IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR DRESSING OR CLEANING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66,Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman,
for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR DRESSING OR CLEANING
WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN."-A communication from abroad by Samuel
Bentz, of Hood's Mills, near Baltimore, Maryland, in the United
States of America.
Sealed the 14th January 1862, and dated the 12th October 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 12th October 1861.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR DRESSING OR
CLEANING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of machinery for removing
the outer coating from wheat and other grain preparatory to grinding or
otherwise preparing the same for human food.
The machinery is, by preference, arranged on several floors, so that the prin-
ciple of gravitation may be relied on to a considerable extent for producing
[Price 8d.]

page_text: the required progressive motion of the grain through the machinery. Sup-
posing wheat to be the grain under treatment for the purpose of being un-
branned, it is first discharged in a continuous stream into a cylindrical screen,
which is mounted in a hopper and set a little on the incline. By means of this
screen, all extraneous matters larger than the seed are separated therefrom.
The wheat next falls into the hopper, which guides it down to a horizontal
trough supported by the same floor that carries the hopper and screen. In
this trough an archimedean screw is mounted for the purpose of propelling
(by its slow rotation) the wheat from the supply to the discharge end of the
trough. Into this trough a sinall stream of water is run from an elevated
cistern, so that the outer skin of the wheat during its slow traverse to the dis-
charge end of the trough will be effectually saturated with water. At the end
of the trough a spout is provided, which guides the now damp grain down into
the first of a pair of unbrauning cylinders mounted in suitable framework
carried by the floor below; these unbranners are similar in construction and
operation. The description of one will therefore suffice for both.
The cylinder is composed, by preference, of several cast-iron segment plates.
having a corrugated internal surface and bolted severally to circular end plates,
Through the centre of the end plates pass the ends of a shaft, which carries a
kind of paddle wheel, the "floats" of which are made of bar iron, and are set
aslant, so as to cross the axis of the cylinder. Rotary motion is communicated
to this wheel, which is of such diameter as to allow of its freely turning in the
cylinder without crushing the grain supplied thereto. A rapid_rotation_is
given to this wheel, whereby considerable friction is set up between the
individual grains which are kept in constant motion, being thrown up against
the corrugated surface of the cylinder and falling back therefrom. By reason
of the inclination of the bars, the grains receive a slow progressive motion, and
are thus carried forward to a spout down which they fall to be in like manner
operated upon by the second unbranner. As. however, a considerable amount
of bran is disengaged from the wheat in the first cylinder, it is requisite when
the wheat is being prepared for the market to effect the immediate separation
of the same from the mass of grain. For this purpose an exhaust pipe is
connected with the spout leading from the first to the second unbrauner, and
the loose bran being much lighter than the wheat is drawn away by suction,
and discharged into any suitable receptacle. When the wheat has passed under
the action of the second unbranner (through which it travels in the opposite
direction to that taken in the first cylinder) it is discharged down a spout
leading to the drying apparatus on the floor below, and an exhaust coupled to

page_text: this spout draws off the loose filaments of bran removed by the second
rubbing or friction process.
The drying apparatus consists of a long narrow close chamber fitted with a
series of metal troughs (segment-shaped at bottom in cross section) placed one
above the other. In each of these troughs is mounted an archimedean screw
extending from end to end of the troughs. The shafts of the several screws
are geared together, so that they rotate simultaneously and at the same speed,
their office being to traverse the grain through the series of troughs and expose
it to heated air passing through the chamber, so as effectually to evaporate the
moisture from the grain. The troughs are provided alternately at opposite
ends with a spout for discharging the grain into the trough below, and the
lowest trough discharges the grain in a dry state into the polisher, which is a
cylinder constructed and fitted like the unbrauner. Here the grain is sub-
jected to less violent friction, and being now dry it receives a polish, leaving
thecylinder,in appearance, not unlike beads of polished ivory. The discharging
spout of the polisher may be connected with an exhaust pipe, for the purpose
of removing any filamentous substances still mixed with the grain.
When the unbranned wheat is intended for grinding in the same building
in.which the bran is removed, the wheat and stripped bran may be together
passed through the drying chamber, the separation is then to be effected
before the wheat enters the polisher. The air for heating the drying chamber
is taken from an adjacent hot air furnace and conveyed to the chamber by
branch pipes leading from a main pipe that runs under the chamber. For
securing the proper ventilation of the drying chamber, and thus removing
the vapour given off by the grain, pipes lead off from the roof of the chamber
to a capped chimney of suitable dimensions communicating with the open
air. By this means a suitable draught is established.
Thegrain as it leaves the polisher is in a heated state,and it is not therefore
suitable either for storing or for grinding. It is therefore next subjected to
the action of a cooling apparatus. This apparatus consists of one or more
vertical shafts fitted throughout their whole length with light frames covered
in part with wire work, and arranged so as to form a zig-zag incline, down
which the grain is intended to fall in a thin stream and meet an ascending
current of cold air. The grain is raised to the top of one of these cooling
shafts by a chain of buckets and discharged on to the topmost incline, whence
it will, by its own gravity, find its way to the bottom of the shaft. By means
of an adjacent fan, a blast of cold air is thrown into the shaft, so as to meet
the descending grain, and thus the temperature is rapidly reduced. If it be

page_text: thought desirable, the grain may be again raised by buckets and discharged
down a second, and even a third, and a fourth cooling shaft, when it will
be ready for the grinding mill or for storing.
mill or for storing. The ascending currents of
cooling air may be further utilized by being made to act on the descending
stream of grain as it enters the cooling shaft, and throw out the light seeds
and defective berries.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsınan, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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
"IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR DRESSING OR CLEANING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN,"
being a communication from abroad by Samuel Bentz, of Hood's Mills, near
Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Alfred Vincent 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 ascertained in and

page_text: by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):-
:-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of machinery for effecting,
on an extensive scale and in an economical manner, the removal of the outer
coat from wheat and other grain preparatory to grinding or otherwise
preparing the same for human food.
The Invention applies chiefly to the process of unbranning wheat, for
which I obtained on behalf of the Inventor Her Majesty's Royal Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-eight.
I would here remark that wheat subjected to this unbranning process is
found to produce a greater yield of flour when ground than when subjected
merely to the ordinary treatment of grinding and dressing, and besides this
it has been proved to contain an important chemical property which is to
a great extent lost in the ordinary dressing process.
The wheat is first moistened, and while the outer coat is still moist it is
subjected to friction whereby the bran is disengaged from the grain. The
next operation is to dry the grain, the bran having been partially removed by
means of a blast, and when dry the complete separation of the bran is readily
effected by a repetition of the cold blast.
The machinery which it is now intended to employ in carrying out the
unbranning operation is, by preference, arranged on several floors in a lofty
building, so that the principle of gravitation may be relied on to a con-
siderable extent for producing the required progressive motion of the grain
through the several stages of the process.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1, Sheet I., is a sectional elevation of
a building fitted with the improved unbranning machinery, and shewing that
machinery in front elevation; Fig. 2, Sheet II., is a side elevation of the
machinery; and the other Figures in that Sheet are details of parts that
will hereafter be particularly referred to.
Supposing wheat to be the grain under treatment for the purpose of being
unbranned, it is carried to the top floor of the building and first discharged in
a continuous stream into a cylindrical screen a. This screen is mounted a
little on the incline in a hopper ; by means of this screen all extraneous
matters larger than the seed are separated therefrom. The wheat next falls
into the hopper, which guides it down to a horizontal trough c, supported ou
the floor of the upper story. In this trough can archimedean screw d, shewn

page_text: detached at Fig. 2*, Sheet II., is mounted for the purpose of propelling (by
its slow rotation) the wheat from the supply to the discharge end of the trough.
Into this trough a sinall stream of water is run from an elevated cistern e, so
that the outer skin of the wheat during its slow traverse to the discharge end
of the trough will be effectually saturated with water. At the end of the
trough c is a spout f, which guides the now damp grain down through the
flooring into the first of a pair of unbranning cylinders A, A, mounted in
suitable framework carried by the floor below. These unbranners are similar
in construction and operation, the description of one will therefore suffice
for both.
The cylinder A, shewn on an enlarged scale in longitudinal section at Fig 3,
Sheet II., and in cross section at Fig. 4, is composed, by preference, of a set of
cast-iron segment plates 1, 1, having a corrugated internal surface. These
plates are bolted severally to circular plates 2, 2, which forms the ends of the
cylinder. Through the centre of these end plates passes a horizontal shaft 3,
which carries a series of radial arms. To these arms bars of iron 4, 4, are
attached, thus forming a kind of elongated paddle wheel. The bars 4, are
arranged parallel to each other, but instead of being parallel to the axis of the
cylinder they are set at a slight angle thereto. This wheel is of such diameter
as to allow of its freely turning in the cylinder without crushing the grain
supplied thereto, and a rapid rotation is given to it whereby considerable
friction is set up between the individual grains which are kept in constant
motion by being thrown up against the corrugated surface of the cylinder and
falling back therefrom. By reason of the inclination of the bars the grains
receive a slow progressive motion along the cylinder A, and they are thus
carried forward from the end to which they are fed to a spout 5, down which
they fall in order to enter the second unbranning cylinder A*, to be in like
manner operated upon by the friction surfaces of that unbranner. As,
however, a considerable amount of bran is disengaged from the wheat in the
first cylinder A,it is requisite, when the wheat is being prepared for the market,
to effect the immediate separation of the disengaged bran from the mass of
grain. For this purpose an exhaust pipe 6 is connected with the spout 5,
leading from the first to the second unbranner, and the loose bran being much
lighter than the wheat is drawn away by suction and discharged into any
suitable receptacle. When the wheat has passed under the action of the second
unbranner (through which it travels in the opposite direction to that taken in
in the first cylinder) it is discharged down a spout 7 leading to the drying
apparatus B, B, on the floor below, and an exhaust coupled to this spout 7 will

page_text: draw off the loose filaments of bran removed by the second rubbing or friction
process.
The drying apparatus, which is shewn in longitudinal vertical section at
Fig. 5, and in sectional plan view at Fig. 6, consists of a close chamber fitted
with a series of rotating troughs or cylinders 8, 8, placed one above the other.
These cylinders are made by preference of woven wirework or perforated
metal, and they are each fitted with the fixed thread of anarchimedean screw 9,
extending from end to end thereof. The cylinders are secured by radial arms
to their shafts 10, which are supported in bearings in cast-iron frames 11.
By reference to Fig. 2 it will be seen that the grain as it is discharged from
the second unbranner is divided into two streams; this is for the purpose of
spreading the grain as it enters the chamber over an extended surface, and
thereby facilitating the evaporation of the moisture therefrom. The chamber
is fitted with two sets of cylinders through which the two streams of grain
respectively pass to be exposed to the surrounding heated atmosphere. The
shafts of each set of cylinders are geared together by spur wheels 12, so that
they rotate simultaneously and at the same speed. The office of the screw
threads 9 is to traverse the grain through the cylinders and to expose it to
heated air passing into and through the chamber so as effectually to secure
the evaporation of moisture from the grain. The cylinders are provided
alternately at opposite ends with a spout 13 for discharging the grain into
the cylinder below, and the lowest cylinders discharge the grain in a dry
state into a cylinder termed the polisher.
I would here remark that hot water or steam pipes may be employed for
communicating heat to the drying chamber, but the plan preferred is to
employ currents of hot air for this purpose.
The air for heating the drying chamber in the arrangement shewn in the
Drawing is taken from an adjacent hot-air furnace C, and conveyed to the
chamber B by branch pipes C2, C2, leading from a main pipe C¹, that runs
under the chamber. For securing the proper ventilation of the drying
chamber and thus removing the vapour given off by the grain,an arrangement
of pipes C³ is provided, which lead off from the top of the chamber to a
capped chimney C of suitable dimensions, mounted at the top of the build-
ing and communicating with the open air. By this means a suitable draft
is established through the chamber B for carrying off the moist vapour as
quickly as it is generated in the drying chamber.
The polisher is shewn at D,and consists of a cylinder constructed and fitted
like the unbranners A, A*. Here the grain is subjected to less violent friction,
and being now dry it receives a polish, so that it leaves the cylinder in

page_text: appearance not unlike beads of polished ivory. The discharging spout 14 of
the polisher may with advantage be connected with an exhaust pipeasatl,for
the purpose of removing anyfilamentous substances still mixed with thegrain.
When it is intended to grind the unbranned wheat in the same building in
which the bran is removed, the wheat and stripped bran may be together
passed through the drying chamber, the separation is then to be effected before
the wheat enters the polisher. The grain as it leaves the polisher is in a heated
state, it is not therefore suitable either for storing or for grinding, but requires
previously to be subjected to a cooling action. The apparatus for effecting this
is shewn at E, E, Fig. 1, Sheet I., and in partial transverse vertical section at
Fig. 7, Sheet II. It consists of one or more vertical shafts made of thin wood
or other suitable material, and fitted throughout the whole or part of their
length with light frames 16, covered in part with wirework (see the detached
view, Fig. 8, which shews one of these frames in plan view and in position)
These frames are arranged so as to form a zigzag incline, down which the
grain is intended to fall in a thin stream and meet an ascending current of
cold air derived from a fan F or equivalent means.
The grain as it is discharged from the polisher is raised to the top of one of
these cooling shafts by a chain of buckets not shewn in the Drawing, and dis-
charged on to the topmost incline, whence it will by its own gravity find its
way to the bottom of the shaft, sliding over the wire gauze of and falling
through the openings in the frames 16. By means of the fan F a blast of
cold air is thrown into the shafts so as to meet the descending grain, and thus
-the-temperature-of-the grain-will.be.rapidly reduced. If it be thought desirable
the grain may be again raised by buckets and discharged down the second
shaft E, and even a third cooling shaft may be used (if thought desirable),
after passing down which the grain will be ready for the grinding mill or for
storing. The ascending currents of cooling air may be further utilized by
being made to act on the descending stream of grain as it enters the cooling
shaft and throw out the light seeds and defective berries into a receptacle
provided to receive the same.
In the Drawing the arrangement of driving gear for communicating motion
to the several acting parts of the machinery is not shewn,but it will be obvious
that the same may be readily arranged by any competent mechanic. As I
guide I may remark that the unbranners will require a speed of about four
hundred revolutions per minute and the polisher of about two hundred and
seventy-five revolutions. The rotation of the archimedean screw and drying
cylinders will be sufficiently slow to effect the purposes intended.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Machinery

page_text: for Dressing and Cleaning Wheat and other Grain,as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim, the means above described and shown in the Drawings for
carrying out the operation of unbranning wheat and other grain by the process
of damping, rubbing, drying, and polishing the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eleventh day of April, in the year of
our Lord Oue thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)