IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN DRYING FABRICS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Saxon Snell, of No. 22, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Architect
and Surveyor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED IN DRYING FABRICS."
Sealed the 21st August 1875, and dated the 25th February 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Saxon Snell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 25th February 1875.
I, HENRY SAXON SNELL, of No. 22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Architect and Surveyor, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED IN DRYING FABRICS," to be as follows:
Revolving horses have heretofore been erected in drying closets for
the more easy placing and removal of the clothes or other fabrics, but
as at present arranged it has been necessary to enter the heated room or
to allow it to cool before entering.

page_text: In carrying out my Invention I employ a revolving horse divided on
plan into six or other suitable number of sections. This horse is capable
of revolving in a circular brick chamber of nearly the same diameter as
the horse.
The sections are divided by vertical partitions of galvanized iron,
wood, or other suitable material, and the door of the chamber is made of
such a size that when one of the sections enclosed by two of the partitions
is opposite to this door access is afforded to the clothes or other fabrics.
The upper and lower part of the chamber opposite the doorway and
immediately above and below the revolving horse is covered by plates
of iron, wood, or other suitable material of the size and shape of one of
the sections formed by the divisions. The remaining portion of the
floor at the ground level is an open grating.
It will be seen that by this arrangement any section of the drying
horse turned opposite to the doorway would form an enclosed space open
only on the side next the doorway, whilst all the other sections would be
open at top and bottom. Thus the person filling or emptying each
section of the revolving horse would not be exposed to the heat of the
closet, and the process of emptying and filling may be effected without
stopping the drying of the clothes contained in the other sections of the
horse.
When all the sections of the horse are full a valve in the bottom and
top plate may be opened to admit the heated air to that section, that
otherwise would be closed from the heat.
For heating the closet I erect the chamber with a pit sunk below the
level of the flooring above referred to, and I place a metal furnace in the
closet, but with one side open to the outer wall for facility of feeding.
From this furnace I carry a flue pipe, first circuitiouly and then
vertically, through the centre of the chamber to the roof, and finally
through a ventilating flue of brick or other material to the outer
air.
Air is admitted to the lower part of the drying chamber through
flues or openings, and emitted through the opening in the roof above.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Saxon Snell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
SAXON SNELL, of No. 22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Architect and Surveyor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Saxon Snell, Her special license
that I, the said Henry Saxon Snell, my my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Saxon Snell, 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
APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN DRYING FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Saxon Snell, my executors or admini-
strators, 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 Henry Saxon Snell, 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, that is to say:
Revolving horses have beretofore been erected in drying closets for the
more easy placing and removal of the clothes or other fabrics, but as at'
present arranged it has been necessary to enter the heated room or to
allow it to cool before entering.
In carrying out my Invention I employ a revolving horse divided on
plan into six or other suitable number of sections. This horse is capable.

page_text: circular stationary rail c', which is supported on the flooring c of the
drying chamber d in which the horse 6 revolves, and 6 are rails to aid.
in supporting the fabrics during the drying of them; 6 are other guide
rollers to aid in steadying the rotary motion.
The radial partitions 62 serve to separate the horse 6 into separate
sections; is the doorway for admission to the chamber d, and the
floor c of this chamber d is divided into sections corresponding with the
number of sections to the horse.
In the illustration given there are six to each, and these are so arranged
that when the horse is turned so that the section formed between two
radial partitions is directly opposite the door d¹ each of such sections of
the horse 6 will be correspondingly over a section of the flooring c, and
the section of the flooring just within the door d³, as well as the
roof c' thereof, are formed solid to act with the shield c³ in preventing
any direct heat from below passing therethrough to an attendant who
may be applying or removing fabrics in a section of the horse for the
time opposite the door d³. All the other sections c³ of the cover to the
flooring c are formed of open work for the free passage of heated air
up therethrough to act on the fabrics carried by such horse in its
revolution.
e is the chamber in which the required heat is generated from the
furnace f. This furnace f is supplied with fuel through the opening e¹
in the outer wall a, and the heat generated thereby in the chamber e
passes freely through the open parts c³ of the flooring c into the separate
sections of the horse, and there it passes away with the vapours generated
by the drying of the fabric therein through the flue g in the roof h;
f¹ is the chimney or flue by which the flame, smoke, and products of
combustion are conducted away from the fire-place f, and which in so
doing aids the heating of the chamber e. To facilitate this heating by
the pipe fit is laid in the chamber e in horizontal coils, from which it
rises up the interior of the cylinder and through the chimney 9 to aid
the draft.
Air is supplied to the chamber e down through passages a' in the wall
or case, or otherwise as desired.
The plates and c¹ may be formed each with a valve or valves to
admit of the heated air flowing through that section when the door d' is
closed.

page_text: .
It will be seen that by such an arrangement of parts any section of
the drying horse turned opposite to the doorway will form an enclosed
space open only on the side next the doorway, whilst all the other
sections will be open at top and bottom. Thus the person filling or
emptying any section of the revolving horse will not be exposed to the
direct heat of the closet, and the process of emptying and filling may
be effected without stopping the drying of the clothes contained in the
other sections of the horse.
When all the sections of the horse are full valves in the bottom and
top plates may be opened to admit the heated air to that section that
otherwise would be closed from the heat.
Having thus described my Invention and means which I adopt in.
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise arrangements of parts as shown and.
described, as the same may be varied; but what I do claim is, the
arranging or combining parts forming apparatus for the drying of fabrics
whereby access to a section of the revolving horse may be shut off from
the more direct action of the heat to facilitate access thereto whilst the
other sections are still under the direct action of the heat generated,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Saxon Snell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy..
five.