IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR DRYING
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Alfred Gibbs, of Gillwell Park, Seward-
stone, near Woodford, in the County of Essex, Esquire, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR
DRYING."
Sealed the 19th June 1874, and dated the 3rd January 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Alfred Gibbs
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 3rd January 1874.
I, WILLIAM ALFRED GIBBS, of Gillwell Park, Sewardstone, near
Woodford, in the County of Essex, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS [FOR
DRYING," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to former Inventions, the subject of Letters
Patent granted to me and bearing date the First day of August
A.D. 1870, No. 2145, and of Letters Patent granted to me in conjunction
with Alfred Borwick, and bearing date the Thirty-first day of January:
A.D. 1872. No. 314.

page_text: reciprocatory or vibratory motion in the said trough, or the said trough
may be furnished with endless bands driven by band pulleys or with a
"creeper" for carrying such substance along the said trough which may
in this case be mounted horizontally. The said substance is lifted and
"lightened up" by means of a series of tines mounted loosely on cranks
formed on two or more shafts mounted longitudinally above the trough,
which shafts are caused to revolve by means of bands and band pulleys
or of gearing worked by hand or by any suitable machinery. As the
said shafts revolve their tines dip into the hay or other substance in a
vertical direction. When they are in this position their upper ends are
acted upon by tappets affixed to other revolving shafts mounted parallel
to the said cranked shafts, and the said tines are thus moved from their
vertical position into a horizontal position so that as they ascend they
carry with them the hay until by the continued revolution of the several
shafts, the said tines become disengaged from their respective tappets
and fall by gravity into their vertical position, and thus allow the hay
which has been thus raised to fall also. The tines may be curved
laterally so as to assist in propelling the hay along the trough.
Instead of the tines and tappets being mounted on longitudinal shafts
as herein-before described they may be mounted on transverse shafts
driven either from longitudinal shafts by means of bevil wheels or from
band pulleys on other transverse shafts. The diaphragm of the air duct
may be hinged at its upper edge and may be caused to vibrate so as to
sweep back any portion of the hay which may have got under the said
duct.
Instead of the diaphragm a sheet of iron bent into the same shape as
the air duct and perforated as herein-after described may be mounted
therein so as to constitute an inner air duct, a space being left between
the parallel sides of the inner and outer air ducts, both of which com-
municate with the hot blast pipe. One portion of the hot air passes
along this space, another portion passes along the inner air duct, and
through the perforations thereof into the outer air duct, and the whole
of the air issues into the trough through the longitudinal lips formed by
the outer and inner air ducts. The perforations in the inner air duct are
of greater size or number at that end of the said air duct, which occupies
the feed end of the trough so as to cause a greater volume of air to issue
into the hay or other substance when in its wettest state, and a lesser
volume to issue into such substance as it approaches the discharge end
ດ

page_text: and becomes relatively drier. The said inner air duct may either be
affixed to the outer air duct or to the reciprocating floor (where one is
used) in which latter case it will travel to and fro with the said floor.
This arrangement prevents the accumulation or lodgment of the hay or
other substance under the outer air duct.
Instead of the tines and tappets described two cylinders made of
perforated sheet metal or woven wire may be mounted longitudinally in
the trough one at each side of the air duct. These cylinders are caused
to revolve by suitable gearing and the substance to be dried is fed into
them. As they revolve such substance falls over and over and passes
down through them (the machine being set at a suitable angle), and
being exposed during its passage to the action of the hot blast is dried
thereby. For the sake of portability the machine may be mounted on
wheels.
My Invention further consists in applying shelves or tines to the
interior of the aforesaid cylinders, and also to the interior of the revolving
drying cylinders or cases furnished with the air ducts described in the
Specifications herein-before referred to, and thereby. causing the matters
or substances in such cylinders to be carried up and showered down so
as the better to expose them to the action of the hot air.
My Invention further consists in arranging in revolving drying
cylinders or cases of either of the kinds referred to in the preceding
paragraph revolving feeding tubes fixed at an inclination the reverse of
that of the said cylinders or cases, so that the matters fed into the
upper ends of such tubes (which tubes are used in substitution for the
hoppers described in the Specifications aforesaid) shall pass downward
by gravity to the upper ends of the said cylinders or cases, down which
such matters will travel to the discharge ends of the said cylinders or
cases. By means of the said feeding tubes the matters to be dried are
heated on their way to the ends of the drying cylinders or cases, and the
drying of such matters is thus accelerated.
My Invention further consists of the improved machinery and
apparatus herein-after described for drying hay, wool, rags, and other
fibrous substances. A rectangular sheet iron case is mounted upon
wheels and divided into a series of compartments one above another,
openings being left at alternate ends of the said compartments to allow
the substance under treatment to pass from one compartment to the

page_text: next below it. The said case has a sloping jogging cover constructed in
separate longitudinal portions or flaps which are hinged at their lower
ends, their upper ends being alternately raised by tappets mounted on a
revolving shaft at the upper end of the machine. The said portions
have transverse slits to allow the hot air to pass out of the case and
through the substance to be dried (say hay), which is fed into the cover
and passes down it into the first compartment, where it is received by an
endless band formed of metal plates jointed to one another, which band
passes over pulleys driven by riggers and bands or gearing. This band
is furnished with tines by which the hay is carried from one end of the
compartment to the other where such hay is discharged from the said
band and tines on to the uppermost of the aforesaid partitions, along
which it is carried by the said band and tines till it has arrived at that
end of the compartment from which it started, at which end it passes
through the first of the aforesaid openings into the next compartment
along which it is carried by a similar band and tines, each of the upper
compartments being furnished with such a band and tines. From the
upper compartments the hay passes to the lower compartments in which
(as the heat is not so great as in the upper compartments) canvas or
other bands or creepers" carrying tines may be substituted for the
metal bands. At each side of each compartment is an air duct with
longitudinal openings, the lips of which are so arranged as to direct
the blasts of air towards the middle of the compartment.
The air is heated by means of apparatus constructed as herein-after
described, which said apparatus is mounted on wheels and affixed to the
machine. The said apparatus consists of an outer fire-box containing an
inner fire-box around which are fixed vertical tubes, the lower ends of
which communicate with the external atmosphere. On the outer fire-
box are two cases each of which contains a rotatory fan, both fans being
mounted on the same shaft. One of these cases communicates with the
inner fire-box, and the fan draws from thence the heated air and
products of combustion therein generated, which it drives through a pipe
communicating with the upper compartment of an air chamber formed
at one end of the machine, which latter compartment communicates
with one end of each of the air ducts in the upper longitudinal compart-
ments of the said machine. The outer fan case communicates with the
vertical air tubes herein-before described, and that fan draws therefrom
hot air which it drives through a pipe into the lower compartment of

page_text: the air chamber aforesaid, which latter communicates with one end of
each of the air ducts in the lower longitudinal compartments of the
machine.
The fuel is fed into the inner fire-box from a hopper through an
opening in which revolving screw blades are mounted so as to feed the
fuel into the said fire-box as required, which blades are mounted on a
shaft driven by a band pulley or by gearing.
The action of this machine is as follows:-The hay which as it enters
the machine is in its wettest state, and therefore requires most heat to
dry it is acted upon by the hot air and products of combustion issuing
from the air ducts in the upper compartments in which the said hay is
deprived of the greater portion of its moisture. The said hay then
passes down through the lower compartments where the drying operation
is completed by the hot air issuing from the air ducts in those compart-
ments through an opening in which the dried hay leaves the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Alfred Gibbs in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd July 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ALFRED GIBBS, of Gillwell Park, Sewardstone, near Woodford, in the
County of Essex, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give. and grant unto me, the said William Alfred Gibbs, Her special
license that I, the said William Alfred Gibbs, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Alfred
Gibbs, 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 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 MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR DRYING," upon the

page_text: condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Alfred Gibbs, 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 William Alfred Gibbs, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
My Invention relates partly to former Inventions, the subject-matter
of Letters Patent granted to me and bearing date 1st August A.D. 1870,
No. 2145, and of Letters Patent granted to me in conjunction with
Alfred Borwick, and bearing date 31st January A.D. 1872, No. 314.
The Specification of these Patents describe various arrangements for
drying wheat and other cut crops, damp grain, seeds, and other
agricultural products, and sewage deposit, and cement, and other viscous
matters and substances.
One of the arrangements described in the said Specifications consisted
of a revolving case with a stationary tapering air duct, through which
hot air was forced by means of a fan, the said air passing through a
longitudinal slit in the said air duct, and being directed by lips at the
sides of the said slit on to the substance contained in the case.
According to another arrangement the aforesaid air duct was mounted
longitudinally in an open trough furnished with mechanism for carrying
or propelling the substance to be dried, and for lifting and turning such
substance during its passage.
Now my said Invention consists, firstly, of the improved machinery
and apparatus herein-after described for drying hay and other cut crops
and other substances.
The substance to be dried is fed into an open trough, along which it
is caused to pass as herein-after described. In the said trough is
mounted an air duct having in cross section the Figure represented in
the accompanying diagram (^) or of an inverted “V,” and divided
longitudinally by a vertical diaphragm. The said air duct is so mounted

page_text: as to leave spaces between its lower edges (which are turned outwards so
as to form lips) and the bottom of the trough. Heated air from the
smoke box of a steam engine or from heating apparatus affixed to the
machine, or from any other suitable source, is forced by a fan into the
air duct, and passes out at each side through the spaces aforesaid, and
dries the hay or other substance passing along the trough, which may
either be set at such an angle as to cause such substance to pass down
by gravity, in which case its passage may be facilitated by means of a
floor or a false bottom having reciprocatory or vibratory motion in the
said trough, or the said trough may be furnished with endless bands
driven by band pulleys or with a creeper for carrying such substance
along the said trough, which may in this case_be mounted horizontally.
The said substance is lifted and lightened up by means of a series of
tines mounted loosely on cranks formed on two or more shafts, which
shafts are caused to revolve by means of bands and band pulleys, or of
gearing worked by hand, or by any suitable machinery. As the said
shafts revolve their tines dip into the hay or other substance in a vertical
direction. As they rise their upper ends are acted upon by tappets
affixed to other revolving shafts mounted parallel to the said cranked
shafts, and the said tines are thus raised from their vertical position into
a horizontal position, so that as they ascend they carry with them the
hay, until by the continued revolution of the several shafts the said tines
become disengaged from their respective tappets and fall by gravity into
their vertical position, and thus allow the hay which has been thus raised
to fall also. The tines may be curved laterally so as to assist in propelling
the hay along the trough.
Instead of the diaphragm herein-before referred to a sheet of iron bent
into the same shape as the air duct and perforated as herein-after
described may be mounted therein, so as to constitute an inner air duct,
a space being left between the sides of the inner and outer air ducts,
the inner one of which communicates with the hot-blast pipe. The hot
air passes along the inner air duct and through the perforations thereof
into the outer air duct, and issues into the trough through the longi-
tudinal lips formed by the outer and inner air ducts. The perforations
in the inner air duct are of greater size or number at that end of the said
air duct which occupies the feed end of the trough, so as to cause a
greater volume of air to issue into the hay or other substance when in
its wettest state, and a lesser volume to issue into such substance as it

page_text: approaches the discharge end and becomes relatively drier. The said
inner air duct may either be affixed to the outer air duct or to the
reciprocatory floor (where one is used), in which latter case it will travel
to and fro with the said floor. This arrangement prevents the accumu-
lation or lodgment of the hay or other substance under the outer air
duct.
Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings represent in side.
elevation and end elevation respectively the improved drying apparatus
constituting the first part of my Invention; and Figures 3 and 4
represent in longitudinal and transverse sections respectively the outer
and inner air ducts, the reciprocatory floor, and sundry parts in con-
nection therewith.
Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, represent sundry details herein-after
described.
The same letters and figures of reference indicate the same parts in
Figures 1 to 9.
A¹, A¹, are the sides of the trough, and A² is the reciprocatory bottom
thereof. The sides A¹, A¹, are fixed to standards a¹, a¹, which are fixed
to bars a, a, which are carried by the axle as of the wheels a', a'; a³ is
a brace or tie bar. The bottom A² is rivetted to bars a, a, which run
on friction pulleys 6¹, b¹; B is a crank which actuates the said bottom
by means of a connecting rod 63; C is the driving shaft on which are
keyed driving pulleys c¹, c², c³, and a pinion c* which drives the crank B
through the toothed wheel b³; D1, D2, are cranked shafts which revolve
in bearings d¹, d¹, fixed to the standards a¹, a¹, and carry the tines d², d²,
which are acted upon by tappets e¹, e¹, affixed to the shafts E¹, E², which
revolve in bearings e³, e².
Figures 5 and 6 are views taken at right angles to one another of one
of the tines d². Each tine has a slot d³ through which pass screw
bolts d', d, which carry a clip d by which the said tine is connected to
its crank. This arrangement allows the tines to have such endway
play on their cranks as may be necessary.
Figures 7 and 8 are views taken at right angles to one another of one
of the tappets c', which I prefer to construct on the principle of a
carriage spring so as to neutralize any sudden strain. e³, e³, are the
leaves of the spring which are carried by an arm e* keyed to the tappet

page_text: shaft, and are held in position by clips e³, e", the latter being furnished
with screw bolts and nuts to allow of the adjustment of the said leaves
on the arm e* as may be required.
Figure 9 is a transverse section of part of the machine showing the
action of the tines and tappets. The tine in this Figure is represented
at the beginning of its stroke, and the dotted lines indicate the position
to which it is brought by the combined action of its crank and the
tappet. F (see Figure 2) is a shaft which revolves in a bearing f¹, and
carries bevil pinions fa, f³. The pinion f is driven by the bevil
pinion c³, and the pinion f³ drives a bevil wheel d³ keyed on the
shaft D. G¹, G³, G³, G², G³, G, are toothed wheels by which rotatory
motion is transmitted from the shaft Di to the shafts D³, E', and E³.
H' is the outer air duct which I suspend by rods h¹, h¹, from the cross
bars a, a, which rods have screws ², h2, and nuts h³, h³, by turning
which the outer air duct can be slightly raised or lowered so as to
compensate for wear or expansion. H2 is the inner air duct affixed to
the floor A2 which forms its base. *, *, (see Figure 3) are slits in the
said air duct through which the hot air passes into the outer air duct on
its way to the lips thereof, the slit at that part of the said air duct,
which is situated at the feed end of the trough, being of greater width
than the others. The dotted lines in this Figure represent the positions
of the parts on their back traverse. I are the shafts to which is
harnessed the horse by which the machine is drawn; I'¹ is a duplex
screw jack for raising the trough (which for convenience of delineation
I have represented in a horizontal position) to the required angle; Jis
the blast pipe which communicates with the case of the fan which draws
hot air from a stove or furnace, or any other convenient source of heat,
as described in the Specifications of the Patents herein-before referred
to.
The arrangement which I prefer however is to mount a stove upon
wheels, as represented in Figures 10 and 11, which are a side elevation
and an end elevation respectively of a stove which I find to answer well
in practice, but which I do not claim. The said stove consists of an
outer casing K¹ and an inner casing K² in which are fixed fire-bars k¹, k¹,
under which is an ash-pan k². Portions of the outer casing are bent
at k³, k³, so as to baffle or divide the currents of air entering the inner
casing. The gaseous products of combustion from the furnace and the
hot air from the space between the inner and outer casings pass to the

page_text: eyes of the fan case L through passages 1, 1, and thence through the
pipe to the blast pipe J (see Figure 1), these pipes being connected by
screw bolts ³ passing through lugs, is a flap valve for regulating
the temperature of the blast as required, which valve is worked by
means of the lever and chain 7. Or instead of the valve 15 a valve of
the kind used in Arnott's stoves may be applied at m as indicated by
the dotted circle. The stove is mounted on wheels M, M, and is
furnished with shafts N.
Instead of the tines and tappets being mounted on longitudinal shafts,
as herein-before described, they may be mounted on transverse shafts;
driven either from longitudinal shafts by means of bevil wheels; or from
band pulleys on other transverse shafts; the several transverse shafts
being arranged sufficiently near to one another to cause the hay to be
flung from one set of tines to the next succeeding set.
Instead of the outer and inner air ducts herein-before described a
single stationary air duct, furnished with a longitudinal diaphragm, may
be mounted over the reciprocatory bottom of the trough, as represented
in transverse section in Figure 12, in which A is the air duct, and a¹
is the diaphragm, which is hinged so as to be capable of vibratory
motion, which is imparted to it by means of a crank a² worked from
any suitable part of the machine. The diaphragm may however be
fixed.
Instead of the tines and tappets described two cylinders made of
perforated sheet metal or woven wire may be mounted longitudinally
in the trough, one at each side of the air duct. These cylinders are
caused to revolve by suitable gearing, and the substance to be dried is
fed into them. As they revolve such substance falls over and over and
passes down through them (the machine being set at a suitable angle),
and being exposed during its passage to the action of the hot blast is
dried thereby.
Figures 13 and 14 represent transverse and longitudinal sections
respectively of drying apparatus.constructed according to this part of
my Invention.
Figures 15 and 16 are separate views of the end plates herein-after
described.
lattons and ficuson of refonance indiente the
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como

page_text: A is the trough, which may be mounted either on legs, as shown, or
on wheels; a¹ is a hinged cover; a², a³, are the end plates, in which
are cut holes a, a, through which cylinders B, B, made of perforated
sheet metal or of wire gauze work, the said cylinders revolving upon
friction rollers a³, a³, mounted on the said end plates and being driven
from the driving shaft D through the bevil wheels d', d³, the pinion d³,
and the wheels d*, d*; d³ is a band pulley; 6', 61, are the tines; E is
the air duct, one end of which passes through an aperture aº in the end
plate a³ and communicates with the hot blast pipe F, the other end of
the said air duct being fixed to the end plate a³. The trough A is set
at the required inclination by means of the screw jack G.
My Invention further consists in applying tines or shelves to the
interior of the aforesaid cylinders, and also to the interior of the
revolving drying cylinders or cases furnished with the air ducts described
in the Specifications herein-before referred to; and thereby causing the
matters or substances in such cylinders or cases to be taken up and
showered down, so as the better to expose them to the action of the
hot ain

page_text: urying cylinders or cases, and the drying ou
accelerated.
Figures 19 and 20 represent in side and end elevations respectively a
drying cylinder furnished with a feeding tube according to this part of
my Invention; Figure 21 is a transverse section taken on the line Z,
Figure 19. The same letters and Figures of reference indicate the same
parts in Figures 19, 20, and 21.
A is the drying cylinder; B is the air duct; and C is the feeding
tube. The said cylinder revolves on friction rollers d, d, d', d', mounted
on a rectangular frame D, having at one end trunnions d², d³, which
turn in bearings d³, d³, the other end being raised and lowered as
required by means of a screw jack E. The shaft d5 on which the
rollers.d, d, are keyed is caused to revolve by bevil wheels de, d, driven
by the band pulley d³ on the shaft do. The feeding tube C is carried by
a spindle c¹ which turns at one end in a standard d', and at the other
end in a bearing carried by a screw jack F, by means of which the said
tube is raised and lowered as required. The said tube has a cross arm
at each end through which the spindle passes. G is a hopper through
which the matter to be dried is fed into the tube C; c is a band pulley
by which the spindle c¹ is driven; a¹ is the flap of the exit opening.
My Invention further consists of the improved machinery and
apparatus herein-after described for drying hay, wool, rags, and other
fibrous substances. A rectangular sheet-iron case mounted upon wheels
is divided into a series of compartments one above another, openings
being left at the ends thereof to allow the substance under treatment to
pass from one compartment to the next below it. The said case has a
sloping "jogging cover" constructed in separate longitudinal portions or
flaps which are hinged at their lower ends, their upper ends being
alternately raised by tappets mounted on a revolving shaft at the upper
end of the machine. These flaps have transverse slits to allow the hot
air to pass out of the case and through the substance to be dried (say
hay), which is fed on to the cover and passes down it into the first
compartment, where it is received by an endless band consisting of metal
plates jointed to one another, which band passes over pulleys driven by
riggers and bands or gearing. This band is furnished with tines by
which the hay is carried from one end of the compartment to the other,
where such hay is discharged from the said band and tines on to the

page_text: uppermost of the aforesaid partitions, along which it is carried by the
said band and tines till it has arrived at that end of the compartment
from which it started, at which end it passes through the first of the
aforesaid openings into the next compartment, along which it is carried
by a similar band and tines, each of the upper compartments being
furnished with such a band and tines. From the upper compartments
the hay passes to the lower compartments, in which (as the heat is not
so great as in the upper compartments) canvas or other bands or
"
creepers carrying tines may be substituted for the metal bands. At
each side of each compartment is an air duct with longitudinal openings,
the lips of which are so arranged as to direct the blasts of air toward the
middle of the compartment.
$6
The air is heated by means of apparatus constructed as herein-after
described, which apparatus is mounted on wheels and affixed to the
machine. The said apparatus consists of an outer fire-box containing an
inner fire-box, at the sides and back of which are fixed vertical tubes,
the lower ends of which communicate with the external atmosphere.
On the outer fire-box are two cases, each of which contains a rotatory fan,
both fans being mounted on the same shaft. One of these cases com-
municates with the inner fire-box, and the fan draws thence the heated
air and products of combustion therein generated, which it drives through
a pipe communicating with the upper compartment of an air chamber
formed at one end of the machine, which latter compartment com-
municates with one end of each of the air ducts in the upper longitudinal
compartments of the said machine. The other fan case communicates
with the vertical air tubes herein-before referred to, and that fan draws
therefrom hot air, which it drives through a pipe into the lower com-
partment of the air chamber aforesaid, which latter communicates with
one end of each of the air ducts in the lower longitudinal compartments
of the machine.
The fuel is fed into the inner fire-box from a hopper through an
opening in which revolving screw blades are mounted, so as to feed the
fuel into the said fire-box, as required, which blades are mounted on a
shaft driven by a band pulley, or by a ratchet wheel and pawl.
Figures 22 and 23 represent in side elevation and longitudinal section

page_text: Figure 24 is a front elevation of the stove and fan cases, and Figure 25.
is a transverse section of the drying case.
The same letters and figures of reference indicate the same parts in
the several Figures.
A is the drying case which is mounted on wheels B, B, and is divided
by horizontal partitions a¹, a¹, into compartments a², a³, a, a³; a³, a³, are
the openings from which the substance to be dried passes from one
compartment to another; B¹, B¹, are pulleys which carry the metal
bands 6', ', and the canvas bands 62, 62, which bands are furnished with
tines 63, 6³, and are supported at intervals by tubes a', a', which revolve
on tie bars a³, a³; b', b*, 6º, 6º, are bearings in which the shafts 6º, 6º, of
the pulleys revolve. The bearings 65, 66, are mounted in slides, and are
attached to springs 6', 6', by which means the bands are kept in tension.
68, 68, are band pulleys keyed on one of the shafts 6º, 6º, the motion of
which shaft is communicated to the other shafts 6º, 6º, by band pulleys
6º, 6º, and bands 61, 610; C¹, C1, C2, C3, are the air ducts, the sectional
form of which is best seen in Figure 5; D, D, are the flaps constituting
the "jogging floor," in which are formed transverse slits d', d. The
said flaps are hinged at d³, their free ends. being alternately raised by
tappets d³, ds, mounted on the revolving shaft d', which is driven by the
band 6 passing over pulleys 6¹ and d³; a³ is the aperture by which the
dried substance leaves the machine; E is the fire-box of the stove or air
heating apparatus (which is mounted on wheels F, F,), and G is the
casing thereof; H1, H2, are the cases of the fans which are mounted on
the shaft h¹; e¹, e¹, are tubes, the lower ends of which communicate
with the external atmosphere and their upper ends with the space
between the fire-box and casing aforesaid, through and from which space
the air passes by the duct e to the fan case H¹. The fire-box E is
provided with fire-bars e³, on to which the fuel is fed as required from
the hopper I by means of revolving screw blades e*, e*, mounted on the
shaft e³, which is caused to revolve by means of a ratchet wheel e', pawl
e, and hand lever e³. The fire-box E communicates with the duct e³,
from which the hot air and gaseous products of combustion pass through
a duct e¹ to the fan case H². J is the air casing herein-before referred
to, which is divided by a diaphragm into compartments j³, j³. The
compartment j communicates with the fan case H2 by means of a duct
, and the compartment communicates with the fan case H¹ by means
of the duct j. The air ducts C¹, C³, communicate with the compart,

page_text: ment, and the air ducts C³, C, communicate with the compartment.
K, K, are the shafts by which the apparatus is drawn when it and the
drying case are separated for transportation, the said case being furnished
at L with shafts (not shown).
The action of this apparatus is as follows:-The hay or other substance
which as it enters the machine is in its wettest state, and therefore
requires most heat to dry it, is fed on to the "jogging floor," whence it
passes into the upper compartments of the machine, where it is acted
upon by the hot air and gaseous products of combustion issuing from
the air ducts in those compartments in which the said hay is deprived of
the greater portion of its moisture. The said hay then passes down
through the lower compartments where the drying operation is com-
pleted by the hot air issuing from the air ducts in those compartments.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details described, as the same may be
varied without departing from the nature of my Invention, neither do I
claim the use of endless bands and tines or any other details separately
otherwise than as herein-after stated, but I claim as my said
Invention,-
Firstly. The general combination and arrangement of parts consti-
tuting the improved drying apparatus herein-before described and
illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings, that is to
say, the combination of a drying trough, a reciprocatory floor, and an
air duct, with longitudinal lips with tines and tappets mounted on shafts
and so relatively arranged and actuated as to raise and lighten up the
hay or other substance in the trough, essentially as described.
Secondly. The construction and application to drying troughs of air
ducts having the improved sectional forms berein-before described and
illustrated in Figures 2, 4, and 12 of the accompanying Drawings.
Thirdly. The application of reciprocatory floors to drying troughs
furnished with air ducts of the kinds referred to in the preceding
claim.
Fourthly. The combination of perforated or reticulated revolving
drying cylinders with drying troughs aud air ducts, essentially as herein-
before described and illustrated in Figures 13 and 14 of the accompanying
Drawings.

page_text: Fifthly. The application of shelves or tines, as herein-before described,
to the interior of the revolving drying cylinders referred to in my fourth
claim, and also to the interior of revolving cylinders or cases furnished
with air ducts of the kinds described in the Specifications herein-before
referred to.
funy. The application of shelves or tines, as herein-before described,
to the interior of the revolving drying cylinders referred to in my fourth
claim, and also to the interior of revolving cylinders or cases furnished
with air ducts of the kinds described in the Specifications herein-before
referred to
Sixthly. Arranging revolving feeding tubes in the revolving cylinders
or cases referred to in my fifth claim, essentially as and for the purpose
described.
Seventhly. The improved machinery and apparatus herein-before
described and illustrated in Figures 22, 23, 24, and 25 of the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say, a rectangular case surmounted by a
"jogging floor" and divided by horizontal shelves into longitudinal
compartments, each of which is furnished with an endless band carrying
tines and with air ducts, such case being combined with an air-heating
apparatus and fans so constructed and arranged that the heated air and
products of combustion from the furnace shall be driven through the
air ducts in the upper compartments of the said case so as to act upon
the wettest portion of the substance to be dried, and that pure warmed
air from air-heating tubes in the fire-box shall be driven into and
through the air ducts in the lower compartments of the said case so as
to complete the drying of such substance, essentially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Alfred Gibbs, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Third day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
H. H. MURDOCH,
7, Staple Inn,
W.C.
W¼. A. GIBBS. (L.9.)