Abstract: A hulled rice distribution device (30) is disposed between a hulling section (10) and a wind sorting section (60) of a rice huller (1). This distribution device (30) comprises an distribution gutter (35) for receiving hulled rice falling from the hulling section, and a screw (32) for conveying the hulled rice having flowed into the distribution gutter (35) in the lengthwise direction of the distribution gutter. A plurality of holes (41, 42 and 43) for the hulled rice to fall through are formed in the distribution gutter (35), and some of them may be blocked or opened by a falling rice control plate (34).

Abstract: In a rice huller, a first small-diameter pulley and a second large-diameter pulley are attached to a first roll shaft. A first large-diameter pulley and a second small-diameter pulley are attached to a second roll shaft. This configuration makes it possible to switch between a first driving state in which a rice hulling operation is performed by passing and driving a belt between the first small-diameter pulley on the first roll shaft and the first large-diameter pulley on the second roll shaft and a second driving state in which a rice hulling operation is performed by passing and driving a belt between the second large-diameter pulley on the first roll shaft and the second small-diameter pulley on the second roll shaft.

Abstract: An apparatus for separating hulled and unhulled pistachios includes a rotating roller and a conveyor for depositing pistachios onto the roller. Rotation of the drum frictionally separates hulled and unhulled pistachios.

Abstract: A rice polisher for polishing rice, which is a preprocess necessary for producing pre-white rice having a favorable taste by using a small amount of water, a pre-polished rice producing apparatus that uses the rice polisher, a leveling device capable of uniformly leveling grains, and a pre-polished rice producing facility. The rice polisher includes a grain-lifting spiral for transporting white rice above from below, a water-pouring port for pouring polishing water, the water-pouring port being disposed at a head portion, a discharge port for discharging the white rice, the discharge port being disposed at the head portion, and a rice-polishing roll for polishing rice by agitating together with the polishing water poured from the water-pouring port the white rice pressurized by transportation by the grain-lifting spiral, with the polisher discharging from the discharge port the white rice that has been polished.

Abstract: A husking apparatus supplies cereal grains between a pair of rotating rubber rolls through a guiding chute, rubs and husks them. A roll diameter marker for indicating an abrasion degree of the diameter of one of the rubber rolls is provided near the minimum gap between the rubber rolls. An incline angle changing marker previously marked with a changing degree of a position or an angle of incline of the guiding chute in correspondence to the roll diameter marker is provided near the lower end of the guiding chute. An operator can readily detect the diameter of the rubber roll by means of the roll diameter marker and accurately set the position or the angle of incline of the guiding chute in accordance with the incline angle changing marker.

Abstract: A husking apparatus for cereals comprises a pair of rolls provided parallel to each other with a clearance therebetween, and an inclined guide chute situated above the rolls. The guide chute slides down cereal grains between the rolls, and the rolls rotate in opposite directions, respectively, to nip and shell the cereal grains therebetween. The guide chute and the rolls are located so that a guide surface of the guide chute is substantially perpendicular to a line connecting the centers of rotational shafts, and that an extension line from the guide surface passes within a range of .+-.10 mm on both sides of a middle point of the clearance between the first and second rolls. The guide surface of the guide chute has such an inclination that the cereal grains spread all over a width of the guide surface in the substantially single layer of a band-like shape and are accelerated up to a speed less than peripheral speeds of the rolls while they slide down along the guide surface.

Abstract: A nutcracker that cracks nuts such as pecans with a pair of spaced-apart counter-rotating rollers having a gap therebetween. Nuts are fed through the gap between the rollers and cracked as they are compressed between the rollers. The outer surfaces of the two rollers rotate at different speeds, which causes the nuts to rotate as they pass through the gap. This speed differential of the rollers and resulting rotation of the nuts causes the cracks in the nuts' shells to spread around substantially the entirety of the shell. The nuts are then much more easily opened than nuts cracked using previously designed nut-cracking apparatuses.

Abstract: A chain drive system is provided for communicating rotation from the bottom roller of a hay conditioner to the top roller of the hay conditioner. The top and bottom rollers include longitudinally extending flutes which intermesh as the rollers rotate. The top roller is mounted for movement at each end upwardly away from the bottom roller to accommodate increased quantities of crop or obstacles. The chain drive maintains angular synchronism between the rollers despite movement of the top roller away from the bottom roller. This is achieved using a single chain wrapped around a drive sprocket on the bottom roller and around two idlers arranged at the apexes of a triangle. The driven sprocket on the top roller is located within the triangle so that the chain wraps around the drive roller into the triangle, around the driven roller and back to the idler at the apex.

Abstract: A nut dehulling apparatus for more effectively removing the green hull or shuck from pecans includes a housing having a housing inlet and a housing outlet. A rotatable scrubbing means and an endless conveyor belt are disposed in the housing. Further included is a means for rotating the scrubbing means and means for moving the endless conveyor belt. The endless conveyor belt includes a nut contact portion which, along with the rotatable scrubbing means, defines a nut passageway wherein the scrubbing means engage pecans. The nut passageway circumscribes approximately one-half the scrubbing means. The endless conveyor belt is located in the housing such that nuts deposited in the inlet are carried by the conveyor belt through the nut passageway into engagement with the scrubbing means. The separated nuts and hulls are then carried by the endless conveyor belt to the housing outlet. The apparatus also includes a vacuum source disposed in the housing.

Abstract: Two counter rotating rollers are provided having elastomeric exterior coatings into which ribs and grooves are formed for intermeshing to blanch nuts at a pinch point therebetween. Grooves in the lower roller hold nuts as ribs on the upper roller pass across the nuts to break skins on the nuts. The elastomeric exterior coatings have surface hardness values which measure around 30 durometer. The squeeze at the pinch point between the two rollers can be repeatably adjusted for running different sizes of nuts.

Abstract: Peeling rollers for vegetables, particularly root crops each comprising an hourglass-shaped core roller having a recessed portion defined and an outer cylindrical elastomer member concentrically surrounding the core roller, thereby constituting a space enclosed by the recessed portion and the elastomer member, the elastomer member being attached with abrasive pieces, the space being a hollow.

Abstract: A grain sorter for use in a rotary type rice hulling and sorting device comprising a hulling part, a pneumatical sorting part, sorting cylinders rotatably installed so that mixed rice grains may be fed from one end and the sorter rice grains may be discharged from the other end. The sorting cylinders have a large number of recesses formed on their internal surface and troughs for taking out the sorted rice grains received by the recesses which are installed inside the sorting cylinder. The troughs consist of (1), a plurality of troughs for taking out finished sorted rice grains of the sorted rice grains received by the recesses and (2) a plurality of troughs for taking out sorted rice grains, which must be sorted again, of the sorted rice grains received by the recesses.

Abstract: A roller mill such as a roll press or roll jaw crusher with crushing rollers and end face plates for lateral limitation of the nip mounted with pivotal links on the side walls of a product delivery chute and triangularly spaced support springs for the face plates urging them toward the nip with wear-resistant coatings on the inner surface of the face plates with the face plates having a lower removable extension.

Abstract: In a rice pressing apparatus having mating rollers mounted in parallel at a specific gap, each roller comprising a slightly tapered metal hub of aluminum or an aluminum-zinc alloy, a removable rubber sleeve and retaining caps at each end to maintain proper alignment of parts. The hub includes external splines which dovetail with internal splines of the rubber sleeve.

Abstract: A nut shelling machine in which a rotary drive mechanism operates a rotary feed mechanism and a rotary shelling mechanism, the shelling mechanism having a frame with four shafts arranged in spaced, side by side, upper and lower pairs, the shafts having surface lobes and indentions for enlarging and contracting the effective space between the upper pair and lower pair of shaft for accepting and trapping a nut between the pair of upper shafts and lower shafts, where it is shelled by a shafting implement before the shell and nut passes between the pair of lower shafts.

Abstract: A system for treating oilseeds prior to solvent extraction in which the oilseeds are treated in a microwave dryer to raise their temperature to 140.degree. F., passed hot through two-high rolls to crack the hulls and beans, the hulls are removed in an air sorter while at 140.degree. F., and while still heated, the beans are sent to a flaking roll. The stream from the process to the solvent extractor has less than 5% fines.

Abstract: An oscillating deck for treatment of a product such as peanuts is mounted on a main frame by air mounts. The deck is driven in linear oscillation by a pair of vibration motors. The deck supports a cascade of conveying surfaces which deliver the product to treatment stages such as rollers and debris removal devices; the treatment stages being mounted independently of the deck.

Abstract: A roller mill for cracking or crimping oats or the like is constructed with a cam adjustment which will positively maintain the rollers at an adjustably selected minimum spacing and which can be readily adjusted to establish a wider spacing for handling coarser materials or to clear obstructions from the rollers.

Abstract: The apparatus includes a hulling section, mounted above and in communication with an air-blow separating section which directs a blast of air onto the processed grain as it is discharged from the hulling section into a vibratory separating section which separates the mixture into hulled and unhulled rice. Unhulled and hulled rice lifters are disposed adjacent opposite sides, respectively, of said sections for supplying unhulled rice to the hulling section, and hulled rice through a valve selectively one of two discharge gutters for feeding grain back to the vibratory separation section or to other hulling apparatus. Means is also provided for vibrating the casing of the air-blow separating section.

Abstract: A vertically disposed unhulled rice lifter is mounted adjacent a stationary frame with its upper end secured against movement relative to and in communication with a hulling section which is secured on the frame above and to one side of a vibratory separating section of the apparatus. Grain from the lifter is hulled between a pair of hulling rolls in the hulling section and is fed downwardly through an air stream on to a vibrating surface on the vibratory separating section. The air stream conveys away hulls and dust from the hulled rice; and the vibrating surface separates the hulled rice grains from any unhulled rice which may have passed through the hulling section. The unhulled portion of grain is then returned to the lifter and the completely hulled grains are conveyed to a storage section.

Abstract: A husking machine for cereals, with a husking roller mounted in fixed bearings and with a husking roller which is adjustable along an approximately horizontal path and the bearings of which are arranged on a support displaceable on guide members. The support is equipped with linear horizontal guide members, so that the geometric relationships of the roller gap always remain constant. The husking rollers are driven via belt pulleys arranged on their shafts. In the region of the adjustable husking roller, the belt drive is guided in the form of a Z over a fixed belt pulley, then, parallel to the direction of the guide members, to one of the two belt pulleys arranged on the support, from this to the other belt pulley arranged on the support, and finally, parallel to the direction of the guide members, to a belt pulley arranged fixedly. As a result, the belt tension becomes independent of the readjustment of the husking rollers.

Abstract: Machine for peeling cereal grains, especially rice, by means of rubber rolls. Above the rolls (1,3) there is a bin (7) for the supply of material. An arrangement (13-18) is present, which cuts off the supply of material and/or separates the rubber peeling rolls, when a minimum loading (10) in the bin has been passed in the downward direction. The bin is mounted on springs (9) so as to be movable up and down, so that its position in the vertical direction is dependent on the degree of loading. The bin cooperates with a control (15) which is arranged fixed on the frame and which is changed over when the container reaches a high level because of its minimum loading, for separating the rolls (1,3) or for turning off the material supply. The control is again changed over when the bin has moved downwards again because of attaining a higher loading (11).

Abstract: A nutcracking machine is provided which utilizes a cylindrical sizing roll and a cylindrical cracking roll. The sizing roll has a plurality of parallel circumferential grooves, the width and depth of the grooves varying in a predetermined fashion along the length of the roll. The cracking roll has a tractive surface. A spring mounting is used for adjustably and resiliently urging the sizing roll and cracking roll together to allow a predetermined lateral pressure to be exerted on the nuts passing between the rollers. The spring mounting also allows the rollers to separate momentarily to allow passage of foreign objects such as rocks. A separator is used to direct smaller nuts to one portion of the sizing roll and larger nuts to another portion of the sizing roll.

Abstract: A driving device of sorting cylinders for use in a rotary type rice hulling and sorting device, characterized by comprising a hulling part, a pneumatical sorting part and a rotary type sorting part provided with sorting cylinders rotatably installed therein with one end thereof as the feeding side of rice grains to be sorted and the other end thereof as the discharging side of rice hulled and sorted and having a large number of recesses formed on the internal surface thereof and receiving troughs for taking out the rice grains scooped up by said recesses, said hulling part, said pneumatical sorting part and said rotary type sorting part being integrally constructed and interlocked, and the rotational speed of said sorting cylinders being controllable optionally in no connection with the revolution of said hulling part and said pneumatical sorting part.

Abstract: A nut blanching arrangement in which nuts to be blanched are passed between first and second spaced, counter-rotating rollers. Each roller is provided with a plurality of hollow elastic tubular rings extending around its outer circumference. The tubular rings on the first roller are longitudinally aligned with respect to the tubular rings on the second roller such that each four adjacent tubular rings, two on each roller, form an opening through which the nuts pass during the blanching operation. In this arrangement, the nuts passing between the counter-rotating rollers are forced between the grooves of adjacent tubular rings such that the rings encapsulate and compress the nuts as they pass therebetween. The counter-rotating rollers are rotated at slightly different speeds such that during the blanching operation, the slight differential in the roller speeds causes the outer skin of the peanut to peel away from the nut meat.

Abstract: Apparatus is provided for slitting the skins of shelled peanuts, or the like, without splitting the nuts. Peanuts are fed in a single stream into the bite of a pair of rollers mounted one above the other for rotation about parallel horizontal axes. The rollers are driven to carry the stream of nuts into engagement with slitting elements disposed on both sides of the bite of the rollers. The upper roller is carried by a yoke pivoted to a drive shaft and is adapted to rise and fall to and away from the lower roll according to the size of the nut being fed therethrough whereby a substantially constant gripping pressure is applied to the nuts irrespective of the size of the nut. A power drive system connects between the drive shaft and the upper roll.

Abstract: A rice hulling and sorting machine includes a pair of hulling rolls which drop husked rice grains into a pneumatic sorting compartment which the husks are preliminary sorted from the rice grains; the rice grains thereafter being thrown upwardly into one end of the upper of two horizontally mounted rotating sorting cylinders. The interior surfaces of these cylinders have a multitude of recesses for trapping single rice grains at the bottom of their circumferential paths of movement to carry them upwardly and dropping them into conveying troughs which run the length of the interiors of the cylinders. Rice grains which are not trapped in the upper cylinder are fed back into the hulling rolls while those dropped into the upper trough are fed to the lower interior of the lower cylinder where they are again subject to being trapped in the recesses of the lower cylinder and dropped into the lower conveyor trough.

Abstract: A rice mill comprising grain feed means, grain husking means connected to said grain feed means, paddy removing means connected to said grain husking means, first grain elevating means connected to said paddy removing means, grain polishing and whitening means connected to said first grain elevating means, second grain elevating means connected to said polishing and whitening means, grain classifying means connected to said second grain elevating means, bin means connected to said grain classifying means, and pneumatic cyclonic separating means for removing light materials from said paddy removing means, said grain husking means, said polishing and whitening means, and said grain classifying means, is rendered capable of full pneumatic conveyance of the grain by the provision of first, second and third grain decelerating and abrading sifter means at the entrances of said grain husking means, said grain polishing and whitening means and said grain classifying means, respectively, and sieve means between each s

Abstract: An apparatus is provided for buff blanching peanuts. The machine is adapted to remove the dark outer skin of shelled peanuts and, at the same time, produce a textured finish on the surface of the nuts to enhance the adhesion of an applied coating such as chocolate or the like. The buff blancher includes a pair of driven parallel rollers having abrasive surfaces and mounted in closely spaced parallel relation with one roller being offset above a lower roller. The rollers are mounted in a housing into one end of which peanuts are delivered for movement along and against the two rollers and discharged at the other end of the housing. The housing may be raised at the feed end in order to provide an incline for the flow of nuts and may be tilted about its longitudinal axis to control the degree of buffing action between the peanuts and the rollers.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for utilizing a horizontal disc having a plurality of guide vanes extending in a curvilinear path with each vane terminating in an end portion that is substantially parallel to a tangent to the disc. A plurality of impact surfaces are provided in the same horizontal plane as the disc with each surface being substantially linear and extending transversely of the path of travel of a kernel impelled by the disc. The method includes locating the impact surfaces away from the periphery of the disc a sufficient distance so as to preclude application of crushing forces to the kernels as the latter pass between the disc and the surface. The kernels are fed onto the disc at a point near its center from an overhead position at a carefully controlled rate whereby each kernel is aligned by centrifugal forces as it moves along the guide vane so as to expose one of the side edges of the kernel for contact with one of the impact surfaces.

Abstract: An automatic control system for a hulling machine including a fixed rotary hulling roll, a movable rotary hulling roll, means for moving the movable rotary hulling roll toward and away from the fixed rotary hulling roll to adjust the gap between the two hulling rolls and a main electric motor for driving the two hulling rolls. The system includes load detecting means for detecting the load applied to the main electric motor, and control means for connecting the load detecting means to the means for controlling the movement of the auxiliary shaft whereby the gap between the two hulling rolls can be automatically adjusted in accordance with the load applied to the main electric motor.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for the husking and drying of cereal and legume kernels comprising separating the kernels from their husks by means of rotating plate bodies and discharging the husks from the kernels/husks mixture by means of air.

Abstract: A grain husker has two decorticating rollers which are accommodated in a housing, one of the rollers being rotatable about a stationary axis, while the other roller is mounted on a carrier which, in turn, is mounted on the housing for pivoting relative thereto in such a manner that the movable roller moves with the carrier closer and farther away from the stationary axis of the first-mentioned roller. A drive for the rollers includes a motor, a driving pulley mounted on the output shaft of the motor, and idler pulley and a driven pulley of the movable roller, all of these components being also mounted on the carrier for displacement therewith, the drive further including a driven pulley of the stationarily mounted roller and an endless element which is trained about all of the above-mentioned pulleys.

Abstract: A degerminating process wherein the grain kernels are crushed from the thin edges toward the center while avoiding crushing of the relatively flat side surfaces. The crushing force fractures the endosperm under and around the germ and squeezes the germ away from the endosperm in a whole condition. A machine for carrying out the degermination includes relatively rotating discs having corrugations in their facing surfaces in which the kernels are caught and crushed from the thin edges toward the center. An alternative degerminator machine includes a single rotating disc having curved guide vanes on its upper surface for guiding the kernels as they are propelled outwardly by centrifugal force. The vanes orient each kernel with its top or bottom edge in position to impinge upon flat impact surfaces which results in a crushing force applied from the thin edge toward the center of the kernel.

Abstract: An improved apparatus for hulling and separating loosened seed hulls from kernels of meat employing compartmentized separator for the meat products.

Abstract: A disc refiner wherein the operating faces of its discs are arranged to have interdigited teeth disposed in radially spaced rows and to further have dams interposed between selected successively adjacent of said rows. The dams are characterized by being parallel to said rows and substantially coextensive therewith. Each dam is accordingly substantially continuous and each serves in the operation of the discs to block substantially all material moving across the face of the disc of which it forms a part and causes it to be deflected outwardly and to impact on the operating face of the opposing disc. The arrangement is such to insure that as the material the constituents of which are to be separated moves across the respective operating faces of opposed refiner discs it will be repeatedly thrown from one disc operating face to the other and in the process have imposed thereon a forceful separation of constituent parts.

Abstract: A roll type huller including a housing, a pair of hulling rolls parallelly spaced apart within the housing, a main shaft carrying one of the rolls and supported by the housing rotatably about a fixed axis, and a counter shaft carrying the other roll and supported near the free end of an arm mounted at the base by a pivot which is spaced from, and parallel with, the fixed axis, so that the counter shaft can move toward and away from the main shaft while maintaining the parallelism. The pivot is supported by the housing in a relative position opposite to the roll-carrying portion of the counter shaft. The location of the pivot may be inside the housing beneath the counter shaft or outside of the housing above the shaft or elsewhere provided the aforesaid relationship with the shaft is maintained.

Abstract: Edible nuts, such as peanuts, may have their skins slit prior to blanching by means of a machine disclosed herein. The apparatus includes a pair of cooperating rolls which carry a stream of nuts one by one between a pair of cutting elements which slit the nut skin from end to end. The nuts are fed from a vibratory feeding tray which includes a quickly adjustable feed dispenser for controling the rate of flow according to the size of the nuts being processed. A lever actuated cam controls the flow and the lever position may be aligned with levers of other similar machines arranged in a row in the processing plant. The gap between the rolls which carry the nuts between the cutting elements is also quickly adjustable by means of a lever to accommodate the machine to the size of the nuts being processed. The lever extends outwardly for alignment with levers on similar adjacent machines. A removable waste collection and nut guide chute is also provided for a quick and easy cleaning.

Abstract: Apparatus comprising hulling means, winnowing means, sorting means, and conveyor means. Said hulling and winnowing means are housed in a platform-like box having longer longitudinal sides and shorter transverse sides. The sorting means is operated to move along the longitudinal sides of box, and the path of circulation of grain through the hulling means, conveyor means and sorting means is made short by locating them adjacently to each other.