AN IMPROVED KILN FOR DRYING OATS to be as follows:
Year: 1884

page_text: JOHN DUNCAN 17 Duff Street Macduff N.B. Clerk, Steam Mills, Macduff N.B.
I do hereby declare the nature of said invention for "AN IMPROVED KILN FOR
DRYING OATS to be as follows:-
"
I A common boiler but without tubes closed at both ends.
II In the firebox part of the boiler there are spiral coils of malleable iron
piping; there are 6 coils altogether each coil within the coil larger in diameter,
and lastly a straight pipe, all about 2-3 inches diameter and stretching from end
to end of the boiler each end of the pipes communicates with the outside of the
boiler.
III There is water in the jacket outside of the firebox flue part; (i,e,) in the
part where the water is in a common boiler: this is the water to be heated for use
in the steam generating boiler.
IV The boiler is set at a small incline.
V The exhaust steam from the engine enters at the higher end, thus admiting
the condensed water to run off at the lower end by an air-tight escape, without
further condensing the steam by coming back amongst it.
VI The ends of the spiral coils as also the straight pipe being outside the ends of
the boiler & properly secured that is riveted air-tight-no communication can
proceed between the steam & the air which enters at the lower end of the boiler
& in passing through the tubes becomes heated by force of the heat around them.
VIII The heated air passes on the kilne that through the straight pipe meeting
the oats first on the kilne.
IX The kilne consists of 2 sheets of strong wire cloth held in position vertically
by iron rods. The 2 sheets are placed at a distance of about 5 inches which forms
a receptacle where the oats gradually descend through while being subjected to a
current of warm air, the rate of delivery is tempered by shuts at the bottom of the
kilne which is divided off into hopper bottomed outlets.
X The kilne is say twelve feet broad & the air from the centre pipe is allowed
to expand in its conducting chamber which is airtight, & communicates alone with
say the first three feet of the vertical height of the kilne, the air is sucked through
here by an exhaust fan on the other side; placed in the outside about the centre,
Co1

page_text: of another air-tight chamber; which discharges the moisture into the air The air
from the coil with the smallest diameter next passes through the oats, & so on to
the bottom which is subjected to the hottest air viz that from the largest coil.
The vertical height is say 20 feet but the higher the better as it would come more
speed & give a longer & thus a slower drying.
The breadth may be of any size, according to the requirements of the mill.
XI A large grain hopper is over the top of the kilne, capable of holding as much
as keep the kilne going 24 hours-this hopper to be replenished every morning by
the grain elevator from the raw corn bin.
11
XII The pump of the engine is in connection with the water jacket of the air
heating boiler. The pump pumps the heated water therefrom into the other *boiler.
Cold water is supplied to the former boiler from a constant water supply.
This cold water as also the cold air combine to condense the steam.
XIII The oats after leaving the drying kilne proceed to the cooling kilne which
is the same as the first with the difference that a current of cold air, instead of
warm, is passed through the kilne until the oats are brought back to their natural
temperature, all moisture being previously extracted from the current of cold air.
The oats then proceed to the common shelling & grinding method in a continuous
& constant flow.

page_text: JOHN DUNCAN 17 Duff Street Macduff N.B. Clerk, Steam Mills Macduff, N.B. ' .
I do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "AN IMPROVED KILN FOR
DRYING OATS" and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
I The air from the atmosphere is heated either
(a) By the common method of passing it over a furnace.
(b) By passing it through copper tubes or pipes placed in a furnace without its
mixing with the gases of combustion also, through clay drain tile pipes so that the
moisture shall be absorbed from it.
The furnace may be the boiler furnace in the case of a Steam Mill, which would
have to be adapted to embrace this; otherwise the pipes are placed at the top of
the furnace similarly to & below the Cooler pipes as hereinafter described and a
chimney is constructed at N for the escape of the gases of combustion and the pipes
containing the air pass through the chimney on to the kilne. They pass through
apart from one another to permit the gases to ascend.
This alternate method will dispense with the necessity of expensive anthracite
coal, and when another furnace is used will dispense with the necessity of a special
kiln fire.
(c) By passing it (the air) through pipes placed in a body of steam such as a
steam boiler, or a receptacle filled with exhaust steam from the engine, or boiler
steam; or alternately passing it (the air) over or through amongst a coil of pipes
filled with steam which are placed in what is the coal furnace or another furnace
built along side it. The pipes are 3 inches in diameter oversides and there are 30
(more or less) of them both in ("b") and ("c") The coil of piping is the same length
as the furnace, hereinafter mentioned, and the same breadth and depth of 15 'inches.
The pipes are 2 inches in diameter (more or less) and are one inch apart. The
receptacle to hold the exhaust steam may similarly be what is under present
circumstances the coal furnace; a pipe conveys the exhaust steam to it & it is
closed at both ends, through these ends the pipes containing the atmospheric air
pass.
This alternate method of using steam will dispense with the necessity of a kilne
fire; and by using the exhaust steam the necessity of any non existing heat will
be dispensed with, which means that the heating of the air would cost nothing.
II There are two sheets of wire cloth 12 feet (more or less) high 20 feet (more
or less) wide and 4 inches (more or less) apart.
The sheets may be either woven to the size in one, or composed of pieces of less
width joined together by wire.
The wire cloth is as close as that no oats shall pass through, and may either be
the common kind with wire both in warp and weft or with wire only as warp
twisted around small iron rods as weft, and in both cases is strong to bear
friction. In the former case the wire cloth shall have 13 wires (more or less) to
the inch. The two sheets are held in a vertical position by being attached to
round iron rods one inch in diameter These are fixed into the walls at the ends
and are set between the sheets in the middle. They occur at intervals of one foot
(more or less) to keep the oats from packing hard, and to cause, the oats at the
sides to mix with the oats at the middle. The sheets are attached by 3/4 inch
cross rods 6 inches long; projecting one inch on either side; they are shouldered

page_text: one inch from each end to hold out the sheets and to hold the sheets in the rods
are screwed at the ends, and pass through 1%, inch hoops which act as washers
to the nut which screws up the sheet against the shoulder. These cross rods are
hooked on to the one inch rods by an eye at the centre of the cross rods tightly
fiting the inch rods. The cross rods occur at intervals of two feet (more or less)
The oats are contained in the receptacle thus formed and descend slowly subjected
-to a current of warm air: This is the kiln proper. 3
III There is an air chamber on each side of the kiln formed by building walls on
each side of the kilne. The air chambers are of the same height and width as the
kilne In the front air chamber the distance of the front wall from the front side
of the kiln is one foot (more or less), and the back wall is the same distance from
the back side of the kiln. The front chamber is divided horizontally into two at
the middle by such means as sheet iron. An exhaust is placed outside the middle
of the upper half of the front chamber. The exhaust sucks the air from the atmo-
sphere through the furnace or by alternate methods ("b") & ("c") of I; where it
becomes heated then into the lower half of the front air chamber then through the
lower horizontal half of the kiln then into the back air chamber then through the
upper horizontal half of the kiln and then into the upper half of the front chamber
thence. through the exhaust into a small exhaust house from which it escapes
through luffers back into the atmosphere.
IV There is a Cooler below the Kiln which is a continuation of the wire cloth
other ten feet (more or less) down with a wooden hopper mouth running to a point
at the distance of other two feet down. The 4 inch sides of the cooler finish in
this hopper mouth shape, they both run to the centre making an angle of not less
than 30° with the ground. The parts of the 4 inch sides which slope are formed
of wood covered with strong sheet iron or fender plate and the air chambers
are similarly partitioned. These sloping sides are fitted at the bottom with an
adjustable shut each with rods & horn screws attached thereto. .
When opening the shuts both screws are turned the same number of times to
give both sides of the kiln an equal delivery.
There is an air chamber on each side of the Cooler just as in the Kiln but not
divided. The moisture is extracted from the air thus:-
Along the top of the furnace are placed 20 (more or less) clay drain tile. pipes in
two tiers through which air from the atmosphere is sucked. These discharge into
a cast metal box 6 feet long by one foot high by 6 inches broad, which lies across
the top of the furnace 6 inches down into it. Here the dried air is collected. Four
cast metal pipes on one side of the furnace and 3 on the other 5 inches in diameter
convey the heated air to a concrete cold water tank beneath; water tight all
round; the air passes through 40 feet (more or less) of this piping in the tank till
it is perfectly cold again & it remains all the time still dry. The pipes pass thence
through water tight apertures in the wall of the tank into the front air chamber of
the Cooler, then through the wire cloth and oats then into the back air chamber
from which it is exhausted and discharged back into the atmosphere. The Kilne
can be constructed or used without the Cooler when required.

page_text: Keep the wife cloth out in position, also screwed ends, washers, and nuts to keep
the wire cloth (g¹ g¹) from bulging out with the grain.
is rods to which the wire cloth is attached, these also serve to mix the grain..
ggare the two perpendicular sheets of wire cloth forming the receptacle to
contain the oats whilst drying, called the kiln proper,
k is the damper.
is the division line of the front air chambers formed of sheet iron or other
substance serving the same purpose.
m is the bottom of the air chambers of the Cooler.
n is the spout conveying the dryed & cooled grain to the mill.
o is the two shuts for the delivery of the grain.
p is iron rods connected therewith.
q is thumbscrews or hornscrews for regulating the rate of delivery.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1) A Kiln constructed of sheets of wire cloth placed perpendicularly substantially
as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2) The heating of air substantially as hereinbefore described in pipes by steam
for drying oats in the Kiln constructed as aforesaid.
3) The combination with the Kiln of a Cooler; constructed as herein before
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings; to bring the oats back to
their natural state of temperature and admit and admit of their being manufactured
continuously and automatically from beginning to end, all in a constant flow, and
so dispensing with the necessity of a stock of grain in dry corn beds.
Dated this twenty ninth day of November 1884
JOHN DUNCAN,
17, Duff Street, Macduff, N.B.