IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR DRYING GRAIN
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lewis Scudder Chichester
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
1st June 1863.
I, LEWIS SCUDDER CHICHESTER, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York,
United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR DRYING GRAIN," to be as follows:-
I make use of a vertical tube or shaft revolved by competent power, and
around which is a series of inverted cones or dishing tables, and between these,
supported from an outer casing, are return cones or funnels. The grain is
supplied at the top of the apparatus, and falling upon the upper centrifugal
plate is scattered by the revolution thereof upon the contiguous funnel, which
returns the grain to near the center of the centrifugal plate next below, and so
on throughout the whole series, and the said shaft being formed as a tube
allows for the introduction through it of hot air, and which is directed upon
the grain as it is agitated, and progresses down through the apparatus, holes
being provided at the desired points for the hot air to pass out of the said tube,
and holes are provided in the outer casing for the air and vapors to pass away.
The air supplied to this dryer may be heated in any convenient manner, and

page_text: driven into the apparatus by a suitable blower, and valves may be applied to
regulate the escape of the hot air and vapors from the openings in said casing,
or from an air chamber surrounding such casing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Lewis Scudder Chichester in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th November 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEWIS
SCUDDER CHICHESTER, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York, United States of
America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Lewis Scudder Chichester, Her special license that I, the said Lewis
Scudder Chichester, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Lewis Scudder Chichester, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR DRYING GRAIN," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Lewis Scudder Chichester, 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 Lewis Scudder Chichester, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of my grain dryer, and
"
2 is a sectional plan of the same at the line x, x.
Similar marks of reference denote the same parts.
Grain has heretofore been dried on heated surfaces, both oblong and cir-
cular, and also by an ascending current of air.

page_text: The nature of my said Invention consists in a vertical shaft carrying centri-
fugal tables, in combination with funnels intervening between the respective
centrifugal tables, so as to receive the grain as thrown off from the edge of one
table and return it near the center portion of the centrifugal table next below,
and I arrange the parts so as to introduce a supply of heated air that is
directed upon the grain as it passes over the respective centrifugal tables and
.funnels.
In the Drawing, a is a vertical shaft set in any suitable step 6 at the bottom,
and sustained by a journal box at or near the top, and this shaft and the parts
carried by it are to be revolved by any competent power, and with the required
speed. Around this shaft, secured at suitable distances apart, are the centri-
fugal drying tables c, the number of which may be increased according to the
capacity of the machine, and the size of these centrifugal tables is to be regu-
lated according to speed and other requirements of the machine. These cen-
trifugal tables are to be inverted cones or of a dishing shape, as seen in
Fig. 3, and below each of these centrifugal tables is a return funnel d,
sustained at its outer edge by a suitable casing e. The grain is supplied at f
from a hopper or spout, and falling upon the upper funnel passes to the top
table c, near the center thereof, and the centrifugal force, as said table is re-
volved, scatters the grain over the edge upon the next funnel d below, which
in turn concentrates the grain again near the center of the next centrifugal
table, to be thrown off as before, and the grain passes thus alternately from
the tables and funnels until it reaches the bottom of the apparatus, when, in
consequence of the agitation in connection with heat applied to said apparatus,
the grain will be dry; and I remark that the time occupied by the grain in
passing through the apparatus will depend upon the speed and shape of the
tables, and the consequent quicker or slower scattering of the grain from the
tables by the centrifugal action. Ribs or deflectors may be applied to these
centrifugal tables to accelerate or to retard the grain.
In order to apply a circulating current of heated air to the grain as it
descends, I employ the central hot-air tube 9, surrounding or forming the
central shaft, for the centrifugal tables c, and said tables may be cast upon or
connected with this tube. The lower end of this tube 9 opens into an air
box h, to which heated air is supplied by a pipe at k or otherwise, and per-
forations i, i, are formed in this air tube at such points as will most effectually
direct the heated air upon the grain in its passage through the apparatus; and
1, 1, are openings through the case e, by which the heated air surcharged with
moisture is to escape.
I prefer that an exhaust blower be employed to draw air from over a fire,

page_text: -either alone or commingled with the atmosphere at the usual temperature,
and force such heated air into the apparatus through this central hot air shaft;
and the air that passes out of the apparatus by, the openings may be received
ว
in a surrounding chamber, and aid in keeping up the temperature of the dryer.
Care must be taken not to have the air too hot, or it will burn or scorch the
grain. To those centrifugal tables upon which the damp or wet grain first
falls a fixed or standing scraper may be applied, extending from the casing
.or from the upper funnel, to agitate the revolving grain, and prevent it from
adhering while wet to the centrifugal table.
In Fig. 3, the funnels d are shown as of a parabolic form, with openings
below overhanging ledges, through which openings the hot air passes.
Dampers may be applied to regulate the exit of the heated air from the
apparatus, so as to maintain a plenum of hot air within.
The arrows in the Drawing show the direction of the heated currents of air,
and the dots indicate the direction in which the grain travels.
My apparatus can be used for cooling grain, if cold air is introduced instead
of hot.
What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,-
First, a series of centrifugal drying tables in combination with the stationary
intervening funnels for receiving the grain as scattered from one table and
returning it to the next table below, substantially as specified.
Second, I claim the central hot air tube g, and its openings i, in combination
with the said centrifugal tables and funnels, for the purposes and as specified.
Third, I claim the escape apertures for regulating the escape of the
heated air and vapors, in combination with said centrifugal tables and funnels
⚫as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lewis Scudder Chichester, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in the
year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
LEWIS SCUDDER CHICHESTER. (L.s.)
Witnesses,
LEMUEL W. SERRELL,
121, Nassau St., New York.
CHAS. H. SMITH,
121, Nassau St., N. Y.