IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING APPARATUS FOR SUGAR, GRAIN, OR SIMILAR MATERIALS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Morgan-Brown, Patent Agent, of 38, Southampton
Buildings, London, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING APPARATUS
FOR SUGAR, GRAIN, OR SIMILAR MATERIALS." A communication from abroad
by Charles Henry Hersey and Francis Coney Hersey, both of Boston,
Massachusetts, United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Morgan-Brown at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd August 1881.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN, Patent Agent, of 38, Southampton Buildings, London:
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING APPARATUS FOR SUGAR, GRAIN, OR SIMILAR
MATERIALS." A communication from abroad by Charles Henry Hersey and
Francis Coney Hersey, both of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
This Invention relates to drying apparatus for sugar, grain, or similar materials,
and consists in the combination of a drum provided with buckets with an interior
heating cylinder mounted upon independent bearings below the axis of the said
drum, and means to rotate the said drum and cylinder.
Also in the drum mounted on an inclined position and a partition closing the
end thereof, and provided with a feeding chute and draft tube combined with the
heating cylinder mounted upon independent bearings eccentrically in the lower
position of the said drum, and actuating mechanism to rotate the said drum and
cylinder.
Also in a drum provided provided a series of tappets and the heating cylinder
therein combined with actuating mechanism to rotate the said drum and cylinder,
and the striking block actuated by the said tappets to strike blows upon the
surface of the said drum.
Drying apparatus has heretofore consisted essentially of a hollow drum having
a smaller heating cylinder within it, the said cylinder being fixed within the said
drum, and they together being slowly rotated by suitable actuating mechanism.
In such apparatus the outer drum is provided with a series of blades or buckets,

page_text: which in its rotation raise the material to be dried until the said buckets arrive
above the heating cylinder, when the material is dropped or showered down
therefrom and thoroughly subjected to the heat from the said cylinder.
A current of air is passed through the said drum, and becoming heated in its
passage assists in drying the granular material falling through it.
By locating the heating cylinder centrally in the drum, a considerable space
vertically below and between it and the drum is not utilized for drying, and the
current of air passes freely through the space without acting upon the granular
material which falls from the surface of the said heating cylinder at either side of
but not through the said space.
The present Invention has for its object to utilize as nearly as possible the
entire space within the drum for heating and drying the granular material, and
consists in placing the said heating cylinder as near as possible to the under side of
the said drum, the said drum and cylinder being mounted upon independent
bearings and rotated independently of one another, but, as herein shown, actuated
by the same counter shaft.
The drum is provided with a series of tappets or large inclined teeth upon, which
rests one end of a striking bar or block pivoted at its other end, the said bar
being raised by the said tappets as they pass beneath it in the rotary movement of
the drum, and then permitted to fall upon the surface of the said drum to agitate
or jar it and detach the granular material which might otherwise adhere to it.
Figure 1 shows in longitudinal section on line x, x, Figure 2, a drying process
embodying my Invention, and Figure 2 a transverse section thereof on line y, y,
Figure 1.
The outer drum a containing blades or buckets 6 along its interior is provided
with encircling hoops or tires a¹, a', mounted upon friction rollers c, c¹, the former
being somewhat higher than the latter, so that the axis of the drum a is slightly
inclined from a horizontal position.
At the higher end of the said drum is a fixed plate or partition d provided with
a flange e that fits within and closes the end of the said drum, the other end of
which is open.
A chute or conducting pipe passing through the said partition & serves to
introduce the material to be dried to the said drum a, and a draft tube g, see
Figure 2, also opening into the said partition is provided with suitable blowing
apparatus to cause a current of air to enter the open end of the drum a and pass
therethrough in the opposite direction to the material being dried, which owing to
the inclination of the said drum gradually passes downward towards and out of the
open end thereof.
The interior or heating cylinder h is shown as consisting of a tight metal shell
provided with inlet and outlet pipes i, j, the latter opening into the cylinder near
its lowest point to cause water of condensation to be forced out from the said
heating cylinder, which is provided with journals I, 1, mounted in bearings m, m³,
independent of the drum a and situated below the axis thereof, in such position as
to bring the said heating cylinder as low down in the drum a as possible without
interfering with the movements of the said drum.
By thus locating the drying cylinder h in the lower part of the drum a, the
granular material falling from the buckets 6 passes through a much larger space
(nearly the whole interior of the said drum) that when the said cylinder is
centrally located therein; and the said material is brought in contact with nearly
every portion of the column of heated air passing through the said drum.
The arbor of the heating cylinder h is provided with a driving gear n meshing
with a pinion o on the shaft p driven in any suitable manner as by the pulley r,
and provided with another pinion a meshing with a gear t encircling the drum a
so that the rotation of the shaft p produces rotation in both the cylinders k and
drum a, but the velocity and direction of movement of the said drum and
.cylinder may be the same or different as is found desirable for different substances,
in connection with which the apparatus may be used.

page_text: The drum a is provided with a series of tappets or large inclined teeth u lying
in the path of a striking block pivotted at 2, so that as the said tappets pass
beneath the said block in the rotation of the drum a they raise it, and then
permit it to drop upon the surface of the said drum to jar it and detach the
material which might otherwise adhere to its inner surface.
It is obvious that the heating cylinder may be variously constructed without
departing from this Invention, or that by lengthening the arbor or shaft l' of the
said cylinder the apparatus may be made to dry and afterwards cool the material.
Having now described and particularly set forth the nature of the said Invention
and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that
what I claim is,—
1st. The drying apparatus consisting of a drum provided with buckets and an
interior heating cylinder mounted upon independent bearings below the axis of
the said drum, and means to rotate the said drum and cylinder, substantially as
and for the purpose described.
M
2nd. The drum mounted in an inclined position and the partition closing the end
thereof, and provided with a feeding chute and draft tube combined with the
heating cylinder mounted upon independent bearings eccentrically in the lower
portion of the said drum and actuating mechanism to rotate the said drum and
cylinder, substantially as and for the purpose described.
3rd. The drum provided with a series of tappets, and the heating cylinder
therein combined with actuating mechanism to rotate the said drum and cylinder,
and the striking block actuated by the said tappets to strike blows upon the
surface of the said drum, substantially as and for the purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Morgan-Brown, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
117M MODAAN DROWN