IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CLEANING CORN AND SEED
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Rankin, of Liverpool, in the County of Lan-
caster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CLEANING
CORN AND SEED."
Scaled the 22nd September 1854, and dated the 7th April 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Rankin at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th April
1854.
I, JOHN RANKIN, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR CLEANING CORN AND SEED" to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in that class of machines now
in common use, and for which Letters Patent were granted some years ago,
consisting of a cylinder, within which a peculiar form of beater and fan are
made to revolve, for the purpose of agitating the corn and seed, and subjecting
the same to currents of air which pass in the opposite direction to the corn or
seed. And the improvements consist in surrounding one part of the cylinder
with an outer casing, and making such portion of the cylinder reticulated, and
any smaller seed or other matters which pass into such surrounding casing are
kept separate, and conducted by a suitable channel or spout to a separate
receiver, and streams of air are caused to act on the corn or seed as the same
leave the machine.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Rankin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th
October 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
RANKIN, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Rankin, Her special licence that I, the said John Rankin, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Rankin, my execu-
tors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CLEANING CORN AND SEED,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Rankin, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 John Rankin, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof
(that is to say):-
This Invention has for its object improvements in that class of machines now
in common use, and for which Letters Patent were granted some years ago,
consisting of a cylinder, within which a peculiar form of beater and fan are
made to revolve, for the purpose of agitating the corn and seed, and subjecting
the same to currents of air which pass in the opposite direction to the corn or
seed. And the improvements consist in surrounding one part of the cylinder
with an outer casing, and making such portion of the cylinder reticulated, and
any smaller seed or other matters which pass into such surrounding casing
are kept separate, and conducted by a suitable channel or spout to a separate
receiver, and streams of air are caused to act on the corn or seed as the same
leave the machine.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a vertical section of the apparatus, having the beater re-
moved; Figure 2 shows the beater 6 separately. a is the fixed cylinder, within
which the revolving cylinder 6 works. The upper part of this cylinder is close,
and formed interiorly with parallel ribs, the upper part of such ribs being in-
clined, and the revolving cylinder is formed with ribs or beaters, but their upper
ends incline in the opposite direction to those in the cylinder. The lower part
of the cylinder is formed with wire cloth, or other material suitable for allowing
the small seeds and matters to pass through, and such lower part is enclosed
by the cylinder c; hence, any small seeds or matters which pass through the
lower part of the cylinder into the space c will be kept separate and descend,
and be delivered at d, whilst the grain from the interior descends at e, and in
falling it meets with the air which is flowing to the interior of the apparatus,
and any dust which may pass down with the grain will be separated from the
grain and fall into the chamber f. The exhaust fan at top causes a strong
current of air to pass upwards through the cylinder a and out at the top, and
the dust carried up thereby deposits in the outer case g, as in the machines
heretofore constructed. h is one of the passages for the air to enter from the
chamber finto the cylinder a. By this arrangement of parts it will be seen,
that in the present machine the cylinder a, in place of being close from top to
bottom, as heretofore, is open and surrounded or inclosed, so that any seeds or
matters which pass through will be kept separate from the grain; and further,
the grain will be acted on as it falls from the cylinder a by the currents of air
which are rushing into the chamber f, and from that chamber into the cylinder
a, by which means this class of machinery will be rendered more useful than
heretofore; and I would state, that the apparatus is so constructed, that the
chamber may or may not be used, as thought fit, and may readily be removed
and replaced.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, I would have it
understood that what I claim is, the combination of parts herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Rankin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
JOHN RANKIN. (L.S.)
JNO. ALCOCK.