IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING FLAX PROOTHER FIUS SUBSTAN
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Samuel, of Great George Street, Westminster,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, and Alexander Woodlands
Makinson, of New Palace Yard, Westminster, in the County of Middle-
sex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING FLAX
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Samuel and
Alexander Woodlands Makinson at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 9th February 1854.
We, JAMES SAMUEL and ALEXANDER WOODLANDS MAKINSON, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING FLAX
STRAW, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES" to be as follows:-
We place the substance to be dried in a chamber in proximity to a series of
steam pipes or other heated surfaces, and at the same time we cause a current
of heated air to pass through the chamber by means of a steam jet or other
mechanical means. By this means the heat or a portion of the heat required
to convert the water in the substance into vapour is derived by conduction or
radiation from the heated surfaces, and the vapour is carried away by the
current of air, so that a rapid evaporation can be obtained without heating the
air to an injuriously high temperature, thus presenting a great advantage over
the employment of either heated surfaces or hot air alone. The evaporation

page_text: may be accelerated by causing a rapid rotary motion to be communicated to
the substance. We also obtain the advantages of rapid evaporation without
employing an injuriously high temperature by employing a close air-tight
chamber in which the flax or other substance is placed in proximity to heated
surfaces. We exhaust the air from this chamber, so as to cause the water to
evaporate rapidly in the partial vacuum thus formed, and we connect the
chamber with a condenser immersed in cold water or otherwise kept cool, so
that the vapour is condensed as fast as it is formed, and the vacuum is thus
kept up.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Samuel and Alexander Woodlands Makinson in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th August 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
SAMUEL, of Great George Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, and ALEXANDER WOODLANDS MAKINSON, of New Palace Yard,
Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said James Samuel and Alexander Woodlands Makinson, Her special
licence that we, the said James Samuel and Alexander Woodlands Makinson,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
James Samuel and Alexander Woodlands Makinson, our executors, adminis-
trators, and 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 FLAX STRAW AND OTHER FIBROUS SUB-
STANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said James Samuel
and Alexander Woodlands Makinson, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Woodlands Makinson, on
behalf of myself and the said James Samuel, 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 thereof,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
We place the flax straw or other fibrous substance to be dried in a chamber
in proximity to heated surfaces, and at the same time we cause a current of
heated air to pass through the chamber by means of a steam jet or other
mechanical means, as herein-after described. By this means the heat or a
portion of the heat required to convert the water in the substance into vapour
is derived by conduction or radiation from the heated surfaces, and the vapour
is carried away by the current of air, so that a rapid evaporation can be
obtained without heating the air to an injuriously high temperature, thus
presenting a great advantage over the employment of either heated surfaces or
hot air alone. The Invention is applicable to fibrous substances, whether in
the raw state, or spun, or woven, or otherwise manufactured.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing is a front view, and Figure 2 is an
end view, of an arrangement of apparatus for drying flax straw or other fibrous
substances according to our Invention. a, a, are a number of hot water plates
placed one above another at distances of two or three inches apart, or more or
less. Each hot water plate consists of a hollow rectangular box of metal or
other suitable material filled with hot water, which is kept at an even tempera-
ture by means of a steam pipe passing through it. To assist the tendency of
the water to acquire an uniform temperature, the plates in the direction of
their breadth are placed in a slightly inclined position as shewn in Figure 2.
A is the main steam pipe from which the branch pipes b, b, pass through one
or more of the plates a, a, and discharge into the eduction pipe B. These hot
water plates are placed in a close chamber E, having an opening C for the admis-
sion of air, and another opening D for the exit of the air loaded with moisture.
The air which enters at C is heated to about one hundred degrees of
Fahrenheit's thermometer, or to such other temperature as the flax straw or
other fibrous substance to be dried is capable of sustaining without injury. For
heating the air we prefer to employ an apparatus called "Gurney's heating
battery," herein-after described, but any other suitable apparatus for heating
air may be employed.
The opening D is in connection with a steam jet, or a fan or other mechanical
apparatus for drawing the air from the chamber E, or a fan or other mechanical

page_text: means may be employed to drive the air into the chamber at C. The flax
straw or other fibrous substances to be dried is placed between two adjacent
hot water plates a, a, but not in contact with either, being supported midway
between a light wire or other grating. The flax straw thus receives radiant
heat from the two opposite surfaces, which may be covered with a thin coat of
lamp black or some other substance producing a good radiating surface. The
steam jet or fan or other apparatus being put in action, the air enters at C,
and being warmed by the heating apparatus it passes between the hot water
plates a, a, and after absorbing the vapour from the material to be dried, it
passes away through the opening D. The plates a, a, may be heated by a
current of hot water caused to circulate through the pipes b, or through the
plates themselves, as in the various hot water apparatus employed for heating
buildings. When a condensing steam engine is sufficiently near to the appa-
ratus, the water of condensation may be conveyed through the plates a, a, and
thus a portion of the heat which would otherwise be lost in the water of con-
densation may be advantageously employed. These plates a, a, may also be
heated by introducing into them heated air or steam, or by any other means
capable of maintaining them at an uniform temperature below that which is
capable of injuring the flax straw or other fibrous substance to be dried.
may observe that we have found a temperature of from one hundred and twenty
to one hundred and thirty degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer to be a suitable
temperature for the plates a, a, when drying flax straw. Other temperatures
may, however, be adopted. In lieu of the plates a, a, a series of pipes or other
heated surfaces may be substituted. Thus the flax straw or cloth or other
fibrous substance to be dried may be wound round a heated pipe or series of
heated pipes, and the current of heated air brought in contact with it, and
various other arrangements may be adopted.
We
In Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, of the accompanying Drawing is shewn
another arrangement of apparatus for drying flax straw or other fibrous sub-
stances according to our Invention. In this apparatus the evaporation is
accelerated by causing a rapid rotary motion to be communicated to the
substance to be dried. Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the apparatus;
Figure 4 is a plan, and Figure 5 is a transverse section of the same; Figure 6
is an end view, and Figure 7 is a front view of the same. The same letters
refer to similar parts in each of these Figures.
a is a cylindrical vessel or steam chest; b is a steam pipe; and c is an
eduction pipe, both of which pipes are firmly attached to the ends of the
cylinder a, and are concentric with it. The eduction pipe c is made to dip

page_text: down to near the bottom of the cylinder, so as to prevent any great accumu-
lation of water of condensation in the steam cylinder a. A cock is fixed on
each of the pipes b and c, near to the steam cylinder, for the purpose of
regulating and controlling the admission of the steam.
By means of a
engine or other
d is a cylinder made of some good conducting metal, concentric with the
steam cylinder a, and carried at its two ends by two wheels ff, revolving
loosely upon the pipes b and c. We prefer to make one of these wheels a
plate or disc wheel, so as to prevent the warm air from flowing between the
cylinders a and d. Attached to one of these wheels, and revolving with it
upon the steam pipe b, upon which it bears, is a pulley g.
strap h or otherwise, motion is communicated from a steam
prime mover to this pulley, and with it to the cylinder d. e is a net made of
coarse canvass, or of wire or any other suitable material, one end of which is
attached to the cylinder d, either permanently or so as to be readily connected
and disconnected. The length of the net is a few inches more than the cir-
cumference of the cylinder d. The net is extended as shewn in Figures 4
and 6, and it is then loaded with the flax straw or other fibrous substance to
be dried. The cylinder d being then turned round, the loaded net is wound
round the cylinder, and the free end of the net is firmly attached to its fixed
end or to the cylinder d, and, if necessary, the net is further secured to the
cylinder by cords passing round it. Figures 3 and 5 represent the net as
wound round the cylinder.
The cylinder d is entirely surrounded and boxed in by a casing of wood or
other material k, with the exception of two openings at 7 and m. The opening
at is for the introduction into the interior of the outer casing of air heated
to one hundred degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, or to whatever other
temperature the material to be dried may be safely subjected to. This air
may be heated by any known convenient means. We prefer to use, and the
Drawing shows, a heating apparatus called Gurney's heating battery, which is
composed of a series of plates of zinc or other suitable metal n, fixed on or
soldered to a steam pipe p, through which steam circulates. A large extent
of moderately heated surface is thus exposed to the air, which is thus heated
to the required temperature. The other opening m in the casing is for the
exit of the warm air after it has passed over and round the material to be
dried, and has taken up a portion of vapour. A door i is placed at one side
of the casing k, to allow of the net e being extended, as shewn in Figures 4
and 6.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-Steam being admitted into the

page_text: cylinder a, heat is radiated and carried by the surrounding air from its external
surface on to the interior surface of the cylinder d, and the heat thus radiated
or conveyed is given out by the cylinder d, partly by conduction and partly by
radiation to the enveloping wet substance. To increase the radiation as much
as possible both the interior and exterior surfaces of the cylinder d, and the
exterior surface of the cylinder a, are coated with lamp black, or black paint,
or sealing wax, or other substance producing a good radiating surface. The
cylinder d being put in rapid rotary motion, the wet material is driven rapidly
through the surrounding stratum of warm air, and the vapour formed by the
heat radiated or conducted from the surface of the cylinder d to the wet
material, is at once driven, off and absorbed by the surrounding warm air. The
centrifugal force produced by the rapid rotation of the cylinder d, has a tendency
to drive out the air at m, and this tendency is increased by means of a few
spiral arms or blades attached to the inner surface of the casing k, and inclined
at an angle of twenty-five to fifty degrees, more or less, with the axis of the
cylinders, and leading towards the opening m. The air which is carried
round by the revolving cylinder & strikes against these blades, and is con-
ducted along them towards the opening m. Other mechanical means, such as
a fan or steam jet, may be employed for producing the current of warm air if
preferred.
In lieu of heating the cylinder a by means of steam, it may be heated' by
hot water, or by the hot gases from a furnace, or by any other known means.
The relative diameters and distance between the two cylinders a and d may
be varied according to the temperature of the steam, or other heating medium
employed, and the temperature to which the substance to be dried is required
to be exposed. The greater the difference between these two temperatures,
the greater may be the distance between the two cylinders a and d. When
the difference between these two temperatures is very small, the cylinder d
may be dispensed with, and the net is then fastened and wound round the
cylinder a instead. This cylinder is then furnished with trunnions and
trunnion bearings, and stufling boxes for the entrance and exit of the steam
or other heating medium, and it is caused to revolve by means of a pulley and
strap, or otherwise. One or a series of these apparatus may thus be made to
serve as the condenser for a steam engine, and the heat which is usually
wasted may thus be advantageously employed.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, we wish it to be tinderstood that we do not claim
generally the drying of fibrous substances by means of surfaces heated by

page_text: steam or other heating medium, nor do we claim generally the application of
a current of heated air produced by mechanical means for that purpose; but
what we claim is,-
Firstly, the drying of flax straw and other fibrous substances, by placing
the same in proximity to heated surfaces, and at the same time causing a
current of heated air to pass through or in contact with the same by mechanical
means, as herein-before described.
Secondly, the drying of flax straw and other fibrous substances, by com-
municating rotary motion to the same when in proximity to heated surfaces,
and at the same time causing a current of heated air to pass through or in
contact with the same by mechanical means, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Woodlands Makinson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
ALEXANDER WOODLANDS MAKINSON.
(L.S.)
Witness,
CHARLES COWPER,
20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane,
London.