AN IMPROVED METHOD OF DRYING MALT, HOPS, AND OTHER PRODUCE
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Croft Plomley, of Maidstone, in the County of
Kent, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF DRYING
MALT, HOPS, AND OTHER PRODUCE."
Sealed the 13th April 1858, and dated the 14th October 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Croft Plomley ȧt
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th October 1857.
I, JOHN CROFT PLOMLEY, of Maidstone, in the County of Kent, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF DRYING MALT, HOPS, AND OTHER PRODUCE," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in a method of drying hops and other produce by
heated air introduced or made to act at the surface in addition to the ordinary
method of drying hops, malt, grain, and other like goods by causing currents
of heated air to penetrate through them. In addition to the drying, my:
method of introducing heated air to act on the surface of the goods carries.
off the damp and moisture arising from the ordinary method of drying, and
enables me to dry goods in a shorter time and to ensure a better quality in!
such goods, as hops,. than if only dried by the means now generally practised.
I fix a partition. round the drying chamber in front of the walls, and in the
space between the partition and the walls I drive up heated air, which is

page_text: directed upon the top of the goods resting upon the ordinary open drying
floor, and into the space between the surface of the goods and the ventilators
or outlet in the roof of the drying chamber. I apply this heated air in
addition to the heated air now sent up through the hops or other goods which
rest upon a perforated or open floor or support.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Croft Plomley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN.
CROFT PLOMLEY, of Maidstone, in the County of Kent, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Croft Plomley, Her special licence that I, the said John Croft
Plomley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Croft Plomley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
METHOD OF DRYING MALT, HOPS, AND OTHER PRODUCE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Croft Plomley, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument 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 John Croft Plomley, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:

page_text: My Invention consists in a method of drying hops and other produce by
heated air introduced or made. to act at the surface in addition to the ordinary
method of drying hops, malt, grain, and other like goods by causing currents.
of heated air to penetrate through them. In addition to the drying, my
method of introducing heated air to act on the surface of the goods carries
off the damp and moisture arising from the ordinary method of drying, and
enables me to dry goods in a shorter time, and to ensure a better quality in
such goods, as hops, than if only dried by the means now generally practised.
I fix a partition round the drying chamber in front of the walls, and in the:
space between the partition and the walls I drive or pass up heated air, which
is directed upon the top of the goods resting upon the ordinary open drying
floor, and into the space between the surface of the goods and the ventilators
or outlet in the roof of the drying chamber. I apply this heated air in
addition to the heated air now sent up through the hops or other goods which
rest upon a perforated or open floor or support.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have illustrated the manner in which
I carry my Invention into effect when constructing a new oast house, although
it is evident that my improved method of drying may readily be carried out
in ordinary oast houses by applying thereto suitable fires, deflectors, and
partitions in the manner about to be described.
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the new oast house; Figure 2 is a
horizontal section through the fires; and Figure 3 is a horizontal section at
the level of the perforated drying floor. A is the roof, which I prefer to form
of about the slope indicated in Figure 1; B is the perforated drying floor,
C is the partition which I introduce, and between which and the external
wall D, I place, in addition to the central fire E, 'the side fires F, F¹, of
which there may be two, three, four, or more; G, G', are deflecting plates
placed above the fires F, F', which plates may be hinged and furnished with
rods or other appliances, by means of which they may be raised or lowered
more or less as may be required. The action of the whole is as follows:-
The heated gases from the central fire E rise directly through the perforated
floor B as in ordinary oast houses, and the heated gases from the side fires
F, F, rising up between the wall D and the partition C are directed down
upon the substance to be dried by means of the deflecting plates G, G¹,
thereby aiding the drying thereof, and also helping to drive off the damp and
moisture arising from the action of the central fire E.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the method,

page_text: herein before described, of drying malt, hops, and other produce by means of
heated air or gases applied at the surface therof in addition to heated
currents applied thereto from below in the ordinary manner.
In witness thereof, I, the said John Croft Plomley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of April, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-eight.
J. C. PLOMLEY. (L.S.)