The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1875-08-05
Hay.faking by Artificial Heat.

The London Ismes of a recent date
gives the following description Of an in
vention for drying hay by artificial heat
Aportable stove constructed of plate
iron is surmounted by fan, which is
driven by belt from three horse power
portable steam-engine; the fan draws all
the heated air and gases from the coke
fire, together with volume of warmed
air, which passes through chamber sur
rounding the inner chamber of the stove
and blows the hot current, at a tempcra-
ture of 400 degrees Fahrenheit or more,
into the drier.s This resembles in general
shape straw elevator, consisting of a
sheet-iron trough six feet in breadth,
twenty feet long il mounted on wheels as a
portable carriage, or forty or fifty feet long
if a fixture. The trough is raised at one
end at a low angle, so that hay fed in at
the upper end furthest from the stove shall
slowly travel to the lower end near the
stove-tllis being assisted by slow re-
.ciprocatlng motion given to the bottom of
the trough a ridge of Triangular section
running along the middle of the trough
divides il into two almost semi-circular
channels, so that the hay passes down in
two streams; the hot air issues through
two slit apertures, one on each side the
base of the middle ridge, and for the en-
tire length of the machine; and the hay is
kept continually stirred and lightened up
over the hot blast by number of small
iron stirrers cleverly contrived to initiate
the action of forks worked by hand.
We saw ,partly-made but wet hay passed
through the machine and converted at
once into thoroughly dry condition for
the stack; we saw spoilt and musty hay
dried into hay of fair apparent quality
and pleasant fragrance; and we saw
freshly-cut grass, saturated with rain from
very heavy thunder-shower which
poured down at the time, dried into hay
of first-class color and possessing the rich
malt odor peculiar to wcll-made hay
With single twenty-feet machine the OPP
Grafton is too slow to employ fully one
man feeding off cart and another man
removing the dried product; but with two
such machines side by side, or with one
fixed machine Of forty feet or fifty feet
length, probably one set of carriers and
stackers could be kept going. From the
experiments made under our supervision
it appears that, while fresh and wet grass
loses 70 to Is per cent. of its original
weight in being made into hay, the guam
tity of moisture in excess in partially
made hay, or hay caught by a heavy rain,
may be from 10 to 20 per cent. To expel
this water from partially-made hay re-
quires consumption of coke in the stove
and of coal for the engine not exceeding
a cost of one shilling and three-pence per
ton of hay dried. Preserving fresh-cut
grass may cost in fuel six or seven times
more. With outlay for labor and for wear
and tear of apparatus the total expense,
according to Mr.. Gibbs calculations, does
not exceed seven shillings or eight shil-
lings per ton, which is, indeed, Il very
moderate disbursement for saving loss
of perhaps pounds per ton. To make
fresh-cut grass into the finest hay at one
stroke costs about e. per ton of the dried