A MACHINE FOR CLEANSING BoD FOR HARGES AND CATTLE
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Firmin, of Wapping, in the County of
Middlesex, Carman, for the Invention of "A MACHINE FOR CLEANSING
BoD FOR HARGES AND CATTLE"
Sealed the 18th March 1859, and dated the 20th September 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Firmin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th September 1858.
I, HENRY FIRMIN, of Wapping, in the County of Middlesex, Carman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A MACHINE FOR CLEANSING
CHAFF AND OTHER FOOD FOR HORSES AND CATTLE," to be as follows:-
After hay, clover, and the like have been cut into chaff, much dust and dirt
may be found mixed therewith, as well as with the grain and other description
of food for horses and cattle. Now, my machine is intended to free the food
entirely from dust and dirt. My machine consists of a perforated zinc or
other metal cylinder, inside which a shaft armed with brushes or other suitable
agitators is made to rotate, whereby the chaff, corn, and other food will be
stirred, so as to shake the dust and dirt therefrom, which will be forced or
sent through the perforations outside of the cylinder. The chaff and corn
may then be removed perfectly clean, and in a fit state for feeding. The
cylinder should be placed at a slight angle from the horizontal line.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Firmin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th March 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
FIRMIN, of Wapping, in the County of Middlesex, Carman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Firmin, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Firmin,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Firmin, 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 "A MACHINE FOR
CLEANSING CHAFF AND OTHER FOOD FOR HORSES AND CATTLE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Henry Firmin, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, 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 Henry Firmin, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say,-
After hay, clover, and the like have been cut into chaff, much dust and dirt
is found mixed therewith, as well as with the grain and other description of
food for horses and cattle. Now, my machine is intended to free the food
entirely from dust and dirt. My machine consists of a perforated zinc or
other openwork metal cylinder, open at both ends, and inside which a shaft
armed with brushes or other suitable agitators is made to rotate, whereby the
chaff, corn, and other food will be stirred, so as to remove the dust and dirt
therefrom, which, by the action of the brushes, will be forced or sent through
the perforations out of the cylinder. The chaff and corn then pass out of the

page_text: cylinder perfectly clean, and in a fit state for feeding. The cylinder should
be placed at a slight angle from the horizontal line.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a horizontal section of a
machine constructed according to my Invention; and Figure 2 is a vertical
section of the same through the line a, b, of Figure 1.
A is a frame or outer casing, fitted with bearings c, c, for supporting the
shaft B, which is inclined from the horizontal line, as shewn. This shaft
carries arms C, C, and D, D, to which brushes E, E, and beaters F, F, are
attached; G is a cog wheel on the shaft B, which is geared into by the
pinion H, driven by the crank handle I; J is a cylinder formed of perforated
zinc, wire gauze, or other suitable openwork material, open at both ends, and
fastened to a frame K, K, which is held at each end in the partitions L, L;
M, M, are stays to the frame K, K. This frame is free to turn in the
partitions L, L, to allow the position of the cylinder J to be altered; the per-
forations are made finer at some parts of the circumference than at others.
The shaft B, and the brushes and beaters revolve in the cylinder J, and tossing
about the chaff, corn, and other food fed into the upper open end of the
cylinder through the spout N, free it from dust and dirt, which they force
through the perforations or apertures in the cylinder. The dust and dirt fall
on the bottom of the casing, as seen at O, while the clean food passes out
from the lower open end of the cylinder, and falls through the aperture P.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the machine for
cleansing chaff and other food for horses and cattle, constructed and acting
in manner herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Firmin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of March, One thousand eight
HY. FIRMIN. (L.S.)