AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING BRICKS, AND SUCH OTHER ARTICLES AS ARE OR MAY BE MADE OF CLAY
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Knight, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Gentleman, and John Heritage, of the
Borough of Warwick, in the County of Warwick, Builder, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING
BRICKS, AND SUCH OTHER ARTICLES AS ARE OR MAY BE MADE OF CLAY."
Sealed the 8th September 1853, and dated the 16th March 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Knight and
John Heritage, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 16th March 1853.
We, GEORGE KNIGHT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Gentleman, and JOHN HERITAGE, of the Borough of Warwick, in the
County of Warwick, Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING BRICKS
AND SUCH OTHER ARTICLES AS ARE OR MAY BE MADE OF CLAY," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention consists in heating the kiln, oven, or flue in which
bricks, &c., are dried preparatory to burning, by means of steam or
hot water, whereby a more equable temperature is obtained than can be

page_text: obtained by the ordinary method of heating the said kilns, ovens, or
flues. In carrying our Invention into effect wo proceed as follows:-
The bricks or other articles are placed upon perforated trays, which
slowly traverse the said kiln, oven, or flue; the recently made bricks,
being carried through the said oven, kiln, or flue by the said trays, are
dried while passing through the said kiln, oven, or flue by the heated
air contained therein.
The steam or hot water by which the said kiln, oven, or flue is
heated, is obtained from a suitable boiler or other heating apparatus,
and is made to circulate through pipes laid on or near the floor of the
said kiln, oven, or flue, beneath the tray carrying the bricks or other
articles.
We prefer maintaining the temperature of the said kiln, oven, or
fluc at 120° Fahrenheit, but we do not confine ourselves to that temper-
ature, neither do we confine ourselves to any particular arrangements
for effecting the circulation of the hot water or steam, as the same may
be varied without departing from the nature of our Invention. A cir-
culation of air is also maintained in the said kiln, oven, or flue, so as to
remove the vapour of water which is constantly rising from the bricks
or other articles, and the accumulation of which would arrest the further
drying of the said bricks or other articles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said George Knight and John Heritage, in the Great
Seal Patent Office, on the 15th September 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
GEORGE KNIGHT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gentle-
man, and JOHN HERITAGE, of the Borough of Warwick, in the County
of Warwick, Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and

page_text: grant unto us, the said George Knight and John Heritage, Her
special licence that we, the said George Knight and John Heritage,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said George Knight and John Heritage, our 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 OR IMPROVEMENTS
IN DRYING BRICKS, AND SUCH OTHER ARTICLES AS ARE OR MAY BE MADE OF
CLAY," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said George
Knight and John Heritage, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 we, the said George Knight and John
Heritage, 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 thereof, reference
being had to the drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon, that is to say:
Our Invention consists in heating the kilns, ovens, flues, or chambers
in which bricks, tiles, drains pipes, and other articles made of clay are
dried preparatory to burning by means of steam or hot water in place
of the hot air usually employed, by which said method of heating the
said kilns, ovens, flues, or chambers means of steam or hot water
we maintain a more equable temperature in the said kilns, ovens, flues,
or chambers than can be obtained by the use of hot air, and thereby
dry the said bricks and other articles with greater regularity. We also
believe our said method of heating to be more economical than the
ordinary method.
Figure 1, in the accompanying drawings represents a plan of the
base of one of 2. series of kilns, ovens, flues, or chambers heated by

page_text: steam. Figure 2 represents a plan of a portion of the same on a
larger scale. Figure 3, represents a transverse vertical section of the
same, the said section being taken through the line a, Figure 2.
Figure 4, represents a longitudinal section of Figure 2. Figure 5,
represents a portion of Figure 4, on a larger scale than the said
Figure 4. b, is a steam boiler, from which steam is conducted into the
pipe c, running horizontally from end to end of the kilns, ovens, flues,
or chambers, but external to the same; a series of small pipes d, d,
conduct the steam from the pipe c, into the systems of pipes marked c,
in the several Figures. The course of the said steam in the said
systems of pipes is indicated by the arrows in Figure 2; that is to say,
the current of steam conducted by the small pipes d, d, into the systems
of pipes c, e, divides itself, immediately after entering the chamber,
into two currents which pass along the two outer pipes of the three
constituting cach system; the said currents of steam at the side of the
chamber opposite to that at which the said steam is introduced, coalesce
and return by the central pipe of the system. The condensed water
from the systems of pipes returns to the boiler by the small pipes f, g,
(see Figure 5,) that is to say, the water condensed in the outer pipes of
each system returns by the pipe f, and the water condensed in the
middle pipe of each system by the pipe g; a small pipe h, is attached to
the upper side of the end of the middle pipe of each system, and is
provided with a stop-cock external to the chamber, by opening which
it can be ascertained by the blowing off of the steam, or otherwise,
whether or not the system to which the said pipe h, is attached is suf-
ficiently supplied with steam. The quantity of steam supplied to cach
system of pipes is regulated by the stop-cock &, in each of the pipes d.
The floor of the kiln, oven, fluc, or chamber is inclined, as represented
in Figures 4, and 5, in order to determine the flow of the condensed
water towards the boiler b. The newly made bricks or other articles
to be dried are placed upon frames or trays, and introduced into and
removed from the said kiln, oven, flue, or chamber at the doors m, l,
the said trays or frames being passed slowly through or across the said
chamber on rollers; but as the method of passing the said bricks or
other articles through the kiln, oven, flue, or chamber constitutes

page_text: no part of our Invention, we do not consider it necessary to describe
the same more fully.
We prefer maintaining the air of the kiln, oven, flue, or chamber at or
about the temperature indicated by 120 degrees of Fahrenheit's ther-
mometer, but we do not limit ourselves thereto. A current of air is
allowed to circulate slowly through the kiln, oven, flue, or chamber, in
order to remove the vapour of water which is constantly rising from the
bricks or other articles, and the accumulation of which would arrest the
further drying of the said bricks or other articles.
Figure 6, represents, in plan, our method of heating kilns, ovens,
flues, or chambers for drying bricks and other articles made of clay, by
means of hot water. Figure 7, represents the same in longitudinal
vertical section; and Figure 8, represents a transverse section of
Figure 7, taken through the line n, in the said Figure 7. 0, is
the boiler or heater, which is filled with water, and in a chamber in the
interior of which the fire-place p, is situated. The system of pipes
shown in plan in Figure 6, is connected with the boiler o, in the follow-
ing manner; that is to say, the pipes q, r, s, t, are connected with the
upper part of the boiler at u, Figures 7, and 8; and the pipes v, w,
are connected with the lower part of the said boiler at x, Figure 7.
The said pipes v, w, are situated in a somewhat lower plane than the
pipes 7, r, s, t, and the whole system of pipes is inclined, as represented
in Figure 7. The heated water passes from the upper part of the
heater, along the pipes q, r, s, t, to the most distant part of the
chamber, and returns by the pipes v, w, to the boiler. In its passage
through the pipes, the said water, by communicating its heat to the
chamber, sinks in temperature, and becomes more dense, and the
difference between the density of the ascending current of hotter water
in the pipes q, r, s, t, and the descending current of cooler water in the
return pipes v, w, is sufficient to maintain the water in circulation.
The temperature of the water is kept below the boiling point, and pro-
vision is made in some part of the system of pipes for the expansion
and contraction of the water by changes of temperature. This may be
done by introducing a vessel open to the air, as at y, Figure 7, or in
any other convenient manner.

page_text: Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be under-
stood that we do not limit ourselves to the precise methods of carrying
our Invention into effect herein described, and represented in the
accompanying drawings, as the same may be varied without departing
from the nature of our said Invention; but we claim as our Invention
the application of steam and hot water to the heating of kilns, ovens,
flues, or chambers, in which bricks and other articles made of clay
are dried, prior to the burning of the same, whether the said steam and
hot water be applied as herein described, and represented in the accom-
panying drawings, or in any other manner.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Knight and John
Heritage, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twelfth
day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three.
GEORGE KNIGHT. (L.S.)
JOHN HERITAGE. (L.S.)
Witness, GEORGE SHAW.