AN IMPROVED MODE OF DRYING FABRICS
Year: 1855

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Eden at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd May
1855.
I. JAMES EDEN, of Lytham, in the County of Lancaster. Bleacher, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF DRYING
FABRICS" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in drying grey. bleached, finished. or dyed goods.
and other fabrics, by causing them to pass through an apparatus composed of
chests placed horizontally or vertically. and heated by steam or other means,
and in admitting hot air between the chests. The hot air may be admitted
near the front of the apparatus where the fabrics enter, of near the back, or m
any other convenient part: and when the chests are heated hy steam, the
waste steam may be conveyed from the chests to apparatus by which the ai
which is admitted between the chests is heated.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Eden in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd
November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
EDEN, of Lytham, in the County of Lancaster, Bleacher, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself. Her heirs and successors, given and grant unto me, the
said James Eden, Her special license that T, the said James Eden, my
executors, administrators. and assigns, or such others as I. the said James
Eden, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed. should and hawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man. an Invention for "Ax IMPROVED MODE
OF DRYING FABRICS." upon the condition (amongst others) that T, the said
James Eden, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed. and cause the same to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I. the said James Eden. do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention. and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
Specification thereof. reference being had to the accompanying Drawings
(that is to say):-
My said Invention consists in admitting air into the chambers or spaces
between the heated chests of drying stoves, through which fabrics are conveyed
for the purpose of being drved This improved mode of drying fabrics is
particularly applicable to the apparatus for which Letters Patent were granted
to me on the Sixth day of September. One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four. I have in the said Drawing given Figures for showing how my improved
mode of drying fabrics may be constructed, similar parts in each of the Figures
being marked with similar letters of reference.
Fig. of the said Drawing is a longitudinal section. and Fig. 2 a transverse
section. of apparatus, with the improvements. for drying fabrics according to
my Invention; and Fig. 3 is a plan of part of the same apparatus. In this

page_text: apparatus, a is the foundation plate, the upper surface of which forms the floor
of the stove; upon this are fixed several suitable vertical steam chests b, which
may be made of iron or other suitable material. Steam for heating these
chests is admitted through the pipes c. and it afterwards passes away through
the pipes d. The condensed steam is carried away through the pipes c. The
vertical steam chests are enclosed by the casing . in which are windows f:
the casing is carried up considerably higher than the vertical steam chests, in
order to form a chamber for the heated air. The roller i, containing a web of
the fabric to be dried, is supported by the standards j. from whence it is drawn
and passed into the stove between the rollers k. k, as described in the Speci-
fication of the Letters Patent before referred to the fabric is then carried
upwards between the casing and the first steam chest b. and over the first
wince or roller m; the fabric then descends and passes under the wince or
roller n, which is placed between the first and second steam chests, and
supported in bearings attached to the foundation plate a: the fabric then rises
up to the second wince or roller m. and so on, under and over all the winces
or rollers n and m, as shewn by the lines and arrows, until it arrives at the
roller, placed near the foot of the drying stove, and the fabric then enters the
cooling chamber g. The air is admitted into each of the chambers or spaces
between the steam chests through the perforations in the flat tube z, one of
which is shewn in plan at Fig. 3. These tubes are fixed to the foundation
plate under the winces n; one end of each tube passes through the casing /.
and is bell-mouthed, to collect the air which enters the tube and passes through
the perforations, as shewn by the arrows in Fig. 2. the rarefaction of the air
in the stove producing the requisite current.
The air, in its passage along the tubes z, and through the perforations just
mentioned, will be partially heated or warmed. but when it is required to use
the air at a high temperature, it may be heated by any ordinary heating
apparatus before it is admitted into the tubes z. The air may also be heated
by a self-acting apparatus, placed below, and forming the lower side of each
of the flat tubes z.
This apparatus may consist of a steam chest, such as shewn in Figures 4.
and 5. Fig. 4 is a top view of this steam chest, which forms the bottom of a
flat tube z; and Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the same steam chest. This
steam chest has several tubes passing up through it. and fixed in it in
like manner as the tubular flues of a steam boiler, and when the chest is
charged with steam, the air passing up through the tubes into a flat tube z
above will be heated in its passage.
The chest is shewn in the Figures furnished with a tap r, to let the steam in

page_text: when the air is required to be heated, and a taps for letting out the waste
steam and water condensed in the interior of the chest. The ends of the flat
tubes z should of course be closed up when this apparatus is used, in order
that all the air passing into the stove may be drawn through the tubes of the
steam chest. The steam used in this steam chest may be either steam from
a boiler, or the waste steam coming from the other parts of the apparatus
above described.
After the fabric has passed under the roller z, it is taken over and under the
wince rollers p and q, which are supported in the chamber g. into which cold
air is forced by means of a fan in communication with the pipe g' and through
the grid g, for the purpose of cooling the fabric; after which it passes under
the roller s. and is conveyed to the ordinary plaiting down machine, or is
otherwise disposed of. The rollers p and m are connected together and driven
by the shaft m'. When motion is given to this shaft, and the steam chests
are sufficiently heated, the fabric is gradually unwound from the roller i, and
conveyed through the drying stove and cooling chamber in the manner
above described. The heated steam chests impart the requisite heat for
evaporating the moisture in the fabric, and the air admitted through the
tubes z prevents the harshness or rigidity in the fabric which would otherwise
be produced.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself
to the details given, as the dimensions of the stove must depend upon the
fabric to be dried, to the degree of heat of the steam chests, or to the velocity
imparted to the fabric; nor do I claim. except as herein-after expressly men-
tioned. any of the parts herein described, and which are only shewn and
referred to in order to illustrate my Invention: but that what I do claim is.
admitting air into the chambers or spaces of drying stoves in the manner and
for the purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof. I, the said James Eden, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twentieth day of November. in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Wit ness.
H. B. BARLOW.
Manchester.
JAMES EDEN. (L.S.)