IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR SORTING AND CLEANING GRAIN, SEEDS, PULSE, SPICES AND OTHER GRANULAR AND PULVERULENT MATERIALSed
Year: 1882

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Alfred Julius Boult of the firm of WP Thompson
and Boult, Agents for Foreign Patent Solicitors, of 323 High Holborn in
the county of Middlesex and 6 Lord Street Liverpool in the county of
Lancaster Engineer for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR
SORTING AND CLEANING GRAIN, SEEDS, PULSE, SPICES AND OTHER GRANULAR
AND PULVERULENT MATERIALS Communicated to him from abroad by
Louis Rappaport of Breslau in the German Empire
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Julius Boult at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th June 1882.
ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of the firm of W. P. Thompson & Boult Agents for
Foreign Patent Solicitors of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex and
G Lord Street Liverpool in the County of Lancaster, Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINES FOR SORTING AND CLEANING GRAIN, SEEDS, PULSE SPICES AND OTHER
GRANULAR AND PULVERULENT MATERIALS A communication to him from abroad
by Louis Rappaport of Breslau in the German Empire
"
The dressing or sorting of grain seeds, spices flour and other granular or
pulverulent material has heretofore been effected by rotary sieves or sorting
cylinders or by oscillating sieves or riddles in suitable screening machines and
the like. The effectiveness of these devices has however been limited both as to
quantity and quality of the work done as the heavy framing carrying the
sieves or screens has had to be set in motion together with the said sieves and
screens whereby great waste of power was caused, and, the "play" of the screens
being but little, they became easily clogged and consequently larger meshed screens
had to be used than was otherwise desirable.
Now the object of the present invention is to remedy these defects and I will
proceed to describe a machine embodying the said invention
A hopper on the top of the frame or casing serves to feed in the material to be
operated upon and swing doors regulate its flow upon the sieves. The sieves or
Pains f

page_text: screens lie loosely in grooves or on ledges in the casing or framework and suitable
striking devices serve to cause said sieves to vibrate. The sieves inay be made of
perforated sheet metal, of woven wire of textile fabric or other suitable material
and they have an unperforated edge or portion against or upon which the striking
devices impinge. This rim or portion may be cushioned with India Rubber or with
textile material or it may be provided with springs for the striking devices to
work against so as to deaden the sound of the impact of the striking devices.
The strikers are small hammers, or their equivalent, of suitable construction
arranged around or upon shafts driven by suitable means. The heads of these
hammers strike not only against the sieves but also against panels or boards below
these latter which panels serve as shoots for the material that has passed through
the sieves and are mounted similarly to the sieves.
Several sieves may be placed one above the other and the various qualities of
the material being operated upon separated by them will be collected by spouts
and guided into shoots. Swing doors are arranged in the shoots and aid in
separating particles of different gravities conducting the lighter ones into one or
more outlets and the heavier ones into others.
All the sieves and swing doors may be made adjustable so as to adapt the
apparatus to different materials.
A slide at the bottom of the hopper spout allows the material collected therein
to be removed and access is had to each sieve by apertures at the end of the
casing which apertures are closed, say by sliding panels.
It is obvious that the details of construction such as the number and position
of the sieves, the arrangement of the feed the withdrawal of tailings and so forth
are capable of considerable variation but the chief characteristic of this invention
is that the sieves screens or riddles are stationary and vibrated by the impact of
striking devices and this vibration causes the movement of the material to be
operated upon and it will be clear that much less power is required to vibrate the
sieves "in situ " than to cause them to move bodily together with their heavy
frames as is usually done at present.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alfred Julius Boult in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd December 1882.
ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of the firm of W. P. Thompson and Boult, Agents for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex, and
6 Lord Street Liverpool in the County of Lancaster, Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINES FOR SORTING AND CLEANING GRAIN SEEDS, PULSE, SPICES, AND OTHER
GRANULAR OR PULVERULENT MATERIALS A communication to me from abroad
by Louis Rappaport of Breslau in the German Empire
"
The cleaning and sorting of grain, pulse, seeds and spices flour and groats of
various kinds has hitherto been effected by rotating cylinder sieves or by
oscillating sieves. In such machines, especially those for hand-working for
agriculturalists, flour and corn merchants, the yield in quantity is limited in
consequence of the motion, with the sieves of the heavy frames carrying the same
and the generally restricted space.
The yield as to quality likewise appears insufficient as the movement of the
grains or granules upon the sieve-surfaces, as well as the effect of the sieves, by
means of rotation or reciprocating motion aided by inclined surfaces, requires a
larger size of meshes than would be required by the quality of the granules, and
this because the meshes become easily clogged. For this reason it has not been
possible, or but imperfectly feasible to separate from one another, or to sort, grain
of but slightly differing forms.
Now the present machine obviates these difficulties the sieves laying loose in a
fraine and made of perforated sheet metal, iron wire, and silk gauze, receive (by
hammers with spring pressure or by vibrating elastic strikers or by an elastic impact
in vertical inclined or horizontal direction) directly or indirectly a motion which is
vibratory, not visible, springy, and caused by blows or by knocking against the edges,
which motion they impart in a much higher degree to the granules. The latter
thereby receive, according to quality, a different falling rolling or jumping velocity
and not as in most sieve-apparatus an even sliding motion, and this causes the
inaterial to pass more readily through the meshes and causes the latter to reinnin
always open. Whilst this method of operation besides offering the above
advantages as to quality also increases the yield in quantity by making the
alway open, meshes more receptive and by keeping the material always evenly
distributed upon the entire surface, the greater yield is nevertheless principally
attained by arranging any desired number of sieves besides, above and below one
another which are either fed simultaneously from a hopper common to all or
one from the other, and the various classes of material, within the corresponding
classes, automatically unite after the sorting process. The number of sieves is
unlimited even for hand-worked apparatus, as only the easily worked mechanism
has to be actuated and not the working surfaces which are not connected
therewith.
This machine combines, with the advantages already mentioned also the very
important one, that by utilizing a free fall it separates the heavy particles from the
light ones at each of the outlets, by means of adjustable flaps and thus obviates the
necessity for the usual exhauster or ventilator; that the sieves act as feed rollers
would, by opening over slides or stop-valves into the material to be operated
upon e effect even flow of the latter from the hopper; finally also the
advantage, that one machine can serve for sorting all qualities as the most varying
perforations may follow one another on one sieve.

page_text: In the accompanying drawings two different modifications in the construction
of the said machine are shown.
The material to be sorted passes through the inlet A Figure 1 regulated by
flaps B Figure 1 to the sieve-surfaces C (whereof one sieve is represented in
Figure 7). The said sieve-surfaces lio loosely in slots in the case D Figure 2.
These sieves have, at the part at which the impact takes place, a deadening
surface EE Figure 1 or as also shown at E Figure 1 a cushioned part for deadening
the sound produced by the impact.
The rotating elastic strikers gg Figures 1 and 2 attached to the shafts H H
Figures 1, 2 and 3 are actuated by pulleys J Figures 1, 2 and 3 which in turn
receive motion from pulley K Figures 1, 2 and 3 strike with their thick ends
upon the sieves C as well as upon the delivery boards L below the sioves, and
parallel with them (Figures 1 and 2) which also are loose in slots in the box D
Figure 2 and thereby not only the forward motion upon the sieves of the material
to be sorted is effected but also the two qualities passed through the sieves and
upon the delivery boards L are conducted to the channels M M, Figures 1 and 2,
whence the corresponding classes from all the sieves are united in the tube N
Figures 1 and 2. In freely falling through this tube they are arrested by the
fixed damper O Figure 2 and the velocity of the fall is modified by the adjustable
damper and they are so separated that the heavier particles directed by the
damper P fall towards the tube R and the lighter ones towards tube S, as tho
former do not so readily loose the speed gained in rolling as the latter which on
leaving the edge of the damper fall down vertically.
The inclination can be
varied at will through the adjusting device T Figure 1.
The slide U Figures 1 and 3 enables the inlet A to be emptied; the back wall
of A consists of lap-jointed movable parts vvv Figure 1
one of them affords access to the sieve at a bevel therewith.
of similar height are provided for the same purpose each of which can be opened
independently.
and the removal of
At the outlet, doors
The material to be sorted passes from the hopper A Figure 4 (regulated by the
adjustable slide B Figure 4) of the riddling sieve C Figure 4; the tailings
(vis coarse particles) roll away over the casing, the material passing through C
goes on to the sieve D which has holes of one size only, the tailings leave the machine
as ready goods, what passes through D passes by the inclined boards E E to the
second sieve F Figures 4 and 5 and is there divided into three qualities which
pass through and one which passes over.
The shaking takes place by the wooden spring-haminers K K Figures 4 and 5
which strike upon coiled springs X fixed on knee pieces L L Figure 4 the former
receiving tension from the striking pins m m Figure 4 or are actuated by the
latter.
The riddling sieve C which extends into the funnel receives motion from sieve D
being connected therewith by a perforated rod and its inclination is varied by the
adjustment of the latter.
Having now described the nature of the said invention and the manner of
performing the same as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent I wish
it to be understood that what I Claim and desire to protect under the hereinbefore
in part recited Lotters Patent is :-
In a sorting and dressing machine for grains, seeds, pulse, spices and granular or
pulverulent material of all kinds.
First The application of sieves which are not movable but only yielding and
springy and which are made of perforated sheet metal or of wire fabric, or of
textile fabric, with or without a frame and receive vibration by impact for the
purpose of imparting to the material placed thereon a skipping and a forward
motion substantially as set forth.
1
Second-The manner of mounting the vibrating sieves named in Claim 1 in
such a way that they are not firmly connected with any part of the machine but
only loosely rest on ledges or in recesses, for the purpose of attaining the vibration

page_text: of the sieves and the skipping forward motion of the material to be sorted in the
required manner and to keep the meshes or openings of the sieve always clear
substantially as set forth.
Third: The utilization of one and the same sieve for various kinds of sorting by
the employment of different perforations following one another substantially as
shown in Figure 7 and in combination with the improvements set forth in
Claims 1 and 2.
Fourth-The vibrating of the non movable yielding and springy sieves
substantially as described in Claims 1 and 2 by elastic clappers (Figures 1 and 2)
or by spring hammers (Figure 4) the sound of the impact being diminished by
cushioning or by coiled springs X against which the clappers or hammers strike,
it being immaterial whether the stroke takes place vertically, horizontally or
obliquely substantially as set forth and shewn.
:-
Fifth The employment of any desired number of sieves beside, above or
below one another constructed substantially as stated in Claims 1 and 2 and
which are either fed simultaneously or one feeds all the others, the gathering of
the corresponding qualities of the sorted material being automatically effected.
--
Sixth The utilization of the free fall and of the different velocities of falling
rolling and skipping of the material to be sorted by means of the sieves named in
Claims 1 and 2 which are vibrated by clappers or hammers in combination with
the traps or dampers in the outlets G H L for effecting the separation of the
heavy particles from the light ones substantially as set forth and shewn in
Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.
Seventh-The complete arrangement and modifications shown in Figures 1--7.
of the accompanying drawings of the sorting and dressing machine based on the
employment of non movable and springy or yielding sieves which are vibrated
by elastic clappers or hammers in such a manner that the material to be sorted
receives a skipping or jumping motion and by which peculiar process the apertures
of the sieves are kept open or clean and wherein by traps or fixed bridges O P Q
the further sorting according to weight, of the granules is effected subsequently
as and for the purposes set forth and shewn.
Eighth-The method of imparting motion to the material to be sorted which,
whilst passing over the sorting surface is sorted or separated substantially as
described.
In witness whereof I the said Alfred Julius Boult have hereunto set my
hand and seal this twenty.first day of December in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty two
ALFRED J. BOULT (L.S.)