Jonathan Mills Mfg. Co. v. Whitehurst

• Decision Date: 06 July 1893
• Docket Number: 632.
• Citation: 56 F. 589
• Parties: JONATHAN MILLS MANUF'G CO. v. WHITEHURST et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

56 F. 589

JONATHAN MILLS MANUF'G CO. v. WHITEHURST et al.

No. 632.

United States Circuit Court, S.D. Ohio, Eastern Division.

July 6, 1893

Poole &amp Brown, for complainant.

George J. Murray, for respondents.

SAGE District Judge.

The patent involved in this cause was granted November 7, 1882 to Jonathan Mills, for certain improvements in machines for dressing or bolting flour. The specification covers more than six pages of the letters issued from the patent office. There are 14 claims, of which the 1st, 2d, 3d and 6th are averred to have been infringed by the defendants. The patent is, in terms, for a 'centrifugal bolt.' The claims referred to are as follows:

'(1) In a horizontal centrifugal bolt, the combination of an outer shell; a reel; revolving, longitudinal, continuously arranged flier blades; and a central drum having a close or continuous peripheral surface,--together arranged, and operating substantially as described, and for the purposes set forth.

'(2) In a horizontal centrifugal bolt the combination with the outer shell and reel of a flier having a number of longitudinal troughs or recesses in its circumferential surface, said troughs being closed at their bottom, and embraced laterally by longitudinal, spirally-directed flier blades, whereby the material falling into said recesses is prevented from falling to the bottom of the reel, substantially as described, and for the purposes set forth.

'(3) In a horizontal centrifugal bolt, the combination with the outer shell, and with the reel, of a flier consisting of a peripherally closed drum proximating in diameter that of the reel, and provided with longitudinal, spirally-directed blades, applied to the circumferential surface thereof, substantially as described, and for the purposes set forth.'

'(6) In a horizontal centrifugal bolt, the combination of an outer stationary shell, and inner rotating bolting reel, and a central drum having a close or continuous peripheral surface, said drum being provided with longitudinal blades on its peripheral surface, arranged to operate together as a continuous blade, or series of continuous blades, and having a rotary motion in the same direction with, but at a higher speed than, the reel, whereby material being bolted is prevented from overloading the bottom of the reel, substantially as described.'

A 'bolt,' in flour milling, as it was known until a few years prior to the device set forth in the patent sued upon, was a cylindrical, hexagonal, or prismatic hollow structure, mounted upon a revolving shaft, and consisting of a skeleton frame over which was stretched bolting cloth of the degree of fineness required for the particular work to be done. The bolting cloth was generally in pieces or sections, closely fitted to each other, and of different fineness,--the closer woven or finer at the head, and the coarser at the lower part or tail, of the bolt. The material was fed in at the head, which was set somewhat higher than the tail, so that by the rotation of the bolt it was, little by little, conveyed to the tail. The fine portion of the material would be sifted out or bolted, and the coarser retained until finally discharged at the tail. By the constant revolution of the bolt the sifting process was greatly facilitated, and the larger meshes in the bolting cloth, as the material approached the lower end of the bolt, allowed the coarser particles of flour to pass through, while the bran and offal were retained. It was found that the operation of this bolt was not complete. It did not entirely separate the flour from the bran, but would 'tail off' good stock. The speed with which the material introduced into the upper end of the bolt would pass through to the lower end was such that a considerable portion of the flour would be carried off through the lower end, without having been subjected to the proper sifting action. To remedy this defect the bolts were lengthened to 12, and afterwards to 20, feet. Even then they were of limited capacity, and of imperfect yield, for the reason that the work of sifting was done in a small part, only, of the circumference of the bolt. The cylindrical bolt was first in order of time. Then the hexagonal, of sometimes the prismatic, was introduced. But, aside from the defects already stated, they were all objectionable, because of the space they occupied, and of the large amount of bolting silk required, and its cost. Then was introduced the centrifugal bolt, a slowly revolving, bolting-silk cylinder, located within an outer inclosure, as all the bolts were, and containing a series of revolving beaters, consisting of flat wooden blades supported by two or more spiders or wheels located in the cylinder, and near its ends. These beaters, called also 'fliers' and 'beater blades,' were caused to revolve at the rate of from 200 to 400 revolutions per minute, within the slowly-revolving silk cylinder. The action of this bolt was altogether different from anything that preceded it. As the material passed from the head, where it was introduced, to the tail of the reel or bolt, it was subjected to a continuous beating action, which imparted to it a centrifugal motion and direction, forcing it against the bolting cloth at all portions of the circumference, and thus largely increasing the capacity of the bolt. As a consequence the bolt was shortened to about 8 or 10 feet. The advantages were that the bolt occupied less space; that its capacity was increased, and the soft, flake-like material was broken up by the beating action, and the flour dusted or blown off from the bran, and a larger yield obtained. The disadvantages were the greater wear of the bolting cloth, which had to be frequently replaced, and the severe scouring and beating action of the coarse middlings, which forced bran specks and other impurities through the interstices. For these reasons the centrifugal bolt was generally used for the purpose of producing a finish, and the cylindrical or hexagonal for making the best quality of flour. There is testimony that the action of the beater blades had a tendency to make a quantity of fine flour dust, which, not having the qualities of rising, was detrimental to the baking qualities of the flour. It also produced an uneven flour, a part of it being forced through the silk in coarse granules, and a part reduced to a very fine powder, whereby its market value was lessened.

The next improvement was made by Jonathan Mills, to whom, on the 7th of November, 1882, the patent in suit, No. 267,098, was issued. It consists of an outer case; a rotating reel or bolting-cloth cylinder; an inner drum or imperforate cylinder of external diameter, say about six inches less than the interior of the bolting reel frame, and provided with blades or elevating devices which may be made of angle iron, and so attached to the drum as to hold the projecting flange somewhat inclined backward, with reference to the direction of motion, from a radial line of the drum. These blades are preferably about an inch and three-quarters in width, and from six to eighteen inches long. The apertures through which they are secured to the drum are in slot form, so that they may be set at any desired inclination from a direct longitudinal line. Their number may be as desired, and they may be set in longitudinal series or out of line, as preferred; but in either case in order to obtain the full capacity of the bolt, each line of blades must be continuous, and of the full length of the drum. Ordinarily,...