CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRYING OR DESICCATING MATERIALS OR SUBSTANCES CONTAINING MOISTURE, PART OF WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO BOILING LIQUIDS
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Elijah Robinson, George Wash-
ington, and. George Smith at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 15th October 1864.
We, ELIJAH ROBINSON, of Stockport, in the County of Chester, GEORGE
WASHINGTON, and GEORGE SMITH, both of Bradford, in the County of Lan-
caster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRYING OR DESICCATING MATERIALS
OR SUBSTANCES CONTAINING MOISTURE, PART OF WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO BOILING
LIQUIDS," to be as follows:-
Our improvements are designed first for the purpose of drying or dessicating
substances containing moisture, for example, such as glue (when first extracted
from the horns of animals), or any other material requiring a quick and expe-
ditious drying process; secondly, it is applicable to the boiling of liquids
by the application and arrangement of mechanism generating and containing
rarefied steam or air. The apparatus for drying or desiccating consists of a
large chamber or box made perfectly air-tight with the exception of certain
perforations which are necessary for the inlet and egress of air, the interior of
this chamber or box is divided into two or more parts (if desired) by open
vertical framework, to which and to the sides of the box a series of ledges or
supports are attached for open or webbed trays or platforms containing the
material to be dried. On the floor and other convenient places of the said
chamber or box a number of flyers or "fans" is supported and arranged, the
number of which is in accordance with the size of the chamber, the rotation

page_text: of these fans draws into circulation within this chamber a mixture of hot and
cold air, the current of cold being admitted through perforations near the
ground or base, and the hot forced in through perforations made in the floor
or basement, the circulation and mixture of the two can be regulated by taps
so as to produce a warm and rapidly circulating breeze or current of air, which
is finally expelled from the roof into the outer atmosphere. The hot or rarefied
air is obtained by the action of a "fan" attached to one end of a pipe or tube
which extends through a furnace in a horizontal serpentine form, and so on to
the chamber or box where it becomes mixed with cold air as herein-before
described.
Secondly, the improved apparatus for boiling consists in the novel employ-
ment and use of a helical or spiral tube or pipe forming the interior surface or
lining of a tub, vessel, or receptacle containing liquor, the entrance end of
this said tube or pipe is in connection with the hot air pipe from the furnace,
and also with a steam pipe connected to the boiler; this steam pipe is caused
to pass through, the furnace before entering the helical or spiral tube, so that
when. either the hot air or steam pipe tap, with which both pipes are supplied,
is turned on, rarefied steam or hot air is caused to rush through the spiral
tube (giving heat to the liquor contained in the receptacle or vessel), and the
steam or hot air becoming finally exhausted in the atmosphere in contra-
distinction to being mixed with the liquor as now employed for boiling
purposes.