CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CLEANING RICE
Year: 1826

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MELVIL
WILSON, of Warnford Court, Throgmorton Street, in the City of London,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twentieth day of December, in the seventh year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Melvil Wilson, His especial licence that I, the said Melvil Wilson, my
exors, admiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Melvil Wilson, my
exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time, and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His said Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR CLEANING RICE;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso, obliging me, the said Melvil Wilson, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being therc-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Melvil Wilson, do hereby déclare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hercunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say) :-
My machine for cleaning rice consists of a shaft made of iron or other
suitable material, having a number of arms projecting from it, (which number
may be more or less, but at present I prefer about eighty-eight), working or
revolving in a cylindrium or conical case (made of iron or other suitable
material), having a number of arms attached to its inner surface, and projecting
towards the centre of such cylinder or cone, but of such length as not to touch
the revolving shaft by one or two inches, more or less. The position of these
projecting arms, both in the revolving shaft and also in the cylinder, is
such, that when a rotative motion is communicated to the shaft and arms,
projecting from it, the said shaft and arms shall not come in con-
tact with the arms projecting from the interior of the cylinder, or with
the cylinder itself, but have a free and uninterrupted space to work clear
in, of some one or two inches, more or less, but at present I prefer about one
inch working distance between the circle described by the arms projecting
from the revolving shaft and those projecting from the interior of the cylinder.
In order to obtain this free action between the arms of the shaft and those of
the cylinder, they are so disposed in equidistant circles round the interior of the
cylinder as to leave a free space for the arms projecting from the shaft, and
lisposed at the same distance from each other on the shaft as the rows or
circles of arms are which are attached to the cylinder, and between which
intermediate spaces the arms on the revolving shaft are made to pass. This
is more fully shewn by referring to the draft of the machine and its sectional
parts, as set forth in the papers attached to these Presents. The shaft is mado
to revolve at a high speed by any of, the well-known powers, and the cylinder
revolves in a contrary direction with a slow motion. The machine may be
worked upright or inclined; at present I prefer to work it at an angle of about
forty-five degrees, as shewn in the Drawing annexed.
:
No. 1 shews the sectional parts of the machine, vizt:A, A, the shaft in
the cylinder as in operation; B, B, the cylinder with, the arms attached; C, C,
front view of one of the plates with the arms, which is attached to the inner
surface of the cylinder; D, end view of the shaft in the cylinder; E, stationary
plate or cap at the upper end of the cylinder, formed in two parts connected
hy screws with an opening on the upper part to receive the grain; F, an open
socket wheel in two parts, connected by screws placed in the cylinder under

page_text: the
cap E, revolving with the cylinder; G, a cap or plate on the lower end of
the cylinder, with openings and slides for the discharge of the grain. No. 2,
the top view of the machine in its frame; No. 3, the upper end view of the
same; No. 4, the lower end view of the same; No. 5, the side view of the
same as in operation.
In witness whereof, I, the said Melvil Wilson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.