IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREIN."
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Polkinhorn Huthnance, of Chipping Norton,
in the County of Oxfordshire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DRYING, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREIN."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Polkinhorn
Huthnance, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 24th July 1855.
I, RICHARD POLKINHORN HUTHNANCE, of Chipping Norton, in the County of
Oxfordshire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN DRYING, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
My Invention cousists in an improved mode or modes of constructing a
drying room and apparatus to be used therein, and an improved mode or modes
of constructing certain parts thereof.
In order to show my Invention more clearly, I have annexed a Sheet of
Drawings, the letters upon the several Figures of which refer to the description
hereafter given.
At one end of the room I construct a stove or furnace with iron grating
doors and hot plate, as herein-after described, and at the back of the furnace
I form a flue with fire bricks to convey the flame and smoke from the furnace
to the iron pipes; the flame and smoke is then caused to pass through tho
iron pipes, laid in a horizontal direction or nearly so, and within a short

page_text: distance from the floor through the centre of the room, by which means the
heat in the drying room is produced.
Within or around the flue at the back of the stove I construct and fix an
iron boiler for heating water, of the form of the said flue, and so made that
the flame and smoke can pass through the boiler to the pipes at the back, by
which means the water becomes heated; but this boiler is omitted when hot
water is not required. The door to the furnace I construct double, so as to
economise the heat and in order to regulate the draught of the furnace, I
put a door in the ash-pit, and introduce therein a sliding ventilator. The
pipes are placed side by side and over each other at a short distance from
the floor, and in order to assist the draught they are slightly inclined from
the flue up to the chimney. At a little distance above the pipes I lay a
platform of stone upon L-shaped iron bearers, in order to protect from
injury by the overheating of the pipes the articles proposed to be dried. The
pipes are supported in the centre by a brick or stone pier, and the ends
of the pipes are shouldered and let into cast-iron plates, perforated with
rebated holes or sinkings to receive them, and the iron plate is built into the
brickwork at the back of the furnace at one end of the pipes, and into the
chimney or flue at the other end.
The stove or furnace I construct in the following manner :-I form the
bottom of grating with loose cast-iron bars, let into an iron frame, and
build the same in brickwork. Over the flue (before described) at the
back of the furnace, and next to the drying room, I cover with stone, and
in the front of the furnace I fix a double iron door and frame. Over
the top of the furnace I fix a hot plate with cast-iron frame and three
cast-iron flaps; the frame and each of the flaps are rebated and fitted
together sufficiently loose to allow for the expansion of the metal, and at
the same time close enough to prevent the smoke and flame from the furnace
passing through the joints. This hot plate is intended to receive the flat
irons proposed to be heated in room adjoining the drying room, and to which
the hot plate is open, and an arch is thrown over the same in brickwork;
the furnace is made to face this adjoining room, and at the back of the hot
_plate is fitted_vertically_an_iron_plate perforated_with_holes, for the purpose
of admitting the air heated over the hot plate to pass through into the
drying room. And in order to regulate the quantity of air to be passed
through the plate, I place a vertical sliding flap to cover the side next the
drying room, and raise or lower the same, as may be required, and which will
also prevent dust or smoke from entering the drying room.
At the bottom of the chimney or flue, which is built at the end of the

page_text: drying room, and opposite to that where the furnace is built, I fix two iron
doors and frame, the upper being provided for sweeping the chimney and the
lower door for clearing away the soot. In the chimney or flue over the pipes
I fix an iron slide or damper to regulate the draught of the furnace.
At the end of the drying room, in which the furnace is built, 1 fix two doors,
one on each side of the furnace, to communicate with the adjoining room; and
in order to assist the ventilation and cause a draught through the drying room,
I perforate the lower part of the door, and place over the same a sliding door
or flap to regulate the draught. In the ceiling or roof of the drying room near
the chimney, I fix a ventilator of perforated zinc, or of other ordinary con-
struction, to allow the vapour arising from the articles dried to pass through
and to improve the draught.
The method of arranging the articles to be dried is on clothes horses, placed
ench side of the pipes, and on portable wood rail or lines reaching across the
drying room from one horse to the other.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the drying room, showing the apparatus;
2, transverse section of ditto; Figure 3, elevation of the front of the stove or
furnace to a large scale; 4, longitudinal section of ditto; 5, transverse section
of ditto: 6. perforated iron plate to receive ends of pipes; 7, plan of hot plate
and top of furnace; 8, section through pipes and stone platform over, and
elevation of support to the pipes in the centre.
A is the bottom grating of the furnace: B, the double door to the furnace;
', door to ash-pit with ventilator; C, the flue or passage from the furnace to
the pipes; c'. the boiler; D, the hot plate; d', d", d, the three plates let
into the hot plate; E, stone over the flue; F. F, perforated plates to receive
the ends of the pipes; G, the arch over the hot plate; H, the perforated plate
at the back and over the hot plate; h¹, the sliding flap over perforated plate;
I, the iron pipes through which the flame and smoke pass; J, the stone plat-
form on iron hearers laid over the pipes; K, the chimney or flue at the end of
the drying room; L, the iron door for sweeping the chimney; M, the iron
soot door for clearing away the soot; N, the damper to regulate the draught;
O, the ventilator in the ceiling or roof; P, the doors; p', ventilator at bottom
of doors; p", sliding door. The two sections of the drying room are to a
scale of 3/8ths of an inch to a foot. The detail drawings are 3, 4 of an inch
to a foot.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Polkinhorn Huthnance in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
POLKINHORN HUTHNANCE, of Chipping Norton, in the County of Oxfordshire,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Polkinhorn Huthnance, Her special licence that I, the said
Richard Polkinhorn Huthnance, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Richard Polkinhorn Huthnance, 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, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED
THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard
Polkinhorn Huthnance, 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 Richard Polkinhorn Huthnance, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
My Invention consists in an improved mode or modes of constructing a
drying room and apparatus to be used therein, and an improved mode or modes
of constructing certain parts thereof.
In order to show my Invention more clearly, I have hereunto annexed a
Sheet of Drawings, the letters upon the several Figures of which refer to the
description herein given.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
The isometrical view of the drying room is to a scale of 3/8ths of an inch
to a foot. The detail Drawings are three-quarters of an inch to a foot.

page_text: Figure 1 is an isometrical view of the drying room, with parts of the brick-
work and one of the doors broken away in order to show the apparatus and
general arrangement; 2, section of the two parellel plates, into which the ends
of the flue pipes are fixed next to the furnace; Figure 3, elevation of the front
of the stove or furnace to a larger scale, with sliding doors over, and perforated
plate (shown dotted) at the back of the arch; 4, longitudinal section of ditto;
5, transverse section of ditto; 6, perforated iron plate to receive ends of pipes;
7, plan of hot plate and top of furnace; 8, section through pipes and stone
platform over, and elevation of support to the pipes in the centre.
A is the bottom grating of the furnace; B, the double door to the furnace;
b', door to ash-pit with the ventilator; C, the flue or passage from the furnace
to the pipes; C, the boiler; D, the hot plate; d, d", d, the three plates let
into the hot plate; E, stove over the flue; F, F, perforated plates to receive
the ends of the pipes; G, the arch over the hot plate; II, the perforated plate
at the back and over the hot plate; h, the sliding flap over perforated plate;
h, the rack with guide rod over, attached to the sliding flap; h, wheel,
ratchet rod, and pinion to work the rack for raising or lowering the sliding
flap; I, the iron pipes through which the flame and smoke pass; J, the stone
platform on iron bearers laid over the pipes; K, the chimney or flue at the
end of the drying room; L, iron sliding doors with rollers; M, iron frame and
runners for doors to slide into, strengthened with iron quadrant or spandrel
corners; N, the damper to regulate the draught; n', iron bearers to carry
the stone platform; O, the centre support for the pipes, in brick or stone;
P, the doors to drying room, one on each side of furnace; p³, ventilator at
bottom of doors; ", slide in door.
At one end of the room I construct a stove or furnace with iron grating A,
door B, and hot plate D, as herein-after described, and at the back of the
furnace I form a horizontal flue C with fire bricks to convey the flame and
smoke from the furnace to the iron pipes I.; the flame and smoke is then
caused to pass through the iron pipes I, laid in a horizontal direction, or nearly
so, and within a short distance from the floor through the centre of the room,
by which means the heat in the drying room is produced.
Within and around the fluc C at the back of the stove I construct and fix
an iron boiler C¹ for heating water, of the form of the said flue C, and so made
that the flame and smoke can pass through the said flue C surrounded by the
boiler to the pipes I at the back, by which means the water becomes heated;
but this boiler C' is omitted when hot water is not required. The door to the
furnace B, I construct double, so as to economise the heat as well as preserve
the door, and in order to regulate the draught of the furnace, I put a door b' to

page_text: the ash-pit, and introduce therein a sliding ventilator. The pipes I are placed
side by side and over each other at a short distance from the floor, and in
order to assist the draught they are slightly inclined from the flue C up to the
chimney K. At a little distance above the pipes I, I lay a platform of stone J
upon longitudinal iron bearers n', in order to protect from injury, by the over-
heating of the pipes I, the articles proposed to be dried. The pipes I are sup-
ported in the centre by a brick or stone pier O, and the ends of the pipes I are
shouldered and let into cast-iron plates F, F', perforated with holes to receive
them, and the iron plate F, F¹, is built into the brickwork at the back of the
furnace at one end of the pipes I, and into the chimney or flue K at the other end.
I also add another plate parellel to the first, which I place a few inches apart
from the first, into which the ends of the pipes I are fixed; next the furnace,
between these two plates F and F, I insert clay, fire clay, or concrete, and fill
in the same around the pipes.
The stove or furnace I construct in the following manner:-I form the
bottom or grating A with loose cast-iron bars let into an iron frame, and build
the same in brickwork. Over the flue C (before described) at the back of the
furnace, and next to the drying room, I cover with stone E, and in the front of
the furnace I fix a double iron door and frame B. Over the top of the furnace I
fix a hot plate D, with cast-iron frame and three cast-iron flaps; the frame and
each of the flaps are rebatted and fitted together sufficiently loose to allow for
the expansion of the metal, and at the same time close enough to prevent the
smoke and flame from the furnace passing through the joints. This hot plate D
is intended to receive the flat irons, proposed to be heated in a room adjoining
the drying room, and to which the hot plate D is open, and an arch is thrown
over the same in brickwork G; the furnace is made to face this adjoining room,
and at the back of the hot plate is fitted vertically an iron plate H, perforated
with holes, for the purpose of admitting the air heated over the hot plate D to
pass through into the drying room; and in order to regulate the quantity of air
to be passed through the plate H, I place a vertical sliding flap & to cover the
inside next the drying room, and raise or lower the same with a rack and
pinion, as may be required, and which when closed will prevent dust or
smoke from entering the drying room.
At the bottom and outside of the chimney or flue K, which is built at the
end of the drying room, and opposite to that where the furnace is built, I fix
two iron doors and frame, the upper door being provided for the convenience
of sweeping the chimney, and the lower door for clearing away the soot. In
the chimney or flue over the pipe I fix an iron slide or damper N to regulate
the draught of the furnace.

page_text: At the end of the drying room, in which the furnace is built, I fix two doors
P, one on each side of the furnace, to communicate with the adjoining room;
and in order to assist the ventilation and to cause a draught through the drying
room I perforate the lower part of each door p, and place over the same a slide
p" to regulate the draught. In the ceiling or roof of the drying room near the
chimney I fix a ventilator, of perforated zinc or of other ordinary construction,
to allow the vapour arising from the articles dried to pass through and improve
the draught.
The method of arranging the articles to be dried is ou clothes horses, placed
each side of the pipes, and on portable wood rails or lines reaching across the
drying room from one horse to the other, and above the horses are placed
wooden rails, which are continued across the room from wall to wall nearly up
to the ceiling.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of my Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be carried out, I would have it understood that I
make no claim to any of the parts separately, nor do I confine myself to the
details, so long as the peculiar character of my Invention be retained; but I
declare that what I do claim is,-
First, the combination and arrangement of the drying room and apparatus,
as shown and described.
Secondly, the arrangement and combination of the furnace and hot plate,
perforated plate, sliding doors, with the boiler, as shewn and described.
Thirdly, the arrangement and combination of the furnace and hot plate with-
out the boiler C¹, as described.
Fourthly, the mode herein described of drying.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Polkinhorn Huthnance, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
RICHARD POLKINHORN HUTHNANCE. (L.S.)
Witness,
HENRY LAXTON.