The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-07 00:00:00

The Drying of Hay and Corn.

The Scientific Review, of the Ist inst., mentions a
very simple and effective contrivance of Mr. W. A.
Gibbs, of Gilwell Park, Essex, member of the In-

ventors ' Institute, which has for its object the free-
ing the farmer, as far as the saving of the hay and
corn crops is concerned, from all dependence on the
weather.
The most important feature of Mr. Gibbs' patent,
it says, apart from its great efficiency, is that he
derives the heat he employs from the products of
combustion when they are about to escape into the
atmosphere, and hence are ordinarily not expected to
produce any further effect ; and also from the waste
steam, that is, from steam which has done its work,
and, therefore, any effect of which is clear gain.
The principle adopted by him may be carried out
in a variety of ways.
It is supposed that the farmer possesses, or can
hire, an agricultural steam-engine ; which is the
case at present in almost every part of Great Bri-
tain, and many parts of Ireland. The back plate
of this engine is removed, and the induction-tube
of a large, but very simply constructed blower or
fan, is inserted into the opening. This blower is
driven with a belt, by one driving-wheel of the
engine, and as it causes a powerful draught through
the furnace no chimney is required. The heated
air and products of combustion drawn in by the
fan are driven by a suitable pipe under the floor of
a portable iron shed, about 12 feet square, and 7
feet high. The floor of this shed being raised about
12 inches from the ground, a kind of reservoir for
the heated air is formed by the false bottom, the
prolongation of the sides downwards, and the
ground. Into the upper or sheet-iron floor are in-
serted, by their larger ends, conical tubes about 18
inches long, at distances sufficient to allow sheaves of
wheat to be spiked vertically on each of them. The
heated air from below passes up through these tubes,
and, issuing from their upper extremities, rushes
with great velocity through the centre of the sheaf
outwards, carrying with it all the superfluous mois-
ture, and effectually drying both the straw and the
grain.

The air thus charged with moisture escapes through
the openings formed by corrugations of the iron
roof, where it rests on the sides of the shed ; and the
heat is utilised to such a degree, that while the air
and products of combustion enter the shed at a
temperature of about 340 deg., they leave it at a
temperature of about 140 deg.
In order that one set of sheaves may be drying,
while the other is being fixed on the conical tubes,
the shed is divided, longitudinally, by a sheet-iron
partition—which, if desirable, may be hollow, for
the reception of waste steam from the engine ; and
the air from the fan is turned instantaneously into
the one division or the other, at pleasure, by a very
simple valve.

The shed used with the experiment we witnessed,
though of the small dimensions we have given above,
is capable of drying the sheaves obtained from eight
acres in a very few hours. And while one wheel of
the engine h driving the fan, the other may be
made to drive the threshing-machine, which will be
abundantly supplied by the product of the drying-
shed. It acts so efficiently that the sheaves in one
division are dried while the other division is being
filled. We saw wheat that had been exposed to 18
hours' constant rain ; then to a day's drying in the

open air ; then to six hours' more rain, then to
another day's drying, then to from four to six hours
heavy rain, so that they were completely saturated,
perfectly dried in 15 minutes. The point to which
the drying may be carried is completely un,ler the
control of the farmer. If he wishes to thresh out
his crop on the field so as to send his corn and straw
at once to market, he can do so with perfect cer-
tainty and case. If he intends to stack it, of course
a less thorough dryness will suffice.
To remove all apprehension that sparks might be
carried by the air-current to the straw, and ignite it
the products of combustion are made to pr.ss
through a wire gauze, which is placed between, the
smoke-box and the fan.
The air drawn from the furnaces by the blower
contains nothing calculated to inivrc the grain, or