Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Aug., 1887.
Specification Accepted, 16th Sept., 1887.
[Communicated from abroad by HENRY CHANDLER ANDREWS, of 2, Wall Street, New
York City, United States of America, Counsellor at Law.]
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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 invention relates to an apparatus for the drying and curing of Fruit, Tobacco or
other material and consists in the construction hereinafter set forth whereby a uniform
and equable supply of hot fresh air is diffused throughout the drying chamber.
In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1. is a plan view and Fig. 2. is a vertical
section of the same on the line of Fig. 1. Similar letters of reference indicate
like parts.
A is a closed chamber or compartment, provided with a door C located at any
convenient position to afford access to the interior. At D D are furnaces for
supplying hot air to the pipes E. Any other means of heat supply may be employed
and one furnace may, if desired, be used instead of two. The pipe E may also be
disposed in any convenient manner as in the form of a coil or with numerous returns,
in the lower part of chamber E. As here shown the pipe E communicates with the
outside air through a branch in the rear of the chamber E and is connected with a
capped up-take or outlet b for maintaining the draft.
Arranged above the heating pipe E and parallel therewith is the air pipe G. This
pipe is preferably of smaller diameter than the pipe E and is perforated. It
communicates with the outer atmosphere by branches c in which are arranged dampers
or valves d. The pipe G is here shown as supported by the hot air pipe E by means
of straps e, but any other means of support may be used.
In operation cold air enters the branches c, and its supply is regulated by the
valves d. Said cold air then escapes through the perforations in pipe G and so

page_text: mingles with the up rising current of heated air from the pipe E. In this way the
heat is equably diffused through a large volume of fresh air, which rises to the upper
part of chamber A and there meets the material to be treated. If tobacco is to be
cured, this may be hung as shown in the drawing, from a stretcher as B, placed near
the upper part of the chamber.
The invention is applicable to the drying of fruit of all kinds, or any other material
which may be advantageously subjected to a dry hot atmosphere in a closed chamber.
It is especially well suited to the curing of tobacco as by its use this operation is
greatly facilitated a uniform color is produced and sweating and spotting of the leaf
are prevented.
The invention is not restricted to the precise arrangement of heat distributing flues
with cold air pipes mounted over them as here shown, but may be varied to suit
different circumstances and the character of the material to be dried.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
Foreign Correspondent I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The combination of a chamber or compartment, a heating flue near the bottom
thereof connected with a source of heat, and a perforated cold air flue supported
above the heating flue and communicating with the outer atmosphere, substantially as
described and arranged in a drying and curing apparatus.
Dated this 9th day of August 1887.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.