CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN A MACHINE OR MACHINES WHICH FACILITATE THE DRYING OF MALT, GRAIN, AND ALLKINDS OF SEEDS
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
BELL, late of Pembroke Road, but now of Creighton Street, in the City of
Dublin, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, and bearing date at Westminster, the
Eleventh day of January, in the eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her
heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said George Bell, my
exors, adiñiors; and assigns, Iler especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said George Bell, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, by
myself and themselves, and by my and their deputy and deputies, servants and
agents, and such others as I, the said George Bell, my exors, adñiors, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times hereafter, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
A MACHINE OR MACHINES WHICH FACILITATE THE DRYING OF MALT, GRAIN, AND ALL
KINDS OF SEEDS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a provisoe, that
I, the said George Bell, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months, next. and

page_text: immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as by
reference thereto will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said George Bell, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the plan and sections hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon. The same letters in the horizontal section or plan, vertical
section, and exterior elevation, refer to the same parts of the apparatus.
The plan or horizontal section of the machine described by the accompany-
ing Drawing is circular, but the principle of my Invention may be applied
and adapted in an apparatus of a square or parallelogram form in the plan.
The interior of the apparatus forms one large hot-air chamber heated by a
furnace at the bottom, from which no flue is required, as I use coke or other
fuel which is consumed without smoke. The capping of the apparatus is consti-
tuted of a 'double cone' formed of woven wire (either iron, zinc, or copper)
to prevent the heat and the vapours arising from the grain to pass off; the
space between the inner and outer cone, marked by the letter C' on the
Drawing, is a passage about three inches wide, by which the grain proceeds
from the place of entry at the top till it reaches the hopper head marked 'D,'
from which it is conveyed, by means of the supply pipes 'E,' to the general
reservoir Ffrom this reservoir the grain is conveyed by the pipe 'H' to
the archimedian screw K;' the grain having passed thro' this screw is
discharged at the delivery aperture 'L.' Motion is given to the screw by
means of the wheel and pinion on the axle 'M,' which is connected to a
pully X,' and which may be made to revolve by being attached to a steam
engine or other mechanical power placed in a convenient situation. 'Y' is a
crank arm connected with a pinion for giving motion to 'M,' by manual
labour, if more convenient than mechanical power. 'V' is a slide of sheet
iron situate at the bottom of the inner partition of the passage 'C,' and moves
vertically, the object of which is to regulate the supply of grain to the hopper
heads D, and to completely cut it off if necessary; this slide is accessible for
the purpose of adjustment by a door 'Z' in the wire cylinder under the cone.
On the external partition of the cylinder I can place a slide 'B, B,' in a
position corresponding with the slide 'V,' the use of which is to permit such
grain as may require to be slightly dried to escape outwards, this being easily
effected by lowering the slide 'V,' so that no grain can pass to the hopper heads
D; then, by raising the exterior slide 'B, B,' the grain passes out. There is
also a regulating slide 'I' in the pipe H,' which may be adjusted from the

page_text: door A, A,' in the wall of hot-air chamber, as shewn on the vertical section,
to regulate supply to screw 'K' if necessary; the wheel 'M'in its revolutions.
propels the wheel 'N' and its axle, on the opposite end of which is a bevel
cog-wheel revolving vertically and propelling the horizontal cog-wheel 0,
and its vertical axle or upright shaft 'P;' to the top of the shaft 'P' is.
affixed the horizontal arm 'R,' to the end of which is attached a brush, which
removes into the hopper heads 'D' the grain which may have stopped between'
them and the passage 'C.' This arm R has a hinge in the centre, by
which means the brush can be raised, if necessary; a second brush can be
attached to the other side of the shaft, if required.
Another part of my Invention is formed simply of a cylinder of brickwork
or other materials, and covered at top with perforated iron or zinc, or any
other metal or material I conceive most convenient. The upright shaft will
be moved by the mechanism herein-before described, marked letter 'M;' at its
top will be affixed a horizontal toothed rack, which being caused to pass over
the surface of the perforated iron or zinc, &c., will agitate the grain laid thereon.
The grain will be retained on the surface of the perforated iron, &c., by means
of a raised margin or band of sheet iron with doors or apertures in it at
convenient distances to permit the grain to pass off when sufficiently dried.
The foregoing is a description of the entire and of the details of the:
mechanism and construction of my Invention, with the method of its opera-.
tion, as laid down and described in the Drawings and Sections hereto:
annexed; but the same can be made of any size, according to circumstances
and the quantity of grain or seeds to be dried. I shall now describe the
materials of which it is or may be formed.
The walls of the hot-air chamber are built of brickwork, the remaining
portion of the enclosure of hot-air chamber, that is, from the top of the wall
to the bottom of the conical top, is of sheet iron or zinc and iron wire; the
lower half of sheet iron or zinc, and the upper of wire. The materials of the
cone have been already described. The hopper heads, supply pipes, reservoir
and pipe communicating with screw, are of sheet iron, or any other kind of
metal used for making tubes or pipes. The screw is formed of an inner
cylinder (open at the ends, as shewn in the section 'T') of sheet iron, round
which the helices or spiral are coiled, the partitions of the helises being also of
sheet iron or other metal. The outside covering is woven wire of iron, zinc,
or copper, to permit the vapours to escape. In the screw shewn within the
vertical section the helises are quite close, being only separated by sheet-iron
partitions at S.' I have drawn a screw with open spaces between the helises,
through which the heated air might pass, the first three or four helises at the

page_text: end which receives the grain being close, as in the screw K.' The mode of
working same is as follows:-The grain or seeds to be dried must be placed
on the floor of a loft above the machine at 'D, D,' to any extent, and which
will at once pass into the passage C,' as above described, and by revolving the
screw K the grain is discharged at L,' the delivery, by which means the
grain is kept constantly moving downwards thro' the entire apparatus from
D, D, where it enters to 'L,' where it is discharged dried. If the grain is
very wet or damp, it will require to be longer in the machine, and the speed
of the screw can be regulated according to the circumstances, as, from the time
the grain enters the machine until it is discharged, it is undergoing the process
of drying.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner.in
which the same is to be performed, I do not confine myself to the precise
arrangements described, provided the peculiar character of the Invention be
retained, whereby malt, grain, and all kinds of seeds can be dried; and I wish
it to be understood that I make no claim to the various parts of the machinery
herein described when not combined and applied for the purposes aforesaid;
but what I claim is, the mode and arrangement of the hopper heads and pipes
and screw, and application thereof, as herein described; the regulating slide,
also the perpendicular shaft and brush or brushes attached, and the simple,
economical, and more uniformity of drying malt, grain, and seeds, in a shorter
time than by any other process at present in use.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Bell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of July, in the year of our Lord One