The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-29 00:00:00

CORN AND MALT DRYING.

It was noticed in the report of the recent show
at Hartlepool of the Castle Eden District Agricul-
tural Society that among the " implements" exhi-
bited was one that had the merits of being new in
principle, exhibited for a first time, and the produc-
tion both of a local inventor and a local artificer.
Whatever modifications time may introduce into
the details of this design, to adapt it more perfectly
to the accomplishment of its work, there can be
no doubt whatever as to the necessity for such an
invention, nor as to the boldness and originality
with which that necessity has been met. Those
who are acquainted with the present process of
kiln-drying of grain need not be informed of the
enormous amount of labour, delay, and inconveni-
ence with which it is attended. After loading,
carting to the kiln, and unloading again, the wheat
has to be thrown on a heated floor, while one or
more attendants require to constantly turn over the
grain until it has been sufficiently dried. if it
escapes being scorched, it seldom escapes being
affected by the gases escaping from the fires with
which the kiln is heated ; and the slowness of
the process ref-Adel' it unavoidably expensive.
Mr. Williamson's attention appears to have been
directed to this subject by the great losses
consequent upon a wet season some ten years
ago, when his But stitute for the present dilatory
method made some progress in his mind ;
but the extremely damp autumn of last year stimu-
lated him to the completion of an undertaking which,
step by step, he had, during the intervening years,
gradually matured and improved. The kiln which
he has invented is a machine so simple in structure
that it may be easily supplied to every separate farm
in the kingdom, and at a cost which a very short
period of use will amply repay. All loss of time
by carriage is thus at once secured ; and kilning is
made, as it ought to be, one of the ordinary expe-
ditious processes of farm-labour. On a strong four-
wheeled frame, in a form at once compact and neat
in appearance, and as portable as any wheeled im
plement used on field or farm, the whole apparatus
occupies but little space. To describe it in detail,
without the help of a diagram, is not easy ; but
we may mention some principal features. On the
framework of the vehicle, which is of iron, lies an
arched tube, having a plane bottom, two feet six
inches in diameter inside, and some seven feet in
length. The bottom is an inclined plane. Sur-
rounding the whole of this tube is a hot-air cham-
ber, communicated with from a small furnace which
is fed below, and also with a funnel, which carries
off the smoke, &c., above. The whole of the heat
of this furnace thus passes through the chambered
and partitioned enclosing walls of the tube
without the slightest possibility of smoke or gas
coming near its contents. Through this tube the
grain is passed in an atmosphere the temperature
of which can be regulated to the greatest nicety,
and at a rate of speed that can also be regulated to
suit the state of the grain as admitted; a self-act-
ing apparatus receives it at the other end, and car-
ries it back in the open air, cooled and ready for the
bag, into which the self-acting belts on which it is
carried finally deliver it. The process is not only
quick, but efficient, and is thoroughly under the
control of the operator ; and, as tried on the
Hartlepool show-ground, it appeared that, for au
expenditure of one hundred-weight of coal, from
fifteen to twenty quarters of wheat, of the average
humidity of wheat that requires to be kiln dried,
could thus be effectually dried in a period of twelve
hours.—Mark-lane Express.

TRADES' UNION INQUIRY AT A.IANCIIESTER.—Mr.
Pickering, Q.C., together with Mr. Barstow and Mr.
Chance, have been appointed examiners to inquire into
any acts of intimidation, outrage, or wrong alleged to
have been promoted, encouraged, or connived at by trades'
unions or associations, whether of workmen or employers,
in Manchester and the neighbourhood, and as to the causes
of such acts and the complicity of such trades' unions or
associations. The examiners will hold a public inquiry
which will commence at the Assize Court, Manchester, on
the 4th of next month. They have. appointed Mr. James
heil, barrister, to be their secretary, and any communica
tions on the subject of the inquiry are to Ue seat, to Lim
at 115, Bury New-road: Mauchebter,