IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINES FOR DRYING WOOL, GRAIN, MALT, SPENT Hops, Sewage, POTATOES, ROOTS OF ALL KINDS, HAY, STRAW, AND OTHER MATERIALS; « APPLICABLE ALSO FOR BREAD AND BISCUIT BAKING
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Lee Norton, of Belle Sauvage Yard,
Ludgate Hill, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINES FOR DRYING WOOL, GRAIN, MALT, SPENT Hops, Sewage,
POTATOES, ROOTS OF ALL KINDS, HAY, STRAW, AND OTHER MATERIALS; «
APPLICABLE ALSO FOR BREAD AND BISCUIT BAKING."
Sealed the 9th January 1872, and dated the 29th September 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Lee Norton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 29th September 1871.
I, JAMES LEE NORTON, of Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, in the
City of London do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR DRYING WOOL, GRAIN, MALT, SPENT Hops;

page_text: SEWAGE, POTATOES, ROOTS OF ALL KINDS, HAY, STRAW, AND OTHER MATERIALS;
APPLICABLE ALSO FOR BREAD AND BISCUIT BAKING," to be as follows:-
The machinery is composed of a frame in which is mounted or
suspended one or more sheets or trays of metal plates, or otherwise
formed as herein-after described.
A reciprocating motion is imparted to the suspended sheets or trays in
such a manner that during each movement of the sheets or trays a
sufficient momentum or jerk is imparted to the material placed upon the
same for the purpose of being dried, so that a forward intermittent
movement is given to the material.
When more than one tray is used, the trays or sheets are fixed one
below the other, and each alternate tray moves and carries the material
to be dried in an opposite direction. The material to be dried is fed on
to the top tray at one end, and is carried forward and delivered on to the
sheet or tray below it, and so on throughout the machine.
One mode of giving the vibratory motion to the trays referred to is by
giving a backward movement to the trays by means of cams, cranks, or
other suitable mechanism, and as soon as the trays are released by the
cams, cranks, &c., they are suddenly brought forward by means of a
spring or springs against a spring or buffer, thus giving to the material
required to be dried the necessary jerk or forward movement; or in
place of using springs for the purpose of bringing forward the trays, the
necessary jerk may be imparted to them by allowing the trays to come
in contact against a spring or buffer by their own impetus. The trays
may be moved separately or they may be connected together by recipro-
cating levers, so that any motion on being given to one is imparted to
the others.
The heating of the machine may be varied according to the material
requiring to be dried; for instance, when it is necessary that materials
should be dried at high temperatures I prefer to form a closed chamber
of brick or other material, in which I form a furnace heated with coke or
other fuel capable of producing great heat. At the top of the chamber
I fix an iron door or damper communicating with the upper part of the
machine. At the lower part of the machine I fix an exhausting
apparatus of any convenient construction, so that as the hot air vaporises
the moisture in the material requiring to be dried in the machine the
increased density of the air causes it to descend to the lower part of the

page_text: machine, and the moisture is carried off by an exhausting apparatus, or
in place of an exhausting apparatus being employed I fix a trunk or
chimney with an opening into the lower part of the machine, so that as
the moisture in the material to be dried becomes vaporised the vapours
are carried off through the same.
Other arrangements of drying machinery may similarly be arranged,
so that the moisture is carried off from the lower part of the machine in
place of from the upper part as heretofore usual.
When the machine is to be employed for drying wool or other material
which can be dried by steam heat, the sheets or trays may be formed of
open network or of a series of bars with spaces between them, or in some
cases I form the sheets or trays hollow to contain steam. In this case
the sheets or trays may be made of corrugated iron, the top being formed
by the corrugations of the iron, and the lower surfaces made of flat
sheets of iron rivetted to the corrugated iron, and fixed in a suitable iron
frame and made steam tight; or in place of using a flat plate below the
corrugated iron I use corrugated iron with the corrugations running in
the same direction or at right angles. Or fixed hollow plates heated by
steam as above described may be placed between the vibrating sheets or
trays. Pipes heated by steam may also be similarly used, or the sheets
or trays may be formed of steam piping.
When an apparatus made of steam pipes is used I fill up the spaces
between the steam pipes either with metal or open work, so as to form
a perfect sheet to carry the material requiring to be dried, thus aao
Another mode of heating the machine consists of using a series of gas
jets placed below the vibrating trays, which may be used alone or in
conjunction with the steam plates or piping. In some cases I arrange
the plates or sheets with a slight inclination, which may be varied as
found requisite.
When it is necessary that the material to be dried requires to be
turned over frequently the sheets or trays are formed in steps,
thus
In some cases cold air is forced into the machine or exhausted through
it with advantage where the material requiring to be dried will not
stand heat. The machine may if required be placed over the heating
apparatus.

page_text: When drying malted barley, and in order to meet the difficulties raised
by the Excise, I propose to place the barley to be dried as well as the
machine in a closed chamber under lock and key. The wet barley to be
placed in a receiver, from which it will be delivered in a uniform and
regular manner on to the drying machine when set in motion, and after
it has passed through the machine it is taken up by suitable carriers and
re-delivered by a self-acting arrangement in the top tray, and thus it is
passed through the drying machine as often and as long as may be
necessary for completing the operation of malting, after which it is
discharged from the machine into any suitable receptacle, when the
machine has been unlocked by the Exciso.
In a similar manner machinery such as herein described for drying
other materials may be arranged to work continuously, so that when a
charge of material has been fed into the machine the machine may be
worked until the charge of material has been sufficiently dried.
Instead of depending on the jerk or mere movement of the sheets or
trays to carry the material to be dried forward through the machine, I
sometimes prefer to employ a series of rakes or scrapers so arranged as
to be lifted free from the material while the trays or sheets are making
their forward movements, and to be allowed to fall or lowered and kept
so while the trays are making their backward movements.
The mechanism for raising and lifting and lowering may be applied in
various ways; for instance, the rakes or scrapers may be arranged in a
frame or frames, the necessary movement being imparted to them by
means of a cam or crank acting on a lever to which the frame or frames ?
are connected, or the scrapers or rakes may be arranged so as to swing
on centres, and they may be lifted by means of a tappet or pawl so
arranged as to lift them in the forward movement of the tray and allow
them to fall and remain down in the backward movement. The prongs
of the forks or blades of the scrapers should be of such a form as to lift a
out of the material to be dried without any side action, which may be
accomplished in cases where frames are used by making the prongs
taper and giving them a vertical motion, and where they are carried on
centres by making the prongs or blades of a curve concentric with the
pins or studs on which they turn, or the blades or prongs may be 3
straight, but fixed in an inclined position, thus /

page_text: In either cases wipers in the form of plates or strips of india-rubber or
other suitable material may be employed to clear the forks or scrapers of
the material under operation if required.
When applied to bread and biscuit baking I prefer to put ribs length-
way of the trays convenient distances apart, so that the bread or biscuits
may be placed either upon the tray itself or upon small tins or metal or
other material formed to receive the bread or biscuit, which by the
motion of the trays are caused to move in a forward direction. The tins
may be made with feet to raise them above the trays, so as to allow of
a circulation of heat below the bottom of the tins. The trays may also
be inclined downwards at their ends, so that when a tin arrives at the
end of one tray it may slide easily down to the tray below. In cases
where scrapers or forks are employed, instead of imparting to the trays
the jerking motion above described, they may have a steady to-and-fro
motion imparted to them by means of eccentrics or cranks, or all the
trays may be mounted in a frame so as to move bodily together to and
fro, the scrapers or forks being reversed for every alternate tray, so that
the material is moved backwards and forwards through the machine.
Machines may be mounted on wheels so as to be portable.