Improvements in Apparatus for Drying Grain.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Oct., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 29th June, 1891-Accepted, 1st Aug., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Drying Grain.
I, HENRY SIMON, of No. 20 Mount Street, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
•
My invention relates to apparatus for drying grain, so arranged that the grain
can be subjected to the action of heated air and of cold air in any desired pro-
portions, applied successively or alternately, so that the grain is brought into the
best condition for storage or immediate use. .
The apparatus consists of a column of considerable height having double walls
of perforated metal or of wire or other suitable fabric, and having its interior
space divided by horizontal partitions into compartments, some of which are
supplied by a fan with cold air, some with heated air. The grain to be dried is.
fed into a hopper at the top of the column and is guided down into the narrow
space between the perforated walls. It descends this space in a thin stream, having
sometimes the cold, sometimes the hot air blown through it, until it finally reaches
a shoot at the bottom leading to a worm or other conveyor.
Dated this 1st day of October 1890.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Drying Grain.
I, HENRY SIMON, of No. 20 Mount Street, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and.
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to apparatus for drying grain, so arranged that the grain
can be subjected to the action of heated air and of cold air in any desired pro-
portions, applied successively or alternately, so that the grain is brought into the
best condition for storage or immediate use.
The apparatus consists of a column of considerable height having double walls
of perforated metal or of wire or other suitable fabric, and having its interior space.
divided by one or more horizontal partitions or valves into two or more compart-
ments, one or more of which are supplied by a fan with hot air, while the other or
others is or are supplied with cold air. The grain to be dried is fed into a hopper.
at the top of the column, and is guided down into the narrow space between the
perforated walls. It descends this space in a thin stream, having the hot and the
cold air blown through it in any desired order until it finally reaches. a roller and
regulating slide at the bottom, leading to a worm or other conveyor.
On the accompanying drawing
Fig. 1 is the front elevation of one arrangement of the above described machine.
Fig. 2 the side elevation.
Fig. 3 sectional elevation.
a is the hopper into which the wheat requiring drying is fed; bb are the double
walls formed of perforated sheets between which the wheat runs ; c is the pipe
admitting hot air; d is the pipe admitting cold air; e is a valve or diaphragm
for dividing the hot air from the cold air section. ƒƒ and g g are respectively rolls

page_text: and plates for controlling regulating and spreading the material passing through
the machine.
I make the distance between the perforated plates b b as small as is practicable
(about in. for wheat) allowing for the free flow of the material passing through
the machine,
This makes it necessary to keep the width of the passage through which the
material passes narrow (from 15 in. to 18 in. for wheat,) owing to the difficulty
experienced in getting a thin layer of material to run evenly where the width of
the passage is great.
By the use of the narrow width in combination with the feed rolls and plates I
am enabled to ensure the material running evenly across the whole width of the
machine.
It is important that the perforated sheets bb should be kept parallel to one
.another, otherwise the air will pass through the thinnest portions of the layer of
material, drying it too much, and not drying the thicker portions of the layer
sufficiently.
By making the machine narrow I am able to strain the perforated sheets so that
they do not appreciably bulge at the centre under the pressure of the grains from
the expansion of the sheets which takes place when the heated air is admitted to
the machine.
The heated air which is drawn or blown from or through a furnace, steam heater,
or other heating appliances passes through the pipe c into the space in the trunk
contained between the thin layers of wheat. The air blast, having no exit at top,
passes through the two perforated walls b b and consequently through the layers of
grain, thus rapidly drying the latter as it passes down the machine.
Cold air is drawn or blown into the machine by the pipe d, from whence it is
directed to pass through the layers of grain below the diaphragm e. The grain is
thus effectually cooled before leaving the machine.
The casing may have either one, two or more of its sides constructed with the
perforated walls b b, and it may either be arranged vertically as shewn or in an
inclined position.
It will be evident that two or more of the narrow passages formed between the
walls a a may be arranged side by side in one and the same apparatus, or in other
words, that the perforated or permeable walls a a of a column can be divided by
longitudinal partitions into two or more separate compartments, which are all acted
upon by the same currents of air, and the discharge of grain from the lower end of
such passages may be controlled either by a single long feed roller, or by separate
feed rollers.
Other machines now in use have dried the wheat slowly and in thick layers. The
layers being thick the moisture evaporated or blown from that portion of the grain
first acted upon by the air is deposited on the outer layers, rendering necessary,
where such construction is used, some device for turning the wheat from inside to
outside and vice versa, if anything like effective drying is to be secured.
By the use of the thin layer as adapted in my machine, a more rapid and better
drying of the grain is possible (the moisture being prevented from penetrating the
grain) than can be secured with the thick layer, turning in and out.
This rapid
drying effects a very important improvement, allowing tender wheats to be washed
and dried which could not be so treated by the old method.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
:―
1. Apparatus for drying grain, wherein the grain is caused to pass down in a
thin layer through narrow vertical or inclined spaces contained between perforated
or permeable walls, through which currents of air are made to pass transversely
so as to carry off the moisture from the grain as it descends, substantially as
described.

page_text: 2. In apparatus for drying grain such as is referred to in the preceding claim,
causing the descending layers of grain to be subjected consecutively to currents of
hot air for drying the same, and to currents of cold air for cooling the same, sub-
stantially as described.
3. In apparatus for drying grain such as is referred to in the preceding claim,
forming the narrow spaces between the perforated or permeable walls of restricted
width, and controlling the descent of the thin narrow layer of grain therein by a
revolving roller at bottom, in order to insure the uniform nature of the layer, sub-
stantially as described.
4. Apparatus for drying grain consisting of a hollow rectangular or other shaped
vertical or inclined column, one or more sides of which is formed of double
perforated or permeable walls having a narrow space or narrow spaces between
them, through which a thin layer of the grain to be treated descends, while blasts
of hot and cold air introduced into the central space of the column through pipes
separated from each other by one or more partitions, are made to pass transversely
through the perforated walls and the thin layer of grain, substantially as described
with reference to the drawing.
Dated this 29th day of June 1891.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.