical drums, the grain is collected by these hoppers, and in falling
through the apertures at the bottom meets the currents of air entering to
the drums, the chaff is thus taken up and conveyed away with the straw.
Figure 3 of Sheet I. shews this part of our improvements. a is the vertical
drum spindle; k, the hopper fixed below the drum for collecting the grain;
1, the opening for admitting the air to the drum; m, a mouth piece to which
the sacks are attached to receive the grain. The air entering at the
opening meets the descending grain and carries the chaff up with it and
disperses it amongst the straw. In constructing the drums or thrashing
cylinders of thrashing machines it is usual to make the thrashing
edges commonly called "the beaters," in the form of continuous bars
or surfaces of the same length as the cylinder itself, and to attach them
sometimes with a wood backing to the exterior edges of discs or wheels
keyed to the spindles by bolts or screws to prevent their flying off by
the centrifugal action consequent upon the great velocity of revolution
required in thrashing. Now in our improvements we construct the
exterior portion of the drum of sheet iron of a polygonal prismatic
form suitable for the required number of beaters. At each angle of the
prism we make suitable perforations, through which we cause the raised
portion of the ribbed beater bars to project a sufficient distance to
form the rubbing surface which effects the thrashing. The sheet iron
thus embraces the beater bars and is directly opposed to their centrifugal
action.
Our improvement further consists in making the beater bars of short
pieces instead of in one piece of the same length as the cylinder; these
portions of the beater bars are made to overlap each other in such
manner that each alternate piece being pressed by set screws against
the interior surface of the sheet iron cylinder or prism the intermediate
pieces are likewise firmly held. The raised projections of the beater
bars pass through the perforations of the sheet iron prism, and form a

page_text: row of projections on the external surface of the thrashing drum,
representing what is commonly designated as "the beater." This part
of our improvements is best seen in Sheet III., Figure 6, of the
accompanying Drawings. We fix a suitable number of castings (or
drum heads) n upon the spindle a, and in these castings we fit set
screws o radially with the axis, and so disposed that each casting has a
screw pointing towards each angle of the prismatic sheet iron exterior p.
These screws o fit into recesses in the back of the beater bars q, and
when screwed up tight stretch the sheet iron prism p to the exact form
required, and the projections of the beater bars passing through the
perforations of the sheet iron prism p may be very easily adjusted and with
great accuracy to equidistance and parallelism with the axis a of the drum.
Another important part of our Invention consists in making the
short beater bars q, above described, in cast iron with the projecting
ribs hardened by the process known as 66
chilling." We thus produce
chilled cast-iron beaters, which we consider best for our improved
thrashing drum, but sometimes we make them of ordinary cast iron, and
sometimes of cast steel or rolled iron or steel.
2°
"
The next part of our Invention relates to that part of a thrashing
machine known as the " concave or grating, against which the re-
volving drum acts in thrashing out the corn. We construct our
improved concave of flat bars 8, 8, Figures 7 and 8, of Sheet 3, of
wrought iron and cast gratings t, t, (shewn separate in Figure 9) held
together by bolts u, u, in such manner that when the edges of the
flat bars s, 8, have become worn by use the concave may be readily
taken to picces and the flat bars 8, 8, turned round, so as to present
their opposite edges to the wear of the drum, and thus form, as it were,
a new concave. Our improved drum and concave are applicable to
thrashing machines in general.
66
The next part of our Invention has for its object improvements in
that class of apparatus attached to thrashing machines for shaking the
straw, known as rotary straw shakers," and has especial reference to
an Invention for which Letters Patent were granted to Henry Brinsmead,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, and
numbered 572. That Invention, as is well known, consists of a number
of rollers with curved spikes so arranged that the spikes of each roller
pass between the spikes of the adjacent rollers, the whole system or
series of rollers is placed at an inclination and by their revolution

page_text: convey the long straw upwards from the lowest to the highest roller,
and at the same time convey the short straws and corn which fall
through on to a board fixed beneath them downwards to the bottom roller
where they are delivered on to the riddle for further separation. Now,
in rapid thrashing in moist seasons, it is well known that the grain
cannot be so readily shaken out of the straw, and to overcome this
difficulty it has been the practice to lengthen the above system of straw
shakers by the addition of several rollers to the series, and in consequence
the highest point of the shaker rises to a great distance from the ground
unless the inclination is diminished which is known to be detrimental
to the efficiency of the apparatus. Now our improvements consist in
making the rotary shaker in divisions, each division containing its pro-
portion of the total number of rollers employed, and in placing such
divisions relatively to each other in the form of steps so that there shall
be a considerable fall for the straw in passing from one division of the
shaker to the next. By this fall of the straw the grain is more perfectly
shaken out, and our new arrangement affords facilities for lengthening
the shaker when necessary, while the highest point remains much lower
than as at present constructed, and the straw in passing over the upper
roller is not so much exposed to being scattered about by the wind,
the machine is less unwieldy in appearance and much steadier when
travelling.
Another important advantage is effected by our improvement, videlicet,
in hot and dry seasons it frequently happens that a great deal of the
straw is broken into short pieces in thrashing, and as the short straws
together with the grain have to be conveyed to the lower end of the
fixed board for delivery to the riddle it has been found that when the
short straw is in excess the rollers will sometimes carry it over and bring
up grain with it and the separation becomes imperfect.
In our improvements each division of the shaker acts as an inde-
pendent shaker, but is very much shorter than those usually attached
to thrashing machines, and consequently the short straws and grain
not having to be moved so far have a much more ready escape from
beneath the rollers, and clogging becomes almost impossible.
In applying our improved system of rotary shakers to thrashing
machines we have to provide a suitable channel for conveying the short
straws and grain from each division of the shaker to the proper point
on the riddle. Figure 6, Sheet III., shews our improved rotary straw

page_text: 0
shaker. A and B are the two divisions of the shaker (we have shewn
only two divisions as being sufficient for most machines, but of course
there might be three or more without departing from the principle of
our improvement), each having any suitable number of spiked rollers and
delivering the short straws and grain in the usual manner at the lowest
roller of each series; w and x are two channels fixed to the riddle frame
for conveying the produce from the two divisions A and B of the shaker
to the respective points y and z on the riddle.
The next part of our Invention relates to the manufacture of thrashing
drums when made entirely of iron or steel. When such drums are of the
length required for large machines there is considerable difficulty and
risk in getting some kinds of the beater bars perfectly sound and straight.
Our improvement consists in making the beater bars in two or more
pieces, and when desirable in arranging them on the surface of the drum
so that (when two pieces are employed to make up the total length of
the drum) instead of lying in the same line, parallel with the axis, those
at one end of the drum are placed opposite the spaces between the
pieces at the other end. In this case the separate pieces are made
somewhat longer than half the length of the drum, so that when fixed
the inner ends overlap or pass each other. We are thus enabled to
produce cast malleable iron beater bars or steel bars perfectly sound
and straight without risk or difficulty. This part of our Invention is
also applicable to thrashing machines in general.
Having now described the several parts of our Invention and the
best methods at present known to us of putting the same into practice,
we wish it to be distinctly understood that the same may be considerably
varied in their mechanical construction, and differently combined for
use in thrashing machines without departing from the principle of our
Invention, and we hereby declare what we claim as our improvements
in thrashing machines are,—
1. The general combination or arrangement of thrashing machines,
substantially as herein described and shewn at Figure 1 of the Drawings
annexed.
2. The employment of vertical drums in thrashing machines.
3. The employment of vertical drums in thrashing machines in com.
bination with inclined hoppers or feed mouths, substantially as herein
described.

page_text: 4. Mounting the fans upon the vertical drum spindles.
5. Attaching the chobbing or barley awning apparatus to the vertical
drum spindles.
6. Utilizing the current of air produced by the revolution of the
vertical drum for the purpose of separating the chaff, substantially as
herein described.
7. Constructing thrashing drums with a sheet iron exterior, through
which the ribs of the beater bars are made to project a sufficient
distance to form the rubbing surfaces or beaters, substantially as herein
described.
8. Making the beater bars of thrashing drums so constructed in short
pieces in cast iron with chilled ribs, or in ordinary cast iron, steel, or
rolled iron or steel, substantially as herein described.
9. Constructing the concaves of thrashing machines, substantially as
herein described.
10. Constructing rotary straw shakers, substantially as herein
described.
11. Constructing thrashing drums when made entirely of iron or
steel with cast malleable iron or steel beaters in pieces shorter than the
total length of the drum, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Lyons, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of November, in the
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
year