AN IMPROVED DRYING MACHINE, WITH APPLICATION OF CENTRAL VENTILATION
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of the Firm of John
Gedge and Son, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED DRYING MACHINE, WITH APPLICATION OF CENTRAL VENTILATION."-
A communication from abroad by Emile Welter, of 39, Faubourg
St. Martin, Paris, France.
Sealed the 15th March 1870, and dated the 23rd September 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd September 1869.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of
No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A
IMPROVED DRYING MACHINE, WITH APPLICATION OF CENTRAL VENTILATION," a
communication to me from abroad by Emile Welter, of 39, Faubourg
St. Martin, Paris, France, to be as follows:-
The object of the machine the subject of this Invention is the operation
of drying woollen cloths and other fabrics. It has the advantage over

page_text: all the means hitherto adopted for this purpose of effecting a complete
drying with great rapidity and without injury to the fabric.
This improved machine consists of a vertical frame composed of two
parts placed parallelly to each other and tied by cross pieces. Around
this frame are bearings to receive hollow metal cylinders; each of these t
cylinders therefore has its fulcrum upon its axle, the two ends of which
rest upon each of the parts of the frame. These cylinders are so arranged
as to form a crown or ring, leaving an inner space, in which small
wooden rollers are so placed as to keep the fabric against nearly the
whole of the surface of these cylinders. At the lower part of the 1
machine is a blowing engine, which sends a current of air into the space
left free, which space is the centre of the crown or ring formed by the
cylinders, and by reason of this arrangement this machine is designated
machine with central ventilation.
The operation is as follows:-The fabric is brought by rollers to the
first drying cylinder, which it almost entirely envelops, from thence it
passes on to the wooden cylinders placed within the circle, thence on
to the second drying cylinder, and so on to the last. The warmth of
the cylinders heated by steam causes the humidity to issue in a moist
which is carried of by the current of fresh air from the blowing :
vapor,
machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st March 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of No. 11,
Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Edward Gedge, Her special licenco
that I, the said William Edward Gedge, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward Gedge, my

page_text: executors, administrators, and assigns, sound 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 "AN IMPROVED
DRYING MACHINE, WITH APPLICATION OF CENTRAL VENTILATION," a communi-
cation to me from abroad by Emile Welter, of 39, Faubourg St. Martin,
Paris, France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Edward Gedge, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 William Edward Gedge, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
The object of the machine the subject of this Invention is the operation
of drying woollen cloths and other fabrics. It has the advantage over
all the means hitherto adopted for this purpose of effecting a complete
drying with great rapidity and without injury to the fabrics.
This improved machine consists of a vertical frame composed of two
parts placed parallelly to each other and tied by cross pieces. Around
this frame are bearings to receive hollow metal cylinders; each of these
cylinders therefore has its fulcrum upon its axle, the two ends of which
rest upon each of the parts of the frame. These cylinders are so arranged
as to form a crown or circle, leaving an inner space, in which small
wooden rollers are so placed as to keep the fabric against nearly the
whole of the surface of these cylinders. At the lower part of the
machine is a blowing engine, which sends a current of air into the space
left free, which space is the centre of the crown or circle formed by the
cylinders, and by reason of this arrangement this machine is designated
machine with central ventilation.
The operation is as follows:-The fabric is brought by rollers to the
first drying cylinder, which it almost entirely envelops, from thence it
passes on to the wooden cylinders placed within the circle, thence on

page_text: to the second drying cylinder, and so on to the last. The warmth of
the cylinders heated by steam causes the humidity to issue in a moist
vapour, which is carried off by the current of fresh-air from the blowing
machine.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawing Figure 1 is an end elevation
partly in section, and Figure 2 a section at C, D, Figure 1, of a drying
machine constructed according to this Invention.
A, B, indicate the framing of the machine; C, CT, 0, 0, 0, drying
cylinders hollow to permit the introduction of steam; D, blowing
machine; E, air receiving and distributing tube; F, piping directing
the air as it issues in the centre of the machine; K, L, M, toothed
gearing actuating the drying cylinders. The fabric represented by the
red line passes over the layer or spreader Y, the rollers o, o', and the
wooden cylinders m, and from thence successively over each drying
cylinder.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of the Invention
communicated to me as aforesaid I claim, the combination of a drying
machine so that the drying may be effected by means of steam with the
addition of a current of air in the central part of the machine, sub-
stantially as herein-before described and illustrated on the accompanying
Sheet of Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.