Improvements in Apparatus for Drying, Heating, Cooling, or Purifying Grain or other Substances.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Sept., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 1st July, 1889-Accepted, 21st Sept., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Drying, Heating, Cooling, or
Purifying Grain or other Substances.
We, Toм PARKINSON and GEORGE MARSDEN PARKINSON of Doncaster Mills,
Doncaster in the County of York, Corn millers, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to apparatus for cooling, drying, heating, cleaning, sweetening
and purifying grain and other substances, and is an improvement upon Patent
No. 10775 of 1884, granted to G. M. Parkinson and J. G. Walker.
These results are attained by means of hot or cold air either drawn or blown through
the material to be acted upon whilst it is travelling by mere force of gravity down
inclined plates or trays.
The plates may be formed of galvanized wire or perforated iron or other suitable
material, and are inclined one above the other in zig-zag form; each plate is
provided on its upper surface with any suitable number of adjustable louvres or
valves which regulate the thickness of the stream of descending grain; the thick-
ness of the stream may obviously be varied but we have found a layer of to of an
inch to give good results.
A hopper is placed at the top of the machine, into which the grain is fed, and the
whole of the grain is acted upon by the cooling or heating medium during the entire
time of its passage through the machine. The grain is turned over on its passage
from one plate to the plate next below it (thus obviating the necessity for turning the
grain over by hand) until it reaches the bottom where a valve or other suitable opening
regulates the rate of discharge.
When the apparatus is required to be used as a cooler the casing of the apparatus
may be formed of wood or other suitable material and external air may be drawn by a
fan through holes or perforations in the front of the receptacle (or the front may be
left entirely open) which air passes through the inclined perforated plates and the
grain lying thereon and finally escapes through openings formed in the back of the
receptacle leading to the exhaust.
Instead of employing a fan, the cold blast may, if desired, be blown through the
receptacle by any suitable means.
When, on the other hand the apparatus is to be employed as a heater or dryer, it is
preferable to form the receptacle of fire-clay and iron, and the front instead of being
open, is closed, and a trunk or shaft from a coke furnace or other source of heat is
carried up and heated air from it is drawn into the receptacle through perforations
provided for the purpose, the hot air finally passing off to the exhaust in substantially
the same manner as described above with reference to cold air.
In this case also a blast can be employed instead of an exhaust if desired.
The size of the trays or inclined planes may obviously vary, but we have found
three feet wide and four and half feet long to be a convenient size.
It will be obvious that we do not confine ourselves to the exact form of apparatus
described, but that deviations may be made without departing from the spirit of our
invention.
Dated this 22nd day of September 1888.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Drying. Heating, Cooling, or
Purifying Grain or other Substances.
We, TOM PARKINSON and GEORGE MARSDEN PARKINSON, of Doncaster Mills,
Doncaster in the County of York, Corn millers, 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:—
.
This invention relates to apparatus for cooling, drying, heating, cleaning, sweetening
and purifying grain or any products therefrom in any stage of reduction or manu-
facture and other substances, and is an improvement upon Patent No. 10775 of 1884,
granted to G. M. Parkinson and J. G. Walker.
These results are attained by means of hot or cold air either drawn or blown through
the material to be acted upon whilst it is travelling by mere force of gravity down
inclined perforated plates or trays..
The plates may be formed of galvanized wire or perforated iron or other suitable
material, and are inclined one above the other in zig-zag form; each plate is provided
on its upper surface with any suitable number of adjustable louvres or valves which
regulate the thickness of the stream of descending grain; the thickness of the stream
may obviously be varied but we have found a layer of to of an inch to give good
results.
A hopper is placed at the top of the machine, into which the grain is fed, and
the whole of the grain is acted upon by the cooling or heating medium during
the entire time of its passage through the machine. The grain is turned over on
its passage from one plate to the plate next below it (thus obviating the necessity
for turning the grain over by hand) until it reaches the bottom where a valve or
other suitable opening regulates the rate of discharge.
When the apparatus is required to be used as a cooler and dryer the casing of the
apparatus may be formed of wood or other suitable material and external air may be
drawn by a fan through openings in the sides of the receptacle which air passes
through the inclined perforated plates and the grain lying thereon and finally escapes
through openings formed in the casing of the receptacle leading to the exhaust.
Instead of employing a fan, the cold blast may, if desired, be blown through the
receptacle by any suitable means.
When, on the other hand the apparatus is to be employed as a heater and dryer, it
is preferable to form the receptacle of fire-clay and iron, and a trunk or shaft from a
coke furnace or other source of heat is carried up and heated air from it is drawn into
the receptacle through perforations provided for the purpose, the hot air finally passing
off to the exhaust in substantially the same manner as described above with reference
to cold air.
In this case also a blast can be employed instead of an exhaust if desired.
The size of the trays or inclined planes may obviously vary considerably according
to the different purposes for which the machine is to be used and to the amount of
work required to be done, but we have found two to four feet wide and one to two
feet long to be a convenient size.
It will be obvious that we do not confine ourselves to the exact form of apparatus
described, but that deviations may be made without departing from the spirit of our
invention.
The accompanying drawing is a vertical section of portion of the apparatus con-
structed according to our invention sufficient to illustrate the manner of carrying the
said invention into practice.
A are inclined plates or trays formed of perforated metal or woven wire preferably
galvanized or of other suitable material. These plates are supported in any convenient
manner within a suitable frame at such an angle that the grain or other substance to
be treated in the apparatus by mere force of gravity will fall over the upper surfaces
of such plates, and the direction of inclination of each of the plates being opposite to

page_text: that of the plate immediately above or below it, the grain will be caused to descend
through the apparatus in a zig-zag manner.
B are louvres, valves or strickling bars which preferably are so mounted in the
apparatus as to be capable of being adjusted nearer to or, farther from the plates A so
as to reduce or increase the thickness of the stream of grain passing over the plates.
C are trunks or shafts which are connected to each other by the pipe C¹ by which
the said shafts are also placed in communication with an exhaust fan or other suitable
exhauster or in place of being connected with an exhauster the apparatus may be
connected to a fan or other means for forcing a blast of heating or cooling air through
it Care openings in the said shafts through which may be drawn or forced the
vapours arising from the substance under treatment and any light particles of the
substance under treatment it may be desirable to separate from the bulk in this way.
A' are boards, plates or their equivalent for closing in at the vertical sides, the
spaces between the trunks or shafts C and upper sides of the plates A, and A' are
horizontal plates or the like for closing in such spaces at the top side this arrangement
being such that the underside of each of the perforated plates A is open to the
atmosphere through the openings A³ but closed to the shafts C and the upperside of
each plate A is closed to the atmosphere but open to one of the shafts C through an
opening C. When the apparatus is used for cooling grain atmospheric air is allowed
to enter through the openings A' but when the apparatus is used for heating grain
the openings A³ serve for the introduction of the heated air or other heating medium
employed.
D is the hopper into which is charged the grain or other substance to be treated in
the apparatus and E is the shoot by which the said substance after have been treated
is discharged into any suitable receptacle this shoot or other shoots branching from it
being preferably provided with a valve or valves by means of which may be regulated
the rate of discharge and consequent rate of descent of the substance from and through
the apparatus.
In "conditioning" grain or any products therefrom in the before described
apparatus it is subjected to treatment which may either heat or cool it and will
simultaneously with such heating or cooling also dry, clean, sweeten and purify it.
The grain to be thus "conditioned" is charged into the hopper D and falls down
over each plate A in a thin layer of practically equal thickness throughout the
apparatus as provided for by the previous adjustment of the strickling bars B.
By falling from one plate A to the next below it, the grain which was before in
direct contact with the surface of the plate over which it last rolled will not on
the next plate occupy the same relative position it being practically brought to the
top of the other grain at the instant of falling from one to the other plate A. It
will thus be seen that throughout its passage through the apparatus the grain is
constantly being turned over and over so that all parts of it may be equally well
treated.
Now supposing besides treating the grain in the last described manner it be desired
also to heat it, for this purpose hot air or other heating medium from any suitable
source will be introduced through the openings A³ and will pass through the interstices
or perforations of the plates A and as indicated by the arrows, into and amongst the
grain which is rolling over their surfaces the said grain as it descends through the
apparatus thus being thoroughly and gradually heated throughout. The vapours
resulting from the heating of the moisture contained in the grain together with other
light matter is drawn through the openings C³ into the shafts C by the action of the
exhauster by which they are also conveyed to any desired outlet.
If the apparatus is to be used for cooling grain such for example as wheat previously
treated in other drying apparatus atmospheric air under the influence of the exhauster
is drawn through the openings A³ to the underside of the plates A. Through the
interstices or perforations in each of the plates A the air passes through the grain from
which as it descends through the apparatus the heat is gradually abstracted until it is
ultimately discharged through the shoot E in a sufficiently cooled condition.

page_text: It will thus be seen that before being allowed to pass to the exhauster the heated or
cool air must all first pass through the substance being treated in the apparatus so
that none of the beneficial properties of the air are lost.
Although the operation of the apparatus has herein been described as applied to the
treatment of grain it will readily be understood that when treating other substances,
products or materials its operation is similar.
The before described apparatus although only a necessary portion of it is shown in
the accompanying drawing may be constructed of any desired height or size and if
found desirable a portion of it may be used for heating and another portion for cooling
the grain.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is;
1. In apparatus such as described a perforated shelf to the underside of which the
heating or cooling medium is admitted and through which the said medium passes
into direct contact with the grain or other substance being treated substantially as
herein described.
2. In an apparatus such as described the combination with a series of perforated
shelves over which the substance to be treated passes as described of trunks or shafts
such as C opening to the shelves for the purpose of carrying off the heating or cooling
medium and light particles of the substance under treatment after it leaves the shelves
substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 12th day of September 1889.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.