An Improved Machine for Sorting and Cleaning Grain.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Sept., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 17th June, 1896-Accepted, 29th Aug., 1896
[Communicated from abroad' by POTAP NIKOLAEWITSCH SERTSCHANSKY,
of Odessa, in the Empire of Russia.]
An Improved Machine for Sorting and Cleaning Grain.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an improved machine for sorting and cleaning grain.
My improved machine is designed for treating all varieties of grain in order
to free the same from extraneous substances, this cleaning and sorting being
obtained by means of an air current.
Upon the main body or chamber of the machine is arranged a horizontal
conduit or passage the section of which is preferably somewhat rectangular and
One of the said extremities is
provided with suitably rounded extremities.
widened and prolonged and through the same communication is established between
the conduit and the box or chamber. The other extremity is open to the outer
a blower or fan,
air. Within the box or chamber and the conduit is arranged
working in a cylindrical chamber or casing provided with an air inlet and an air
outlet. In the centre of this cylindrical blower chamber is a horizontal axis
carrying four wings or fans.
At one extremity of the aforesaid conduit a hopper of rectangular or other
section is secured, tapering towards the bottom and provided at the bottom with
a sliding door. Upon the main chamber of the machine is carried, on a horizontal
axis, a heavy fly wheel connected by a driving belt to the pulley of the blower
or fan.
The interior of the body of the machine is divided into four compartments
one of which serves to receive heavy impurities and refuse such as earthy matter
stones and the like and the other three the sound grains sorted according to
their bulk and weight. Each of these partitions is provided with an outlet,
closeable by a sliding or other door. A crank handle fixed upon the shaft of
the fly wheel enables the whole machine to be driven by a single person, or the
machines may be worked by a motor connected to the said shaft.
The cleaning and the sorting of the grain is obtained in the following manner:
The grain to be cleaned is placed into the aforesaid hopper and-after the
sliding door of the hopper has been opened-falls down the narrow extremity
of the hopper. Through the conduit a continuous and strong air current is passed.
by causing the blower or fan to rotate and this air current carries away with it.
all light foreign matter such as chaff, dust and the like while the hard and heavy
bodies such as stones, earth, sand and the like fall into the compartment or
division nearest to the hopper, and the heavy grains fall into the following
division and the light grains into either of the two subsequent divisions according
to the specific weight of the grains.
This sorting and cleaning machine does not comprise any complicated
mechanisms and can be employed in connection with a thrashing machine; the

page_text: same may also be employed in mills for freeing the grains from their husks or
impurities.
Dated this 24th day of September 1895.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.
An Improved Machine for Sorting and Cleaning Grain.
° .
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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 to an improved machine for sorting and cleaning grain.
My improved machine is designed for treating all varieties of grain; in order to
free the same of extraneous substances, this cleaning and sorting being obtained by
means of an air current.
In the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1 is a complete front view of the machine and
Figure 2 is a side view;
Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view of the machine.
.
Upon the main body or chamber A of the machine is arranged a horizontal
conduit or passage D the section of which is preferably somewhat rectangular and
suitably rounded extremities. One of the said extremities is widened and pro-
longed, and through the same communication is established between the conduit
and the box or chamber. The other extremity is open to the outer air. Within
the box or chamber and the conduit is arranged a blower or fan working in a
cylindrical chamber or casing B provided with an air inlet b' and an air outlet 62.
In the centre of this cylindrical blower chamber is a horizontal axis carrying four
wings or fans a.
At one extremity of the aforesaid conduit a hopper T of rectangular or other
section is secured, tapering towards the bottom and provided at the bottom with a
sliding door t. Upon the main chamber of the machine is carried, on a horizontal
axis, a heavy fly wheel E connected by a driving belt to the pulley of the blower
or fan.
The interior of the body of the machine is divided into four compartments, by
walls PQR, sorting and cleaning the grain, according to its quality and impurity,
are obtained by means of divisions k, k, k, k, provided at their extremities with
openings having doors A, A', A* A³. A crank handle M fixed upon the shaft N
of the Hy wheel enables the whole machine to be driven by a single person or the
machines may be worked by a motor connected to the said shaft.
The cleaning and the sorting of the grain is obtained in the following manner:
The grain, to be cleaned, is placed into the aforesaid hopper T and-after the
sliding door of the hopper has been opened-falls down the narrow extremity of
the hopper. Through the conduit D a continuous and strong air current is passed
by causing the blower or fan to rotate, and this air current carries away with it all
light foreign matter such as chaff, dust and the like while the hard and heavy
bodies such as stones, earth, sand and the like fall into the compartment or
division nearest to the hopper, and the heavy grains fall into the following
division and the light grains into the cases or divisions and k, according to
the specific weight of the grains.
This sorting and cleaning machine does not comprise any complicated
mechanisms and can be employed in connection with a thrashing machine; the

page_text: same may also be employed in mills for freeing the grains from their husks or
impurities.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
A machine for cleaning grain, having this characteristic feature that an air
current passes from the ventilator or fan, arranged at the lower part of the machine
frame, this air current travelling first in a vertical direction toward the grains.
which fall out of the hopper, and subsequently in a horizontal direction into the
longitudinal conduit provided with several compartments for sorting the grain.
according to its density and bulk; substantially as described.
Dated this 17th day of June 1896.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.