IMPROVEMENTS IN DESICCATING OR DRYING PAPER AND OTHER GOODS IN PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Marie Amedie Charles Mellier, of Frews Weir
Mills, Exeter, in the County of Devon, Paper Maker, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DESICCATING OR DRYING PAPER AND OTHER GOODS IN
PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE."
Sealed the 15th September 1857, and dated the 19th March 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Marie Amedie Charles
Mellier at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 19th March 1857.
I, MARIE AMEDIE CHARLES MELLIER, of Frews Weir Mills, Exeter, in the
County of Devon, Paper Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DESICCATING OR DRYING PAPER AND OTHER GOODS
IN PROCESS OP MANUFACTURE," to be as follows:-
I construct a chamber suitable for drying the kind of goods upon which it
is desired to operate, the goods being so exposed therein as to be subject to
any current or draught of air therein.
This chamber is closed except at suitable apertures for the admission and
exit of air, which may either be at the lower and upper parts of the chamber,
or otherwise suitably disposed. I prefer that the air should enter at the lower
part of the chamber and escape at the top, it being so distributed on entering
that it shall mingle intimately with the goods to be dried, which may pass

page_text: continuously through such chamber, or be merely placed therein. In order to
produce the current of air through the chamber, I connect the escape aperture
with the chimney shaft of a sufficient height to create the draught required;
the heated air used in desiccating will rarify the air in the chimney and
produce the requisite draught therein.
In most cases the ordinary chimney shaft of furnaces used in manufactories
for heating steam boilers or other furnaces will be available for the purpose.
When such opportunity exists, I either connect the eduction aperture of the
chamber with the shaft direct, or by preferénce with the ash-pit of the furnace
in connection with such shaft, at the same time enclosing the ash-pit to
prevent or regulate the admission of air otherwise to the furnace.
The fire bars and furnace should be otherwise so regulated as to permit and
ensure the necessary passage of air to maintain the current required through
the drying chamber.
The air may be heated by passing it through pipes carried through a steam
or hot water chest, or through an ordinary oven, which heating will be more
or less required according to the natural state of the atmosphere.
In addition to heating the air before it enters the drying chamber, I pass
it over or through a bed or tray of chloride of calcium, in order to deprive it
of any moisture it may contain, and thereby augment its power of desiccating.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Marie Amedie Charles Mellier in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARIE
AMÉDÉE CHARLES MELLIER, of Frews Weir Mills, Exeter, in the County of
Devon, Paper Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Marie Amédée Charles Mellier, Her special licence that I, the said
Marie Amédée Charles Mellier, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Marie Amédée Charles Mellier, 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 a
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within

page_text: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DESICCATING OR DRYING
PAPER AND OTHER GOODS IN PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Marie Amédée Charles Mellier, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their 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 I, the said Marie Amédée Charles Mellier, 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:-
My Invention relates to improvements in the means of desiccating or drying
paper, yarns, calico, wool, and other manufactured goods during the different
stages of their manufacture at which such drying may be necessary or of
advantage, and which consists in exposing such goods in a suitable chamber to
the action of a change, or current or currents of air, produced by a chimney or
shaft. The air so admitted to the drying chamber may or may not be pre-
viously dried or heated by artificial means, and may or may not be subjected
to the action of chloride of calcium, previous to entering the drying room, in
order to render it more efficacious.
For this purpose I construct a chamber suitable for drying the kind of goods
upon which it is desired to operate, the goods being so exposed therein as to
be subject to any current or draught or change of air in the chamber.
This chamber is closed, except at suitable apertures for the admission and
exit of air, which may either be at the lower and upper parts of the chamber,
or otherwise suitably disposed. I prefer that the air should enter at the lower
part of the chamber and escape at the top, it being so distributed on entering
that it shall mingle intimately with the goods to be dried, which goods may
pass continuously through such chamber, or be merely placed therein. In
order to produce the current of air through the chamber, I connect the
escape aperture with a chimney shaft of a sufficient height to create the
draught required. The heated air used in desiccating will rarify the air in
the chimney, and produce the requisite draught, current, or change of air in
the chamber.
In most cases the ordinary chimney shaft of furnaces used in manufactories
for beating steam boilers or other purposes will be available for the purpose.

page_text: When such opportunity exists, I either connect the eduction aperture of the
chamber with the shaft direct, or by preference with the ash-pit of the furnace
in connection with such shaft, at the same time enclosing the ash-pit to
prevent or regulate the admission of air otherwise to the furnace.
The fire bars and furnace should be so regulated as to permit and ensure
the necessary passage of air to maintain the requisite current or currents of air
through the drying chamber, or an additional channel provided to maintain the
necessary passage for the air.
The air previously to entering the drying chamber may be heated by passing
it through pipes or channels carried through a steam or hot water chest, or
through an ordinary oven or other heating medium, which heating will be
more or less required according to the natural state of the atmosphere.
In addition to heating the air before it enters the drying chamber, I pass it
over or through a bed or tray of chloride of calcium, in order to deprive it of
any moisture it may contain, and thereby augment its desiccating power.
In witness whereof, I, the said Marie Amédée Charles Mellier, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
MARIE AMEDEE CHARLES MELLIER. (L.S.)