AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR DESICCATING WET OR MOIST SUBSTANCES.
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR
DESICCATING WET OR MOIST SUBSTANCES. -A communication from abroad.
by J. Eugène Tourné, of New Orleans, in the Parish of Orleans, and
State of Louisiana, United States of America."
Sealed the 2nd April 1861, and dated the 30th October 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th October 1860.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR
DESICCATING WET OR MOIST SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the drying of substances containing
moisture by subjecting them to an equable beat in a ventilated chamber fitted
in the following manner :-A closed chamber, arched at top, and supported on
an open framing, is provided to receive the substance to be operated on, say,
wet damaged cotton. On the open frame which carries the chamber is placed
a closed shallow vessel, which is charged with fusible metal, and forms the
floor of the chamber. Below this vessel a fire is lighted and maintained for

page_text: the purpose of keeping the metal in the vessel in a state of fusion. Above
this vessel is mounted an endless apron, which is supported by small rollers
within the chamber, and runs over tension rollers outside the chamber, and at
either end thereof. To close the openings made in the sides of the chamber
for the passage through of the feed apron, two rollers are provided between
and below the apron (at each side of the apparatus), and above these an
clastic pressing roller is mounted, which bears upon the apron but yields to
allow of any inequalities in the amount of the material to be dried carried into
and out of the heating chamber by the apron. These rollers on each side of
the apparatus are carried by an adjustable frame, so that the distance between
the apron and the fusible metal vessel may be regulated as desired.
The upper part of the chamber is fitted with inclined plates to receive on
their surfaces the condensed vapor, and gutters are provided below these plates
to prevent the water from falling, and lead it off out of the chamber. At the
upper end of the chamber there is also a vent fitted with a fan for withdrawing
the vapory atmosphere as evaporation proceeds. Hygrometers and thermo-
meters are fitted to the chamber for the purpose of guiding the attendant in
respect of the regulation of the desiccating process. The fire being lighted,
and the metal above it brought to a state of fusion, the substance to be dried
is spread on the apron, and rotary motion being given to the
given to the apron it
will carry the substance forward into the chamber, where being subjected to
the equable heat of the fused metal it will be effectually protected from over-
heating, and the moisture as it is vaporized will be taken up and prevented
from falling back on to the dried substances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office, on
the 30th April 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as

page_text: First, the use of a fused metal or alloy as a beating medium for the desic-
cation of any substance or substances in combination with a chamber
for the reception of such substance or substances, substantially as herein
described.
Secondly, the arrangement of apparatus above described for submitting
moist substances to the action of heat and for discharging from the
desiccating chamber the moisture evolved from the substances under
treatment.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)