IMPROVE- MENTS IN CLEANING, SEPARATING, AND MIXING SEEDS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THOSE PURPOSES
Year: 1858

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Scott at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th January
1858.
I, THOMAS SCOTT, of Drummond Street, Euston Square, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CLEANING, SEPARATING, AND MIXING SEEDS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR
THOSE PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
Many seeds of weeds, and also carrot seed and other seeds, have tails, or
horns, or husks, or beards, or down upon them. I clean grass or other seed
from the seeds of weeds which have tails or horns by causing the seeds to drop
upon an inclined grating or sieve with longitudinal holes or bars. The grass
seed slides down the grating to one side, while the seeds of the weeds acquire a
spiral motion, or such a position in falling as to cause them to pass through
the grating; or I employ a revolving plate or apparatus by which the seeds
are thrown out by centrifugal force; or I project them in any other manner;
and the different seeds are thus thrown to different distances, and received in
compartments suitably placed. I clean carrot seed and similar seeds from the
tails, or horns, or husks, or beards, or down upon them by placing them in a
sieve or wire gauze casing of cylindrical or conical or other suitable shape, in
which is another cylinder or cylinders, or a cone or cones covered with wire,
card, or metallic brushes, or punched or perforated metal, or other suitable
rough surface, by which the tails, or horns, or husks, or beards, or down are
broken or rubbed off, and pass with the seeds through the sieve, and are then

page_text: separated by another external, cylindrical, or conical sieve, or by winnowing, or
otherwise. The apparatus may also be made of a spiral form. The wire gauze
casing may be concentric, with the cylinders or cones, or may be of such
form as to have cavities or spaces at intervals to facilitate the escape of the
dust. It may be adjusted, when required, by screws or otherwise.
In some cases I apply a gentle heat, by means of gas burners or otherwise,
to dry the seed or to facilitate the operation. In some cases the last portions
of the beards or tails or down are removed by means of a sieve with meshes
which do not allow the grain or seeds to pass.
The seeds are moved about upon this sieve by rubbers, which detach the
beards, or tails, or down, which pass through the sieve, while the clean seed
passes away at the end or side of the sieve.
This arrangement may be applied in combination with a winnowing machine,
or with the machines herein-before mentioned.
In many cases it is required to mix different sorts of grass or other seeds
together; this I effect by means of a cylindrical or conical sieve or vessel,
turning on a spindle, and having spiral blades within it, by which the seeds are
caused to travel from the end at which they are introduced to the opposite end
at which they escape. These blades have holes in them which continually
allow portions of the seed to fall back through them, and thus the seeds are very
effectually mixed. Transverse blades may be introduced at intervals, so as to
cause the seeds to be lifted or turned over in various directions to expedite or
facilitate the mixing. The seeds are supplied to this machine in the proper
proportions from hoppers with slides or otherwise. It is preferable to clean
the seeds separately, as herein-before mentioned, before mixing them.