MACHINERY FOR CLEANSING OR DRESSING PADDY OR ROUGH RICE, SO AS TO FIT IT FOR CULINARY PURPOSES
Year: 1819

page_text: EWBANK'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, IIENRY
EWBANK, of London, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, in and by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Ninth day of February
last, for Himself, His heirs and successors, did give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Ewbank, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Henry Ewbank, my
exors, admors, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or
by my or their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the
said Henry Ewbank, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times hereafter, during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, my Invention of "MACHINERY FOR CLEANSING OR DRESSING PADDY
OR ROUGH RICE, SO AS TO FIT IT FOR CULINARY PURPOSES," within that part of
His Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed; in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said Henry
Ewbank, should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within the space of two
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited
Letters Patent, that then the same Letters Patent, and all liberties and

page_text: advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and
become void, as in and by the same Letters Patent, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Ewbank, in compliance with the
said proviso, do hereby declare that the following statement, under my hand and
seal, does particularly describe and ascertain the nature of tlie said machinery,
and the manner in which the said paddy of rough rice is cleansed or dressed so
as to fit for culinary purposes.
The paddy or rough rice, after having been sifted through a wire screen
adapted to the size of the grain to separate it from any dirt, sand, or other
extraneous matter, is conveyed by any of the usual modes to a pair of mill
stones for the purpose of shelling or removing the external husk or shell;
stones of various diameter may be used, but those of six to seven feet are
considered by me a convenient size. From the stones the rice passes a wind
fan to separate the chaff or outer husk from the shelled rice, which is next
to be conveyed into a screen of wire cloth, which may be cylindrical or
polygonal, and is made to revolve upon an inclining. axis. The wire cloth of
this screen is of two degrees of fineness; the finest part
elevated end is adapted to let the dust and the lower or. coarser part the
shelled.rice pass through, and such grains as may have escaped from the stones
without being shelled will not pass through this wire cloth at all, but be
delivered at its lowest end, to be returned to the stones again."
being at the most
So far it will be seen that the process and machinery used bears a resem-
blance to the shelling of cats and the cleansing and dressing of other grain.
And, I distinctly.disclaim all exclusive privilege to the use of any part or parts
of the foregoing or following machinery, excepting such as I shall specifically
claim as new. in this country either in themselves or in their application or
combination. But rice has also an internal skin or pellicle which, although
very thin, requires to be removed: before it is fit for culinary use, and which
is not at all touched or affected by the previous operation of the stones or
screens. This internal skin or pellicle I rub off and remove by triturating
the rice prepared and shelled as above in mortars means of heavy pestles.
For this purpose the shelled rice as it comes from the screen after the operation
of the stones, is carried to a bin or receptacle from whence it can be let down
at, pleasure by means of spouts into one or more mortars according to the a
extent of the work to be performed. These mortars may be formed of wood,
cast iron, or other sufficiently strong material, the bottom of their cavities
being of an egg-like shape, and then soon expanding to their greatest width
with their top slightly contracted. The size of each mortar should be equal

page_text: to hold about five bushels of rice, besides room for the pestle and for the
rice to spread and rise; from about twenty-four to twenty-six inches in diameter
at the widest part will be found a convenient size for them. The pestles
working in these mortars may be constructed of wood, iron, or other conve-
nient substance, and they may be fixed in the manner of stampers in an oil
mill, and worked by arms, wipers, or lifters projecting from an horizontal
revolving shaft. Any number of pestles may be worked in so many corre-
sponding mortars by one shaft in this way, and about fifteen mortars will be
necessary for one pair of stones of the above-mentioned diameter. The
striking heads or rams of the pestles, which if the pestle.be made of wood
should be covered with sheet iron or other metal, 'are made to taper downwards;
gradually decreasing to a diameter of about four to five inches. The striking
face is made slightly convex. Each pestle may weigh altogether from about
two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds, and make from forty to forty-
four strokes of about three feet six inches per minute, in which case it will
require from sixty to eighty minutes to triturate each five bushels or mortar
full of rice. The more rapidly the pestles move the better on account of the heat
as well as friction they occasion. A hoop or collar of sheet iron or of any other
convenient material laid loose on the top of the rice in the mortar large enough
to allow the pestle to pass freely through it, and of about four inches in depth;
quickens the process of trituration. A little chaff or outer husk may be put
into each mortar to encrease the friction. It will be observed in this process
that although the action of such pestles in mortars would effectually reduce
the rice to powder if in small quantities, and thus do injury to it, yet by the
pestle having to pass through so large a quantity as five bushels extended in
heighth as above, this pounding effect is prevented, and the grains are merely
made to turn and rub against each other with great force, and thus the internal
skin or pellicle is: broken and disengaged without much injury to the internal
grain. The rice thus sufficiently prepared is to be removed by hand or other-
wise from the mortars (the motion of the pestles being meanwhile stopped
by any of the usual and accustomed modes) and conveyed by machinery
or otherwise into another screen, which may be of similar form and con-
struction to the last, except that it is larger and its wire cloth is divided into
three degrees of fineness.) A convenient size of this screen may be about
fourteen feet long, by about three. feet and a half diameter.. ¡The most
elevated and finest part of the screen lets out, the dust, or what is
generally called the flour, the next the broken or small rice, and the third or
last division the shelled whole rice; the rough grains (if any) are thrown out
at the lower end to be returned to the stones again. This and the preceding

page_text: screen should be inclosed in a case to confine the dust. The whole rice, as
delivered from the last screen, is conveyed by shoots or otherwise immediately
into the upper end of what may be called the brightening or polishing machine,
which may be about two feet diameter by eight feet long, and consists of an
internal and external cylinder, placed concentrically in a perpendicular or
inclining direction. The external cylinder is a mere frame or skeleton of wood
or other material, covered on the inside with very fine wire cloth, and may be
either stationary or made to revolve; the internal cylinder is covered with
boarding or other convenient material, upon the outside of which is stretched
sufficient sheeps skin with the wool upon it to cover it, such wool being out-
wards, and this internal cylinder revolving with rapidity on its axis rubs the
rice which is admitted into the aperture or space between the two cylinders
against the interior surface of the outer cylinder, for which purpose the
distance of the two cylinders from each other must be adjusted so as to produce
this rubbing effect; this gives the rice a polish and drives any dust or flour
which may still adhere to it through the interstices of the wire cloth. In the
construction of this machine hogs' bristles or any other material which would
occasion a like or sufficient friction may be substituted for the sheeps skin, and
two concentrical cones may be substituted for the two cylinders. On leaving
this polishing machine the rice again passes a wind fan, which completes the
process by driving off any light chaff which may have come away with it; it is
then ready to be bagged or barrelled for sale or use.
In the above account I have purposely avoided all minute or particular
descriptions of the modes of constructing or giving motion to the machinery,
because the same will be obvious to any mechanic. The use of stones for
shelling, and of many parts of the above machinery, is not new, nor claimed
by me as having introduced any new description, either as regards size or
form but I claim as new in this realm the introduction of stones, or any
substitute for them, whether of cast iron or other material, in their combined
application with pestles and mortars, for the purpose of shelling, removing, or
separating the outer and inner husks or skins of paddy or rough rice from the
grain they encircle.
I further claim as new in this realm the application of the polishing or.
brightening machine for the purposes above described.
+
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighth
day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
nineteen.
HENRY
(L.S.) EWBANK.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of April, in the
year of our Lord 1819, the aforesaid Henry Ewbank came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of April, in the
year of our Lord 1819, the aforesaid Henry Ewbank came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and nineteen.
Inrolled the Eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and nineteen.