US101324A - Improvement in grain-separators - Google Patents

Description

ZShets- -Sheet 1. M. H. SMITH. Gra ih Separator.

' Patented Mar. 29, 1870.

u. PETERS. mwmn m, Walhinliom n. c.

2 S heetsSheet 2.

I M. H. SMITH.

Grain Separator Patented Mar. 29, 1870. V

itlnitrd swa MYRON H. SMITH, O F LAWTON, MICHIGAN.

Letters Patent No. 101,324, dated March 29, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN GRAIN-SEPARATORS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same To whom it may concern Be it known that I, MYRON H. SMITH, of Lawton, in the county of Van Enron and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Grain-Separators and Graders; and I do declare that the following is a true and accurate description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference mark ed thereon, and being a part of this specification.

The nature of this invention relates to an improved construction of machines for cleaning wheat and other grains and seeds, separating them from each other, and eliminating therefrom chess, cockle, sticks, and other impurities.

It consists in the arrangement within the vibrating shoe of the separatonof a series of sieves or screens and chess-boards of peculiar construction, so arranged that seed wheat, market wheat, timothy and cloverseeds may be cleaned and separated from each other, and discharged through difi'erent spouts into proper receptacles orreceivers, while such impurities as are not blown away at the tail of the mill are discharged through another, the chess-boards and shoe being provided with conductors, which convey the yarions grains to spouts leading through the side of the mill. Where no seed is mixed with wheat, by'a simple transposition of the screens, the wheat, after being cleaned, may be divided into two grades, the largest and plumpest berries being reserved for seed and the remainder for market purposes.

It also consists in providing the distributing apron with a device for spreading the grain passing over it, and delivering it in a thin sheet to the screen.

The construction and operation of this improvement is such that seeds generally found in admixture with the wheat may be cleaned and saved instead of being blown away with the chaff.

Figure 1, plate 1, is a side elevation, partially in section, of my improved separator;

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same;

Figure 3, plate 2, is a vertical longitudinal section of my combined chess and cockle-screen, wheat-sieve,

and apron;

Figure 4 is the same of a combined screen and screen-apron, which is used for cleaning and grading wheat alone;

Figure 5 is the same of the lower sieve;

Figure 6' is the same of the clover-screen;

Figure 7 is an elevation of the discharge end of my combined chess-board and timothy-screen, provided 'with inclined troughs leading to corresponding condoctors in the adjacent side of the shoe;

Figure 8 is a plan of the same;

Figures 9 and 11 are elevations of the interior faces of the side walls of the shoe; and

Figure 10 is a rear elevation of the mill.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each. figure.

In the drawings- A represents the casing of a separator of ordinary construction, in the front part of which is hung the fan B in the usual manner.

, G is the shoe pivoted under the hopper, hung and operated in like manner with similar devices well known and in general use.

Dand D are distributing-aprons, the former of which is provided in the middle part of its edge with a deflector, (1-, highest in its center, sloping in all parts to the front and tapering toward the .sides of theapron, so that the volume of grain falling from the hopper on to the apron will be spread and discharged therefrom in a thin stream on both sides of said deflector, and equally distributed on the screen below.

In each inner face of the side walls of the shoe three grooves or gains are cut. In the upper pair b is inserted a screen, which carries the grain toward the back end of the mill.

The next pair below, 0, are inclined in the same direction, parallel with the first, but the grain on the side on which the conductors are, is deeper, so as to give the chess-board, shown in figs. 7 and 8, an inclination toward the conductors, said chess-boz'trd being inserted in that pair of grooves.

The lower pair of gains at are inclined toward the front of the mill, and the screen E, fig. 5, which is insorted in them, is of spch mesh that the larger and plumper berries, which are desirable to save for seed, will not go through, but fall off onto the grain-board F, which delivers them into any convenient receptacle placed under the front of the mill, while the berries of ordinary size are separated therefrom by passing through the meshes of the screen, falling on the bottom board 0, whence they are conveyed to the drawer G, ready for market.

The screen E, when used for separating seed from market wheat, should have about seven meshes to the inch. When seed is not wanted, a finer meshed screen is used in the lower gains.

H is the chess-board, which is inserted in the gains 0. It is divided into three trough-like compartments by the transverse partitions e and f. The first compartment is covered by a screen, g, of about eighteen meshes to the inch, through which timothy-seed alone will pass. As will be seen on reference to figures 7 and 8 of the drawings, the chess-hoard is deeper on one side than the other, so that the bottoms of the compartments incline toward the conductors h i j, which issue from the gain 0 through the side of the shoe, and which discharge into corresponding spouts through the side of the mill, one of. which is shown atj', in fig. 10.

The chess-board being in place, a clover screen, I, is laid over it and the apron D, its rear end resting on the partition f. This screen is covered with wirecloth of about fourteen meshes to the inch, which allows timothy and clover-seeds to pass through, while chess, cockle, and other impurities will fall off into the last compartment in the chess-board, whence they are discharged through the side of the mill by means of the conductor j and spout 7. V

J isa combined screen and apron, which is inserted in the upper pair of gains. It is provided with a transverse apron, k, onits under side, as shown in fig. 3. That portion in front of the apron receives all the grain as it falls from the apron D, together with any impurities which may be mixed with it, and, being covered with a screen, I, of about eight meshes to the inch, allows timothy and clover-seeds to pass down onto the clover-screen below, while the wheat and the coarser impurities are carried along to the rear end, which is covered with a screen, m, of about four and one-half meshes to the inch. Through this screen m the wheat falls on the apron it, from which it falls on the upper or rear end of the grading-screen E below, any impurity carried down with it being blown away by the blast from the fan, at the same time the heads, 'whitecaps, and other large impurities are blown away from the screen m.

The rear end of the screen J is provided with a deflecting-cleat, n,-whicl 1, while not of sufficient height to arrest the passage of the impurities referred to, they being light and readily moved by the blast, serves to arrest the wheat a moment, and allows it to fall through the meshes of the screen an.

To clean and grade wheat and separate therefrom and from each other the timothy and clover-seeds with which it is very frequently mixed, the various parts described being in place, grain from the hopper is fed to the distributing-apron D, whose deflector it spreads it so that it falls inan even sheet on the screen-apron J, where the wheat and coarser impurities are disposed of, as just described, while the timothy and clover-seeds, with the finer impurities, fall through the screen I onto the clover-screen I, which allows the seeds to drop through it, while the chess and cockle are delivered in the rear compartment of the chess-board, thence through the spout j out of the mill. At the same time the seeds, falling on the apron D, are distributed over the fine screen g, which allows the timothy-seed to drop through into the first compartment, while the clover-seed, being coarser, is shaken into the next compartment, when both varieties of seed are delivered through thespouts h i into receptacles conveniently placed at the side of the mill.

1 Where no seed is mixed with grain to be cleaned for market the chess-board is inserted in the gains 0 bottom up; but when seed-wheat is wanted, the chessboard is inserted as first described, and the cloverscreen replaced with a plain board.

The various screens and chess-board are secured in place by hooks in the usualmanner.

It is well known that from certain circumstances it often occurs that a considerable percentage of the berries are diminished in size, and are known as shrunken wheat, which it is desirable to save for market. Ordinarily these shrunken, berries are lost in cleaning, from being blown away with the chaff. To save these berries I employ the combined screen and apron shown in fig. 4, which is equally applicable to the cleaning. of the best quality of wheet where no seeds are to beseparated from it.

K is a screen-frame, on the upper surface of which is placed a screen, 0, of about four meshes to theinch. p is a deflecting-plate, of sheet metal, whose shaft is journaled across the rear end of the screen-frame,

ofwhich the flame is suspended in the notches r in thegains b.

The frame is sustained at any inclination by a'hoolr or bolt entering one of the holes a, fig. 11, in the side removed. The plate is adjustable to any desired height by the temper-screw q.

wheat having passed through the screen .0, it is carried back on the screen t, which serves as an apron, whence it falls on the rear end of the screen E below, over whose surface it may travel the whole length, necessary, afiording every opportunity for the blast to carry away any remaining impurity; or if too heavy (which should be of the proper mesh) onto the bottom board 0, and thence into the drawer G, while the wheat, with the shrunken berries saved, will be deposited at the front of the mill over the grain-board F.

It is not essential that the screen t should be attached to the frame K, as it may be on a separate the gains 0.

cure by Letters Patent, is

1. The arrangement, in the vibrating shoe 0, of the gains 1) c d, recesses a, bolt-holes s, conductors h i j, and distributing-aprons D D, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The deflector or spreader (I, attached to the feedapron of a separator, as and for the purpose set forth.

I 3. The reversible combined screen and apron J, provided with screens'l m, apron k, andcleat n, as and for the purpose set'forth.

p, in connection with the open apron t, when arranged ald operating in the manner and for the purpose speci ed.

5. The arrangement within the shoe 0 of the reand E, and the chess-board H, in connection with the spouts h, i, and j, when constructed as described, and operating as and for the purposes set forth.

MYRON H. SMITH.

Witnesses:

H. F. Ennn'rs, H. S. SPRAGUE.

said shaft being left with projecting ends, by means "of the shoe, the upper screen and chess-board being I t is a screen of about fourteen meshes to the inch,

and allow them to fall through; in the meantime, the

to be blown away, it will pass through the screen E frame, and inserted in a gain below and parallel with What I claim as my invention, and desire to se- 4. The screen-frame K, with its screen 0 and plate versible combined screen and apron J, the screens I

Images