IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DECORTICATING AND CLEANING CORN AND OTHER GRAIN
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Davison, of London Street, in the City of
London, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR DECORTICATING AND CLEANING CORN AND OTHER GRAIN,"
1. A communication from abroad by Louis Basilide Sulpice Poissant, of
Amiens, France.
Sealed 'the 29th December 1868, and dated the 3rd July 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Davison, at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd
July 1868.
I, ROBERT DAVISON; of London Street, in the City of London, Civil.
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DECORTICATING AND CLEANING CORN AND OTHER GRAIN,"
to be as follows:
This Invention consists in constructing machinery, as hereafter described,
whereby the grain is first subjected to a beating action; it is then allowed to.
fall under the action of a blast from a fan or otherwise, and may be removed,
or it is passed through a lower chamber, subjected to a second beating, and
another blast as before."
The machinery consists of a case, in the upper part of which a chamber is
formed, closed at bottom by a slide; in this chamber a shaft carrying arms
with vanes or beaters is mounted." Below- this chamber is an inclined shoot,
from which the grain falls under the action of a blast or current of air, which

page_text: drives out the loose matter or pellicle loosened by the beaters in the first
chamber, while the grain itself falls into a third chamber similar to the first,
where a similar shaft with beater vanes is fitted; it then passes through a
fourth chamber, in which it is subjected to another blast, and from whence all
but the grain is driven off through an aperture provided for the purpose, while
the grain descends into a tray or other vessel placed for its reception. The
grain will now be found sufficiently decorticated and cleansed for ordinary
purposes, and it may be stored, but it may be advantageously dried, and before
being ground it may be passed a second time through the machine before
described. The beater shafts and the axis of the fans where the blast is pro-
duced by a fan are all connected by wheel gear, and the whole of the motions
may be taken from a main shaft, to which rotary motion is communicated by
a belt from some prime mover.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Davison in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd
January 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
DAVISON, of London Street, in the City of London, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her. heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Davison, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Davison,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Davison, 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 MACHINERY
FOR DECORTICATING AND CLEANING CORN AND OTHER GRAIN," (communicated to
me from abroad by Louis Basilide Sulpice Poissant, of Amiens, France,) upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Davison, 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

page_text: 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 Davison, do hereby 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that
is to say:
This Invention consists in constructing machinery, as hereafter described,
whereby the grain is first subjected to a beating action, it is then allowed to fall
under the action of a blast from a fan or otherwise, and may be removed, or
it is passed through a lower chamber, subjected to a second beating, and to
another blast as before.
The machinery consists of a case, in the upper part of which a chamber is
formed, closed at bottom by a trap or slide; in this chamber a shaft carrying
arms with vanes or beaters is mounted. Below this chamber is an inclined
shoot, from which the grain falls under the action of a blast or. current of air,
which drives out the loose matter or pellicle loosened by the beaters in the
first chamber, while the grain itself falls into a third chamber similar to the
first, where a similar shaft with beater vanes is fitted; it then passes through
a fourth chamber, in which it is subject to another blast, and from whence
all but the grain is driven off through an aperture provided for the purpose;
while the grain descends into a tray or other vessel placed for its reception.
The grain will now be found sufficiently decorticated and cleansed for ordinary
purposes, and it may be stored, but it may be advantageously dried, and before
being ground it may be passed a second time through the machine before
described. The beater shafts and the axis of the fans where the blast is pro-
duced by a fan are all connected by wheel gear or otherwise, and the whole of
the motions may be taken from a main shaft, to which rotary motion is com-
municated by a belt from some prime mover.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a front elevation, and Figure 2.
a transverse section, of a machine, for decorticating and cleaning grain, con-
structed according to this Invention.
A is a hopper, into which the grain in a damp state is introduced; this
hopper is fitted at bottom with a valve or trap a, which is opened and closed.
at any required intervals, say every four minutes, by means of a lever B, so as.
to allow the grain to fall into a case or chamber C, in which a shaft carrying
arms with two vanes or beaters c, c, placed parallel to the shaft, is mounted.
This shaft is driven at about 350 revolutions a minute by the main driving

page_text: pulley D. The case C is perfectly smooth inside, and is fitted with a trap or
valve dat bottom extending the whole length of the case, and made to open
and close, say every four minutes, by means of the levers E, so as to allow the
grain to fall into a shaking screen F.worked by a crank on the fan.shaft.
G is a fan in two lengths, composed of four or any other suitable number of
blades, and driven by a pulley 9, which receives motion by a strap or belt from
another pulley h. This fan drives off through an opening i all the loose matter
or pellicle loosened by the beaters c. The fan is furnished with a hopper with
à trap or valve k at bottom, made to open and shut every four minutes by levers
similar to the levers E, so as to allow the grain to fall into another case or
chamber H, similar to the case or chamber C, similarly fitted with a shaft
carrying beaters or vanes driven by a strap on a pulley on the shaft of the upper
beaters c, c, and also furnished with a trap or valve l made to open and shut
in the same manner and at the same intervals as the trap d of the case C.
The grain falls through the trap into a second shaking screen I, worked by a
crank on the axis of a second fan K.. The fan K is of the same construction
as the fan G, except that it is not fitted with a hopper and valve at bottom; it
drives off through an opening m all the loose matter or pellicle removed from
the grain in the case H... The grain may then be allowed to fall either into an
archimedean screw shoot or inclined plane and conveyed to any suitable drying
apparatus, such, for instance, as that described in the Specification of Davison
and Horrock's Patent, dated 29th April 1853, No. 1040, or by preference that
described in the Specification of my Patent of 10th December 1860, No. 3027.
The levers Band E are fitted at their ends with friction rollers L, each working
of
upon cams M, M, M, M, at each end of the machine for the purpose
pro-
ducing an up-and-down motion to draw the jointed links N, N, attached to
each of the traps or valves a and d. While the roller of the lever runs upon
the circular part of the cam, the lever by drawing the links tight keeps the
trap or valve shut, but as soon as the roller rises into the cut of the cam, the
other end of the lever falls, and the links are consequently slackened, and the
trap.or valve opens by its own weight and that of the grain. The traps or
valves and are actuated in a similar manner. The cams M are actuated
by a screw pinion O, on the shaft of the first beaters c, working into a wheel P
on a shaft Q, which also carries another screw pinion R working into a wheel
S on the cam shaft. The speed of the cams and of the beaters or vanes
should be in the ratio of about 1 to 1400, that is to say, that while the beaters
each make 350 revolutions per minute, the cams should only make about one
revolution in four minutes.
-
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not confine myself to
the particular arrangements described and shewn in the Drawings for driving
the beaters or vanes and the fans, and for opening and closing the valves or
traps, as many mechanical contrivances may be employed for effecting these
operations; and I wish it to be understood that in all cases I make the cases
or cylinders C and H perfectly smooth inside, as it has been found that coarse
files and corrugated or rough surfaces, which have sometimes hitherto been
employed, break and injure the grain and cause a greater-per-centage of loss.
I claim the general arrangement and combination of machinery for decorti-
cating and cleaning corn and other grain herein-before described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said "Robert Davison, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four.
ROBT. DAVISON. (Ls.)