AN IMPROVEMENT IN TREATING COTTON SEED
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN TREATING
COTTON SEED."-A communication from abroad by Joseph James
Powers, of Memphis, in the State of Tennessee, United States of
America.
Sealed the 23rd January 1872, and dated the 6th November 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th November 1871.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN TREATING
COTTON SEED," to be as follows:-
Cotton seed yields, as is well known, a large amount of valuable oil,
which is extracted by hulling and grinding the seed and pressing the

page_text: This Invention relates to improvements in preparing the cotton seed 10
for shipping, whereby it may be preserved in a hulled and ground con-
dition in a sweet and healthy state for any length of time required by
the exigencies of the trade or for shipping upon long routes at sea.
In treating cotton seed according to this Invention, it is hulled to
reduce its bulk, and in this form it may be treated to render it fit for 15
exportation. It is however preferred to reduce the hulled seed to meal,
and then to subject it to the treatment that will effectually secure the
sweetness of the oil contained in the meal.
The meal or. the hulled seed, as the case may be, is subjected to heat,
preferably in a revolving cylinder of sheet metal heated by the direct 20
action of fire or by steam. While passing from end to end of this
cylinder the meal or the unground seed has all the water which it
contains expelled gradually from it.
When it has reached the end of the cylinder the meal or seed is
discharged therefrom into a second cylinder, with a fan or blower 25
is connected. This fan or blower serves to deliver into the cylinder a
gentle blast of air, by means of which not only is the seed or meal
cooled, but any moisture adhering thereto by reason of the partial
condensation of the water expelled from it in the form of vapour by
the heat of the first cylinder may be driven off.
30

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 6th May 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Ohancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, 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 lawfully 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
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN TREATING COTTON SEED," being a communication to
me from abroad by Joseph James Powers, of Memphis, State of
Tennessee, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, tho said .Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, referenco being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say) :-
This Invention relates to improvements in preparing cotton seed
for shipping, whereby it may be preserved in a bulled and ground

page_text: condition before expressing the oil in a sweet and healthy state for
any length of time required by the exigencies of trade or for shipping
upon long routes at sea.
The Invention consists in subjecting the ground meal or the unground
hulled seed previous to packing for market to a heating process, pre-
ferably in a revolving cylinder over a fire or steam heating apparatus,
and then to a cooling and drying process in another revolving cylinder
through which a current of air is blown by a fan.
с
Cylinders are preferably used for the heating and drying operations,
being the most convenient and economical, but other equivalent or
competent means may be used.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of apparatus
which may be used in carrying out the Invention, and Fig. 2 is a plan
view of the same.
Cotton seed yields, as is well known, a large amount of oil, which is
useful for various purposes, and has of recent date been resorted to con-
siderably, the oil being extracted by hulling and grinding the seed and
pressing the meal. The meal is also useful as food for animals after the
oil has been extracted, also for fertilizing.
Up to the present time the vast quantities of cotton seed produced in a
the Southern States of America, and estimated to possess a large per-
centage of the money value of the cotton itself, if properly utilized, has
been almost wholly wasted for want of a mode of treatment that would
allow of it being shipped with economy and success.
. While the seed may be shipped previous to removing the hulls to 2
domestic and foreign markets without deteriorating, it is inexpedient to
do so on account of the extra cost of freight due to the great proportion
of weight and bulk of the hull, and which is entirely useless, the same
being about half the total weight. Therefore efforts have been made
to ship the hulled seed, which have resulted very disastrously to the 3
shippers, owing to the seed becoming rancid in a very short time by
the action of the atmosphere upon the unprotected seed, and the water
and oil contained in it. This result has necessitated the grinding and
pressing of the seed in the localities where it is produced, and the
shipping therefrom of the oil and the pressed cake. While by this plan 3
the oil and cake may be delivered in market with tolerably satisfactory.

page_text: results, yet great loss often occurs by the cake becoming damp and
rancid on shipboard, also by breaking and wasting, and a considerable
per-centage of oil is lost by leakage of barrels. It is objectionable on
account of the necessity of the work being done in small and imperfectly
arranged mills throughout the country where capital and skilled labor
are scarce and expensive. It is also objectionable on account of the
expensive packages required for the oil.
For these and other reasons it is highly important for the successful
development of this comparatively new industry, that the meal separated
from the hull may be conveyed to market before pressing the oil from it
in a condition in which it will keep sweet and healthy for a long time.
It is now therefore proposed to subject the ground meal to the action of
heat for expelling the water, and to a cooling and drying process, in
which the air is blown through it while in a state of motion for carrying
off the condensed steam adhering to it after passing from the fire, and
rapidly cooling it, so that it may be packed in bags, barrels, or other
cheap packages with considerable pressure, whereby it will be so con-
densed as not to absorb moisture afterward, and be in such condition as
to be shipped conveniently. This separation of the water not only
facilitates the preservation of the meal, but it reduces the weight
by the amount of the water expelled, and therefore cheapens the cost
of shipping.
In carrying out this mode of treatment I propose to conduct the
ground meal from the grinding mill to a revolving cylinder A of sheet
metal, working over a fire or steam heat applied in any way to heat it as
it passes through from one end to the other, and from this cylinder I
conduct it by any suitable means to another B, wherein it is subjected
to the action of a gentle blast of air from a fan blower O as it passes
along through the cylinder, by which it will not only be cooled but
the moisture adhering to it by reason of the partial condensation of
the water expelled from it in vapors by the heat will be dried
away.
Any other suitable means or apparatus may be employed for heating
and drying the meal, but the arrangement here shewn is preferred.
The same treatment may also be applied to the seed while in the
kernel after being hulled, with good results. This it is proposed to do
in some cases, and afterwards to grind the kernel and pack the meal.

page_text: Or the dried but unground kernel may be packed, but generally it will
be preferable to dry and cool the seed in the state of meal, as the
operation can be carried on more rapidly owing to the disintegrated
condition of the sced.
I am aware that it is not new to dry corn or other grain in the sced
by passing it through a heated cylinder or over heated pans, and I do
not therefore claim this process of drying broadly, but what I claim as
new is, the treatment of-hulled-cotton seed by a heating and drying pro-
cess (preparatory to packing for shipment), substantially in the manner
and for the purpose herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Sixth day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.