IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING ARTICLES OR BODIES FORMED OF PLASTIC CLAY
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joel Spiller, of Cardiff, in the County of Glamorgan,
South Wales, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DRYING ARTICLES OR BODIES FORMED OF PLASTIC CLAY."
Sealed the 29th May 1860, and dated the 9th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joel Spiller at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th December 1859.
I, JOEL SPILLER, of Cardiff, in the County of Glamorgan, South Wales,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING ARTICLES OR BODIES FORMED OF PLASTIC CLAY," to be
as follows:-
My Invention consists of certain means which I employ or combine to pro-
duce a downward current of heated air, &c. on the articles to be dried, such
air being pure or mixed with the products of combustion. The articles
requiring. to be dried are placed or stacked upon the floor of a closed building
or enclosed shed; this floor has a number of openings through it, which com-
municate with flues or passages below it, and the passages communicate with
vertical flues or chimnies formed in the side or end walls of the building or
outside it. The heating furnace (or furnaces) is what is termed a close one

page_text: and if placed outside should be in close proximity to the side or end wall of the
building. The fuel employed may be coke, culm, or any other that emits no
sinoke in burning. Just above the ignited fuel I have adjustable openings,
through which I introduce such a quantity of pure atmospheric air as I require
to mix with the products of combustion, the whole of which pass thence into
the drying building, filling it from the ceiling downwards and finally reaching
the chimnies, thus causing an increased power to the said current. The articles
to be dried are thus subjected to a dry gaseous downward current absorbing
and carrying away their watery particles, and so producing the desired effect.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joel Spiller in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOEL
SPILLER, of Cardiff, in the County of Glamorgan, South Wales, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joel Spiller, Her special license that I, the said Joel Spiller,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joel Spiller, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time, and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DRYING ARTICLES OR BODIES FORMED OF PLASTIC CLAY," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Joel Spiller, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joel Spiller, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the

page_text: following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to certain improvements in drying houses, and
to the application of heated gaseous matter, known as "products of combus-
tion," mixed with pure atmospheric air for drying articles formed of plastic
clay, and consists of certain means which I employ or combine to produce a
downward current of heated air on the articles to be dried. The articles re-
quiring to be dried are placed or stacked upon the floor of a closed building or
enclosed shed; this floor has a number of openings made in it, which com
municate with flues or passages below it, and the passages communicate with
vertical flues or chimnies formed in the side or end walls of the building or
outside of it. The heating furnace (or furnaces) is what is termed a close one,
and if placed outside should be in close proximity to the side or end wall of the
building. The fuel employed may be coke, culm, or any other that emits no
smoke in burning. Immediately above the ignited fuel I have adjustable
openings, through which I introduce such a quantity of pure atmospheric air
as I require to mix with the products of combustion, the whole of which pass
thence into the drying building filling it from the ceiling downwards and finally
reaching the chimnies, thereby increasing the power of the said current. The
articles to be dried are thus subjected to a dry gaseous downward current
absorbing and carrying away their watery particles, and so producing the
desired effect.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of one arrangement of my im-
proved drying houses with its furnace, and such internal fittings as are more
particularly adapted for the drying of bricks; Figure 2 is a transverse section
of the same taken along the line 1, 2, in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a similar
section of the part containing the furnace and air passages taken along the
line 3, 4, in Figure 1; Figure 4 is a horizontal section of what I call a double
house taken along the line 5, 6, in Figure 1, each house being divided by a
wall down the middle, so as to form two compartments; Figure 5 is a similar
view taken along the line 7, 8, in Figure 1; Figure 6 is an enlarged: eleva-
tion; and Figure 7, a plan, shewing the wooden stage fittings for receiving
the bricks to be dried.
A is the furnace with fire bars, fire doors, and ash-pit of the ordinary descrip-

page_text: tion. B, B, the passages for enabling the atmospheric air to mix with the
products of combustion, the passage over the furnace door being filled in with
earthenware drain pipes or grating to prevent regurgitation; C, C, are the
drying chambers; D, sheet-iron doors or dampers to shut off or regulate the
quantity of heated air and gaseous products going into the chambers; E, E,
are the double stage fittings to receive the bricks to be dried; F, F, are vents
for the escape of air and vapour from the chambers; G, G, are wooden sliding
doors for closing and regulating the area of the passages into the vents; H, H,
are small openings into the vents near the ceiling with slides for closing them;
I, I, are doors communicating with the passages between the stages for the
introduction of the bricks to be dried; J, J, are other doors for discharging
the bricks when dry.
On referring to the Drawings it will be seen that each house contains two
distinct chambers or compartments bounded by side walls, with windows and
doors, and by ceilings, so that when the doors I and J, the wooden sliding doors G,
the small openings H, and the sheet-iron doors D are all closed, each chamber or
compartment is separate from the other and entirely enclosed. If now the upper
and lower stages be charged with newly moulded or wet bricks, and the sheet-
iron doors D and sliding doors G be opened, and if a fire be now lighted in the
furnace all the heated gaseous products formed by the combustion of the fuel
will ascend with sufficient power to cause pure atmospheric air to enter the
passages B, mix with such products and pass through the sheet-iron doors D,
forcing an equal volume of the air in the chambers or compartments into and
up the vents F. The heated air thus entering will diffuse itself uniformly or
nearly so throughout the entire length and breadth of the compartments, in a
short time filling them from the ceilings to the floors and passing through the
sliding doors G into the vents F will cause these vents to act as chimnies, and
thereby increase the draught or give additional velocity to the air passing
through the compartments, furnace, and air passages. The small openings H
are for the purpose of assisting the motion of the air through the compart-
ments at the commencement of the drying process, more particularly in some
states of the weather, but so soon as the air current is well established these
openings are to be closed in order to prevent loss of heat. From the above
it may be seen that when such a drying-house is in action there must be in
each chamber or compartment a current of warm air constantly descending,
and that from the situation of the bricks on the stages such descending current
must come in contact with and communicate heat to them; that the heat so
communicated must produce evaporation of the water in them. That the
vapour thus produced must mix with or be absorbed by the surrounding air,

page_text: and that by the constant influx of dry warm air into the compartments the air
so mixed or charged must pass into and up the vents and so be discharged.
Also, that bricks submitted to such a process must soon be properly dried. I
find, however, by experience that the heat of the furnace must be so moderated
as to allow bricks of the ordinary size from thirty-six to forty-eight hours to
dry by this process, for if dried more rapidly they are liable to crack. The
time required depends in a great measure on the quality of the clay of which
they are made. The reason for preferring two houses placed side by side rather
than one equal to the length of the two combined, and also for dividing each
house into two chambers or compartments is to effect greater economy of
drying space, It will be seen that by the doors D and the slides G the
chambers or compartments may be worked either separately or conjointly, each
receiving at any time its supply of wet bricks independently of the other, so
that by thus dividing the drying space three out of four of the chambers or
compartments may be kept in constant action. I prefer coke as fuel for the
furnaces, but any other fuel which emits little or no smoke will answer the
same purpose.
Although I have in the foregoing description (for the sake of simplicity) con-
fined myself to the drying of bricks only, I do not nevertheless mean to limit
the use or application of my Invention to the drying of bricks alone, but
claim its application to the drying of all articles formed of plastic clay.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
The general construction, arrangement, and combination of apparatus for
drying articles composed of plastic clay, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joel Spiller, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Sixth day of June One thousand eight hundred and
civty
JOEL SPILLER. (L.S.)