IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING BRICKS, TILES, POTTERY WARE, AND OTHER LIKE GOODS, AND IN THE MEANS EMPLOYED THEREFOR. PROVISIONAL SP
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Ensor, the younger, of the Pool Works,
Woodville, in the County of Leicester, Fire-brick Manufacturer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING BRICKS, TILES, POTTERY
WARE, AND OTHER LIKE GOODS, AND IN THE MEANS EMPLOYED THEREFOR.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Ensor at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th November 1872.
I, EDWARD ENSOR, the younger, of the Pool Works, Woodville, in
the County of Leicester, Fire-brick Manufacturer, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING BRICKS, TILES,
POTTERY WARE, AND OTHER LIKE GOODS, AND IN THE MEANS EMPLOYED THEREFOR,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a mode of drying bricks, tiles, pottery
ware, and other like goods, by utilizing the otherwise waste heat
obtained from the cooling goods in what are known as continuous action
kilns.

page_text: In carrying out this Invention it is proposed to combine a number of
radial drying chambers with a circular or continuous action kiln, the
said drying chambers being constructed above the main body of the
kiln, but their weight is borne by brick arches which are separate and
independent of the main arch of the kiln, by which mode of con-
struction all risk of the erection giving way by the action of the fire is
obviated, as the kiln is left entirely free to expand and contract without
interfering with the supporting arches of the several drying chambers.
Between each of the adjoining drying chambers there is constructed a
damper chamber which affords a ready means of access to the several
dampers of the kiln and drying chambers. Each of these drying
chambers is by preference arched on the roof and floor, the latter being
part of the main supporting independent brick arch before referred to.
The several drying chambers are closed at the front with cross doors and
are in communication by means of separate converging flues with corre-
sponding separate compartments built in the chimney round the main
shaft thereof, and extending up to the top or nearly so, consequently as
none of these compartments have any communication with the main
draught of the chimney they offer no impediment thereto. A damper
is situate at the inner end of each drying chamber, and a series of per-
forations are made in the floor at or near the outer end of the chamber,
which perforations communicate directly with a separate hot air passage
leading from an annular hot air flue which is built in the brickwork
above or at the side of the kiln. Each of the compartments of the
kiln communicates separately with the said annular flue, which is pro-
vided with as many dampers as there are compartments and drying
chambers, there being a drying chamber over each compartment.
The goods to be dried are stacked in any or all of the drying chambers,
and the hot air from the goods which are cooling in any of the com-
partments of the kiln, is drawn off from those compartments into
the annular flue above referred to which conveys it to any one or more
of the drying chambers. After the hot air has traversed the green or
undried goods in the drying chamber and has given out its caloric
thereto, the air, steam, and moisture, pass directly into one or other of
the compartments round the chimney and thence escape into the
atmosphere.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Ensor in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 27th May 1873..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
ENSOR, the younger, of the Pool Works, Woodville, in the County of
Leicester, Fire-brick Manufacturer, send greeting.
'
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year
of 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 me, the said Edward Enson, the younger, Her special license
that I, the said Edward Ensor, the younger, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Ensor, the younger, my
executors, administrators, or 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
DRYING BRICKS, TILES, POTTERY WARE, AND OTHER LIKE GOODS, AND IN THE
MEANS EMPLOYED THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Edward Ensor, the younger, my executors or administrators, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Ensor, the younger, 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 accompanying.
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :—
My said Invention relates to a mode of drying bricks, tiles, pottery
ware, and other like goods, by utilizing the otherwise waste heat obtained
from the cooling goods in what are known as continuous action kilns.
In carrying out this Invention I combine a number of radial drying
chambers with a circular or continuous action kiln, the said drying

page_text: chambers being constructed above the main body of the kiln, but their
weight is borne by brick arches which are separate and independent of
the main arch of the kiln itself, by which mode of construction all risk
of the erection giving way by the action of the fire is obviated, as the
kiln is left entirely free to expand and contract without interfering with
the supporting arches of the several drying chambers. Between each or
every other one of the adjoining drying chambers there is constructed a
damper chamber which affords a ready means of access to the several
dampers of the kiln and drying chambers. Each of these drying
chambers is, by preference, arched on the roof, and its floor is built over
The
the main supporting independent brick arch before referred to.
several drying chambers are closed at the front with iron doors, and are
in communication by means of separate converging flues with corre
sponding separate compartments built in the chimney round the main
shaft thereof and extending up to the top, consequently as none of these
compartments have any communication with the main draught of the
chimney, they offer no impediment thereto. A damper is situate at the
inner end of each drying chamber, and a series of perforations are made
in the floor, which perforations communicate with a separate hot air
passage leading from an annular hot air flue which is built in the
brickwork above or at the side of the kiln. Each of the compartments of
the kiln proper communicates separately with the said annular flue, which
is provided with as many dampers as there are compartments and drying
chambers, or two dampers may be fitted to each drying chamber, there
being one or more drying chambers over each compartment of the kiln.
The goods to be dried are stacked in any or all of the drying
chambers, and the hot air from the goods which are cooling in any of the
compartments of the kiln is drawn off from those compartments into
the annular flue above referred to, which conveys it to any one or
more of the drying chambers. After the hot air has traversed the
green or undried goods in the drying chamber, and has given out
its caloric thereto, the air, steam, and moisture pass directly into one or
other of the compartments round the chimney and thence escape into
the atmosphere.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.

page_text: Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a transverse vertical section of a
continuous action annular kiln with my improved arrangement of
drying chambers built thereon; Figure 2 is a part plan and part
horizontal section of the kiln, showing sections taken respectively along
the lines 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a transverse section
of the chimney taken along the line 7-8; Figure 4 is a similar section
taken along the line 9-10 in Figure 1; and Figure 5 is a vertical
section of a portion of the kiln and some of the drying chambers taken
along the line 1-2 in Figure 1, projected on a flat plane.
A, A, are the radial drying chambers constructed on the brick
arches B, B, which are built independently of the arched chamber C of
the kiln proper; D, D, are the damper chambers, which are shown in
my Drawings as constructed between any other one of the drying
chambers. The roof of each drying and damper chamber is, by pre-
ference, arched as shown at a, a¹, and the floor of each drying.
chamber is perforated, and supported a slight distance above the brick
arch B so as to leave a chamber c below, which communicates by means
of the short vertical flues d and dampers e, e, with the annular hot air
flue E built in the brickwork of the kiln. This annular hot air flue
communicates by a series of short vertical flues f and dampers g with
each compartment C¹ (Figure 5) of the annular chamber of the kiln, the
arrows in Figure 5 indicating the course of the hot air from the said
compartments into and through the drying chambers.
The dampers e, e, in the drying chambers A, herein-before referred to,
may be worked by chains or cords h, h, guided over pullies and brought
into the damper chambers D. The dampers 9 are opened and closed
by rods passing through holes in the floor of the damper chamber.
G, G, are iron doors for closing the front openings in the drying and
damper chambers, the rear or inner ends of the drying chambers being
each provided with a damper i opening into an annular flue H which
communicates by the three radial flues & with the separate compartments
1, 1, (Figure 3) built in the chimney I round the central shaft K. This
shaft K carries off the products of combustion from the kiln proper
through the separate radial flues m, m, (Figure 4) and annular flue n.
Thus the steam or moist air from the drying chambers passes off
separately up the chimney without interfering with the draught up the
central shaft

page_text: Having. now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The construction and arrangement of the drying and damper
chambers upon brick arches, which afford a support thereto independent
of the main arched chamber of the kiln, substantially as and for the
purpose herein-before described and illustrated by the Drawings
annexed.
Second. The peculiar arrangement of the hot-air flues and dampers,
and the flues for carrying off the steam and moist air from the drying
chambers without interfering with the main draught of the kiln when
combined with a continuous action kiln, substantially in the manner
and for the purpose herein-before described and illustrated by the
Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Ensor, the younger, have
J
to this my Specification set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first
day of May One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
EDWARD ENSOR, Jun'. (L.S.)