IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AND DECORTICATING WHEAT
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jonah Hadley, of the City Flour Mills, in the
City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
CLEANING AND DECORTICATING WHEAT."
Sealed the 15th December 1868, and dated the 20th June 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jonah Hadley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th June 1868.
I, JONAH HADLEY, of the City Flour Mills, in the City of London,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AND DECORTICATING WHEAT," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the cleaning and decorticating of wheat
by subjecting it to friction between fixed and rotating surfaces, or
surfaces rotating in opposite directions. These surfaces may consist
of a pair or pairs of stones or their equivalents. Before submitting
the wheat to the decorticating operation I first screen and winnow it
by any approved apparatus, and I then pass it in a dry state between
friction surfaces such as I will now describe.

page_text: My first arrangement consists of a vertical fixed cylinder of woven wire
cloth or pierced metal in which in which I mount a central shaft. To
this I affix one or more cones of cast iron having their faces grooved or
furrowed, and I provide a conical cover similarly grooved or furrowed
for placing over the cones. These covers I form with a central opening
to admit the wheat to the cone below, and I set them at such a distance
from cones as to allow the wheat to pass down between the furrowed
surfaces but not without being subjected to severe attrition. The
covers I hold down in their place by springs, which if too great a supply
of wheat is admitted will yield to the pressure thus produced and allow
the grain to pass down without being broken. Below the cone or
cones and on the central spindle I affix brushes formed of steel wire
or its equivalent, which brushes will have a diameter nearly equal to
that of the cylinder. In the periphery of the cylinder opposite this
brush or these brushes I fit other brushes which are parallel with the
central shaft and are adjustable from outside the cylinder. These
brushes I fix at equal distances apart round the cylindrical case giving
them just sufficient projection into the cylinder to allow the rotating
brush or brushes to revolve freely. The wheat is fed into the case
from a hopper at top, and after passing between the fixed and rotating
cone surfaces it falls between the brushes by which it is subjected to
further attrition. In cylinders having two cones the wheat will on
leaving the brushes be collected in a hopper and fed to the second cone
where the rubbing action will be repeated. The brushes below this
cone will then complete the cleaning and decorticating operation. The
dust formed in the case will be brushed through the meshes or holes
in the cylinders, and any that remains I propose to withdraw by currents
of air while the clean wheat is discharged at the bottom of the case.
Another arrangement consists of one or more pairs of burr or other
stones. The top stone is hollowed round the central opening or eye,
and the stones are set sufficiently far apart to receive the wheat supplied
thereto and roll the sceds over and over without either crushing or
grinding them. The stones I propose to drive in opposite directions,
or the top or the bottom stone alone may be driven, and the wheat I
admit between the stones in the ordinary manner. By this arrangement
I am enabled to put such an amount of friction on the wheat as will
remove both the germ and the tail and a large portion of the outer
skin, and by the application of a blast or an exhaust between the stones

page_text: I can drive off the dust produced in the decorticating operation. These
stones I prefer to have plain friction surfaces, but to give a lead
outwards to the wheat I propose to cut in the stones three, four, or
more radial furrows.
An obvious modification of the above is to mount the top stone or
runner above a table of wire cloth or roughened perforated metal. The
wheat being passed through the eye of the stone will undergo the
requisite attrition before escaping at the periphery of the stone.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Jonah Hadley in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 19th December 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JONAH
HADLEY, of the City Flour Mills, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Jonah Hadley, Her special licence that
I, the said Jonah Hadley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Jonah Hadley, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thercafter 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CLEANING
AND DECORTICATING WHEAT," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Jonah Hadley, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain 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 Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.

page_text: the folowing statement, reference
annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
This Invention relates to the cleaning and decorticating of wheat
by subjecting it to friction between stationary and rotating yielding
and elastic surfaces. Before submitting the wheat to the decorticating
operation I first screen and winnow it by any approved apparatus, and
I then pass it between friction surfaces.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 represents in
vertical section, and Fig. 2 in cross section taken in the line 1, 2,.
of Fig. 1, my improved cleaning and decorticating apparatus in its
simplest form. A, A, is a vertical fixed cylinder of woven wire cloth or
pierced metal supported between a base plate A' and a cap plate A³ of
In the centre of this
cast iron by means of cast-iron pillars B, B.
cylinder A is mounted a vertical shaft C which is stepped into a bracket
bearing C made fast to the under side of the base plate A¹, and is
supported at its upper end, which projects beyond the cylinder, by a
standard C bolted to the cap plate A. To the upper end of this shaft
(within the case) is affixed a cone D of cast iron, having its upper
and convex face grooved or furrowed as indicated by the lines in Fig. 2.
Immediately over this cone is mounted a conical cover D¹ similarly
grooved or furrowed; this cone is supported in its place by resting on
the heads of screw rods d, d, made fast to and pendent from the cap
plate A. The cover D' is formed with a central opening to admit
the wheat to the cone below, and it is set at such a distance from
the cones as to allow the wheat to pass down between the furrowed
surfaces, but not without being subjected to severe attrition. The cover
is held down in its place by springs coiled round the screw rods, which
springs if too great a supply of wheat is admitted between the furrowed
friction surfaces will yield to the upward pressure thereby produced
and allow the grain to pass down without being broken. Above the
cone and concentric with the shaft C is fitted a conical hopper E which
is supplied with wheat through a shute or spout E', and between this
hopper and the top bearing of the shaft C is the driving pulley F which
through a driving band from any first mover imparts rotary motion to

page_text: that shaft. Below the cone D and keyed to the central spindle are
brushes G formed of fine steel wire or other suitable material which are
carried by flanged wheels of cast iron G¹; these brushes have a
diameter nearly equal to that of the cylinder A. In the periphery
of the cylinder and parallel with the central shaft (see Fig. 2) are
fitted similar brushes H, which are adjustable from outside the cylinder;
these brushes are supported by vertical bars H¹ secured between the
plates A and A. The brushes are set at equal distances apart round
the cylindrical case, and there is given to them just sufficient projection
into the cylinder to allow the rotating brushes to revolve freely. The
wheat as it is fed into the case from the hopper E passes between the
fixed and rotating cone surfaces D, D', where it receives a severe
rubbing, and escaping from the action of these cones it falls between
the fixed and rotating brushes by which it is subjected to further
attrition. The dust formed in the case will be brushed through the
meshes or holes in the cylinder, and any that remains is withdrawn by
currents of air created by connecting the cylinder with an exhaust
apparatus by means of the air trunks I, I. The clean wheat as it arrives
at the bottom of the cylinder is discharged through an opening made in
the base plate, and is guided into a suitable receptacle by the trunk I'.
In Sheet II. Fig. 3 shews in vertical section a modification of the
cleaning and decorticating apparatus; Fig. 4 is a cross section in the
line 1, 2, and Fig. 5 is a similar section in the line 3, 4, of Fig. 3.
The principal change in this arrangement is that the rotary brush is
divided into two to allow of the introduction of a second cone D* and its
appurtenances into the cylinder. In this instance it will be understood
that the wheat will on leaving the first rotary brush be collected
in a second hopper E* (attached to the cylinder) and be fed by it to
the second cone where the rubbing action will be repeated. The brushes
below this cone will then complete the cleaning and decorticating
operation. Instead of making the cylinder wholly of wire cloth or
pierced metal in this arrangement it is made of corrugated sheet iron
fitted at intervals with panels of wire gauze c, c, to allow of the
discharge of the dust and fine particles of bran. The object of this
arrangement is to increase the durability of the cylinder, the wirework
when injured by the severe attrition to which it is exposed being in
this case readily replaced and at small cost. As the same letters of

page_text: reference are used in these Figures on the parts corresponding to those
in the first described arrangement, no further description of those
parts will be required.
In Sheet III. I have shewn somewhat more in detail than in the
foregoing Figures the manner of fixing and adjusting the cone covers
and the stationary brushes. Fig. 6 is a partial sectional elevation
of a two-cone decorticating apparatus, and Fig. 7 is a partial cross
section of the same taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 6. The fixed cones
(D) are carried by screws d' which pass through openings made in the
case A which in this instance is formed of ribbed cast iron fitted with
panels c of wire cloth, as described with reference to Sheet II. These
screws are carried by screw rods d fitted with nuts, and pendent from
lugs & cast on or attached to the case. Eyes are formed in the lower
ends of these rods to receive the screws d', and by means of the nuts
or the rods d the height of the cone covers may be adjusted relatively
to their respective rotary cones while the lateral adjustment will be
effected by the screws d'. The fixed brushes H are carried by thumb
screws which are tapped into saddle picces cast on or attached to
the case C. The turning therefore of these screws will advance the
brushes into the cylinder or retract them as desired.
I would remark that when operating with my improved apparatus
the wheat will usually be delivered to the apparatus in a dry state.
In cases where this is deemed expedient once passing the wheat
under the action of the coned surfaces and brushes will suffice, a
blast or exhaust being used to carry off the dust and bran as the
decorticating operation proceeds. When however very hard wheats
are to be acted on (as, for example, Russian and Black Sea wheat) I
propose after the screening and winnowing operation to subject them
to a damping process before admitting them to the decorticating
apparatus. In this case no blast will be used, but the wheat having
been passed through the machine is delivered into sacks or bins with
the bran, and allowed to remain a suflicient time for the moisture to
evaporate from the bran; I then pass the wheat again through the
machine applying at the same a blast or exhaust, and thus remove
the bran in the manner before explained.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of " Improved
Apparatus for Cleaning and Decorticating Wheat, and explained the

page_text: manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understo od
that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, subjecting
wheat (for the purpose of cleaning and decorticating the same) to
friction between fixed and rotating surfaces constructed and operating
as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jonah Hadley, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, the Nineteenth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
cight,
JONAH HADLEY. (L.S.)