IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING FLOUR
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough Park,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING FLOUR."-A communication from abroad
by John Brown, of Utica, in the County of Oneida, and State of New
York, Alexander Hart, of Utica, in the County of Oneida, State of New
York, Allen Battey, Ralph James, Hobart Cutler, and Dexter Neuton
Knight, of the City and County of Providence, in the State of Rhode
Island, and United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, and
Declaration, on the 22nd March 1867, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME. BE IT
KNOWN, that I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING FLOUR,"
(a communication to me from abroad by John Brown, of Utica, in the County
of Oneida, and State of New York, Alexander Hart, of Utica, in the County
of Oneida, State of New York, Allen Battey, Ralph James, Hobart Cutler, and
Dexter Neuton Knight, of the City and County of Providence, in the State
of Rhode Island, and United States of America,) and in what manner the same
[Price 8d.1

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
The Invention herein described embodies the use of two sets of apparatus,
one of which is a grinding mill, and the other an apparatus which may be
termed a separator; the office of the former is to hull the berry of the wheat
and crack or coarsely grind it, the result of which is to divide the berry into
its constituent parts, which are farina, bran, and germ. The office of the
separator is after such flour as may be incidentally made by the subjection of
the wheat to the hulling and cracking process has been removed by bolting to
separate the residue of the mass into its constituent parts and arrange their
several parts, if desired, into classes of different grades. The general process
to be employed in manufacturing flour which is contemplated by the use of
the machinery consists in, first, hulling and cracking the berry in the mill,
berein described; secondly, in separating the flour which has been made
during the operation from the residue of the mass by bolting machinery;
third, in assorting the residue so that the farina, the bran, and the germ or
offal shall be severally free from admixture with each other, and in dividing
the farina into classes according to its grade of fineness; and, fourthly, in con-
verting into flour by the ordinary process of grinding and bolting the several
grades of farina which have been obtained as the result of the operation of the
separator.
In the Drawings, Sheet 1, Figure 1 represents the hulling mill; Figure 2,
the upper stone; Figure 3, the under stone; Sheet 2, Figure 4 is a front
elevation of the separator; Sheet 3, Figure 5 is a rear elevation of the same;
Sheet 4, Figure 6 is an end elevation of the same; and Figure 7 is a cross
section through the line a, b, of Figure 8, Sheet 5; Sheet 5, Figure 8 is a
longitudinal and vertical section through the centre of the apparatus. The
upper stone, Figure 2, is stationary, and is kept in place by the screws C, C, C,
Figure 1. The lower stone, Figure 3, which turns, is keyed to its appropriate
spindle, and is raised and lowered as in ordinary mills, or by any suitable con-
trivance. In a mill to crush and hull grain, and at the same time to grind as
little of it as possible, it is necessary that the stones should be kept at a proper
distance apart, and that they should at all times run parallel. In other mills
it is necessary to remove the casing before the miller can determine whether
the stones are running parallel or know how to set them. To obviate this
necessity and enable the miller to determine at any time how the mill is
running, three openings, say, are made in the casing on a line with the
junctions of the stones B, B, Figure 1, so that by removing or sliding the covers
thereof B, B', the position of the stones and the manner of their running may

page_text: at any time be seen, and the miller can adjust them while they are running.
The stones are adjusted by means of the screws C, C, C, each having two nuts
thereon c, c, one of which is placed under and the other over each ear on the
outer casing, as seen in Figure 1; between the upper nuts c, c, and said ears
is a spring c¹, c', c¹, which serves to relieve the stones when any hard sub-
stance gets between them; both stones are dressed alike, the furrows and
lands being equal in width, say, for a 30-inch stone about one-half inch in
width at the end, and all are tangential to the outer edge of the eye D, which
eye D is about 5 inches in diameter; the circle E surrounding the eye is the
same in both stones, and is about two-fifths the diameter of the stones. The
master furrows F, F, F, F, extend to the eye and divide the dress, including the
circle E, into four equal parts, as seen in Figures 2 and 3; the furrows G, G,
extend only to the outer edge of the circle E; the surface of the circle E on
the lines with the master furrows F, F, F, F, is depressed or cut even with
the bottom of such master furrows, while the remainder of each division
quarter curves and winds up gradually towards the next division on the left,
when it becomes even with the surface of the stone; in other words, the
master furrows F, F, F, F, divide E into four equal parts, but instead of these
divisions being divided into furrows and lands the surface of each is curved
from the bottom of one master furrow to the upper edge of the next to the left.
A different dress is required in stones for properly crushing and hulling grain
from that used in mills for producing flour, for where the dress is the same
from the eye to the circumference of the stone the grain is ground and
reduced to flour, and not coarsely crushed or hulled. By making the inner
part of the dress as at E, without furrows, the grain is cut but little until it
reaches the outer furrows. The operation and effect of the said circle E, so
constructed in connection with the master furrows F, F. F, F, so arranged, is
The master
to cause the grain to pass more evenly between the stones.
furrows may be turned down into the eye for say an inch or an inch and a
half, and there tapered out with good effect in passing in the grain to the
stones. After the grain has been hulled the whole is passed through an
ordinary bolt, the flour found therein separated therefrom, and the remainder
is then to be passed into the separator; the separator is composed of a bolting
apparatus in combination with a series of shoots and sieves arranged beneath the
same for passing down the farina, offal, and bran as it comes from the bolting
apparatus; such series of shoots being so contrived that a blast of air can
be applied to act upon the material at each stage in its progress through the
machine, and separate the lighter from the heavier particles, the process, as
worked out by the machinery, effecting the complete separation of the

page_text: different elements composing the grain, and collecting and delivering each by
itself. The arrangement and operation of this part of the machinery is clearly
shown on Sheet 3 at Figure 8. O is an ordinary fan blower, which is made
to revolve at any required rate of speed to generate the blast required. The
direction which the current is made to take is sufficiently shown by the arrows
in black upon the Drawing, and its force when applied to the falling grain is
regulated by valves R, R1, R2, R3, which connect the separating and dis-
tributing compartments with the main air passages. The bolt Q may be of the
ordinary form, and the material to be separated may be conveyed to it, and it
may be operated in the usual way, but the cloth is required to be of different
degrees of fineness, which differences of grade are indicated by Q, Q, Q3, and
Q; the finest cloth is placed on Q', and it increases in coarseness as the
numbers increase; thus Q is covered with German cloth, No. 0; Q3, with
French cloth, No 3°; Q3, with German cloth, No. 3°; and Q', with wire cloth,
No. 20. The first division Q1 being covered with the finest cloth passes
down the finest of the farina on the shoot S thereunder; the heaviest parts of
the farina fall by gravity upon the shoots S3, S3, S3, in succession, and thence
into the sieve P, and after being sifted fall as follows; the coarsest into the
spout M³, the next finer into M2, and the finest into M', which spouts convey
such farina into the front conveyor N, shown on Sheet 2, Figure 4, or that
which would fall into M¹ may be passed into M10 by turning a valve at the
mouth, and thence will pass into the conveyor in the rear N¹, Figure 5. The
sliding division T may be removed to either side, and all the farina which
otherwise would not pass into spouts M2 or M³ may be made to pass into
either. As the material which falls on the shoot S passes the air valves
R, R, R. the lighter particles of farina and bran are separated from the
heavier farina, already spoken of, and are blown over upon the shoots S³, S³,
and in turn while such farina is passing through the shoots S2, S3, to be
delivered by the spout M to the rear hopper N¹ the lighter bran is blown
over upon the shoots S5, S5, S5, and from thence is carried away. The lighter
farina, bran, or offal which passes from the shoots S3 through the sieve P falls
upon the shoot S3, from whence it is conveyed to the rear conveyor N¹. The
valves S, S, S', are attached to the upper angles of the shoots S2 and S3, and
as they are turned up or down they allow less or more of the fine stuff to pass
over to the shoots beyond. The second division of the bolt Q allows the next
coarser farina to fall upon the shoot S°, from whence it passes down through the
series of the shoot S3, S3, S3, in succession, thence into the sieve P³, then
under and through the spouts M4, M5, and M, into the front conveyer N by
means of the valve at the mouth of M6, while the farina which is driven over

page_text: to the shoots S2, S3, S2, passes into the rear conveyor N¹ by the spout M",
Figure 5, and the bran separated therefrom is ejected through the shoots
S5, S5, S, and out at M1, and the farina, offal, or bran, which passes the sieve P²
and is driven over by R³ passes into M, and thence to the rear con-
veyer N
The third division of the bolt Q3 allows any coarse farina and
the germ of the grain to fall on shoot to fall on shoot S00; these pass down
through the series of shoots S³, S3, S3, in succession, and through the sieve P³,
and thence through the spouts M, M, and M', and into the front conveyer,
or that which falls into M7, may be passed down M18, and then into the rear
conveyer by means of a valve at the mouth of M7; the quantity which may
pass at M or M' may be regulated by the sliding division T, as before men-
tioned. The lighter particles of farina which are driven over by R, R¹, R³,
to the shoots S, S2, S3, pass into the conveyer N¹ by the spout M¹³, and the
bran separated therefrom down the shoots S5, S5, S5, and out at M, while
the farina and offal which passes the sieve P³ and is driven over by R³ passes
into M20, and thence to the rear conveyer N¹; through Q of the bolt passes
the coarsest stuff hulled, and falls on on S000; the heaviest pass down the shoos
S3, S3, S3, in succession, and out by the spout M10 or M¹ by turning the valve
at the mouth of M10. The farina which is blown over by R, R', R, to the
shoots S, S, S³, passes out by the spout M" to the rear conveyer, and the
bran which is blown over by R, R1, R2, passes down the shoots S5, S5, S5; the
tailings pass down the spout M; the heaviest pass down S2 and out at M*,
and the lightest are blown over by R to S, and pass down by M. The sieve
P is covered with German cloth, No. 00; P is covered with German cloth,
No. 000; and P³ is covered with wire cloth, No. 20, and all are moved by the
connecting rod P¹ (one of which is on each side of the case) attached to the crank
driven by a belt from the fan O, as seen in Figures 4, 5, and 8. The casing
which encloses the apparatus as well as the spouts, shoots, and valves are of
wood; the case should be from 15 to 17 feet in length, 13 feet in height
below the bolt, and from one foot to 18 inches in width, with an enlargement
at the top for the bolt; the shoot and valves S*, S, and R, R¹, R³, R³, are of
the width of the case, and the air passages allow no air to pass from the fan
to the shoot but through the passages R, R1, R2, R3. Nothing but pure farina
is collected in the front conveyer; this may now be ground over separately in
an ordinary mill, and be converted into flour in the usual way; the product
results greatly superior in quality and color to any which can be produced by
the common process. The material which is collected in the rear con-
veyor N may be ground over separately in the ordinary mill, and bolted in
the ordinary bolt to form a second quality of flour, or the contents of both

page_text: conveyers may be ground together to form a flour intermediate between the
first and second qualities. The valves R, R', R2, R3, and S4, S', though they
add to the perfection of the machine and the character of its products need
not necessarily be employed, but if omitted care should be taken that the
apertures for admitting the blast and the force of the blast itself be accommo-
dated to the result to be accomplished.
From the foregoing detailed description it will be understood that the
apparatus may be properly said to consist of a series of compartments with
interior arrangements for classifying and arranging the constituent parts,
which when united make up the berry of the grain by the agency of properly
directed blasts of wind acting upon the crushed grain during the time that it
is falling from the top to the bottom of the compartment, and that such series
of compartments is combined with a bolting apparatus divided into sections,
one of which is appropriated to a particular compartment of the structure above
mentioned, and covered with bolting cloth, or wire gauze corresponding in
fineness with the size of the granules which are to pass through it.
The importance of the Invention will be appreciated when it is understood
that the universal process of manufacturing flour employed has been to reduce
the grain to an impalpable powder, which was thus necessarily made up of all
the parts composing the berry, and then by bolting to obtain the finest portion
of the mass thus heterogeneously composed for flour.
By this machinery, on the contrary, the grain is in the first instance
merely cracked, or ground only sufficiently fine to separate the several con-
stituent parts, and by the subsequent process to which it is subjected in
passing through the separator the farina, the bran, and the offal are respec-
tively collected in a mass by themselves, so that the farina so obtained when
subsequently ground by itself is as nearly pure as possible. The advantages
of the process are evidenced by the great brilliancy in color of the flour pro-
duced, its capacity to be kept without souring in consequence of the absence
of the germ, and especially from the fact that from the poorest quality of
spring wheat a handsomer grade of flour can be obtained than by the old process
can be realized from the best varieties of winter wheat.
It is to be understood that the Invention above described, so far as it
relates to the separating apparatus, is not limited to the number of divisions
in the bolting apparatus, nor to the numbers of the compartments of the
separating apparatus, nor does the bolting apparatus require the special grades
of bolting cloth or wire which have been above named as the best; neither
is it necessary that the special arrangement of shoots or partitions shown
be followed; nor the construction be confined to the described disposition of

page_text: the air passages.
All these features may be varied to suit the
judgment of the builder or the exigency of the case without departing sub-
stantially from the Invention.
What is claimed as the Invention, and is desired to be secured by Letters
Patent is, the improvements in machinery for manufacturing flour, which con-
sists in-
First, the combination of the following independent organisms or instru-
mentalities, 1st, an apparatus for hulling and cracking the grain; 2nd, a
bolting, winnowing, and distributing apparatus combined; and, 3rd, suitable
grinding and bolting machinery whereby the grain is first hulled and cracked,
then assorted according to its grade of fineness, then its constituent parts
separately collected, and the resulting unadulterated farina converted into
flour.
Second, dressing the face of the stones by combining with the ordinary lands
and furrows master furrows F, and a central grinding surface E, all co-operating
as described for the purposes specified.
Third, in combination with a suitable means for adjusting the stones the
employment of apertures B made in the casing enclosing the stones, which can
be opened or closed at pleasure for the purposes described.
Fourth, a separator consisting of a bolting apparatus, or a series of the
same in combination with a winnering and distributing apparatus, or a series
of the same, substantially as described.
Fifth, a winnering and distributing apparatus so constructed and arranged
by interior partitions forming shoots that the grain in its passage from the
one to the other in succession shall be subjected to the action of an air blast,
in the manner and for the purpose substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (L.S.)