IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR, DRYING OR PULVERISING OR FOR DRYING AND PULVERISING SEWAGE DEPOSIT, MANURE, CEMENT, CHEMICALS, GRAIN, MALT, AND OTHER LIKE MATTERS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Milburn, of 76, Church Lane, White-
chapel, in the County of Middlesex, and Henry Jackson, of
16, Park Square, Leeds, in the County of York, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR, DRYING OR PULVERISING OR FOR
DRYING AND PULVERISING SEWAGE DEPOSIT, MANURE, CEMENT, CHEMICALS,
GRAIN, MALT, AND OTHER LIKE MATTERS."
Sealed the 29th October 1872, and dated the 30th July 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Milburn and
Henry Jackson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 30th July 1872.
We, ROBERT MILBURN, of 76, Church Lane, Whitechapel, in the
County of Middlesex, and HENRY JACKSON, of 16, Park Square, Leeds, in
the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRYING OR PULVERISING OR FOR DRYING
AND PULVERISING SEWAGE DEPOSIT, MANURE, CEMENT, CHEMICALS, GRAIN, MALT,
AND OTHER LIKE MATTERS," to be as follows:-
According to the first part of our Invention we form a floor or bed
of plates or slabs of metal or earthenware or other suitable material, and

page_text: we heat the said floor by means of furnaces or flues, or by waste heat
from furnaces, or by means of steam or of waste steam. Above the said
floor we mount a frame or frames to which scrapers are attached, the
said frame or each frame being arranged to be worked to and fro over
the said floor by means of revolving cranks acting upon slotted standards.
As the said cranks revolve they are caused to lift the said frame during
its backward movement towards the inlet end of the floor, so that the
scrapers shall be raised from off the said floor; the extent to which the
said frame or certain parts of the said frame is or are lifted being
regulated by means of screws which limit the traverse of the crank pins
in the slots in the said standards. In addition to the said scrapers we
sometimes attach to the said frame, or to a portion of the said frame
near the outlet end of the apparatus, pulverisers or disentegrators which
are or may be similar to the scrapers, but do not come into contact with
the surface of the floor, as for example, we prefer that the said pulverisers
or disentegrators shall not approach the floor nearer than about three
inches distance near the inlet end, and shall nearly touch the said floor
at the exit end. To assist in the pulverisation we may employ stationary
pins or prongs fixed to bars or bearers which can be raised or lowered
by means of screws, the materials to be dried passing under and between
the lower ends of the said pins or prongs. The substances to be dried
being fed on to one end of the floor are gradually moved towards the
other end thereof by the action of the scrapers, and in their progress are
dried, disentegrated, and pulverised. By adjusting the lift of the said
frame at different points we are enabled to regulate the speed at which
the substances travel over the said floor, and also to determine the size
of the particles of dried sewage or other matter.
When. operating upon matters which have a tendency to cake, we
employ cams to lift the said frame and to let it fall suddenly several
times during its backward movement instead of lifting the said frame
by means of the cranks as afore-mentioned. In such cases the said
cranks may impart motion to the said frame by means of connecting
rods.
We may support the said frame above the drying floor and fit it so as
to slide to and fro by means of cranks and connecting rods, the scrapers
being hinged to the said frame. in such a manner that they shall yield
during the backward movement of the frame, but shall be rigid during
the forward movement thereof.
f

page_text: Our Invention in the second place consists in the employment of
endless chains fitted with scrapers, pulverisers; and teeth, in lieu of the
aforesaid frame. The said chains pass over chain pulleys at each end of
the drying floor and through guides mounted above the said floor, the
said chain pulleys being actuated by means of a mangle wheel so that
a to-and-fro motion is imparted to the said chains. The said chains are
lifted at intervals by means of cams as in the case of the aforesaid frame.
The said chains are arranged to have a greater movement forward than
backward (the said movements being capable of being varied), the
matters being dried being thus caused to travel over the drying floor.
For some kinds of fibrous materials pins or forks alone may be used
without the said scrapers, and the drying floor be heated by means of
steam.
For drying "extract" woolen or cotton, we may use an iron floor
heated by furnaces and covered with perforated tiles, a space for the
passage of air being left between the iron and the tiles, or the carthen-
ware floor may be used without the said iron floor. It may be found to
be desirable, in some cases, to arrange two or mere floors one above the
other, and to cause the matters or materials to fall from the outlet end
of the upper floor, or of any upper floor on to the inlet end of the lower
floor, or of the next lower floor.
The mechanical arrangements berein-before described may be adapted
to be employed in the mixing, disentegrating, and pulverising of such
substances as herein-before indicated without the aid of artificial heat.
5 SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Milburn and Henry Jackson in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 15th January 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
MILBURN, of 76, Church Lane, Whitechapel, in the County of Middlesex,
0 and HENRY JACKSON, of 16, Park Square, Leeds, in the County of York,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of July, in the year of

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Robert Milburn and Henry Jackson, Her
special license that we, the said Robert Milburn and Henry Jackson,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Robert Milburn and Henry Jackson, 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, usc, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
DRYING OR PULVERISING, OR FOR DRYING, AND PULVERISING SEWAGE DEPOSIT,
MANURE, CEMENT, CHEMICALS, GRAIN, MALT, AND SOME OTHER MATTERS OR
MATERIALS," upon the condition, amongst others, that we, the said
Robert Milburn and Henry Jackson, by an instrument in writing under
our hands and seals, 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 Robert Milburn and Henry Jackson,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is
to say :-
According to the first part of our Invention we form a floor or bed of
plates or slabs of metal, or earthenware, or other suitable material, and
we heat the said floor by means of furnaces or flues, or by waste heat
from furnaces, or by means of steam or of waste steam. Above the said
floor we mount a frame or frames to which scrapers are attached, the
said frame or each frame being arranged to be worked to and fro over
the said floor by means of revolving cranks acting upon slotted standards.
As the said cranks revolve they are caused to lift the said frame during
its backward movement towards the inlet end of the floor so that the
scrapers shall be raised from off the said floor, the extent to which the
said frame or certain parts of the said frame is or are lifted being
regulated by means of screws which limit, the traverse of the crank pins
in the slots in the said standards. In addition to the said scrapers we

page_text: sometimes attach to the said frame or to a portion of the said frame, near
the outlet end of the apparatus, pulverisers or disintegrators, which are
or may be similar to the scrapers but do not come into contact with the
surface of the floor. To assist in the pulverisation we may employ
stationary pins or prongs fixed to bars or bearers, which can be raised
or lowered by means of screws, the materials to be dried passing under
and between the lower ends of the said pins or prongs.
When operating upon matters which have a tendency to cake we
employ cams to lift the said frame and to let it fall suddenly several
times during its backward movement, instead of lifting the said frame by
means of the cranks, as afore-mentioned. In such cases the said cranks
may impart motion to the said frame by means of connecting rods..
We may support the said frame above the drying floor, and fit it so
that it may be caused to slide to and fro by means of cranks and con-
necting rods, the scrapers being hinged to the said frame in such a
manner that they shall yield during the backward movement of the
frame but shall be rigid during the forward movement thereof.
Our Invention in the second place consists in the employment of
endless chains fitted with scrapers, pulverisers, and teeth, in lieu of the
aforesaid frame. The said chains pass over chain pulleys at each end
of the drying floor and through guides mounted above the said floor, the
said chain pulleys being so actuated as that a to-and-fro motion is
imparted to the said chains. The said chains are lifted at intervals by
means of cams, as in the case of the aforesaid frame. The said chains
are arranged to have a greater movement forward than backward,
the matters being dried being thus caused to travel over the drying
floor.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood, we
have supplied three Sheets of Drawings to accompany these Presents, the
said Drawings being marked with letters of reference, corresponding
marks indicating the same parts in the various Figures..
Referring to Sheet 1 of the said Drawings, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal
sectional elevation of one form of the apparatus, a being the inlet end
and 6 the delivery end of the said apparatus; Fig. 2 is an elevation of
the said delivery end; Fig. 3 is a cross section of the furnace; Fig. 4 is

page_text: complete apparatus.
A is a floor composed of iron plates supported by brickwork and heated
by the furnace B, the gases from which furnace flow through the
openings, shown in Fig. 3, into an open space formed below the said floor,
and thence through the flue c to the chimney. We may enclose the
said floor by means of a roof or removable covering, and cause the said
gases to flow through the space between the said floor and the said
covering after leaving the said flue. D is a metal frame on which are
fixed or formed the slotted standards E, in which work the crank pins of
the cranks H. The said cranks are fixed on short shafts, on which are
also fixed the bevil wheels I, which are actuated by the bevil pinions K
which are fixed on the shafts L, L. On one end of cach of the last-
named shafts is fixed a bevil wheel M, with which gears a bevil pinion N
fixed on the cross shaft o, which is provided with a strap pulley p. The
shaft o being driven by steam or other power a rotatory movement is.
imparted to all the cranks H, H; and the frame D is thereby moved to
and fro in the direction of the length of the floor. The scrapers R, R,
are fixed to the said frame and scrape the surface of the floor as the said
frame is moved to and fro, and thereby move the substances or matters
being dried to and fro on the heated floor. The disintegrators s, s, are
similar to the said scrapers, but are not intended to scrape the surface of
the floor. The disentegrators may be about one-eighth of an inch from
the surface of the floor at the delivery end when the said scrapers are in
contact with the floor, and may increase in distance from the floor
towards the inlet end. These disintegrators are intended to break up
the masses of matter to be dried, and also to assist in moving the same
to and fro. A block is fitted in the upper end of the slot of each of
the standards E, and each block may be raised or lowered by means of
an adjusting screw, so as to lengthen or shorten the slots. The crank
pins come into contact with the said blocks at each revolution of the
cranks H, and thereby raise the frame and the scrapers during the back-
ward movement towards the inlet end, the said screws being so adjusted
as that the said frame is raised to a greater degree at the inlet end than
at the delivery end. Transverse bars T are or may be fixed to the sides
of the machine, to which bars prongs U are fixed, which prongs assist in
the breaking up of the substances to be dried. The sewage deposit or
other matter is fed on to the floor at the inlet end, and by the peculiar

page_text: lifting action of the said scrapers is gradually moved down the said floor
towards the delivery end thereof, and during its progress is dried,
disintegrated, and pulverised. By, suitably adjusting the lift of the
frame D at different points by means of the adjusting screws in the
standards E, we are enabled to regulate the speed at which the said
deposit or matter is caused to travel towards the delivery end of the
floor, and also to determine the size of the particles of dried deposit or
matter.
In Fig. 6, which is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 7, which is an end
view of one side of the machine, a modification of the apparatus just
described is represented. In this example the frame B¹ is caused to
slide to and fro by means of the crank shaft D', which is connected with
the said frame by two connecting rods, one of which is shown at C¹.
As the said frame is thus moved to and fro the scrapers E' move the
substances to be dried to and fro on the heated floor indicated by the
line A, and at the same time prevent such substances from caking on
the said floor. The frame is raised at intervals by means of cams fixed"
on two or more cross shafts, which are or may be driven in a similar
manner to the short shafts in Fig. 5. One of the said cams is shown at
H. Each cam acts upon a sling piece I, the lower end of which is
provided with rollers which bear against the flanches of the side frames,
and raise the frames and scrapers from the drying floor when the said
sling picces are acted upon. The cams are so formed as to raise the
frame and scrapers three times during the movement of the scrapers
towards the inlet end, and to let the frame and scrapers fall suddenly,
thereby assisting in the pulverisation, and also effecting the gradual
movement of the substances being dried towards the delivery end.
The form of cacli of the said cams may be varied as found most suitable
in each case.
Figs. 8, 9, and 10 illustrate a further modification. In this example
the frame B is moved to and fro by means of a crank E³ and connecting
rod G2, but the scrapers H² are hinged to the said frame in such a
manner as to yield during the backward movement towards the inlet
end, but to be rigid during the forward movement.
Each scraper is
formed with an arm I, which comes into contact with a collar L³ on a
screw, shaft when yielding, the said screw shaft being fitted with a hand
wheel M², whereby the positions of all the said collars may be varied,
and the amount of yielding of the scrapers be thereby regulated. The

page_text: frame is suspended above the drying floor A² on shafts C², which are
provided with trams wheels which run on the side rails D³ as the
frame B2 is moved to and fro.
Figure 11 represents a side elevation; Fig. 12 an end elevation; and
Fig. 13 a cross section of a machine in which endless chains are used in
lieu of the frame B. In this example the said chains are mounted on
the chain wheels B³, B³, which are mounted on shafts which revolve.
in suitable bearings. One pair of the said wheels is loosely mounted
on the shaft K³, on which is fixed the strap pulley L³, by means of
which the said shaft is caused to revolve. On the said shaft is fixed
a spur wheel T³, which gears with a spur wheel U, which is fixed to the
crank. Ws, which revolves on a stud fixed to the disc S³. The said crank
is thus caused to revolve, and being connected by the rod X to a crank
arm Y³ which is fixed to the boss or hollow shaft I³, on which the chain
wheels are fixed, the said wheels are caused to rock to and fro, and
thereby to give motion to the said chains. Scrapers D³ are fixed to the
*said chains, and as the said chains move to and fro the said scrapers
act upon the substances to be dried and upon the drying floor in a
similar manner as herein-before described. On the shaft K³ is also
fixed a spur wheel M³ which gears with a second spur wheel N³,
mounted on a short shaft o³. On the said short shaft is fixed a spur
pinion R³ which gears with an internal spur wheel cast on the disc S³,
the said disc being thereby caused to revolve. The effect of this
arrangement is not only to cause the scrapers D³ to move to and fro
on the drying floor, but also to move gradually towards the delivery end
of the drying floor; whereby the movement of the sewage deposit or
matter towards the delivery end of the floor is effected. The bottom.
lines of chains are supported on guides E³, and the said guides are or
may be raised and allowed to fall at' intervals by means of the cams H³,
for the objects herein-before mentioned or indicated.
Figs. 14, 15, and 16 represent various sections of disintegrators which
may be used. In Fig. 14 the plate which is to form a disintegrator is
formed with a broad rounded flanch. In Fig. 15 the plate is plain, as
shewn in the Drawings of the machine.
Fig. 16 shows a cylindrical form of disintegrator which may be used
for some purposes..
When operating upon some descriptions of fibrous materials pins or
forks may he used in lieu of the aforesaid scrapers and disintegrators,

page_text: such pins or forks being attached to the reciprocating frame, or to
the aforesaid chains, as the case may be. It may also be desirable
when drying fibrous materials or substances or materials which would
be injured by overheating, to heat the drying floor by means of steam.
°
For drying cotton, wool, or "extract," we may cover the iron floor
with perforated earthenware tiles, so as to leave a space for the passage
of air between the said floor and the tiles, or an earthenware floor may
be used without the iron floor. It may be found to be desirable in
some cases to arrange two or more floors one above the other, and
to cause the matters or materials to fall from the delivery end of one
floor on to the inlet end of the lower floor, or of the next lower
floor.
Sheet 3 of the accompanying Drawings is illustrative of an arrange-
ment of this kind, adapted more particularly to be used when it is
desirable not only to obtain a dry residue, but also to torrefy or to
consume the combustible ingredients in the said residue, as for example,
when recovering alkalies from waste waters or products. In the said
Sheet is represented a vertical longitudinal section of a drying floor,
provided with a reciprocating frame and scrapers, similar to those
previously hercin described. We prefer that the said floor shall decline
a little towards the inlet end to prevent the wet substances or products
from running towards the delivery end. Below the said floor is arranged
a travelling floor or apron D, which is formed of metal plates hinged to
endless chains, which are mounted on the chain drums E and G. The
dry or nearly dry residue falls from the delivery end C of the upper
floor on to the said travelling floor, by which the said residue is carried
in the direction of the furnace, and as the said residue is directly
exposed to the heat from the said furnace the said residue is set on fire
and is delivered in a burning state into the recess H, where it is allowed
to burn to ashes, the heat evolved in the combustion of the said residue
assisting to heat the drying floor. As the plates which are hinged to
the said chains pass over the drum G, they fall outwards, and are drawn
over a scraper, indicated by J, whereby the surfaces of the said plates
are scraped. The resultant ashes are removed through the opening I.
'
Our said Invention or parts thereof may be adapted to be employed in
the,mixing, disintegrating, and pulverising of such substances, as herein.
before indicated without the aid of artificial heat.

page_text: Having now fully described and indicated the nature of our said
Invention, and means whereby the same may be carried into practical
effect, we would in conclusion have it to be understood that we claim,-
173
First. The method or methods of drying such matters or materials as
herein-before indicated, substantially as herein set forth, the important
feature of the said method being the scraping, raking, or moving to and
fro of the matters or materials upon a heated drying floor, with a
progressive movement of such matters or materials towards the delivery
end of the said floor.
1
Secondly. The method of pulverising such matters or materials as
herein-before indicated, substantially as herein set forth and indicated.
1.
And lastly. The machinery or apparatus, substantially as and for the
purposes herein-before set forth, and as illustrated by the accompanying
Drawings,
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Milburn and Henry
Jackson, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eleventh
day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-three.