Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd June, 1836.
Complete Left, 22nd Mar., 1887.
Comolete Accepted, 22nd Apr., 1887
JOHN LOWERS of the City Flour Mills, Coventry in the County of Warwick,
Miller do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The chief object of this invention is to bring washed grain into a suitable condition
for milling.
To this end I pass the grain, as it leaves the washer or centrifugal dryer, through
a series of steam jacketted traversing troughs fitted preferably with screw propellers.
The steam for heating the jacketted troughs may be admitted to all, or any one or more
of the troughs, according to the state of dampness of the corn to be dried. The
traverse of the corn over the heated surfaces will insure the discharge of the moisture
therefrom, and permit of the corn being delivered into sacks in a state ready for the
market.
In carrying out the object of my invention, I provide a series of horizontal metal
troughs semicircular in cross section, but with extended edges. These troughs I
severally insert into a trough of larger dimensions, and rivet the edges of the two troughs
together, so as to form steam tight joints, the space between them being intended to
receive high pressure steam. Troughs of this description may be set up one above
the other, or in line, and in them I mount archimedean or other screws, which will
serve to traverse the grain from end to end thereof. Supposing the series of troughs
to be arranged one under the other, I gear the screw shafts of the series together, so
as to reverse the direction of rotation of every other screw, and I so arrange the
troughs, that the uppermost receiving the grain to be dried, say, from its left hand
end, shall discharge the grain at its opposite end into the trough immediately below it.
The grain will then traverse backwards, and be discharged at the lefthand end of the
trough, into the trough which lies immediately below it, where, through the action of
the screw of that trough, it will be caused to traverse forward over the heated metal
of the third trough, to be again discharged in like manner into a fourth, and so on to
the end of the series. In escaping from the last trough, the grain, effectually deprived
of moisture, will be received into sacks, and will be ready for the market.

page_text: To give stiffness to the troughs, I bolt to their edges transverse bracings, and the
pipes for conveying steam to the jackets I so arrange as to admit of the cutting off
of steam from any one or more of the jackets at pleasure. Thus, when the corn
requires but little drying, a few only of the troughs will be heated, and when the
dampness is great, I employ a proportionate increase of heating surface.
The grain may be admitted to the apparatus directly from the grain washer, or from
a centrifugal dryer.
The run of heating surface which I propose to employ will average 30 feet in
length, but a shorter length of heating surface will suffice for drying some hard
wheats, whilst other grain may require a run of 50 feet.
I may remark that this drying apparatus is equally applicable to the treatment of
corn containing an undue amount of moisture arising from natural or other causes.
Dated this 22nd day of June 1886.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: 1 JOHN POWERS of the City Flour Mills, Coventry in the County of Warwick,
Miller, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The chief object of this invention is to bring washed grain into a suitable condition
for milling.
To this end I pass the grain, as it leaves the washer or centrifugal dryer, through a
series of steam jacketted troughs fitted with screw propellers. The steam for heating
the jacketted troughs may be admitted to all or any one or more of the troughs,
according to the amount of moisture contained in the corn to be treated. The traverse
of the corn over the heated surfaces so raises the temperature thereof as to insure the
retention only in the corn of the normal percentage of moisture.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 shows in side elevation,
Fig. 2 in end elevation, and
Fig. 3 in plan view, one arrangement of the improved apparatus which constitutes
the subject of my invention. In these Figures, A A A are the jacketted troughs set
one above the other, and carried by bracket castings, B, B, bolted to pillars CC,
which are supported in a vertical position in any convenient manner.
In the drawing
I have shown but four troughs A, set one above the other. In general, I shall, how-
ever, prefer to have 6, which having a length of say 10 feet, will give a maximum
traverse for the grain over heated surfaces of 60 feet, leaving the operator to reduce
the length of traverse through the heated troughs to suit the requirements of the
grain under treatment. The metal troughs A have a cross section of "horse shoe
Shape, made with an inner and outer casing bent to a semicircle, as shown best in the
enlarged transverse section Fig. 4. These troughs are fitted at one end only to their
bracket bearings, to provide for the expansion and contraction of the metal."
"
a is the steam space formed by the inner and outer casing, which are joined together
by means of a thickness frame a', welded up in one piece to fit the space between the
two casings. This frame is secured in place by rivets so as to form steam-tight joints
at its junction with the outer and inner casings. The rivet heads on the inside of the
trough are countersunk, and dressed level with the face of the curved plate.
The outer casing or steam jacket of the end trough extends to the bracket bearing
at one end of the trough, but at the other end does not extend to the full length of the
trough; it stops short thereof to provide an opening for the discharge of the grain
into the trough below. D D are archimedean screws, the shafts of which turn in
plummer blocks fitted in the troughs A. These shafts severally project through one
end of their respective troughs to receive spur gearing E E. Through this gearing,
motion is communicated from the uppermost archimedean screw shaft to the shafts of
the several screws of the series, a band pulley D¹ being fitted to the top shaft for
receiving a driving band from overhead shafting. The archimedean screws are
designed to turn and traverse the grain from end to end of the troughs, and fitting
the troughs closely, they also serve to keep clean the heated surfaces over which the
corn travels. By gearing together the screw shafts, as shewn in Fig. 1, the rotation

page_text: of every other screw is reversed. Supposing the grain is admitted to the apparatus
at the left hand end of the uppermost trough, the rotation of the archimedean screw
of that trough will discharge the grain at its opposite end into the trough immediately
below it. The grain will then traverse backwards in the second trough, and be dis-
charged at the left hand end of the trough into the third trough, which lies immediately
below it, where, through the action of the screw of that trough, the grain is again
caused to traverse forward over the heated metal, to be again discharged in like
manner into a fourth trough, and so on, if more than four are contained in the series.
The grain, on leaving the last trough, may be delivered into sacks, or carried forward
to be further treated before grinding, if thought desirable by the miller.
F is a stand pipe for conveying the steam to the steam jackets by means of branch
pipes F, and G is a stand pipe connected by branch pipes G' to the steam jackets for
conveying the condensed steam therefrom. The branch pipes F1 and Gare fitted
with cocks for cutting off the steam from one or more of the jackets at pleasure. By
this means, the traverse of the corn over heated surfaces may be so regulated as to
suit corn of various degrees of dampness.
To give stiffness to the troughs, I make the thickness frame a¹, between the inner
and outer casing, to project above the trough, and to these projections (at opposite
sides of the trough) I bolt transverse bridge stays a², at suitable distances apart. I also
rivet to the outer casing or jacket of the troughs, two iron mounting blocks a³ at, one
on the side for the attachment of the inlet steam pipe F1 and the other on the bottom
for the attachment of the drain pipe G¹.
Figs. 5, 6 and 7 illustrate in partial side elevation and plan view, and in transverse
sectional elevation, an arrangement of drying apparatus in which the troughs are set in
line, instead of one above the other, as above explained. In these Figures, the same
letters of reference are used as in the preceding Figures to indicate like parts. As
the propelling screws for the different troughs are all in line, and may be readily
locked together, the necessity for spur gearing is removed, and to this extent the
apparatus is simplified.
The plummer blocks which support the screw shafts at the junction of the troughs
are raised above the bottom of the troughs, as shown at Fig. 7, to allow of the free
traverse of the corn from end to end of the apparatus. The length of run over the
heated surfaces will, in this arrangement, be under the control of the attendant, as in
that first described, and the supply of corn will be adjusted to suit the heating capacity
of the apparatus. I may remark that experience has shewn that a run of 40 feet in
heated troughs will in general suffice, but that in dealing with soft wheats, a run of
60 feet will frequently be required. The miller or other operator will, however, after
a little experience, readily determine what length of heated troughs should be
employed in treating various samples of grain, and it is with a view of acting in an
efficient manner upon grain that is abnormally moist (arising from natural or other
causes) that the apparatus should, as above indicated, be constructed with a length of
heating troughs in excess of the average requirement for soft wheats.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The arrangements of apparatus above described with reference to the drawings,
for heating washed or moist grain, and driving off the superfluous moisture therefrom.
2. The combination in a grain-drying apparatus, of a series of jacketted troughs
fitted with propellers for submitting grain in a continuous run to the action of heat, in
the manner and for the purpose above set forth.
Dated this 22nd day of March 1887.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.