IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING OR VENTILATING STACKS OR RICKS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE AND IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS. EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frederic Bust at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 17th August 1882.
FREDERIC BUST of Winterton in the County of Lincoln, Agricultural Engineer
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING OR VENTILATING STACKS OR RICKS OF AGRICULTURAL
PRODUCE AND IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS. EMPLOYED THEREIN
This invention relates to improvements applicable to what is commonly known
as the "Neilson" system of harvesting crops in the stack or rick and has for its
object the affording facility for concentrating the action of the stack drying fan or
exhauster employed upon any desired part or parts of the stack or rick.
In building the stack or rick to which my improvements are to be applied
I form therein one or more chambers or cavities which communicate by pipes
disposed in any suitable manner (either above or below the ground) with any
suitable exhaust fan or air pump so that when the fan is in action air will be
drawn into the interior of the stack from the outside thereby ventilating and
drying the contents.
Now with a view to concentrating when desired the whole power of the fan or
other exhauster on the lower part of the stack which is usually more solid or
compressed than the upper part and through which lower part for the reason set
forth the air would not percolate so freely as it would through the upper part
I propose according to one mode of carrying out my invention to place when
building the stack or rick a platform or diaphragm of wood or other suitable
material across the before mentioned cavity or cavities the said platform or
diaphragm extending beyond the sides of the said cavity some distance into the
body of the stack.
This platform or diaphragm has one or more openings made through it at the
part or parts which extend across the cavity or cavities and each opening is
provided with a sliding damper or other suitable form of valve worked by a rod or
other connection from the exterior of the stack so that any one or more of the said
openings can be either closed or left open at will. The closing of the before
mentioned opening or openings shuts off more or less the upper or that part of the
stack which is above the platform or diaphragm and exposes the lower and more
solid part to the concentrated action of the fan or other exhauster as long as may

page_text: be found requisite. When the lower part of the stack has been thoroughly dried
and ventilated the valves may be opened and the fan or exhauster will then operate
upon the upper and entire mass of the stack.
According to a modified arrangement whereby the action of the fan or other
exhauster can be concentrated at will upon any one or more of various portions
either in the upper or lower parts of the stack as found desirable I build in the
interior of the stack a wooden or other tube or air trunk and in some cases
I surround the said air trunk with an open work cage round which the hay or
other produce is stacked so as to form a cavity and leave a free space round the air
trunk. This tube or air trunk (which should extend some distance inside the
stack) may or may not be divided by transverse partitions or diaphragms at
suitable intervals each having an opening therein capable of being closed by a
valve or slide worked from the outside. The sides of the said tube or air trunk
are also formed with openings therein at suitable heights each of such openings
being also provided with a closing valve or slide worked from the outside by any
suitable mechanical arrangement. By providing wings or partitions radiating from
the outside of the tube or air trunk the air can be prevented from gaining
access to any of the lateral openings except the particular opening or openings
communicating with the part or parts of the stack to be operated upon. It is
obvious that the essential features of my invention may be carried out by various
combinations or arrangements of valves and air passages and therefore I do not
restrict myself to the precise arrangements hereinbefore described which are given
as examples only. The fan or exhauster might obviously in some cases be replaced
by an air forcing appliance so arranged and employed as to force air into the
stack in lieu of exhausting it through the same.