IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CLEAN- A communication
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CLEAN-
A communication
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 30th August 1858.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CLEANING GRAIN AND
SEEDS" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in cleaning and separating grain by means of
a blast spout, screen, and troughs so arranged that the grain will be
perfectly separated from the improper substances which are usually
mixed with it, and the grain as well as the different inpurities conveyed
to separate places, and kept distinct or separate from each other.
Si

page_text: In order to separate substances of similar specific gravity, but
different size, such as the seeds of weeds from wheat or other grain,
I make use of a sieve or screen, one part of which has meshes of
greater fineness than the other. It will therefore be evident that when
the grain is passed over such sieve the smaller seeds will pass through
the fine part, and may be conveyed away to a separate receptacle, while
the grain will pass over and fall through the coarse meshes on to an
inclined board, which will conduct it to a channel through which a strong
blast or current of air is driven, whereby the light particles, such as
chaff and dust, may be driven off, leaving the cleaned grain to fall into
a receptacle below. The upper end of the air channel I, propose to
curve over, and provide it with a wire gauze cover, through which the
air and dust may pass, leaving the chaff to fall into any proper
receptacle placed below.
I also propose to employ an adjustable spring operated upon by an
eccentric or cam for the purpose of communicating the proper shake
motion to the screen or sieve, and by which spring any proper (legrec
of inclination may be given to the screen.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal 2
Patent Office on the 27th February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lanc, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her a
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton,
Her special licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,

page_text: 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 IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CLEANING
GRAIN AND SEEDS," being a communication from abroad, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and scal, 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 William Edward Newton, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner.
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thercon (that is to say):
This Invention of Improved Machinery for Cleaning Grain and
Seeds" consists in cleaning and separating grain by means of a blast
spout, screen, and troughs so arranged that the grain will be perfectly
separated from the improper substances which are usually mixed with
it, and the grain as well as the different impurities will be conveyed to
separate places, and kept distinct or separate from each other.
In order to separate substances of similar specific gravity, but
different size, such as the seeds of weeds, from wheat or other grain, I
make use of a sieve or screen, one part of which has meshes of greater
fineness than the other. It will therefore be evident that when the
grain is passed over such sieve the smaller seeds will pass through the
fine part, and may be conveyed away to a separate receptacle, while
the grain will pass over and fall through the coarse meshes on to an
inclined board, which will conduct it to a channel through which a
strong blast or current of air is driven, whereby the light particles, such
as chaff and dust, may be driven off, leaving the cleaned grain to fall

page_text: into a receptacle below. The upper end of the air channel I propose
to curve over, and provide it with a wire gauze cover through which
the air and dust may pass, leaving the chaff to fall into any proper
receptacle placed below.
I also propose to employ an adjustable spring operated upon by an
excentric or cam for the purpose of communicating the proper shake
motion to the screen or sieve, and by which spring any proper degrec
of inclination may be given to the screen.
In the Drawing Fig. 1, represents a longitudinal vertical section of
the machine taken through the centre thereof. Fig. 2, is a horizontal
section of the blast taken in the line X, X, of Fig. 1. A, A, is the
frame of the machine, which does not differ materially from the frames
of other machines of the kind in use. B, is the blast spout, connected
at its lower end to the fan box C, which contains the fan D. The
blast spout B, is curved at its upper end, and inclines downward a
short distance, as seen in Fig. 1. The outer side of this curved upper
part of the spout is provided with an opening closed by wire gauze
E.
and is covered by a moveable shutter E', for graduating or regulating
the blast that is passed through it. F, is the screen, placed on the
upper part of the frame A, and directly over the box G, having an
inclined bottom H, the lower end of which rests against the inner side
of the blast spout B, immediately below the opening I, which leads
into the blast spout. The screen is formed of two parts, or rather is
provided with two different sized sieves a, b.
the sieve b. They are both placed in one frame, the fine sieve a, being
at the upper part of the frame (see Fig. 3). Directly under the fine
sieve a, there is an inclined board J, (see Fig. 1,) upon which smaller
substances than wheat or other grain, but of au equal specific gravity,
fall, and are conveyed into the hopper K, having a double inclined
bottom L, which allows the substances above mentioned (and which
have passed through the fine sieve a,) to fall into the troughs or spouts
M, M, placed at each side of the blast spout B, and from thence upon
the floor or into a proper receptacle.
The sieve a, is finer than
The substances larger than wheat or other grain to be separated

page_text: therefrom pass over both sieves a, and h, and fall upon the floor or into
a receptacle at the back of the machine, as shewn by the lotted
arrows.
The wheat passes through the lower or coarse sieve b, and falls upon
the inclined bottom H, of the box G, and passes down the said bottom
through the opening I, into the blast spout B, and from thence down-
ward into the blast spout and out at the opening N. While passing
down the blast spout the grain is subjected to the blast generated by
the fan D, and regulated by the sliding valve E¹, and the dust and
other foreign matter of less specific gravity than the grain is forced out
at the top of the blast spout, the dust passing through the wire cloth E,
and the chaff and other similar light matters pass downward from the
mouth of the blast spout (as shown by black arrow 1).
The screen is somewhat inclined, the inclined board J, underneath
the fine sieve a, being made to rest upon cleats c, attached to the sides
of the frame. The lower end of the screen rests upon the vertical
spring O, the lower end of which is secured in a socket P, by a thumb
screw R, the said socket being attached to a cross piece d, of the
frame A. The spring by being secured to the frame in this manner
may be raised or lowered, as desired, and any proper inclination given
to the screen.
A cam S, upon the shaft T, of the fly wheel U, (as the shaft T,
rotates,) acts upon the spring O, and forces it outward, and the
spring O, will return it by its elasticity. Now, as the lower end of the
screen rests upon the top of the spring O, and the spring fits into a slot
in the frame of the screen, it will be seen that a reciprocating motion
commonly termed the "shake motion" is given to the screen as the cam
revolves.
The cam S, in the Drawing is represented of square form, but it
may be an excentric, or many other different shaped cams would answer
equally well.
The advantages of the above machine are, first, the wheat
may be
perfectly cleaned without any reference to the specific gravity of the
various substances. There are many substances smaller than the

page_text: different kinds of grain, but of equal specific gravity, such as cockle;
this substance cannot be thoroughly separated from the grain by the
fan blast alone, as experience has fully shown. In this improved
machine substances such as cockle will pass through the fine sieve a,
and fall upon the inclined board J, and be conveyed from thence into
the hopper K, and fall through the troughs or spouts M, into the
proper receptacle, as before mentioned. They do not come in contact
with the fan blast; it is not necessary they should, as the blast, if suffi-
ciently strong, would throw out grain as well as the cockle. Second, by
employing the adjustable spring O, the screen may have any desired
elevation given it, and thus be adjusted as circumstances may require.
By the employment of sieves having meshes of the requisite size this.
machine becomes applicable to the effectual separation of grass and flax
seed from the impurities with which they are mixed, and also to the
separation of different varieties of grass which are frequently gathered
together.
Having now described the Invention that has been communicated to
me as aforesaid, I would observe that I do not claim the use of the
blast spout B, separately, neither do I claim the screen F, nor
troughs M, separately. But what I do claim as new in the above-
described Invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent as afore-
said, is,―
First, the employment of the screen F, formed of a graduated sieve
a, b, of unequal fineness, as described, in combination with the trough K,
and spouts M, for separating from the corn or grain the smaller impu-
rities of nearly equal weight or specific gravity with the grain without
the aid of the fan blast, and previous to the action of the said blast
upon the grain.
Second, I claim covering the head of the blast channel with the wire
gauze screen E, and shutter E, as herein described, for preventing the
screenings from passing off with the air and dust, and for regulating
the strength of the blast.
Third, I claim the employment or use of the adjustable spring O,
by which any proper degree of inclination may be given to the screen;"

page_text: the said spring being operated upon by a cam of any desirable shape
for the purpose of communicating the necessary motion to the screen.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of
February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-four
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)