Improved Method of and Apparatus for Drying Bricks and analogous articles.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Mar., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 24th Dec., 1891-Accepted, 20th Feb., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Method of and Apparatus for Drying Bricks and
analogous articles.
I, SIMEON GREEN PHILLIPS, Engineer, of Woodbridge, Middlesex County,
in the State of New Jersey, one of the United States of America, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
:―
The invention is intended more especially for drying bricks after they have been
moulded from the wet clay, preparatory to burning, and it will be described as thus
applied.
In drying bricks the surface is likely to "check" if air is circulated thereon
in a warm and dry condition. The drying cannot be hastened beyond a certain
degree.
I traverse the material slowly through a long building carrying it in open-work
tiers on cars moved either continuously or intermittently, and I subject it to
lateral currents of air artificially warmed. I economize the heat and induce
uniform and just sufficiently rapid drying by causing the warm air loaded with
moisture to impart its heat as it goes out, to the in-coming cold bricks, and causing
the warm bricks as they go out, to impart their heat to the in-coming cold air.
In one form of the invention I have a considerable space between two lines of cars,
and have a partial flooring or horizontal partition extending across such space at
the mid-height of the loads of bricks on the several cars; and provide screw-wheels
or other means for forcing the air transversely across in one direction under such
partition, and in the other direction over it, causing the air to circulate actively
through the loads of bricks, and to move gradually lengthwise of the building
from one end to the other. And I move the bricks slowly or intermittently from
one end of the building to the other in the opposite direction. Near the end of
the building from which the bricks are delivered, heating pipes are arranged in
the mid-breadth. I employ movable deflectors, which may be adjusted to direct the
air more perfectly through the loads of bricks on the cars. In this form of the
apparatus I make the ceiling above of thin metal, and cause the air which is being
received to traverse the length of the building above such ceiling before being
brought down and introduced to the bricks. As the ceiling is a good conductor of
heat, such traversing partially warms the air, and it is afterwards further warmed
first by contact with the loads of warm bricks about ready to be discharged and
afterwards by the steam heated pipes.
In another form of the apparatus, one which I esteem generally preferable, a
horizontal partial flooring corresponding in function to the mid-height flooring
described, is arranged a little above the tops of the loads of bricks, and is
widened so as to extend over the said loads, and the air is carried idly across in
one direction above the partial flooring. With this form there may be any desired
number of tracks, each with an independent line of cars carrying the material to
be dried. In this form there is no occasion for so much central space; air impelling
wheels and heating pipes may be arranged at convenient intervals in the spaces
between the several lines. In this the air may be carried across below instead of
above the drying chamber, by placing the partial flooring below instead of above,
and arranging the fans to impel the air across through the loads of bricks as before.
In both forms of the invention I employ vertical oblique partitions which guide
the air in the required direction.
Dated this 31st day of March 1891
HERBERT J. ALLISON,
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE. SPECIFICATION.
Improved Method of and Apparatus for. Drying Bricks and
analogous articles.
I, SIMEON GREEN PHILLIPS, a resident of. Woodbridge, in the County of
Middlesex, in the State of New Jersey, United States of America, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of my invention for an "IMPROVED METHOD OF AND
APPARATUS FOR DRYING BRICKS AND ANALOGOUS ARTICLES," and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :—
The invention is intended more especially for drying bricks, and will be described
as thus applied; but it may be successfully used in drying lumber and various
articles which can be similarly piled in open-work form on cars or analogous
carriers. I traverse the material slowly through a building or large chamber,
moving it either continuously or intermittently, and subjecting it to lateral currents
of air artificially warmed and peculiarly conditioned, and economize the heat and
induce uniform and just sufficiently rapid drying. Successfully drying bricks
requires considerable time, as the surface is likely to "check" if it is hastened
beyond a certain point. It is important to take away the moisture from all the
surfaces uniformly and as rapidly as can be done without "checking." I have
devised an arrangement of apparatus which attains this end very perfectly.
In what esteem the most complete form of the invention there are a number of
screw-fans urging the air-laterally across the building, and a number of narrow-
gauge railway-tracks provided with narrow cars or carriers traversed thereon in
lines longitudinal of the building. A liberal current of air is taken in cold at one
end and is warmed in part by the heat of the bricks which are about to be
discharged, thus utilizing the heat and cooling the bricks. The air is further
warmed by steam-pipes arranged in the route and the temperature is raised as the
air traverses successively across the several tracks and through the spaces between
the bricks on the several carriers or cars. I so arrange the apparatus that the air
shall traverse several times across, returning above or below the drying-room. In
the last part of its course no more heat is imparted to it, but the warmed air loaded
with moisture is useful mainly in warming the bricks entering the apparatus. The
air taken in cold and dry is discharged nearly as cold, but loaded with moisture.
All the heat is utilized, and at no point is any of the material dried so fast as to be
injured. In ordinary conditions of the atmosphere it requires from a few hours to
a few days to carry the material through the building or chamber. The rate of
travel on any particular track or on all the tracks should be controlled by the
attendants as is found expedient under the conditions.
The accompanying drawings form a part of this Specification and represent what
I consider the best means of carrying out the invention.
Figure 1 is a vertical cross-sectiou through the building.
Figures 1 and 1B are transverse sections of portions corresponding to Fig. 1; but
showing them adjusted in different positions to facilitate the movements of the
attendant in oiling and attending to the machinery.
Figure 2 is a central longitudinal section on a smaller scale.
Figure 3 is a plan view, partly in horizontal section, on the same scale'as Fig. 2.
The dotted lines in Fig. 3 show the arrangement of the air-impelling fans and
their driving pulleys, and also the outlines of horizontal and vertical partitions
which perform important functions.
The remaining figures show a modified form.
Figure 4 is a horizontal section.
Figure 5 is a cross-section on the line 5-5 in Fig. 4.
Figure 6 is an elevation of a portion on a larger scale.
Ratin
W: 12

page_text: a floor or horizontal partition covering the whole area of the building at the level
shown except a triangular aperture a. At about the mid-height between this
flooring A' and the ground is a horizontal partial partition A2, which extends the
whole length of the building, but only a portion of the breadth. This partial
flooring divides the working-space in the building into two parts, one above
the other.
I employ heating-pipes arranged in a narrow vertical series in the mid-breadth
of the building, extending from one end about one-third the length of the building,
as will be described more particularly farther on.
Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, the air is inducted at the right above the flooring A¹
through an opening in the end, (not shown, but which may be of any convenient
size and form,) and is conducted the whole length of the building, becoming
partially warmed by the heat conducted upward thereto through such flooring.
Descending through the aperture a, it is seized by one of the upper series of fan-
wheels B and impelled transversely across to the right in Fig. 1. It descends after
passing beyond the edge of the partition A2, and returns under such partition,
being impelled in the return direction by the series of fan-wheels C. It rises
again after passing the opposite edge of the partition A2, and again returns to the
right; but this time it has advanced longitudinally of the building, so that it is
acted on in its second passage not by the same wheel B, but by another wheel
similarly lettered in the same series. This longitudinal traverse of the air is
insured by a series of vertical partitions A³, which extend across the building in
oblique positions. (See Fig. 3.) At each passage of the air from the right side
to the left the air is by the oblique partitions A³ caused to move longitudinally of
the building, so that on being returned by its traversing again to the left under the
partial flooring A2 and rising again it rises to effect its second traverse at a point
so far advanced longitudinally of the building that it crosses the second time not in
the same path as before, but between a different set of the oblique partitions A³.
Thus it traverses from side to side and obliquely longitudinally until it has traversed
the whole of the building and is discharged through the partially open end of the
building at the right.
on each
Each fan-wheel is provided with one or more pulleys. One such pulley
shaft near the mid-length of the building receives a belt D, which is impelled by
a pulley E, mounted above the flooring A', and revolved by a steam-engine or
other suitable power.
It will be understood that there are suitable belt-holes in
the floorings A1, A2, and in the several oblique partitions A³ to accommodate the
several belts. The fan wheels near the ends of the building are driven by belts D',
which are driven by the extra pulleys on the fan-shafts near the mid-length. All
the fans may be of equal size and be driven at equal speeds; but it will be under-
stood that the lower series C are left-handed or adapted to impel the air in the
opposite direction to the impulsion received through the upper series of fan-
wheels B.
The heating-pipes are greatly inclined. They are arranged in two series G
and H. Each receives steam at the top through a suitable pipe from a steam-
boiler. (Not represented.) Each distributes the steam thus received through a
set of pipes arranged vertically one above another and extending longitudinally of
the building. Each pipe is connected by a return-bend to a corresponding return-
pipe, which extends at a corresponding inclination back to another return-bend
nearly under the starting-point. The first set of pipes G is shown as thus
extended forward three lengths and backward_two lengths. The next set H is
similar, but mounted in the reverse position. It extends backward three lengths
and forward two lengths. The water with a small measure of steam is discharged
from the bottom of each by a trap or other suitable means. (Not shown.) The
arrangement of the heating-pipes insures efficient drainage, with a liberal presenta-
tion of heated pipes to the air as it is moved across the building from left to right
and as it is returned from right to left. There may be a board or other suitable
bar to prevent any considerable flow of air across through the space above the

page_text: upper edge of the system of heating-pipes, and a similar provision to prevent the
passage of air under the bottom of the set. These heating-pipes extend less
than half the length of the building. They raise the temperature of the dry air
which has been just received. The cars loaded with bricks are slowly moved
either constantly or at intervals lengthwise of the building. They are always
admitted at the end where the drying-air is discharged, the right hand in Figs. 2
.and 3.
The air is discharged through the partially-open end of the building or through
any suitable openings in one or both sides adjacent to the end. The bricks are
moved from that end to the left, and before emerging from the building are
subjected to the freshly-received cold air, imparting the most of their heat to the
freshly-received air, thus aiding to warm it. The heat of the dry bricks about
being discharged is thus transferred and utilized to aid in drying the bricks
subsequently treated.
The cars are run on tracks supported on trestles I. These supports are shown
open-work on one side and closed with earth on the other. I prefer such arrange-
ment, but it is not essential. The solid or earth support for the track on the side
where the air descends, the right side in Fig. 1, compels the air to move actively
through the mass of bricks on the car, and the open-work construction effected by
a simple framing of timber, or it may be merely a series of piles on the side on
which air ascends, the left side in Fig. 1, promotes the movement of air quite
across, so as to act efficiently on the bricks on that side. The cars may be of the
same character as are usually employed, except that the flooring or bottom of the
body as well as the several shelves should be open to allow the free circulation of
air upward and downward through all parts of the car.
K, K, are air-guides mounted on axes k and capable of being turned as required.
Each is entirely independent of the other and may be set independent to modify
the flow of air through the loads of bricks on the several cars as they are
successively presented. They may be in any length which shall be found con-
venient. I
propose ordinarily that the several guides K, K, shall correspond each
to one fan-wheel, the shafts being supported on sufficient frames A4, as shown. The
series of guides K which are above the partial partition A2 modify the motion of
the air delivered by the series of fan-wheels B and compel a portion of the air to
flow over the top and descend on the outer side of the car, so that the action of
the apparatus shall be practically equal throughout the whole lot of bricks. The
series of guides K which are below effect the distribution of the air from the
fan-wheels C and compel a portion to traverse across under the car to which these
pertain and come up in the space between such car and the wall, and thus equalize
the action on all parts.
L, L, are screens adjustable by turning on hinges and held in position by
friction or by any suitable confining means. (Not shown.) The screen L on the
descending side, the right in Fig. 1, is near the top of the car. The corresponding
screen on the ascending side, the left in Fig. 1, is near the bottom of the car.
They serve to prevent the motion of the air up and down, respectively, from
becoming excessive. M, M, are screens mounted at the bottom of the descending
side and at the top of the ascending side to prevent the air thus moving from
being thrown completely past the car and producing no effect. They turn on
hinges m.
It is important for the attendant to be able to move about at will through the
building to oil and otherwise attend to the several fan-wheels, and to examine and
repair the parts when required. I provide for making liberal spaces inside of each
line of cars through which a man may readily move.
Referring to Figs. 1, 14, and 1B, the frames A are hinged at their outer edges a
to fixed portions of the framing. Their inner edges are hinged to screens a²,
which screens, when the apparatus is in use, are adjusted horizontally in the plane
of the partial partition A2, and form in effect extensions thereof; but when it is
desired to make a space for the attendant to move between the cars and machinery

page_text: he can change the position of these parts A', ², into the vertical positions, shown
in dotted lines in Fig. 1 and in strong lines in Fig. 1, the parts on the right-hand
side hanging straight down from their hinge a and the parts on the left-hand side
standing straight up from their hinge . There may be any convenient means
(not shown) for holding these parts in those positions to allow the man to move
conveniently along, and also to hold the parts in the bent positions (shown in the
strong lines in Fig. 1) to adapt the apparatus for use.
To the outer edge of each screen a² is hinged a narrow screen A³. When the
apparatus is adjusted for work, these parts A are set in the vertical position shown
in strong lines in Fig. 1. When the parts are adjusted for allowing the attendant
to move freely through the building, these narrow screens A³ may continue to be
in the vertical positions as indicated in dotted lines.
I may remark that in addition to the adjustments described the frames A*, with
the guides K supported in them, and the screens a² and the additional narrow
screens A may be adjusted in various positions intermediate between those shown
in the strong lines and the dotted lines, when it shall be found, by experience or
otherwise, that such intermediate position is conducive to uniformity of the drying
at any point.
In all the forms shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, A is the building, which may be about
seventy-five feet long and forty wide in a single room, except as hereinafter
described. The top is formed by a partial ceiling A2, giving a nearly uniform
height of six feet or other convenient height. Seven narrow-gauge railroad-
tracks B extend in parallel and nearly equally spaced lines the length of
the interior, carrying single-deck or double-deck cars B' of the style commonly
used in drying bricks. It is especially important in my system that there be no
sides or partial sides to these cars, and the bricks in being placed thereon should
be piled to allow a circulation of air transversely across instead of longitudinally
along the several loads. The piles of bricks are arranged rectangularly, and extend
upward so as to nearly touch the partial ceiling, and longitudinally so that cach
load nearly touches the corresponding rectangular load on the next car.
D, D, are screw-fans arranged in sets between the tracks and adapted to propel
the air transversely to the track, allowing it to return through liberal passages
provided above the ceiling or partial flooring A².
Convenient doors allow the cars on the several tracks to be entered and removed.
The cars enter with their loads of freshly made damp bricks at what I may, for
example, assume to be the north end of the building, the upper side in Fig. 1, and
are slowly traversed southwardly along the several tracks, the motion being usually
intermittent, and may vary on the several tracks as the drying shall be found to
require.
I
E are heating-pipes arranged between the tracks and kept filled with steam.
have in my experiments used mainly exhaust-steam from a steam-engine, but live
steam may be admitted, if required, the water of condensation being trapped or
otherwise taken out as fast as formed, so as to give as large a heating-surface as possible
to warm the air at an early stage of its passage through the building across the
several tracks and through the spaces in the several loads of bricks lying in its
way. The steam-pipes E extend along the mid-length about half or two-thirds the
length of the building. The end where the fresh loads of bricks are received being
without any heating means, the heat previously stored in the damp air there being
discharged is made use of to warm the fresh bricks, leaving the actual evaporation
of the moisture from the bricks to be effected mainly at later stages in the traverse
of the several loads of bricks through the building. The air traverses across and
back several times, but each time it traverses the drying-room in the same direction,
from left to right, returning through liberal passages provided above, as indicated
by the arrows in Fig. 3.
The several screw-fans D are mounted on shafts arranged transversely and are
driven by quarter-twist belts from lines of shafting above. The fans may be either
right-handed or left-handed screws, but rotated in such direction that the air will

page_text: move across the tracks from left to right. The air is received cold and dry at one
end of the building and grows rapidly warm from two causes, the circulating across
the several net-works of heating-pipes E, which present surfaces nearly up to steam
heat, and the circulating through the spaces between the hot bricks, which are now
in the last stages of the drying operation and are about to be discharged from the
building.
I esteem it important to utilize the heat in the bricks, and attain this in a good
degree by arranging to induct the cold air through the car-loads of bricks about to
be discharged, and thus to take into the air a good proportion of the heat in those
bricks before bringing the air in contact with the steam-pipes. To this end the
steam-pipes do not extend quite to the hot end of the building. I have before
stated that a considerable length of the other and cooler end of each track, that at
which the air is received, is unprovided with heating-pipes. I am now adding that
a short portion of this end, the hot end of each, is also without heating means
other than the loads of bricks which are standing there, and which give up their
heat to the current of freshly inducted cold dry air being received. The drawings
show what I esteem about the best proportion.
The passage of air across in the spaces over the tops of the loads and below
the partial flooring is reduced by screens extending downward a foot or more
between the lines of cars at the ceiling. The passage of air across under the
bodies of the cars is retarded by corresponding screens or fences extending upward
from the floor along certain lines.
G, G, are screens depending from the ceiling or partial flooring A2, and H are
screens extending upward from the floor. Both sets of screens extend longi-
tudinally between the lines of cars. The screens H are not directly under the
screens G.
C, C, are belts having the proper quarter-twist, which convey the power from
suitable pulleys M₁ on the proper line-shafts M above to the pulleys D' on the
shafts of the screw-fans D.
The liberal aperture in the side of the building through which air is inducted is
marked a. It may extend about one-third of the length of the building. A corre-
sponding aperture a¹ at the opposite corner serves for the exit.
The temperature at which the damp fresh bricks enter the building along the
several tracks depends on the season of the year and various conditions, one
important condition being the mode of their manufacture. While some greatly
compressed bricks come from the machine (not shown) and enter the building at a
temperature as high as 90° Fahrenheit, so that it is easy to raise them to
150° Fahrenheit by steam-heat alone, there is little need to utilize the last incre-
ments of heat in the moisture-laden air. There are other modes of manufacture,
eminently what are technically known as "mud bricks," which deliver the bricks
cold. There may be seven or any other considerable number of lines of cars, and
the air is in all cases blown across through the spaces in the loads of cold bricks
in each.
My invention presents the air very thoroughly and evenly to the several loads of
bricks and so as to dry them rapidly under favourable conditions, but not so rapidly
as to cause the surfaces to check. The air which first strikes the green bricks is
warm, but damp. The damp compressed clay thus conditioned rises in temperature
simply. As the bricks advance they begin to give off their moisture, meeting, or
rather, being traversed laterally by currents of air successively drier as they
advance, but always so conditioned that the surface will not check. Just before
they emerge they are traversed by freshly received cold air.
The apparatus requires for its proper management but a small amount of skill or
care, the adjustments being mainly automatic. The action of the screw-fans not
only impels the air in the required direction, but also throws it into a great number
of intermingling currents. The traversing across in this manner is specially
adapted to dry fruits and any articles for which the temperature should be
moderate.

page_text: Modifications may be made without departing from the principle or sacrificing
the advantages of the invention. It is practicable to heat the air by other means
than steam-pipes, hot-air pipes, or smoke-flues, or any other suitable heating agent
may be used.
Parts may be used without the whole. In the form shown in Figs. 1 to 3, I can
dispense with the provision for adjusting the screens L and M, taking care to find
by practice what are the best proportions, or I can dispense with these screens
altogether.
In the form shown in Figs. 4 to 6, instead of six screw-fans in each set I can
have a greater or less number. The drawings show partitions extending along
parallel to the tracks with the screw-fans worked in apertures about the same size
as the fans. The invention may be so worked, but it may be preferable in some
cases to omit such longitudinal partitions and allow the air to move as freely as
possible, simply aiding its general progress by the fans. I can work successfully
by a single set or line of fans, or by any other number of lines with the fans, all
impelling the air laterally in the same direction. The air may be returned in
corresponding passages (or a sufficient chamber) below instead of above the main
room (the drying-room) wherever the elevation of the building and the facilities
for drainage, &c., will allow such arrangement.
The screw-fans may be driven by open belts instead of quarter-twist belts, but
such require a greater expenditure for counter-shafting. I prefer the whole as
shown.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :
1. In a drying apparatus, the partial flooring A2, with spaces at the sides
between its edges and the sides of the building, and means, as fan-wheels and
vertical oblique partitions extending across the building, for inducing currents of
air to move obliquely across the building above the flooring A², and in opposite
directions below said flooring, and with two lines of cars J carrying articles to
be dried and moved gradually in the direction opposite to the end wise movement
of the air, and with the heating-pipes G, H, all combined and arranged sub-
stantially as described, so that the air heated by its contact with the warm bricks
being discharged is subsequently traversed obliquely across the building alternately
in opposite directions in contact with the heating-pipes, and is presented to the
material on the cars successively throughout the length of the building, sub-
stantially as herein specified.
2. In a drying apparatus, a floor A., with provisions for allowing the freshly-
received air to traverse longitudinally over it, in combination with a partial
flooring A², arranged at a lower level, with spaces at the sides between its edges
and the sides of the building, and means, as the fan-wheels and vertical partitions
extending across the building in oblique positions, for inducing currents of air
to move obliquely across the building above the flooring A2 and in opposite
directions below said partitions, and with the two lines of cars J carrying articles
to be dried, and moved gradually in the direction opposite to the end wise movement
of the air, and with the heating-pipes G, H, all combined and arranged sub-
stantially as described, so that the air will be slightly heated above the flooring A¹,
further heated by its contact with the warm bricks being discharged, and
subsequently traversed obliquely across the building alternately in opposite
directions in contact with the heating-pipes, and presented to the materials on
the cars successively the length of the building, substantially as herein specified.
3. In a drying apparatus, the partial flooring or horizontal partition A' and
air-impelled means B, C, combined with the two lines of cars J upon opposite sides
of the air-impelling means, and the adjustable air-guides K, mounted above and to
the left of the cars on the right side and below and to the right of the cars on the
left side, substantially as herein specified.

page_text: 4. In a drying apparatus, the oblique vertical partitions A³, in combination with
a partial flooring or horizontal partition A², the air-impelling means B, C, arranged
to move the air across the building in one direction above and in the other below
said partition, and with the two lines of cars J and air-heating means G, H, all
arranged for joint operation substantially as herein specified.
5. In a drying apparatus, the horizontal partition A2, air-impelling means B, C,
and air-heating means G, H, combined with the lines of cars J, arranged upon the
right and left sides, and the adjustable screens M, mounted below and to the right
of the car on the right-hand side and to the left and above the car on the left side,
substantially as herein specified.
6. In a drying apparatus, the partial ceiling A², heating-pipes E, and means, as
the fan-wheels D, for inducing a current of air transversely under the ceiling in
one direction and above the ceiling in another direction, advancing longitudinally
toward the end of the apparatus at which the air is discharged, substantially as
herein specified.
7. In a drying apparatus, the partial ceiling A2, heating-pipes E, and means, as
the fan-wheels D, for inducing a current of air transversely under the ceiling in
one direction and above the ceiling in another direction, advancing longitudinally
toward the end of the apparatus at which the air is discharged, in combination with
means, as the tracks B and the cars B', for traversing the bricks longitudinally of
the structure in the opposite direction and transversely to the motion of the air,
the heating means being reduced where the air is received, so that it will be partly
warmed by the heat in the out-going bricks, all arranged for joint operation,
substantially as herein specified.
Dated this 11th day of December 1801
Witnesses,
THOMAS DREW STETSON.
CHARLES ROBINSON SEARLE.
SIMEON GREEN PHILLIPS.