Improvements in or relating to Machines for Reducing Grain, Seeds, or the like, and for Separating and Purifying the Products of. such Reduction.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Feb., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 12th Dec., 1890-Accepted, 17th Jan., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Machines for Reducing Grain, Seeds,
or the like, and for Separating and Purifying the Products of.
such Reduction.
I, JAMES HIGGINBOTTOM, of 32 Seel Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
Milling Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates broadly to machines for reducing grain, seeds or the like and
for separating and purifying the resultant products, but more particularly to those
machines which are intended for the reduction of wheat and for the separation and
purification of the products-broken wheat, germ, semolina, middlings, dunst and
flour-resulting from such reduction.
The object of the invention is to construct a combined or self-contained machine in
which the operations of reducing, separating and purifying may be successively and
continuously accomplished, instead of being performed in three or more distinct
machines as heretofore.
In carrying my invention into effect I arrange one or more pairs of reducing rolls
to work in combination with a dressing or separating apparatus, preferably with that
form of apparatus described in my Patent Specification No. 18643, dated November 21,
1889, and also to work in combination with a purifying apparatus, preferably with
one which comprises the whole or a part of the various inventions forming the subject
matter of my British Patents No. 2094 dated May 26, 1879, No. 6676, dated May 18,
1886, No. 14711, dated October 13, 1888, No. 793, dated January 16, 1889,
No. 12692, dated August 12, 1889.
I prefer to so arrange the said reduction rolls that the product or meal therefrom
falls directly by gravity on to the vibratory sieve, without the use of spouts, elevators,
worms or carriers of any kind, and I arrange the sieve or sieves so that the said
product may be separated into the desired qualities or kinds, and so that each kind
of separated product may, be purified at or about the same time that the separation is
being made.
By the aid of this invention, I can carry out in one machine three distinct
processes, in a manner superior to what has hitherto been accomplished, with the
advantage that I am enabled to dispense with all connections, spouts, elevators,
worms and creepers for conveying or carrying the reduced material from the rolls to
the machines now in common use for separating and purifying, thereby saving both
space and power. Also the trituration and disintegration of the reduced or granulated
products is, by this reduced manipulation, very considerably lessened, and thus a
larger percentage of semolina and middlings can be secured, also the various products,
namely, broken wheat, germ, semolina, middlings, dunst and flour are delivered from
the machine in a purer state or freer from offals than can be obtained on ordinary
separating machines, and in a better condition for after treatment.
My invention also enables me to dispense with exhaust fans, air trunks and dust
collectors, for the purpose of drawing the warm moist air, and the fine dust con-
mingled therewith, froin the product of the re lucing rolls, because the product, as it
drops from the reducing rolls and passes over the vibrating sieve or sieves, is under
the action of a purifying air current, which practically does away with the need of
applying exhaust to the reducing rolls as is done in ordinary practice.
Moreover my invention enables the miller in charge of the reducing rolls to
immediately examine the results of his adjustment of the rolls, because the separations
therefrom are made on the same machine, and there is no need for the operator to
leave the machine to ascertain the results of his adjustment. This is a point of great.
importance in high class milling, because such a convenience is a valuable refinement
rn:

page_text: in the operations of modern milling and it enables a more 'excellent quality of work
to be attained.
.
Dated this 11th day of February 1890.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
.. Improvements in or relating to Machines for Reducing Grain, Seeds,
or the like, and for Separating and Purifying the Products..of
such Reduction.
1, JAMES' HIGGINBOTTOM, of 32, Seel Street, Liverpool, in the County, of Lancaster,
Milling Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what, manner
the same is.to be. performed, to be particularly described and. ascertained in and, by
the following statement :-
This invention relates broadly to machines for reducing grain, seeds or the like and
for separating and purifying the resultant products, but more particularly to those
machines which are intended for the reduction of wheat and-for, the separation, and
purification of the products,-broken wheat, germ, semolina, middlings, dunst; and
flour resulting from such reduction.
The object of the invention is to construct a combined or self-contained machine in
which the operations of reducing, separating and purifying may be successively and
continuously accomplished, instead of being. performed in three or more distinct
machines as heretofore..
The nature of the invention and the manner of carrying it into effect may be more
particularly described as follows, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,
which set forth, by way of illustration only, one form, of self-contained, machine
embodying.such invention.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the machine.
Figure 2 a transverse section on line X X, Figure 1.
Figure 3 a transverse section on line YY, Figure 1, and
Figure 4.a plan of the machine.
A, is the framework of the machine, upon which there is mounted. one or more
pairs of break or reducing rolls, B B, driven by a belt B' through the medium of a
pulley Band gear wheels B³. C is the feed hopper, provided: as usual with an
adjustable sluice Cand feed roll C2, which latter may conveniently be driven off, the
shaft of one of the rolls B by a belt C³. The material issuing from the rolls falls
directly by gravity upon a vibrating sieve D, no intermediate spouts, elevators, worms
or carriers of any kind being required. I have, however, shown a deflecting board B
for the purpose of deflecting the crushed product to the extreme head end of the sieve.
B' is a door through which the product from the rolls may be examined at will.
Any suitable sieve or arrangement of sieves may be provided, whereby the product
from the rolls may be separated into the desired qualities or kinds in. such manner that
each kind of separated product may be purified at. or about the same time that the
separation is being made. I prefer, however, to arrange and operate the sieves in a
manner substantially as described in my Patent Specification No. 18643 of
November 21, 1889, and to use, in conjunction with .such sieves, a "nozzle
purifying apparatus such as described, in my Patent Specification No. 14711 of
October 13th, 1888. These various apparatus may be briefly described as follows:-
1
"
D are two inclined superposed. sieves, located in the upper parts. of a pair of
boxes or frames D'D, which are each suspended by four. connecting rods E E
respectively from a similar number of cranks E2: E³ in such manner, that a vertical
vibratory. motion: is imparted to the sieve. The crank shafts E E turn towards, or
from each other, as shown. by the arrows in Figure 4, and they may be conveniently
connected by a cross. shaft E and mitre wheels E, and driven: by anbelt pulley E
placed on one of the shafts E. The downward movement of the sieves may also be

page_text: assisted, if desired, by springs E, as set forth in my ratent Specification No. 100±0
of 1889 aforesaid.
The sieve boxes D' D' may be divided into two or more compartments D³ D* D* D*,
as by one or more vertical partitions D', a different grade or kind of material being
thus collected in each box. Each of the latter is provided with a discharge spout D³
di charging to a suitable point on the outside of the machine, but, in the case of the
upper sieve box one or more of the discharge spouts as the spout of the compart-
ment D3, discharges on to the lower sieve D, preferably at the head end thereof.
The sieves may be kept clear by travelling brushes F mounted in the well known
manner upon endless bands passing over band wheels F, the shafts F2 of which may
be mounted in bearings F3 on the machine frame, elongated holes being made in the
ends of the boxes D2 D3, for the passage of the shafts whereby the free movement of
'he boxes is not interfered with. The brush shafts may be conveniently driven by a
helt from one of the shafts of the reducing rolls B, through the medium of
gearing Fs.
The vibratory sieve boxes or frames D' D² are connected to the framework of the
machine and to each other at the necessary points by strips of flexible material d, as
set forth in my Patent Specification No. 2094 of May 26th, 1879 for the purpose of
preventing the outside air from passing into the depositing chambers G Gabove the
sieves, except after passing through the latter, a little air being, however, permitted
to pass through the tail spouts D D, as hereinafter described. Air is admitted to
the boxes D' D below the sieves by openings H and also it may be, by the discharge
shutes D8.
J is a flat tray bearing a series of tapered hooded nozzles J'arranged substantially
as and for the purposes described in my Patent Specification No. 1471188 aforesaid.
The trays and nozzles vibrate with their respective sieves and the open bases of the
nozzles are placed as close as practicable to the sieve surfaces, their upper narrower
ends opening into the chambers G G above the sieve. The dust etcetera deposited
on the upper surfaces of the trays J passes off at the tail ends thereof by vibrating
spouts J Figure 2, which are provided with any suitable form of airtight dust dis-
charging device, such as that described in my Patent Specification No. 14711 of
1.888 aforesaid.
K is the exhaust fan which may be conveniently mounted upon the shaft Es
aforesaid in the upper part of the machine. The fan chamber K' communicates with
the upper depositing chamber G by means of an opening K (which is adjustable by
slides k, Figures 3 and 4) and with the lower chamber G by trunks K³ which may
also be provided with adjustable valves, as for example the hinged valves k mounted
at the upper ends of the trunks and adjustable by crank handles 2 on the exterior
thereof, as seen in Figures 1 and 2.
The air passing up the side trunks K³ is deflected by the gates downwards into
the pocket K in which any dust carried up by the air is deposited before the air
enters the fan. The pocket is provided with an air tight discharging device k³
permitting the dust to discharge itself from time to time from the pocket on to the
tray J below it.
The air drawn into the chambers G G by the fan enters the sieve boxes D' D' by
the openings H, passes up through the material on the sieves D D and through the
nozzles J' into said chambers, depositing in the latter, upon the trays J, the lighter
offals separated by the air from the material on the sieve in its upward passage
therethrough.
The mode of operation is as follows
-
The grain fed in between the rolls B from the hopper C falls in a thin stream from
the rolls on to the deflector B' and thence on to the head end of the upper sieve D.
The moisture and fine dust from the freshly crushed material is drawn off by the fan K
as shown by the dotted arrows, which, throughout the figures, indicate the course of
the various air currents, whilst the full lined arrows represent the course of the
material. A certain amount of air also finds its way to the fan through the head end
of the upper sieve, past the head end of the adjacent tray J and 'through the

page_text: stream of material falling from the rolls, thus assisting in the drying, cooling and
purifying of such material. The crushed material first traverses the upper sieve D,
the bulk of it passing through the sieve into the compartments D³ and D* of the
upper sieve box, the tails passing out at the shute D being aspirate: therein by
the air drawn in by the fan as hereinbefore described, and the lighter offals being
carried up through the nozzles on to the upper tray J, whence they are discharged
through the spout J. The material from the compartment D is discharged from its
shute Ds to the outside of the machine. That from the compartment D³ passes
through its shute D to the head of the lower sieve D where the above operation is
repeated, the various kinds of material being discharged respectively at the
sbutes D and D8 of the compartments D D and at the tail shute D, and the
lighter offals being as before deposited on the lower tray J and discharged at its
spout J2.
It will thus be seen that, with a machine constructed as described and shown, I
am enabled to treat the meal as it comes direct from the break or reducing roils and
to obtain from it five distinct grades of purified material besides the dust etcetera
deposited on the trays. For example, when treating wheat I obtain in the compart-
ment D³ a mixture of flour, dunst and middlings, in the compartment D₁ I get
semolina and germ, and in the tails at D° I obtain the bran and larger particles of
meal suitable for re-treatment in the reducing rolls. From the mixed material in
the compartment D³ I obtain in the compartiment D³, flour; in the compartment D*,
dunst; and at the tail shute D1º, middlings.
In conjunction with the sieves J, I may also, if desirable employ the transverse
sieve ribs and "dead sheets" set forth respectively in my Patent Specifications
Nos. 1262 of August 12, 1889, and 793 of January 16, 1889. Also I may arrange
in the chambers G G above the sieves, dust-collecting troughs and discharging
apparatus such as that described in my Patent Specification No. 6676 of May 18, 1886.
Although the rolls B have been described in the foregoing as employed for breaking
down the whole grain yet it is obvious that they (or similar rolls) may also be
employed as "reducing rolls" for re-treating any of the intermediate products
obtained from such breaking down, the separating and purifying portions of the
machine being capable of adaptation to the various grades of material issuing from
the rolls.
By the aid of this invention, I am enabled to carry out in one machine the three
distinct processes of breaking or reducing, separating and purifying, in a manner
superior to what has hitherto been accomplished, with the advantage also that I am
enabled to dispense with all connections, spouts, elevators, worms and creepers for con-
veying or carrying the broken or reduced material from the rolls to the machines now in
common use for separating and purifying, thereby saving both space and power.
Also the trituration and disintegration of the broken reduced or granulated products
is, by this reduced manipulation, very considerably lessened, and thus a larger
percentage of semolina and middlings can be secured: Moreover the various
products, namely, broken wheat, germ, semolina, middlings, dunst and flour are
delivered from the machine in a purer state, that is, freer from offals, than can be
obtained on ordinary separating machines and in a better condition for after
treatment.
My invention also enables me to dispense with additional exhaust fans, air trunks
and dust collectors for the purpose of drawing the warm moist air, and the fine dust
commingled therewith from the products of the breaking or reducing rolls, because
the product as it drops from the rolls and passes over the vibrating sieve or sieves,
is, as before described, under the action of a purifying air current, which practically
does away with the need of applying a special exhaust to the rolls as is done in
ordinary practice.
Moreover my invention enables the miller in charge of the rolls to immediately
examine the results of his adjustment of the rolls, because the separations therefrom
are made on the same machine, and there is no need for the operator to leave the
machine to ascertain the results of his adjustment. This is a point of great

page_text: importance in high class milling, because such a convenience is a valuable refinement
in the operations of modern milling and it enables a more excellent quality of work to
be attained.
Having now particularly described and ascertaine the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what [
claim is :-
"
1. In a self-contained machine for reducing grain, seeds or the like and for
separating and purifying the products of such reduction, the combination of one
or more pairs of breaking or reducing rolls provided with suitable feed apparatus, a
vibratory sieve or sieves adapted to receive the meal direct from the rolls, and an
exhaust device drawing air through the material on the sieve or sieves and also through
the material as it issues from the rolls substantially as described.
2. The improved arrangement and construction of a self-contained floor milling
machine taken as a whole substantially as described and illustrated in the accom-
panying drawings, whereby the successive operations of reducing, separating, and
purifying may be simultaneously performed in one machine, the miller may at any
moment immediately examine the results of an adjustment of the rolls, and the
various grades of material may be separately and simultaneously delivered in a
purified condition.
Dated this 11th das of December 1890
.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, and London, Patent Agents.