IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRYING WOOL AND ALSO APPLICABLE FOR DRYING OTHER MATERIALS
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Picken Smith, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Engineer. for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR DRYING WOOL AND ALSO APPLICABLE FOR DRYING OTHER
MATERIALS
"
Communicated to him from abroad by James Scott, residing
Da li ih Cams of and
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Picken Smith at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th October 1882.
DAVID PICKEN SMITH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer, "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRYING WOOL AND ALSO APPLICABLE
FOR DRYING OTHER MATERIALS Communicated to me from abroad by James
Scott residing at Port Elizabeth, Cape of Good Hope,
"
This Invention has principally for its object the drying of loose wool or similar
fibrous materials in an expeditious and satisfactory manner, but the improved
apparatus is also advantageously applicable for drying other materials.
The improved apparatus comprises an approximately cylindrical chamber having
in its axis, which is horizontal, a horizontal shaft carrying a continuous screw-blade
or a series of such blades fixed to the outer ends of radial arms so as to leave the
central part open. An inlet is formed at one end of the chamber and has in
connection with it either a screw blade or a pair of rollers for feeding in the wool
or other materials to be dried. When rollers are used they may be applied so as to
squeeze the more redundant moisture from the materials. The large screw blade or
blades in the chamber itself carry the materials slowly to an outlet at the other end
of the chamber, and at the same time the blades and radial arms lift and turn the
materials over. The drying operation is effected by heated air which is drawn
through the chamber by means of an exhausting fan or equivalent apparatus
arranged to draw the air charged with moisture from the lower part of the
chamber. For the purpose of heating the air a projecting casing is formed at one.
side of the chamber, and is fitted with a number of vertical or horizontal tubes
through which steam is passed. The casing of tubes is open at its inner and outer
sides and the exhaust action of the fan causes air to pass in between the steam-
heated tubes and enter the drying chamber in a heated state.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said David Picken Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th April 1883.
DAVID PICKEN SMITH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRYING WOOL AND ALSO APPLICABLE
FOR DRYING OTHER MATERIALS" A communication to me from abroad by James
Scott residing at Port Elizabeth Cape of Good Hope
The said Invention has principally for its object the drying of loose wool or
similar fibrous materials in an expeditious and satisfactory manner, but the
improved apparatus is also applicable for drying other materials.
The improved apparatus comprises an approximately cylindrical chamber having
in its axis which is horizontal, a horizontal shaft carrying a continuous screw blade
or a series of such blades fixed to the outer ends of radial arms so as to leave the
central part open. The wool or other material is carried through the chamber by
.the action of the screw blade which either rotates nearly in contact with the inner
surface of the chamber, or has attached to and encircling it a cylinder of wire gauze
or perforated. sheet metal, there being a little space between the outside of this
cylinder and the inner surface of the chamber. The drying operation is effected by
heated air which is drawn through the chamber by means of an exhausting fan or
equivalent apparatus; and for the purpose of heating the air a projecting casing is
formed at one side of the chamber, and is fitted with a number of tubes through
which steam is passed.
And in order that the said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood I hereunto append two sheets of explanatory drawings
to be hereinafter referred to and representing a modification of the improved
apparatus.
Figure 1, on sheet, 1, of the accompanying drawings, is a longitudinal vertical
.section of the apparatus, figure, 2, on sheet 2, is a plan, and figure, 3, is a sectional
end elevation. In these drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark
the same or like parts wlierever they are repeated.
The drying chamber is formed by a metal shell, 4, of an approximately cylindrical
shape placed horizontally, and having in its axis a horizontal shaft, 5, carried in
bearings on external brackets, 6. The shaft, 5, is driven by any suitable prime
mover, having on one end of it, for that purpose, a spurwheel, 7, with which there
gears a pinion, 8, on a shaft having also on it a cono pulley, 9, to receive a driving
belt from a reversed cone pulley, and means being provided for varying the speed
by shifting the belt along the cone pulleys. The shaft, 5, has fixed to it a number
of radial arms 10, which carry a continuous helical or screw blade, 11, and fixed
to the outer edge of this screw. blade there is a cylinder, 12, of wire gauze, or it
might be perforated sheet metal. The chamber, 4, is made with closed ends, 13, 14,
but in one end, 13, there is an inlet opening, 15, for the entrance of the wool or
other material that is to be dried, whilst a discharge outlot, 16, for the dried
material is formed at the bottom of the other end, 14. The wool or other material
is introduced by means of a pair of feed rollers, 17, which may be applied so as to
squeeze the more redundant moisture from the matèrials.
Air is drawn through the chamber, by means of an exhaust fan, 18, which
communicates by a pair of pipes or ducts, 19, with the lower part of the chamber;
and the air enters into the chamber through a casing, 20, formed along one side
of it. This casing, 20, has crossing it vertically a number of pipes, 21, fixed into
upper and lower boxes, 22, through which steam is passed, and the steam in

page_text: the pipes, 21, heats the air as it passes between the pipes when entering the
chamber.
The heated air finds its way through the gauze or perforated cylinder, 12, and
through the central open parts within the screw blade, 11, and between the
spokes, 10, and acting on the wool or other material becomes loaded with moisture
and passes off from the bottom of the chamber through the fan, 18. Whilst the
heated air is thus passing through the chamber, the rotation of the screw blade, 11,
and of the gauze or perforated cylinder, 12, carries the wool or material round and
upwards on the ascending side until it reaches a position from which it falls over,
and then in falling it becomes deviated by the screw blade a little towards the
discharge end. The wool is in this way continually being carried up and turned
over and it gradually works towards the discharge end, the heat employed and
the rate of rotation of the shaft being regulated so that the wool or material
may become uniformly and thoroughly dried by the time it reaches the discharge
outlet, 16.
Having thus particularly described the said Invention and the manner of
performing the same I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated but that what I believe to be novel and
original and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the
hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is
1. The combination of parts constituting the improved apparatus for drying
wool and other materials, substantially as herein before described.
2. The application for drying wool and other materials of a helical or screw
blade or combination of helical or screw blades with open central parts and with
or without an encircling rotating gauze or perforated cylinder, such parts being
arranged in a chamber through which heated air is passed, substantially as herein-
before described.
In Witness whereof I, the said David Picken Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal this sixth day of April in the year of our Lord. One thousand
eight hundred and eighty-three
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT
Patent Agent
Glasgow.
DAVID PICKEN SMITH (L.S:)