The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

714 THE MECHANICAL HANDLING OF MATERIAL chaff and grain; in this case there are two machines. Such installations are now at work both in this country and abroad, notably at the Midland Railway Co. Provender Stores at Oakham, where there are four complete sets. When it is desired to weigh chaff it is usually for the purpose of obtaining the correct percentage of chaff and corn in a mixture of the two for feeding purposes. The small machine used for weighing the corn is the ordinary type of weigher as already described, and is so connected with the chaff scale that they discharge together. Above this chaff scale is a stirring device which ensures an even flow of the material from the hopper to the scale. This hopper is connected by spout with the chaff-cutting Figs. 1023 and 1024. Avery’s Automatic Scale for Coal, etc. The. lettered description for Figs. 1015 and 1016 (Avery’s Automatic Grain Scale) applies to this illustration also, with the exception that for weighing small coal the aperture during the dribble period is arranged between a hinged' flap F1 and the valve G. The adjusting screw F2 is for varying the size of this aperture. machine. Just below the chaff hopper is a small pulley driven by a belt, which is attached by a spindle to the valves in such a way as to automatically aid in lifting them when required by the machine. Both machines simultaneously discharge into the large hopper below, and right on to the mixer, which consists of a rapidly revolving spindle studded with spikes and driven by a belt as shown. This is to prevent the corn, owing to its greater weight, from falling into the sack quicker than the chaff. The inside of the hopper is fitted with a row of baffle plates which can be so adjusted that the corn discharges into the mixer in a more uniform stream than would otherwise be the case. From this mixer the provender falls into a breeches