IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN."
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Smith, senior, of Coven, near Wolver-
hampton, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING WHEAT AND
OTHER GRAIN."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Smith at tho Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th February
1862.
I, JOHN SMITH, senior, of Coven, near Wolverhampton, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING WHEAT AND OTHER
GRAIN," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in drying wheat and other
grain. In some cases. wheat and other grain are raised by means of streams
or currents of air forced or drawn through suitable pipes or passages in
thrashing machines, and also in other machines and structures. Heretofore,
when using streams or currents of air for the raising of wheat and other grain,
the air has been taken directly from the outer atmosphere, which in moist
weather is injurious to the grain. Now, my improvements consist in causing
the air used for raising grain to be heated, and to be used in a heated state, by
which the grain will be dried and improved when being raised.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th
August 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOIN
SMITH, senior, of Coven, near Wolverhampton, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Smith, Her special licence that I, the said John Smith,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Smith, my executors, administrators, 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 WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that J,
the said John Smith, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should parti-
cularly 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 Smith, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in drying wheat and other
grain. In some cases wheat and other grain are raised by means of streams
or currents of air forced or drawn through suitable pipes or passages in
thrashing machines, and also in other machines and structures. Heretofore,
when using streams or currents of air for the raising of wheat and other grain,
the air has been taken directly from the outer atmosphere, which in moist
weather is injurious to the grain. Now, my improvements consist in causing
the air used for raising grain to be heated and to be used in a leated state, by
which the grain will be dried and improved when being raised.
And in order that my Invention may be more readily understood, I will

page_text: now refer to the accompanying Drawings; which illustrate some of the
methods of applying the said Invention to thrashing machines.
Figure 1 shews a portion of a thrashing, machine, in which the grain is
elevated by the well-known action of the blades of a fan in combination with
the current of air caused by their rapid revolution, and Figure 2 is a vertical
section of the fan shewn in Figure 1. a is the fan; is the heated air tube,
through which the heated air enters the fan; c is the delivery tube by which
the grain is conveyed (along with the heated air) to other parts of the
thrashing machine; d is the corn spout. The corn is received from the
riddles of the thrashing machine by the spout d, and is carried by the fan a
up the delivery tube c to other parts of the thrashing machine, as in machines
heretofore constructed, where the grain has been raised by the fan; the heated
air is supplied to the centre of the fan by the tube b.
;
Figures 3 and 4 represent another arrangement for carrying out my
Invention Figure 3 shews a portion of a thrashing machine, in which the
grain is drawn up by the exhaustive action of a fan; and Figuro 4 is a
vertical section of the fan shewn in Figure 2. a is the fan; b is the tube
through which the heated air enters the box c, into which the grain is
admitted by the spout d for the purpose of being elevated to other parts of
the thrashing machine.
The corn is delivered from the spout d into the hopper e, and surrounds the
lower edge of the suction tube f, which is fixed so as to leavo about half an
inch space for the full inlet of the grain into the suction tube. The hot air
rushes from the box c into the tube f along with the corn, and both are
drawn into the fan at the centre, as shown in Figure 4, and are thence deli-
vered to other parts of the thrashing machine by the spout g, Figure 3. In
both these cases, the grain being exposed to the action of a current of heated
air, will be dried and improved when being raised.
It may be sometimes found convenient (when a portable steam engine is
used for thrashing) to connect the tube b with the smoke-box of the engine,
in order to obtain a supply of heated air, but the heated air may be otherwise
obtained, a separate fire being used to heat it. There is a slide by which cold
air can be admitted to the hot air pipe, so that the heat of the current of air
to which the grain is exposed may be regulated as may appear necessary.
I do not confine myself to the application of my Invention to thrashing
machines, as the Invention above described may be applied also in other
machines and structures; but what I claim is the arranging apparatus so as
to cause the air used for raising grain to be heated and to be used in a heated

page_text: state, as herein described, by which the grain will be dried and improved when
being raised.
In witness whereof, 'I, the said John Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
JOHN SMITH. .(L.S.)