IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR DRYING, SIFTING, AND CLEANSING GRAIN AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of the Firm of John Gedge
and Son, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR
DRYING, SIFTING, AND CLEANSING GRAIN AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE."
-A communication from abroad by Antoine Auguste Dubard Dutarbre,
of Dijon, France, Corn Dealer.
Sealed the 17th December 1861, and dated the 20th June 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward. Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th June 1861.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of No. 11,
Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS OR
APPARATUS FOR DRYING, SIFTING, AND CLEANSING GRAIN AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL
PRODUCE," communicated to me from abroad by Antoine Auguste Dubard
Dutarbre, of Dijon, France, Corn Dealer, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the application of four cylinders furnished with
metallic webs or cloths (varying in fineness with the size of the grain to be
dried) fixed at one end in a large platform of wood or cast iron, and at the
other carried by an iron bar which receives the four axles. A shaft fixed in
the platform, together with the iron bar, supports the apparatus. In this
manner the axles of the four cylinders will make as many turns as the plat-
form, which is covered with a large circular piece of iron pierced with four

page_text: feeding apertures. This apparatus is placed in a hot or drying chamber, the
walls of which are of masonry and the arch of brickwork, a pipe starting from
its crown for escape of the vapours produced in drying the grain, the crown
being also pierced perpendicularly for the passage of a muffle, within which a
tray or sieve moves backwards and forwards and up and down. On lowering
a rack suitably placed two springs placed on the tray or sieve, and fixed above
the muffle, force the said tray or sieve to press down upon the circle carrying
the feeding holes, and each time, when (in turning) the orifices face the tray
or sieve, the grain descends spontaneously into the cylinders, a hopper large
enough to contain the necessary quantity for feeding the cylinders being placed
above for this purpose. These improvements obviate the necessity of any
person entering the drying chamber, the whole apparatus being worked by its
shaft from the exterior, and one workman will suffice to keep up the fire in
the stove and raise and lower the apparatus. Within the drying chamber is
a funnel-shaped receiver which receives the grain as it leaves the cylinders
and-throws it to the exterior by a passage through the wall, and at this moment
a cold blast acts upon the grain and deprives it of any steam or vapour which
it-may contain on leaving the drying chamber.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of No. 11, Wellington
Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Edward Gedge, Her special licence that I, the said William Edward
Gedge, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Edward Gedge, 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 "IM-
PROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR DRYING, SIFTING, AND CLEANSING GRAIN AND

page_text: OTHER AGRICOLTURAL PRODUCE," (a communication to me from abroad by
Antoine Auguste Dubard Dutarbre, of Dijon, France, Corn Dealer); upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Gedge,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 William Edward Gedge, 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, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
annexed (and forming part of this my Specification), in which Figure I. is a
plan, Figure II. an elevation, Figure III. section at A, B, Fig. II., and
Figure IV. section at C, D, Fig. II., and on which No. 1 (Figures 1 and 2)
indicates a pulley by which motion is given to the entire apparatus; 2 and 3,
supports or bearings forming pivot for the main shaft; 4 and 5, circular plat-
form of wood covered with iron, and furnished with iron cross bars and
distributing ring; 6, orifices by which the four cylinders are fed; 7, main shaft
carrying the whole apparatus; 8, 8', and 9, 9', axles of the four cylinders
(two only are shewn); 10, 11, 12, and 13 (Figures 3 and 4), iron cross bars
carrying the wooden rods which receive the wire gauze or metallic web
covering the four cylinders; 14, cross bars carrying the iron axles of the four
cylinders; 15, iron axle with pinion rack, cross bar, ratchet, and catch, the
whole intended to give at will the inclination necessary to cause the grain to
run out of the four cylinders; 16, iron rack upon the main shaft (7) tieing
the four cylinders together; 17 and 17', shoot by which the cylinders are fed;
18, iron cross bars fixed on the main axle (7) and carrying the four axles of
the cylinders; 19, ventilator or fan so arranged as to carry off the humidity
and the steam remaining upon the grain issuing warm from the four cylinders;
19, walls of the stove or hot-air chamber in which the apparatus is enclosed";
20, a shoot and clutch; 21, hopper; 22; flanges of the shoot; e and f, springs..
This Invention consists in the application of cylinders furnished with wire.
gauze or metallic web, varying in thickness with the grain or seed to be
dried, fixed and brought together at one end in a large wooden or iron plat-
form and carried at the other by iron cross bars which receive the axles of the
cylinders. A shaft fixed in the platform and the centre of the cross bars"
carries the whole apparatus. Thus the axles of the cylinders, bolted beyond

page_text: the platform and united together by a cross bar, as shewn in the Drawing
(No. 16), themselves turn as many times as the platform. The said platform
is surrounded with a ring or circle of metal pierced with the four feeding
orifices, No. 6. This apparatus is set in motion by the pulley No. 1, which
will transmit power from any motor. The machine is placed in a hot-air or
drying chamber, the walls of which are of masonry and the vault or roof of
brickwork, with a pipe (which may be closed with a key) passing through its
.summit to permit the escape of any steam arising from the grain in drying;
(this drying chamber is heated by a powerful stove). The vault is pierced
perpendicularly at I. for a clutch, No. 20, in which is a shoot which may rise
.and fall and move from side to side in the clutch, which is naturally lighter
than the shoot. When the rack (No. 15) is lowered, two springs e, f, placed
on the shoot and above the clutch force the said shoot upon the ring or circle
carrying the feeding orifices, and each time when, in turning, these orifices
confront the shoot, the merchandize enters the cylinders without manual aid;
the only requisite is, to provide above the shoot a large hopper (No. 21)
containing enough grain to feed the cylinders. The said shoot has flanges
(No. 22) which extend over the iron ring and compel it to follow the move-
ment of the apparatus, catching in and lowering and slightly advancing it.
The said feeder may be replaced by trumpet-shaped pieces known as horns of
plenty. This system affords, above others, the advantage of not necessitating
the entrance of any person into the hot chamber, in which, when brought to a
heat of 140 or 150° "Fahrenheit," no one could remain. The manual labour
required is very trifling, as one man can keep up the fire in the stove by which
the chamber is heated and also lower and raise the apparatus.
'
Where there is a mill a lift is made to pass the opening by which the
merchandize is discharged and carry it to an upper chamber, where it is left
to cool for 24 or 48 hours, as may be required; thus, from the moment it
enters the hot-air chamber the merchandize is continually in motion in the
heat and cannot but dry. By unbolting the cylinders they may be made to
rotate on themselves, and by inclining them the merchandize may, when
issuing from one, pour into the other; and thus travel over an indeterminate
space, according to the number of cylinders through which it will pass, so that
however damp it may be it must dry. The rack (No. 15), by which any
desired inclination may be given to the apparatus, is placed within the heated
chamber in a groove in the stone and resembles that of a jack. The axle
alone passes through the wall and receives the crank by which it is set in
motion. By this arrangement the apparatus, when working, may be lowered
and raised by a child: Within the heated chamber, and through the sides of

page_text: the wall, is a funnel-shaped receiver which receives the merchandize when
issuing from the cylinders and throws it out by a shoot passing through the
wall, and it is then that the cold air ventilator or fan acts upon the merchandize
and frees it from all the steam or vapour which it may contain on issuing from
the heated chamber, so that however damp the grain may have been, if the
fire in the stove has been well directed, it will issue dry from the apparatus.
The said apparatus may be mounted on a carriage or cart and be set in
motion by toothed gearing adapted to the nave of the wheel of the vehicle,
but in this case the hot-air chamber will be of iron in lieu of masonry. The
cylinders may be replaced by a similar arrangement and connection of spirals
fed in a similar manner, and also worked by a pulley; these spirals, provided
like the cylinders with wire gauze, will sift and destroy the germ in barley for
brewing, and separate and clean the other cereals. They will have 3, 4, 5, 8,
10 or more flaps or steps, as may be arranged, according to the quantity of
grain to be dried. This system is suitable for drying very damp grain, which
requires to remain long submitted to the hot air. The apparatus shewn in
the Drawing has but four cylinders, but 12, 20, or more may be used if there
be sufficient space.
I will now enumerate some of the great advantages afforded by this appa-
ratus. In drying grain and seeds it sifts and frees them from all dirt and
waste; it completely destroys worms, larvæ, weevils, and other insects (an
object much sought by economists), and that without damaging the seeds
while rendering them fit for sowing. In wet seasons corn is sometimes so
damp and sprouting that much of it is lost to consumption, and of that which
is ground much of the flour persistently adheres to the bran or husk; if passed
through the apparatus above described it will not be subject to this loss, will
grind thoroughly, and the flour will keep well. Bean flour which is mixed
in the proportion of two or three per cent. with corn flour must, to produce
the effect desired from the admixture, be of good quality and the bean be
thoroughly dry when grinding. On passing damp beans through the heated
chamber for about an hour they will issue softer than when introduced, but
after passing them beneath the cold air ventilator or fan they will be as dry
and fit for grinding as can be desired. The flour obtained from beans thus
stoved or dryed is much superior to all other, and will keep longer, thus
enabling millers who buy their bean flour to provide themselves without fear
of its heating and fermenting as hitherto. To sum up, there will no longer
be any grain withdrawn from consumption, no loss from worms, weevils, and
other insects, no more flour liable to heat, as this apparatus will thoroughly
cleanse grain and prepare it for grinding dry seeds, beans, and barley, as

page_text: barley or as malt, and other agricultural produce. It may also be used for
drying grain or other produce damaged by salt water, and which, after washing,
requires freeing from bad odour, and for many other analogous purposes.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the means by
which it is carried into practical effect, I desire it to be understood that I do
not confine myself to the precise details herein set forth and shewn in the
annexed Drawing, as variations such as I have herein-before described, and
others, may be made in the apparatus the subject of this Invention without
departure therefrom, and that I claim the exclusive use of the combination
and arrangement of apparatus, essentially as herein-before described and shewn
in the Drawing hereunto annexed, when forming "Improved Means or
Apparatus for Drying, Sifting, and Cleansing Grain and other Agricultural
Produce."
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of December, in the year 1
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
W. E. GEDGE. (L.S.)