USRE9732E - isiis - Google Patents

Description

27. SUGAR. STARCH,

U N ITED DTATES BEST AVAILABLE COPY PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN A. OYVEXS, OF LITTLE FALLS, ASSIGXOR, BY )IESXE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THOMAS A. JEBB AND WILLIAM T. JEBB, BOTH OF BUFFALO, X. Y.

MANUFACTURE OF STARCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Reissued Letters Patent No. 9,732, dated May 31, 1881.

Original No. 73,259, dated January 14, 1563. Application for reissue filed May 41, 18:1.

To all ltltOlll it may concern Be it known that 1, JOHN A. OWENS, of Lit tle Falls,in the countyot' Herkimer and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Starch; and I do hereby declare that the followingisa full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a to part of this specification.

Figure 1 represents a side view of the apparatus; Fig. 2, a sectional view of the screen; Fig. 3, a front view of the apparatus; Fig. 4, atop view of the agitating-tank; Fig. 5, a perspective view of one of the sieves.

A is the agitating-tank; A, the agitatingshaft and arm; A, a spout from the grinding-stones; A a spout to the screen; B, the frame in which the screen is hung; B, a bridge in the bottom thereof to prevent the starch from running down the spout B; B", a spout for carrying off the screened stock; B a spout for the bran and offal; 13*, book and rods for suspending the screen. (3 is the frame of the screen. 0' is the upper sieve; C the lower sieve; C, an inclined plane between; C, a guide for turning the bran from the sieve G into the spout B G apin for holding the.

sieves in place; a screw for pressing on; C, an india-rubber packing with metallic plate on the top for holding in place; 0 thepitman for agitating the screen. 0 is the bend in the side of the sieves, and 0 the curved end.

My invention consists in a new combination 3 5 of agitator and vibrating screen or sieve, and also in a peculiar construction of the screen, which I believe to be an ad vantagcous arrangement.

In order to obtain the best results in the separation of the starch-water from the chaff or refuse particles by the separator, it is very important that the ground grain and liquid supporting it he presented in a thin and uni form stream over a vibrating surface of con- 4 5 siderable extent, and that the quality of the liquid so presented to the screen should be constantl y uniform, so that the screen itself should possess the quality of receiving and separating a. uniform quantity of liquid over its entire surface, which liquid is itself of uniform consistcney, thereby a great saving is obtained, because it is important that all of the starchwater and starch particles pass through the screen, and that none ot'them be delivered from the surface of the screen to go oil with the taillugs, and if one portion of the screen is more clogged with material than another, or if the matter delivered to it is not of uniform consistency, it is evident that the best results cannot be obtained. I have therefore interposed between the screen and the stones an agitator,

by means of which the water and grain can be reduced to a uniform condition, and I have combined therewith a tiat vibrating screen which is capable of receiving this uniform liquid practically over its entire surface, so as to not uniformly at all parts upon this uniform material so delivered to it. This effect cannot be produced by a rotating machine, such as a bolting-machine, which has been previously usedin the manufacture of starch, nor can a vibrating screen act uniformly if the substance delivered to it at different times is not itself of uniform consistency. I have further contrived a double screen of peculiar construction, 7 5 which I believe can be advantageously used wherever vibrating screens are employed for similar purposes. This screen has an upper surface of wire-cloth, which first receives the grain and retains the larger portions of the grain and the silex, which mightinj are the silk, and the partly-purified liquid is then caused to flow over a. silk sieve. By means of this double sieve I obtain in compact form a double sieving of the material, and by making the upper sieve of wire and the lower one of silk I find that my sieves are more durable.

The agitating-tank A may he an ordinary circular tank or cistern having a central vertical shaft with horizontal arms, which shaft may be turned by any convenient power. The tank has a, spout, A leading from the millstones, which conducts the grain as ground into the tank, into which is also run a sufliciency of water to well mix and wash the ground grain, 9 5 while the agitating-shaft is kept constautl y rotatin g. This, by beating and stirring the grain thoroughly, separates the starch from the bran or husk. When the mass in the tank hasrisen up to the pipe A it commences to run into the screen C, where the coarser bran and hnskand foreign matter are separated from the stock. This screen C is composed of a frame, into which are inserted in grooves in its side two ormore sieves, Gand 0 with an inclined plane, 0 between them, which may beof sheet metal.

The upper sieve, O, I make of wire boltingcloth, as better calculated to stand the wear of the silicious matter of the bran and foreign substances which may be mixed with the gt ain. The gluten, too, does not so readily adhere to it, and much of it passes on" with the bran.

The lower sieve, C is of the usual fine silk bolting-cloth.

The stock which passes the upper sieve slides down the inclined plane C and falls upon the upper end of U, and as it has none of the coarse bran or ofi'al or foreign matter the sieve operates more freely and allows the stock to pass through more readily, and there is less liability to clog.

Water, of course, is kept running upon the screen while in operation, as inthe ordinary process.

All the bran or other matter which does not pass both sieves is carried ofi by the spout 13, while all that passes both falls down vto the sloping b'olter of the frame B,and is conveyed by the spout B to the proper receptacle below for the further usual treatment.

The screen is shaken in the usual way by a pitman, 0, attached to the screen by ahook or slot in the end, and held in place by the india-rubber intheendof the screen when pressed down by the screw C while the other end is attached to a crank. Each of the sieves C and C is formed in a peculiar manner.

The frame for a short distance at the front end is bent down, C and the front end of the frame is also curved, C The object of these changes is to allow the bran and ofial to pass over the end of the sieves freely, and the en rved end accommodates itself to the sagging of the cloth. When the sieve is straight or there is a sag in the clotlnas there alwayswill be when the sieve is made in the usual manner, the tendency is for the bran to lodge, which retards and renders the work less perfect; but by bending the sides and curving the end, as described, there can be little or no sagging at the front end and the bran passes oii' freely.

I do not claim to have invented an agitatin gtank to be used between the stones and a separator in starchanaking, the same having been patented in Letters Patent to Wright Dnryea February, 1859, No. 22,789; nor do I claim a flat vibrating sieve, broadly consid ered, the same being old; but

What I claim as my iuveutiomand desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of a stirrer or agitator which receives the ground grain from the mill or stone and maintains the liquid in uniform condition with a flat vibrating sieve adapted to separate the starchwater from the refuse uniformly, for the purpose of obtaining a uniform product and-preventing loss of starch, substantially as described.

2. A compound sieve for sieving the reduced grain in a starclvniaking machine, which consists of two portions, the first composed of a wire mesh and adapted to receive the grain as it comes from the mill, and the second of silk or similar material, for the purpose of finally separating the refuse from the starch particles, substantially as described.

3. The screen 0, constructed of the sieves C I and C and the inclined plane 0 substanti all y as described.

4. A flat sieve provided with an inclined front end, substantially as shown and described.

JOHN A. OWENS. Witnesses:

Jno. J. BONNER, Enw. J. BRADY.

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