Improvements in and relating to Coffee Cleaners and Separators.
Year: 1889

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Coffee Cleaners and Separators.
I, CHAUCY JEFFERSON PICKETT of Bay City in Bay County and State of Michigan
one of the United States of America, Gentleman, 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:-—
The object of the invention is to free the coffee from foreign ingredients, especially
stones, pieces of wire and iron, which are liable to injure the grinding mill further to
free it from dust and other like debris and refuse; and further to grade the coffee
into the ordinary merchantable sizes and seperate it from the broken kernels. To this
end, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the
various parts in a single operative machine all as more fully hereinafter described,
and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which
Fig. 1 is a side elevation.
Fig. 2 is a vertical, central, longitudinal section, and
Fig. 3 is a plan view.
A is the frame of the machine, suitably constructed to support the parts thereof.
B is a rotary fan or blower of known construction, secured within a casing or
frame C built upon one end of the machine, and provided with the usual air inlets D;
an upwardly inclined blast-duct E connects with this casing and carries the blast
created by the fan into the upper portion of the device, where it is discharged in a
concentrated form through the discharge opening F of the blast-duct.
G is a feed hopper supported on top of the frame near one end thereof, and provided
with the adjustable feed slide H.
I is an inclined spreader pan movably secured below the discharge spout of the
hopper by means of a pivotal connection J at one end, and the hanger K at the
other end. This spreader pan is provided with the cross slats and with a laterally
agitating connection derived by a suitable connection with the transverse shaft M
in the well known manner. This spreader pan has its discharge end some distance
above the terminal end of the blast-duct, and in such proximity thereto as to cause
the material to fall into the path of the blast, which passes in a diagonal upward
direction through it.
N is a direction board preferably adjustable by means of the lever O, to which the
direction is pivotally connected at or near the middle, by means of the pin O' ; this
board is slightly inclined, as shown, and is intended to direct the heavy material
escaping the blast into a drawer or receptacle P, and such materials as are carried by
the blast into the wind chamber Q formed on the top of the frame.
At its further end the wind chamber is contracted into a throat, V which
communicates with the discharge spout R extending outside the frame.
The top of the wind chamber, top of the throat, and top of the discharge spout are
in one horizontal plane, while the bottom of the wind chamber, by the construction
described and shown, forms a gradual contraction towards the end.
In the lower part of the wind chamber is placed an inclined direction-board X
resting upon the separator screens Y Y which are secured in a frame Z which is
reciprocatingly mounted in the frame of the machine, and provided with an endwise
shaking motion by a suitable connection with the revolving shaft b. Below these
screens are placed suitable drawers c and d the former one receiving the material
passing through the upper screen, and the latter, the material discharged from the
lower screen. The material which does not pass through the upper screen is carried
off by a discharge spout e, which extends through the rear end of the machine.

page_text: Z is an inclined direction board to carry the berries falling just over the direction
board N to the sieves, and this board preferably extends a slight distance beyond the
direction board N into the path of the blast.
Motion is carried to the various movable parts of the device preferably in the
following manner; The power is conveyed to the shaft of the fan in the first instance,
from there it is transmitted to the shaft M, this shaft carries upon one end a pulley
from which motion is carried to the shaft b. The screens are reciprocated by an
eccentric on the shaft b, and the spreader pan Lis laterally agitated by its connection
with the shaft M, which consists preferably of the crank g, pitman h, bell crank i, and
connection link k.
The frame of the machine is suitably provided with removable doors to permit
access to the interior, and all the parts where needed are provided with such adjust-
ments as are found necessary in the ordinary construction of such devices.
In practice the parts being arranged and constructed substantially as described,
they are intended to operate as follows: the raw material being fed into the hopper is
discharged therefrom with a proper adjustment of the feed-slide into the spreader
pan I from which it is carried by the cross slats L and forwarded to the inner end by
the combined action of the inclination of the board and the lateral shaking motion
applied to the inner end of the pan. As the material is discharged from the spreader
pan, it falls directly into the blast from the fan, which is concentrated upon it, and
acting in an upward direction besides, carries all the material through the opening
into the wind-chamber Q, except such weightier materials as stones, pieces of iron, etc.
which are directed into the drawer P below; the wind chamber Q allows the blast to
expand, and thereby permits the heavier material to drop to the bottom thereof, while
the lighter material, such as dust, chaff, and quakers, is carried by the wind into the
discharge throat V, from which it is finally blown out through the discharge spout R.
The material which is not blown out and which comprises all the valuable portion of
the raw material is collected upon the incline X, the motion of which feeds it in a
continual and even stream towards the inner end thereof, from which it falls into the
upper screen; the upper screen has its meshes selected of such size as to pass only
the smaller or broken kernels through it while the larger and perfect kernels are
directed through the discharge spout e to the outside and collected there, the material
passing through the upper screen passes into the lower screen which is a finer mesh,
to retain the smaller kernels upon the screen and gradually forward them into the
drawer c, while the broken kernels fall through the screen and are collected in the
drawer d.
It will be understood that by means of the adjustability of the board, the effect of
the blast can be increased or decreased to effect the proper separation.
By hinging or otherwise securing the board O loosely, as described, it will always
ride with its free end upon the carrier, and thereby prevent any escape of the blast;
at the same time, it gives direction to the discharge spout R. m is a damper in the
blast-duct E controlled by the handle n, all so arranged as to enable the operator to
close the duct E at the same time opening the aperture n into the duct o; or to close
the aperture n thereby opening the duct E. The duct o is connected to the cooling
device, so that the blast may be directed to cool the berries as they come from the
oven, or to be used as previously described in seperating the berries and stones.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is -
1. In a Coffee Cleaning Machine the spout 1, blower B, blast duct E, direction
board O, and screens Y Y, substantially as described.
2. In a Coffee Cleaning Machine, the spout 1, blower B, blast duct E, direction
board O, wind chamber Q, screens Y Y, and drawers c, d, and P, substantially as
described.

page_text: 3. The herein described process which consists in blowing the berries at a restricted
opening away from the stones, etc.; with a rapidly expanding wind chamber, then
sorting the berries by sieves, substantially as described.
Tmột Unk T₁1 19th 1880
CHAUCY JEFFERSON PICKETT.
In presence of:
NOAH ZAINE.
GEO. W. BAYHA.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.