IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING AND HULLING GRAIN AND SEEDS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1855

page_text: (This Invention received Provisional Protection, but notice to proceed with the
application for, Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Henry Johnson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
November 1855.-A communication.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING AND HULLING
GRAIN AND SEEDS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,"
a communication from Charles Theodore Laborey, of Paris, Mechanician,
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain peculiar constructions and arrangements of
machinery or apparatus for cleansing and hulling dry or wet grains and seeds,
and consists, according to one arrangement of mechanism for cleaning and
hulling dry grain, of a suitable wood or iron frame, fitted at the top with a
regulating hopper, into which the grain is placed, & from which it falls on to
a vibrating perforated plate, which answers the purpose of a smut machine,
& removes therefrom the small, grits or other extraneous matter which might
injure the hulling portion of the mechanism. The grain after falling through
the perforated plates enters a fixed drum or cylinder, the internal sides of
which are lined with iron or steel plates, cut or roughed like a file, the cuts
being V-shaped. Inside this drum rotate a number of curved blades or arms,
also fitted with similar plates, by which means the grain is partly bulled, or

page_text: deprived of its outer skin or covering. The hulling is still further carried out
in a second huller, similar to the first, which the grain enters after being
subjected to the action of the first. On leaving the second huller the loose
skins or husks are blown off by a ventilator, the blades of which are adjustable
nearer to or further from the centre to give different strengths of blast.
Passing through this current of air, the grain falls into an endless travelling
belt, fitted with brushes, which brush it against a set of roughened plates, and
remove entirely the husks therefrom; one or more vibrating sieves serve finally
to separate the loose husks from the grain. In treating moist or wet grain, the
grain should be first well cleaned, & then soaked in warm water at a tem-
perature varying from about 86° to 120°, and immediately after removal it
should be submitted whilst still warm to a hulling machine of the same
general principle to that herein-before described, but slightly modified in
construction.
This machine consists of a revolving drum, fitted with roughened or file-cut
plates or bars, similar to those herein-before described; & this drum rotates
inside a fixed cylinder, the interior of which is fitted alternately with file-cut
bars & finely-perforated bars, through which latter the small round seeds
& dust falls through. This fixed cylinder is made adjustable, so as to be
brought nearer to or removed further from the rotating drum by means of
adjusting screws. An outer casing or jacket encloses it, leaving a warm air
space all round, thereby keeping the grain from cooling, and facilitating the
operation of hulling. The grain after leaving this machine is entirely separated
from the now loose husks, by being submitted to the action of a cylinder fitted
with brushes and acted upon by a fan blower.