IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRYING BRICKS, CEMENT, POTTERY, PEAT, AND OTHER MATERIALS
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frank Wirth at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 21st November 1876. A communication
from Johann Matern, Doctor of Philosophy, residing at Konigsberg, and Julius
Matern, residing at Görtscheid, both in the Empire of Germany.
FRANK WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent Agency, of Frank-
fort-on-the-Maine, in the Empire of Germany. IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR DRYING BRICKS, CEMENT, POTTERY, PEAT, AND OTHER MATERIALS."
This Invention relates to certain improvements in apparatus for drying green or
wet materials and articles, such as bricks, cement, lime, clay, pottery, and peat, and
consists essentially of the combination of a steam heating system with a long
narrow channel or drying chamber, through which the objects to be dried are
gradually passed on a line of trucks.
The Inventors are aware that the artificial drying of bricks and other articles
has been effected before, especially by gas and heated air, but the drying by steam
in manner as herein-before described has to the Inventors' knowledge not yet been
attempted.
In carrying out this Invention there is used an apparatus, being a long channel
or chamber, with proportionately small cross section, provided with a system of
steam pipes for heating, and a line of rails on which the trucks carrying the
materials run. The channel is built with a slight incline, so as to facilitate the
moving of the trucks, and to give a slight rise to the steam pipes. The chamber is
provided with doors at its upper end, and is open at the lower end. At the upper
end there is provided a chimney acting as a ventilator, and for the purpose of
carrying away the vapours given off from the objects being dried.
The channel or drying chamber may be in duplicate, built with two rows of
piles, with a centre row acting as bearers, the top covered by beams and planking,
and the sides double planked, also the centre row of piles, so as to form spaces,
which are filled in with sawdust or other light material which is a non-conductor of
heat. The top of the chamber is also covered with a layer of light non-conducting
material. The bottom of the chamber is provided with a system of steam piping,
commencing at the upper end, and running for about eleven-twelfths of the length
of the chamber, having pipes to carry away the condensed water, safety valves for
blowing off and for excessive pressure, and waste pipes for carrying away the non-
1 Price 2

page_text: condensed steam. The trucks are so constructed as to occupy the entire cross
section, and are built with shelves for carrying the articles to be dried, the shelves
being so placed that the air can circulate in every direction. The trucks are coupled
together by suitable links.
In operation, the trucks being loaded and run into the drying chamber, and steam
being introduced into the system of steam piping, a draught is created in the drying
chamber, which acts on the first of the trucks standing on the open end of the
channel or chamber. The current which circulates through the channel or chamber
is heated by the steam pipes, and absorbs the moisture given off from the wet
articles, and then passes away as vapour through the ventilating chimney at the
upper end, which is provided with a regulating damper.
In practice the drying channel may be made to hold, say, twenty-six trucks,
which pass through in, say, forty-eight hours. The train of trucks are moved on a
truck at a time, the upper truck being emptied, and then returned to the rear to be
refilled.