US1143186A - Corn-sheller. - Google Patents

Description

C. GRAVES.

CORN SHELLER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 1915.

Patented June 15, 1915.

fwye."

All? `FFIQI.

CLARK GRAVES, O SANDWICH, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO SANDWICH MANUFACTURING CO., OF SANDWICH, ILLINOIS, A. COBFORATION OF ILLINOIS.

CORN-SHELLER.

intense.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J une 15, 1915.

Application led March 8, 1915. Serial No. 12,927.

. Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Corn-Shellers, of which the following is a specification, and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The invention relates to corn shellers, and more especially to those initially intended to be operated by hand.

The object of the invention is to provide means for obtaining the selective shelling of different parts of the ears of corn, and thereby permitting a separation of the larger and more perfect kernels from the distorted and smaller kernels.

In the preparation of-seed corn it is not only desirable that the larger and well lled ears should be selected, but it is also a common practice to retain for this use only the larger and more perfect kernels, such as are derived from the intermediate portions of the ears. This practice requires that the kernels shall be separately removed from the end portions of the ears. In carrying out this practice it has heretofore been necessary to remove the kernels from the butt and tip portions of the ears by hand, theremainder of the ear being thereafter shelled by the use of such a machine as would otherwise be used for shelling the entire ear.

The present invention proposes to reduce the labor of separately removing the smaller and distorted kernels from the butt and tip portions of the ears. The invention accordingly contemplates the provisionof means for aecomplishing` this'result. In the preferredarrangement this means is associated with mechanism which may then be employed for removing the larger and more perfect kernels from the intermediate portions of the ears.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a hand operated corn shelling machine embodying the features of improvement provided by the invention; Fi 2 is a plan view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1, some details of ordinary construction in machines of this Vclass being omitted; Fig. 3 is an enlarged end view of the butt and tip shelling means provided by the invention; Fig. t is a detail sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a ed on ,each shaft.

detail side elevation showing a modified form of construction which may be adopted when the parts are to be operated by power, some parts being omitted; and Fig. 6 is a detail plan sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

In carrying out the invention the parts will usually be associated upon a framework forming a case, generally designated 10, and comprising the side walls 11 and 12 `through which are extended the horizontal shafts 13 and 14. The shelling of the intermediate portions of the ears is accomplished by the coperation of the beveled shelling wheel 15 and the toothed faced picker wheel 16, both of well known construction. These wheels are mounted upon the shafts 13 and 14, respectively, within the chamber of the case 10. The shafts 13, 14 are connected to rotate in opposite directions and at different speeds, as by the intermeshing gear and pinion 17, 18. As shown, the gear17 is formed on the rim of the picker wheel 16. The pinion 18 is mounted on the shaft 13 within theV case 10.

When the parts are to be operated by hand, a hand crank 19 is provided at one side of thecase 10. rlihis crank is conveniently mounted upon one end of a short shaft 26 journaled in a bearing bracket 27, the bracket 27 also providing bearings for the adjacent ends of the shafts 13 and 1&1. The crank shaft 26 and the shaft 14 are operatively connected by gears 28, 29, one mount- A balance wheel 20 is desirably applied to the shaft 13 at the remote side of the case from the hand crank 19.

'Ihe means provided for separately shelling the butt and tip portions of the ears conveniently comprises an internally ribbed shelling cup 21 having tapering walls. The shelling of these parts of an ear is accomplished by successively entering them into the chamber of the cup 21 against the ribs, as 22, and effecting a relative rotation of the cup and ear.

In the form of construction illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4f inclusive, the entering of the end portions of an ear of corn into the chamber of the shelling cup 21, and the relative rotation of the cup and ear are accomplished without interruption of the operation of the hand crank 19, by extending the shaft 13 beyond the balance wheel 20,

as indicated at 23, and by continuing the Walls of the cup 21 to provide a tubular hub 21 into which the extended portion 23 of the shaft 13 may be entered. A'set screw 25, provided in the hub 24, serves for fixing the hub upon the shaft in any longitudinally adjusted position. y

During the operation of the hand crank 19 with one hand, in such manner as to r0- tate the picker Wheel 16 in the direction indicated by the arrow on Fig. 1, a selected ear of corn is grasped with the other hand and one end entered in the cup 21 and firmly held, the operator reaching over the top of the case 10 and balance Wheel 20, and the kernels of corn being removed from the entered end of the ear by the rubbing action of the ribs 22 occasioned by the rotation of the cup With the shaft 13. The ear of corn may then be reversed and its other end entered in the cup 21 and shelled in a like manner, after Which the ear will be applied to the shelling Wheel 15 and the kernels removed from its intermediate portion by the cooperation therewith of thepickerwheel 16.

The invention permits the selective separation of the larger and more perfect kernels desirable for seed, found `upon the inter- .inediate portion of the ear, from the less desirable immature and distorted `kernels 0ccurring upon the end portions of the ear, Without the necessity of removing the kernels from any part of the ear by hand. If desired, the end portion 23 of the shaft 13 may be extended into the chamber of the cup for engagement with the entered end of the ear. Under these circumstanceslthe end of the shaft serves as a limiting stop for determining the extent to which the ear may be entered into the cup, and, as such, is capable of adjustment through the adjustable positioning ofthe hub 24 by the use of the set-screw 25.

In the form of construction illustrated in Figs. 5` and 6, provision is made for operating the parts of the machine .by power. In this instance no part of the shaft 13 is extended beyond the hub of the balance Wheel 20, but a belt pulley 30 is bolted against the side of the balance Wheel for receiving a driving belt, not shown. Preferably a side face of the belt pulley 30 is provided With a flat portion 31 for engagement With the spokes, as 32, of the balance Wheel 20, and with a socketed portion 33 for receiving the hub 3ft of the balance Wheel. Fitting the socketed portion 33v over the hub 3A serves to center the belt pulley against the balance 'i the extended portion 23 of the shaft 13,

illustrated in Figs. 1, 2,3 and t. In either casethe shellingcup 21 is rotated With the shaft 13, and is used for removing the kernels from the butt and tip portions of the ears ofcorn before these are applied to the shelling wheel 15.

I claim as my invention-v I Ina corn Sheller, in combination, an internally roughened tapering cup having its Walls extended yfrom-the smaller end of the cup into the form of a tubular hub, yand a spindle extending through the bore of the hub into the cup chamber and onto which the hub is adjustably held for rotating the Vcup `and forming an adjustable stop limiting the endvvise entrance of an ear of corny into the cup.

. i CLARK GRAVES?. Witnesses:

A. E. IVOODWARD, I). C. SOUTHWICK.

Copies of -this patent vmay be `obtainedfor ve cents each,wby addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

Images