Iм- PROVED MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND DRYING MOIST SUB- STANCES, OR DRYING AND BURNING GRANULAR SUBSTANCES, OR EVAPORATING LIQUID SUBSTANCES, AND FOR ECONOMIZING THE WASTE HEAT PRODUCED IN SUCH PROCESSES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Gordon, of San Francisco, California, in
the United States of America, at present residing at Morley's Hotel
Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "Iм-
PROVED MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND DRYING MOIST SUB-
STANCES, OR DRYING AND BURNING GRANULAR SUBSTANCES, OR EVAPORATING
LIQUID SUBSTANCES, AND FOR ECONOMIZING THE WASTE HEAT PRODUCED IN SUCH
PROCESSES."
Sealed the 31st December 1867, and dated the 2nd July 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Gordon at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd July 1867.
I, GEORGE GORDON, of San Francisco, California, in the United States of
America, at present residing at Morley's Hotel, Charing Cross, in the County
of Middlesex,do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND DRYING MOIST SUBSTANCES, OR DRYING
AND BURNING GRANULAR SUBSTANCES, OR EVAPORATING LIQUID SUBSTANCES, AND
FOR ECONOMIZING THE WASTE HEAT PRODUCED IN SUCH PROCESSES," to be as
follows:-
1. This Invention has two objects, the first is to economize heat and labour
used to wash, dry, or burn certain moist substances, or for any combination of
[Price 8d.]

page_text: these processes and to evaporate liquid substances; the second is to catch and
utilize the steam and heat given off from moist and liquid substances during
evaporation or by radiation from cooling substances in manufacturing opera-
tions where at present such steam and heat are allowed to escape wastefully
into the air or into a chimney or flue.
2. The second part of this Invention is not intended to apply to any
operation in which the production of steam is the chief object, nor to any
operation where liquid or moist substances are evaporated ordesiccated for the
purpose of catching and preserving the vapours or gases given off, nor where
as a part of the process the steam rising from the liquid or moist substances
operated upon has been formed in vacuo, but exclusively relates to manu-
facturing processes where heretofore the steam and heat given off during
evaporating or cooling has been allowed to escape wastefully into the air, or
has been conducted into chimnies and flues.
3. There are two ways in which the steam spoken of is to be utilized, the
first by bringing it in contact with a cooler material which condenses it into.
water, in which process it yields to that material part of its sensible and the
whole of its latent heat; (the latter being that which this Invention is
especially intended to utilize), and the second by bringing it into contact with
a hotter material, which imparts to it a higher temperature and expansive force
(preserving the latent heat unaltered), so that it can be used as motive power
for any purposes for which steam is applied.
4. In carrying out this Invention the moist substances to be dried are placed
in vessels or chambers which are supplied either with steam heat in pipes or
passages, or with heated air passed through them, or with direct furnace
exterior heat, or with combinations of such agents. They are closed chambers
except openings to admit heated air when required to dry the material and an
outlet for taking off the steam formed in the process, which outlet commu-
nicates with an external passage or passages for conducting it to the apparatus
in which it is to be utilized. The chambers have doors of suitable size to allow
the entrance and exit of the substances to be dried, which doors are closed
while the drying process is going on.
5. When these drying chambers are arranged to work continuously upon
substances in a granular form they are fitted with introducing hoppers and
discharging hoods in order that the introduction and discharge of such
substances may be effected continuously with the least possible escape of steam
into the air. When it is required to secure the removal of the steam from
every part of the mass being operated upon as fast as possible, perforated pipes
or chambers are introduced into the mass of the material, which pipes or

page_text: chambers communicate with the external conducting pipes or passages named
above for conducting the steam.
When the substance to be dried is textile and capable of being wound
along in continuous lines it may be fed and discharged continuously into and
out of such chambers through orifices in their walls, which are fitted to close
except a space sufficient to allow the passage of the material while it keeps it
in the drying chamber a sufficient length of time to effect its desiccation; it is
either drawn in by internal rollers from which it falls in light heaps in the
chamber, to be drawn out by external rollers at a later period, or it may be
wound into the chamber and kept there on drums or pulleys heated or other-
wise of sufficient surface and slow speed to dry it in its continuous motion
through the chamber from which it is drawn by external rollers or other
convenient mechanism.
:
7. When the material to be dried is of short staple, such as wool or cotton
or is of a flocculent character it may be wound in and out of such chambers
on belts, screws, or revolving drums fitted with castings attached to the
chamber walls so as to exclude air from and retain steam in the chamber
during the entrance and exit of the material, which may be moved
through the chamber to the discharging end by similar or analogous
contrivances..
8. In cases where it is desirable to dry granular substances in open
chambers either by heated air, steam heat, or external heat, or by combinations
thereof, I insert into the mass of the substances in such chambers a series of
inverted funnels one over the other, the upper one of which is attached or
connected to the passages leading to the utilizing apparatus hereafter to be
described, by which the steam entering such apparatus from the drying mass is
utilized. The form and size of these and the formerly described vessels
or chambers is variable with the requirements of different articles to be
heated; they may be stationary or have rotary, oscillating, reciprocal, or
other motion, or may have internal contrivances for moving or stirring their
contents.
9. In the evaporation of liquids from substances in solution I employ
chambers placed horizontally or nearly so, and made wholly or partially to
revolve; they are heated by external furnace heat, or steam heat, or have
heated air admitted into them; they are closed except for the inlet and outlet
of the liquid, and the outlet for steam to be utilized, and the inlet for heated
air. They are divided into longitudinal compartments by internal annular
flanges or rings attached to their sides for the purpose of dividing the liquid
into separate portions as it progresses and increases in density so that

page_text: different degrees of heat may be applied to each portion as required. There
are longitudinal ribs or projections in such compartments also attached to the
interior sides of the chambers and set either in the radial lines or at an angle
to a line drawn across the axis of the vessel in order that as the vessel
revolves portions of the liquid may be lifted up and showered down through
the currents of heated air introduced into the chamber; they are provided
with either a stationary or movable apparatus internally to feed the liquid
forward over the annular division from compartment to compartment.
10. In applying the second part of the Invention, namely, the catching and
utilizing the steam and heat given off from moist and liquid substances during
drying or evaporation, I do not confine myself to connecting it with vessels, or
chambers, or processes, such as I have described, but intend to apply it to
vessels of any form and however heated where the steam from drying or
evaporation ordinarily escapes wastefully into the air or into Hues.
11. In the latter case I place a cover (preferably tight fitting) on an open
vessel to enclose the steam; this cover may be fitted with various contrivances
for admitting the material to be evaporated and for other purposes. It has
a pipe and a passage for conducting away the steam to be utilized.
12. I now proceed to describe the second part of the Invention, namely,
to catch and utilize the steam and heat given off from moist and liquid
substances during evaporation, drying, and so forth.
13. I have already described how the steam is caught; it is utilized as
follows: The passages heretofore named conduct it to vessels containing any
liquid or solid substances of lower temperature than itself, which requireto be
heated for future use where it mingles intimately with or permeates amongst
such substances, and becoming condensed yields up all its latent and part of
its sensible heat; or it is conducted into enclosed spaces of passages sür-
rounded by or surrounding other spaces or passages containing liquid or
aeriform matters also of lower temperature, and intended to be heated for.
subsequent use, or to be evaporated at temperatures below the open airboiling
point; or it is conducted through some heating apparatus of any convenient
kind to enable it to obtain increased heat and pressure so as to be used over
again for any purpose for which steam is used.
14. The steam or steam and heated air may be caused to pass through the
substances, passages, or apparatus by which its heat is extracted by means of
a draught, an injection, fan, or air pump, or by any convenient forcing or
exhausting contrivance; or its withdrawal from the chambers where it is
formed may be caused by the condensation effected during its passage in
contact with the colder substances or surfaces to which it imparts it's

page_text: beat, as above described, or by combinations of forcing or exhaustion and
condensation.
15. To illustrate this by some examples, suppose a substance requires
washing in hot water and afterwards drying, I capture the steam evaporated
from the drying process, and either conduct, draw, or drive it amongst the
washing water direct, or into pipes or passages in contact with that water to
which in either case it imparts its latent and part of its sensible heat. If the
washing water requires to be equal to or above the temperature of the steam
I cause the steam to traverse some heating apparatus before it reaches the
washing water.
16. Suppose a liquid requires to be evaporated, the steam produced may be
drawn away and forced by any convenient contrivance through a heating
apparatus back into pipes or passages in contact, first, with the liquid being
evaporated, and afterwards with the stock of liquid waiting to be received into
the evaporator.
17. In cases where moist or liquid substances can be advantageously
evaporated in vacuo the steam to be utilized is conducted to pipes, worms, or
passage's in contact with the said substances, and there condensed. If the
steam does not traverse the condensing passage quick enough, or it is desired
to produce a partial vacuum in the drying or evaporating vessel, I place a
pipe from the condensed water outlet of the worm or passages to the pipe
leading to the air pump, by which a small or large degree of exhaustion may
be produced; this is also an example of steam being withdrawn and utilized
by the combined effect of exhaustion and condensation.
18. When granular substances, as, for instance, animal charcoal, require in
addition to being dried to be burned to a red heat free from contact with the
atmosphere and washed, I treat them as follows:-
19. I carry them on belts (as described in the Specification of Letters
Patent granted to me, bearing date the Sixth day of October, A.D. 1866,
No. 2571,) which deliver regular continuous and even quantities into a
washing chamber or vessel, open and stationary, placed horizontally, or nearly
so, and divided into two or more compartments which separate the washing
waters, which are so placed that the water from the upper compartment flows
into the next, and so on. The chamber may have motion imparted to it, in
which case it is 'substantially the same as that described in paragraph 9 for
evaporating, except that the ends are open.
20. The material to be washed enters at the lower end; the water enters
at the upper. The material I carry into and through this chamber on a
washing belt or belts horizontal or lying at an angle, which traverse below the

page_text: water, except where they emerge to convey the said material over thedivisions
of the compartments. Sometimes together with the belts I employ shaking
tables or plates set on a revolving shaft either of them with a plane surface or
with projections on the surface, or with the surface like a succession of steps;
the action of these belts, or shaking tables, or revolving plates is to lift up the
material and let it fall through water several times in succession as it is carried
through the chamber; these work under water.
21. This water is heated either by the waste flue heat from the kiln, the
heat from the water coolers, or steam from [the drying chambers, all hereafter
described.
22. When the material after washing requires to have the water which will
not drain away from it forced out it is either subjected to a centrifugal
motion or received into chambers with perforated sides, or bottoms, or passages
in them, which chambers are covered, and a sharp jet of steam or compressed
air is admitted, which drives out the drainable moisture from the material,
which is then conveyed by belts to the drying chambers and burning kiln and
coolers.
23. This last-named apparatus cousists, first, of driers, which are either
similar to the chambers described in paragraphs 3 and 4; or they may be
tubular chambers, the form of which in the central cross section is a sort of
segments of circles or other figures; these being united at the ends make
chambershavingnarrowlongitudinalpassages extending through them, which
as the driers rotate over a furnace furnish additional heating surface.
24. These driers are placed either horizontally or at an angle. The inside
of the exterior sides have longitudinal ribs on them to carry up the material;
the flat surfaces have ribs also set at such angles as to form a series of straight
inclined planes, along which the material slides towards the discharging end
as the chamber rotates.
25. Or these driers may be chambers of a rectangular, oval, or D-shaped
section, with their bottoms made in a series of descending steps, the steps
having such a slope and the risers such a depth. as to suit the varying
cohesiveness of the material, which when moist moves more sluggishly than.
when dry; they mayalso have ribs at the bottom to strengthen them and divide
or guide the material. The motion to these retorts is a shake from side to side
or from back to front, or a mixed motion, and they strike a buffer, or weight,
or spring, or have other equivalent meaus to create a jar or concussion.
26. The above form of drier, either with steps, as above, or without them,
either of varying inclination in its length or a straight plane, may
be stationary, and the material therein stirred and pushed along. by a
1

page_text: system of rakes inside, or other propelling mechanism worked by gearing from
without.
27. Or in a stationary retort of any external shape I place one or more
loose plates, which may be formed of a series of steps of varying or regular
inclination, or simple planes set level or at any inclination, or a series of con-
nected planes of different inclination, to which plates by external power are
given the motions described with reference to the driers in paragraph 25.
28. The object in the above three driers is to maintain a constant even
thin stream of the material to bedried. All the driers described herein possess
appliances for continuous feeding; all have passages for drawing off the waste
steam, which may be so contrived that the steam before it leaves the chamber
shall heat the entering material; all are otherwise air-tight, and all discharge
their contents direct into the burning retorts without contact with the atmos-
phere, by which simultaneously with the utilization of the steam in the drying
the gases in the burning are drawn off harmlessly, and all internal pressure
on the burning retorts is prevented. In the case of auimal charcoal I do
not claim as new the mere condensation of the gases or vapours. When there
are more retorts or chambers than one in a kiln, and it is desirable to be able
to graduate the supply of material to be delivered to each, employ an
adjustable feed hopper, at the bottom of which carrier belts traverse and go to
each retort, taking off each its own load, which may be increased or diminished
by widening the belt, increasing its speed, or other equivalent means; or
I employ a belt traversing all the retorts from such hopper, and at each
retort employ a scraper to intercept so much of the load as is desired for
any retort.
29. The above forms of driers may at the option of the operator be
converted into burners by extending their length, prolonging the time of the
material in the retort, or increasing the heat, so passing the material burned
directly to the coolers.
30. But I prefer retorts set vertically in a kiln with continuations for
cooling below the kiln, both being the general descriptions embodied in the
Specification of my Patent, No. 2571/, above referred to, except that they
may be made wider at the top than at the bottom, and that the bottom of the
coolers, which are either set in water or have water chambers inside them, I
place double discharging valves, the space between which forms a chamber
for measuring the quantity of material emitted, which valves are opened and
closed by an alternate mechanical motion, and have a yielding contrivance
which gives way in case of a nail or other hard substance being caught in the
valves as they shut.

page_text: 31. The waste heat given off from the coolers (of the material which has been
burned in the kiln) to the water is utilized as described in connection with
animal charcoal in the Specification of my Patent, No. 2571/, above referred
to, or it is retained and evaporated as steam, which is used in the same way
as the waste steam from driers. Instead of water in the cooling chambers
solutions of substances requiring concentration may be substituted.
32. Sometimes I construct an apparatus which forms at once drying
burning, and cooling chambers. Into the upper part (which I term the
drying portion) the material to be treated is received through hoppers which
admit while the external air is excluded and the internal steam kept in.
The drying portion of this apparatus is traversed with passages which permit
the currents of a furnace to pass through them, so as to heat the internal mass
of the material to be dried without admitting air. The burning portious of
this apparatus consist of narrow continuations of the drying chambers, and
the cooling portions consist of continuations of the burning portions. The
whole is placed in a furnace in such a way that the cooling portions shall be
below the furnace and descend into or contain water chambers. Within the
apparatus and descending through the mass of the material in the drying
portion, and if necessary into the burning portion, are a series of funnels
reversed.placed one above the other and loosely connected, the top one leading
to any of the heat utilizing apparatus herein-before described; to these
funnels a slight rotary, oscillatory, or other motion may be given, or I take a
kiln, such as is ordinarily known amongst sugar refiners as an upright retort
kiln for charcoal burning, and covering the retorts with a cover fitted with
introducing hoopers, as above described, place in the retorts the inverted
funnels, motions, and connections, as above described; and where it is
necessary in the lower portions of such retorts to compel the material to
traverse downward in thin strata I either fill up the centre of the retort
internally or split it with a passage way which admits the exterior heat.
33. In applying fire to the drying and burning apparatus I reverse the
usual order of conducting the operation, and apply the whole or the major part
of the combustible gases from the furnace to the drying chamber, first com-
mencing at the end wk re the wet material enters; from thence I cause the
gases to travel along the brick chambers, in which the driers are set to the
burning kiln amongst the retorts; after issuing thence, which they do at a
high temperature, I cause them to pass into a chamber fitted with pipes or
perforated bricks for heating air, and conduct the air thus heated either to the
furnace or to various parts of the flues, drier, or kiln chambers, where I wish
to promote active combustion; after passing through the air-heating chamber

page_text: the gases pass under the washing vessel or chamber, heretofore described,
on their way to the chimney.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Gordon in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
GORDON, of San Francisco, California, in the United States of America, at
present residing at Morley's Hotel, Charing Cross, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her reign
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Gordon, Her special licence that I, the said George Gordon, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Gordon, 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 "IMPROVED MEANS
OF AND APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND DRYING MOIST SUBSTANCES, OR DRYING AND
BURNING GRANULAR SUBSTANCES, OR EVAPORATING LIQUID SUBSTANCES, AND FOR
ECONOMIZING THE WASTE HEAT PRODUCED IN SUCH PROCESSES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George Gordon, my executors or admini-
strators, by an instrumeut 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 George Gordon, 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 in writing, and on reference to the accompanying Drawings, that is
to say :-
1, This Invention has two objects, the first is to economise heat and labor

page_text: used to wash, dry, or burn certain moist substances (or for any combination of
these processes)and to evaporate liquid substances; the second is to catch and
utilize the steam and heat given off from moist and liquid substances during
evaporationorby radiation from coolingsubstancesinmanufacturing operations
where at present such steam and heat are allowed to escape wastefully into
the air or into a chimney or flue.
2. The second part of this Invention is not intended to apply to any
operation in which the production of steam is the chief object, nor to any
operation where liquid or moist substances are evaporated or desiccated for
the purpose of catching and preserving the vapours or gas given off, nor
where as a part of the process the steam arising from the liquid or moist
substances operated upon has been formed in vacuo, but exclusively relates
to manufacturing processes where heretofore the steam and heat given off
during evaporating or cooling has been allowed to escape wastefully into the
air or has been conducted into chimneys or flues.
3. There are two ways in which the steam spoken of is to be utilized, the
first by bringing it into contact with a cooler material which condenses it into
water, in which process it yields to that material part of its sensible and
the whole of its latent heat (the latter being that which this Invention is
specially intended to utilize), and the second by bringing it into contact
with a hotter material, which imparts to it a higher temperature and expansive
force (preserving the latent heat unaltered so that it can be used as motive
power for any purpose for which steam is applied.
4. In carrying out this Invention the moist substances to be dried are
placed in vessels or chambers, which are supplied either with steam heat
in pipes or passages, or with heated air passed through them, or with direct
furnace exterior heat, or with combinations of such agents; they are closed
chambers but have openings to admit heated air when required to dry the
material and an outlet for taking off the steam formed in the process, which
outlet communicates with an external passage or passages for conducting it
to the apparatus in which it is to be utilized. The chambers have doors of
suitable size to allow the entrance and exit of the substances to be dried,
which doors are closed while the drying process is going on.
5. When these drying chambers are arranged to work continuously upon
substances in a granular form they are fitted with introducing hoppers and
discharging hoods in order that the introduction and discharge of such
substances may be effected continuously with the least possible escape of
steam into the air. When it is required to secure the removal of the steam
from every part of the mass being operated upon as fast as possible per-

page_text: forated pipes or chambers are introduced into the mass of the material,
which pipes or chambers communicate with the external conducting pipe or
passages named above for conducting the steam to the utilizing apparatus.
6. When the substance to be dried is textile and capable of being wound
along in continuous lines, it may be fed and discharged continuously into
and out of such chambers through orifices in their walls, which are fitted to
close, leaving however a space to allow the passage of the material, while to
keep it in the drying chamber a sufficient length of time to effect its desicca-
tion it is either drawn in by internal rollers from which it falls in light heaps
in the chamber to be drawn out by external rollers at a later period, or it
may be wound into the chamber and kept there on drums or pulleys heated
cr otherwise of sufficient surface and slow speed to dry it in its continuous
motion through the chamber.
7. When the material to be dried is of short staple, such as wool or cotton,
or is of a flocculent character it may be wound in and out of such chambers
on belts, screws, or revolving drums fitted with casings attached to the
chamber walls so as to exclude air from and retain steam in the chamber
during the entrance and exit of the material, which may be moved through
the chamber to the discharging end by similar or analogous contrivances.
8. In cases where it is desirable to dry granular substances in open
chambers either by heated air, steam heat, or external heat, or combinations
thereof, I insert into the mass of the substances in such chambers a series
of inverted funnils one over the other and attached, the upper one of which is
connected with the passages leading to the utilizing apparatus to be here-
after described, by which the steam entering such apparatus from the drying
mass is utilized. The form and size of these chambers or vessels varies with
the requirements of different articles to be treated; they may be stationary
or have rotary, oscillating, reciprocal, or other motion, or may have internal
contrivances for moving or stirring their contents.
9. In the evaporation of liquids from substances in solution I employ
chambers placed horizontally or nearly so, and stationary, or made wholly or
partially to revolve; they are heated by external furnace heat, or steam heat,
or have heated air admitted into them; they are closed except for the inlet
and outlet of the liquid, and the outlet for steam to be utilized, and the inlet
for heated air if it be used; they are preferably divided into longitudinal
compartments by internal annular flanges or rings attached to their sides for
the purpose of dividing the liquid into separate portions as it progresses and
increases in density, so that different degrees of heat may be applied to each
portion if required. When the evaporator is moveable there are longitudinal

page_text: ribs or projections in such compartments also attached to the interior sides of
the chambers (and set either on the radial lines or at an angle to a line drawn
across the axis of the vessel) in order that as the vessel revolves portions of the
liquids may be lifted up and showered down through the currents of heated
air introduced into the chamber; they are provided with either a stationary
or movable apparatus internally to feed the liquid forward over the annular
divisions from compartment to compartment, as illustrated by referring to
Figures 2 and 3, on Sheet 2 of the annexed Drawings, Figure 2 being a
longitudinal section, and Figure 3 a cross section of an evaporating cylinder
constructed according to this part of my
Invention.
10. In applying the second part of the Invention, viz., the catching and
utilizing the steam and heat given off from moist and liquid substances,
during drying or evaporation I do not confine myself to connecting it with
chambers or vessels, or processes such as I have described, but intend to
apply it to vessels of any form, and however heated, where the steam from
drying or evaporation ordinarily escapes wastefully into the air or into
flues.
11. In the latter case I place a cover (preferably tight fitting) on any open
vessel to inclose the steam; this cover may be fitted with various contrivances
for admitting the material to be evaporated and for other purposes; the vessel
has a pipe and a passage for conducting away the steam to be utilized.
12. I now proceed to describe the second part of this Invention, viz., to
catch and utilize the steam and heat given off from moist and liquid sub-
stances during evaporation, drying, and so forth. I have already described
how the steam is caught and removed through convenient pipes or passages;
it is utilized then as follows:-To these passages are attached (either with or
without intermediate connecting pipes) vessels containing any liquid or solid
substance of lower temperature than this steam, and which requires to be
heated for future use. In these vessels it mingles intimately with or per-
meates amongst such substances, and becoming condensed yields up all its
latent and part of its sensible heat; or it is conducted into enclosed spaces or
passages surrounded by or surrounding other spaces or passages containing
liquid or aeriform matters and intended to be heated for subsequent use or to
be evaporated; or it is conducted through some heating apparatus of any con-
venient kind to enable it to obtain increased heat and pressure so as to be used
over again for any purpose for which steam is used.
13. The steam or steam and heated air is caused to pass through the
substances, passages, or apparatus by which its heat is extracted by means of a
draught, an injection of rapid currents of water, steam, or air in such passages,

page_text: by a fan or air pump, or by any convenient forcing or exhausting contrivance;
or its withdrawal from the chambers where it is formed may be caused by the
condensation effected during its passage in contact with the colder substances
or surfaces to which it imparts its heat, as above described, or by combinations
of forcing, or exhaustion, and condensation.
:
14. To illustrate this by some examples:-Suppose a substance requires
washing in hot water and afterwards drying, I capture the steam evaporated
from the drying process, and either conduct, draw, or drive it amongst the
washing water direct, or into pipes or passages in contact with that water to
which in either case it imparts its latent and part of its sensible heat. If the
washing water requires to be made hotter than this steam will make it I cause
the steam to traverse some heating apparatus before it reaches the washing
water.
15. Suppose a liquid is being evaporated the steam produced is enclosed
and drawn away or forced by any convenient contrivance through a heating
apparatus back into pipes or passages in contact first with the liquid being
evaporated and afterwards with the stock of liquid waiting to be received into
the evaporator.
16. In cases where it is desired to apply waste steam to be utilized to
evaporate other moist or liquid substances in vacuo, such steam is conducted
to pipes, worms, or passages in or surrounding the vacuum chamber where
the said substances are being heated, and there condensed. If this steam does
not traverse thecondensing pipes, worms, or passages quick enough, or it is
desired to produce a partial vacuum in the drying or evaporating vessel from
which this waste steam comes, I place a pipe from the condensed wafer outlet
of the worm or passages of the vacuum chamber to the pipe leading to the
air pump, by which a small or large degree of exhaustion is produced. This
is also an example of steam being withdrawn and utilized by the combined
effect of exhaustion and condensation.
17. When granular substances (as, for instance, animal charcoal) requires
in addition to being dried to be washed and afterwards burned to a red heat
free from contact with the atmosphere I treat them as I propose to explain
by reference to the annexed Drawings.
On Sheet I. is shewn a washer A, drainer B, drier C, burner D, and coolers
with appurtenances E; Figure 1 being a vertical section taken longitudinally
through the whole arrangement, and Figure 2 a half elevation and traverse
section of the-same.
18. I carry the material on belts (as described in the Specification of
Letters Patent granted to me in the year of our Lord 1866, No.42571) for

page_text: the purpose of delivering regular and continuous quantities into a washing
chamber or vessel, open and stationary, placed horizontally or nearly so (see
Sheet I., Figure 1, marked A) and divided into two, three, or more compart-
ments by the division plates a¹, a2, which separate the washing waters; the
said divisionsbeing so placed that thewater from the upper compartment flows
into the next, and so on. It contains three wire cloth belts, or belts formed
of any other perforated material 6, 62, 63, which travel slowly on their
respective drums in the direction of the arrows; the belts are supported
in the centre by small rollers c, c, c, c. Between the rollers are pipes with
fine jet holes for causing jets of steam to pass through the belt and lift the
"char," the sides of the belts being made to move between two iron plates
which form a groove to prevent the char from passing over the sides of the
belt.
19. The washing water enters hot from the kiln coolers (hereafter de-
scribed) at d, flows over the division plates a' and a², and out of the vessel
at e. The charcoal enters from the carrier belt f and falls on the first belt 61,
.which carries the char over the steam jets and over the first division plate a
into the next compartment, through which it is conveyed in the same way
over to the third division, where it also passes over the steam jets, and is finally
carried out of the washer vessel, where it falls off the belt into the drainer B.
The washer vessel has one double side, the plates of which are a few inches
apart, the inside plate next to the belt does not extend down to the bottom,as
shewn at g, Figure 2, this is for the purpose of admitting a cleaner of any
convenient form to take away anything that may fall below the belts during
the time that the work is going on.
20. The second form of washer which I propose will be described by
reference to Sheet 2, Figure 1, and consists of an open and stationary vessel
placed horizontal or nearly so, and divided into two or more compartments
by the division plate a' which separates the washing waters, the said division
being so placed that the water from the upper compartment flows into the
next, and so on; it contains four lifting belts 61, 62, 63, 64, which travel slowly
on their respective drums in the direction of the arrows. There are three
shaking plates c¹³, c², c³, which are hung to the sides of the vessel, and to which
a very slight motion is given.
21., The washing water enters hot from the kiln coolers (hereafter
described) at d, flows over the division plate a³, and out of the vessel at e,the
charcoal falls from the carrier belt on to the first belt 6', is carried up and falls
down the shaking plate c¹ on to the lifting belt 63, which carries it over the
division plate a¹ into the next compartment where it falls into the shaking

page_text: plate c,and so on until it finally falls from belt 64 into the drainer B(Sheet)
The vessel has a slightly sloping bottom along its whole length, and eacho
compartment has a double slope down to the well g, g,o which any charcoal
spilled from the belts finds its way, and in which are small elevators which lift
it up on to the belts again at h; the vessel in this instance is formed to stand
over a flue.
22. There may be any number of compartments, belts, or shaking tables
in this washer; the principle of it is the washing and separating of charcoal
and so forth by lifting it up and letting it fall several times in successive
waters without emptying away the water itself.
23. For draining charcoal coming from the washer, to save time and space :
required for natural drainage,goes into the apparatusB(see Sheet 1, Figure 1)
which consists of a hollow drum a divided into compartments which are not
euclosed at the periphery and are closed towards the centre by a bollow pipe.
about one-third of the diameter of the drum; in this pipe there are openings:
into each compartment; this drum revolves on the stationary hollow shaft b,
one end of which is closed, and the other end communicates with an air-forcing
apparatus; there is in this shaft an opening which successively corresponds with
the openings in the bottoms of the compartments as they revolve. The belt,.
which is of wire cloth or any porous fabric, travels on the three small rollers
c, c, c, one of which is driven by power; the belt at once drives the druma.
and closes its compartments as they come round. The charcoal falls from the
washer belt b into the compartment d and fills it; this compartment is pre-
sently covered by the belt e, at the same time the air opening in the shaft f
comes opposite the bottom opening in the compartment, and a compressed
blast enters behind the charcoal, driving it first against the belt and then
driving the water out of it and through the belt itself, the continuous move-
ment of the belt empties the drained charcoal at g and afterwards washes, the
belt by passing it through the tank h.
24. I also drain the charcoal bycarrying it upon any porous fabric or metal
over an air-exhausted chamber, or I both force air above and exhaust airbelow
layers of.it so carried or in boxes; or I force air into a perforated chamber
set in the centre of a wire cylinder, through which and surrounding the
perforated chamber wet charcoal is compelled to pass; or I replace.these
contrivances bya centrifugal machine; but I find these methods troublesome
because of the filling up of the porous substances which carry or surround the
charcoal, and the necessity of stopping the machine to clean them.
25. I next proceed to dry, burn, and cool the charcoal, and to utilize both
the steam and the heat given off in cooling. The method I adopt by

page_text: preference I will also describe by referring to Sheet 1, Figures 1 and 2,
of the Drawings annexed. C is a stationary and drying retort (of which
there are six) with internal shaking plates; 1), D, are twenty-four upright
burning retorts (four to each drier)':' E are twelve coolers with interior water
chambers, with twenty-four discharging boxes at their lower ends.
26. The charcoal after leaving the drainer B at g falls into the adjustable
feeding hopper h, out of which issue six belts (of which three are shown) one
for each drier, which discharge into the hopper i, as shown in Figure 1; atthe
bottom of this hopper is a drum with four long and eight short ribs enclosed
in a cylinder which the long ribs touch: this drum in revolving passes the
charcoal into the drier without allowing steam to escape.
27. The drier is a rectangular pipe of cast iron set in brickwork, so that
furnace heat may pass under it; it is closed at the ends, but has two
openings,one to receive charcoal from the feed hopper, the other to discharge
it when dry through a shoot j into the burning retorts D, D, through their
inclosing chamber k. The drier pipe contains the shaking table l, l, made of
a succession of steps and suspended by rods or links at m, m; this table has
given to it any motion which will shake the char forward in even layers.
The motion shown is that of a cam n striking the snug on the rod of the
table at o. The table is drawn backward, and when it slips falls forward by
its own weight and strikes against the spring buffer p, the result is to jerk
the char forward and tumble it over the steps. The steam given off in
drying passes out at the opening q into the main steam pipe T.
28. The burners D, D, consist of narrow vertical chambers set in the
furnace chamber s, s; they are enclosed at the top by the dome k. The
charcoal being made dry on the drier will percolate like sand in an hour glass,
and passes through these chambers, which are about three quarters of an inch
wide, and becomes red-hot in a few minutes.
29. The charcoal being made red-hot passes down into the coolers E, E,
which are chambers of sheet iron set below the burners and containing water
chambers t, t, in their interior. The charcoal passes down each side of these
interior chambers; water enters these cold, and issues hot to be conveyed
through the pipe u, u; to the washer A above.
30. At the bottom of the coolers are discharged boxes v, v, each of which
have an upper and under slide valve; these are alternately opened by the
rotatory cam shaft w and closed by the springy; they are closed thus to yield
in case of a stone or nail being in the charcoal. The valves of these boxes
and the feeding belts which issue from the hopper h are moved from the
same shaft, and set to keep the kiln exactly full; they feed and discharge in

page_text: concert, and can only be hastened or retarded together. The charcoal from
them falls into the receiving hopper a and is conveyed by a belt z, z, to the
charcoal filters.
31. In applying furnace heat to this apparatus I reverse the usual order of
proceeding and apply the products of combustion first under the driers (into
which the wet charcoal enters) at a, a, and thence lead them winding in the
direction of the arrows amongst the burning chambers or retorts D, D, so
that the greatest heat is applied to the coldest charcoal and a more moderate
temperature to the red hot char; from the burning chambers the gases pass
over the top of the driers, and then to the air heating apparatus b, b, which is
a nest of small pipes, round the exterior of which the furnace gases pass on
their way to the chimney, thus heating a new supply of air for the furnace.
I construct the grate so that I may disengage the hydrocarbon of the fuel by
the radiant heat of the furnace and afterwards admit to the incandescent
coke only sufficient air to convert its carbon into carbonic oxide. The
products of imperfect combustion rise to the opening e,c, (where they are to
be used) before they receive their full equivalent of oxygen to resolve them
into smokeless carbonic acid and moisture. For this purpose I draw in air
between the charcoal coolers by the coolers d, d, where it ascends through
the heating pipes into the chamber e, e, and thence to the point where it
encounters the imperfectly oxygenated gases and causes their complete
combustion. The object of thus applying furnace heat is first to secure the
highest exterior temperature where it can do the least hurt to the retorts,
because of the low temperature of their contents, and a more moderate
exterior temperature where these contents have a red heat; and secondly, to
maintain the needful temperature in the burning chamber without wasting
the heat of the escaping gases, and to consume the smoke before it reaches
the driers and burners.
32. I do not restrict myself to this particular form of drier with internal
shaking tables, the retort itself may be made to shake and the table be
omitted, or it may be made stationary, and rakes or other similar mechanism
be employed to move the charcoal forward. The drying retort made in any
form may be caused to revolve or move with a reciprocating action, in which
case the form I prefer is that of a cylinder, divided longitudinally into two or
three compartments, between which the furnace heat may pass. The flat
surfaces have slanting ribs, and the cylindrical sides have straight ribs, which
as the cylinder rotates lifts up and feeds the charcoal to the discharging end,
when it falls excluded from air into the burner D, as before described.
33. The capturing and utilization of the steam from drying charcoal are

page_text: effected as follows:-The steam arising from drying charcoal escapes near the
passage (see Sheet 1, Figure 1), into the steam pipe which leads to the
worm or steam chamber of any ordinary sugar boiling vacuum pan with large
heating surfaces. The contents of the vacuum pan being of a lower tem-
perature than the steam from the driers, in its passage through the worm it
becomes condensed and yields its latent heat to evaporate the contents of the
pan. This condensation creates a partial vacuum in the worm, which extends
to the drier, and causes a rapid removal of newly disengaged steam, thus
materially accelerating the rapidity of the drying process. To promote a
greater rapidity 1 attach a pipe with a stop-cock between the worm of the
vacuum pan and its condenser, by opening which at any time additional
vacuum created by the air pump is extended to the driers; as the driers are
connected with the burners the gases given off in burning are likewise carried
off with the steam and harmlessly condensed. Instead of utilizing the steam
in a vacuum pan it may be conducted in pipes surrounding or surrounded
by any liquid or solid matter, which it is intended to heat, or the steam may
be superheated, and used for any purpose for which steam is employed.
34. I now proceed to describe a modification of my method of drying,
burning, and cooling charcoal, and utilizing the waste heat therefrom, which
may also be adapted to ordinary existing charcoal kilns.
The charcoal in the wet condition is received (as shown in Sheet 3, Figures
1 and 2 of the Drawings, which are longitudinal and transverse sections of the
apparatus) into the hopper, which is placed above the pipes A, which latter are
dryers; these taper as they descend into the burners C, C, which are narrow
continuations of the dryers; below these are the coolers with water chambers
and discharging boxes, as described in paragraphs 29 and 30. Within the
dryers are chambers formed of a series of inverted funnels connected together,
the top funnel having a pipe which joins to a main pipe B ; to this main pipe
(by machinery connected and worked with the discharging valves D) is given
an up-and-down or other motion which is communicated to the attached
funnel chamber inside the drier. Instead of inverted funnels perforated pipes
with horizontal or umbrella-shaped flanges will answer (see Figure 3). The
action of this apparatus is thus :-Immediately prior to the opening of the dis-
charging valves D), the cam wheel E lifts the main pipe B, and the inverted
funnels about an inch. A further revolution of the cam shaft opens the dis-
charging valves D and allows the whole mass of charcoal in the coolers F,
burners C, driers and hoppers G to descend, and with the charcoal the main
pipes and the inverted funnel chambers descend also to their first position.
The steam and gases disengaged from the drying charcoal find their readiest

page_text: exit up through the inverted funnels and create a quick draft. One end of
the main pipe B is closed, the other end is joined to a flexible tube attached
to a steam pipe which leads to the worm of a vacuum pan or other apparatus
where the steam is utilized, as herein-before described.
35. When I wish to adopt this modification to an ordinary existing upright
charcoal burning kiln, I place (as shown in Sheet 3, Figure 4) a hopper A
round the top of the pipes in the kiln, and place down each pipe to about
three-eighths of its length inverted funnel chambers (see Figure 3) which are
connected at the top and moved in connection with the bottom discharging
valves, as in the last described kiln. In order, however, to cause the charcoal
after drying to be burned in thin strata, I continue a modification of the
inverted funnel chambers down through the remaining length of the pipe (see
Sheet 3 at Figure 5); below are coolers F, as previously described.
upright kilns of the above or similar kindsl lead the gases from the the furnaces
direct to the upper part of the driers and cause them to wind round the pipes,
following the course of the arrows, and issue out at the bottom at a high tem-
perature, thence to a washer or to a nest of air-heating pipes, substantially as
herein-before described.
In
36. In applying my system to rotary charcoal kilns as usually constructed,
I place inside of the cylinders an internal cylinder merely to fill up the space,
so that the charcoal may be worked in thin strata and rapidly instead of in
large masses and slowly, which occasions enormous waste of the most friable
particles by constant grinding and friction of large quantities at a high tem-
perature. The internal cylinders may be either round, hexagonal, or other
form, and be provided with suitable ribs and projections to carry the charcoal
round and assist in feeding it forward. The charcoal after being dried and
burned I conduct into coolers having water chambers, as herein.before
described; I prefer, however, to use the cylinders as driers only, and conduct
the charcoal when dried to burners and coolers, as already described, without
contact with the open air. At any convenient part of the external cylinder I
attach a pipe to lead off the steam to be utilized. In nearly all cases such.
cylinders are constructed with a pipe to vent the steam and gases evolved into
a box or trap which catches any charcoal blown out; in such cases I attach
to such vent the pipe leading to the vacuum pan or other utilizing apparatus
described already.
37. When it is desirable to wash charcoal with acid solution in any con-
venient vessel, an acid bath is prepared which is kept at its normal strength
by the constant addition of acidulated water. Through this bath I carry a
belt which is deflected by rollers and made to dip into the acid water as it

page_text: travels; this belt is loaded with dry charcoal before entering the bath, which
in its momentary passage through the bath is saturated and afterward
removed to the washer, where the soluble components formed by the acid
bath may be washed out.
The above methods may be applied to wet charcoal as well as dry, but in
the case of wet charcoal I prefer to use the washer described in paragraphs 18
and 19 with three compartiments, the middle one of which is converted into
an acid bath; the charcoal thus receives a preliminary washing in the
first compartment, an acid bath in the second, and a purging and washing in
the last one.
38. Having now described the nature and object of. ny said Invention for
Improved Means of and Apparatus for Washing and Drying Moist Sub-
stances, or Drying and Burning Granular Substances, or Evaporating Liquid
Substances, and for Economizing the Waste Heat Produced in such Pro-
cesses," together with the manner in which the same. is to be or may be
performed or carried into practical effect, I would remark, in conclusion, that
I claim as new the utilization of the waste and unintentionally made steam
given off in drying moist and evaporating liquid substances by conveying
it away in pipes to evaporate liquids in vacuo, or to heat liquid solid or
aëriform matters for the purpose of saving the heat of such steam.
I do not claim as new the conveying of vapours or gases in pipes where
given off from such substances for the purpose of harmlessly condensing and
conveying them away or getting rid of them, nor the saving and utilization
of waste steam formed in vacuo.
39. I also claim as new the washing, drying, or burning of granular sub-
stances as exemplified herein in the instance of animal charcoal and the
utilization of the waste steam and heat given off in the processes so described,
except so far as the same are repetitions of processes heretofore embodied in
Letters Patent issued to me, Number 2571, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Gordon, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
GEORGE GORDON. (L.S.)