Improvements in Centrifugal Apparatus for Drying Sugar or other Granular Matters.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Sent., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 20th June, 1889-Accepted, 20th July, 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Centrifugal Apparatus for Drying Sugar or other
Granular Matters.
I, DUNCAN STEWART, of the London Road Iron Works, Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to
be as follows, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to centrifugal apparatus to some extent of the kind
described in my patent specification No. 6931 of 1884, and it has for its object to
improve and simplify the construction of such apparatus and to improve its action.
In one modification of my improved apparatus the turbine or rotating basket is
placed with its axis horizontal and has within it a hollow drum fixed on a central shaft,
and leaving an annular cylindrical space between it and the inner surface of the
turbine. The moist sugar or other granular matter is supplied by the delivery spout
of a feed hopper into one end of the turbine so as to pass into the annular cylindrical
space, and it is moved gradually along that space to the other end of the turbine by
one or more helical flanges or blades formed or fixed on the outside of the inner
hollow drum. The turbine and the hollow drum are driven at slightly different speeds
and the movement of the sugar from one end of the turbine to the other is due to the
difference of speed which is made such that the sugar is sufficiently acted on by the
centrifugal force during its passage. The inside of the wire-gauze surface of
the turbine is made slightly taper and the turbine and hollow drum can be adjusted
relatively to each other so as to have the outer edges of the helical blade or blades as
close as is in practice found necessary to the wire gauze. The shaft of the hollow
drum passes through a tubular shaft on which the turbine is fixed, and the driving
pulleys may both be fixed on the shafts beyond either end of the turbine or one
beyond each end.
The apparatus, otherwise than as hereinbefore mentioned, is made substantially
as described in the earlier specification herein before referred to; and it may be made
with its axis otherwise than horizontal the sugar or other matter being fed in at
the higher end and discharged from the lower end.
Dated this Twentieth day of September 1888.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Centrifugal Apparatus for Drying Sugar or other
Granular Matters.
I, DUNCAN STEWART, of the London Road Iron Works, Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, 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, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to centrifugal apparatus to some extent of the kind
described in my Patent Specification No. 6931 of 1884, and it has for its object to
improve and simplify the construction of such apparatus and to improve its action.
In one modification of my improved apparatus the turbine or rotating basket is
placed with its axis horizontal and has within it a hollow drum fixed on a central
shaft, and leaving an annular cylindrical space between it and the inner surface of
the turbine. The moist sugar or other granular matter is supplied by the delivery
spout of a feed hopper into one end of the turbine so as to pass into the annular
cylindrical space and it is moved gradually along that space to the other end of the
י

page_text: turbine by one or more helical flanges or blades formed or fixed on the outside of the
inner hollow drum. The turbine and the hollow drum are driven at slightly different
speeds and the movement of the sugar from one end of the turbine to the other is
due to the difference of speed which is made such that the sugar is sufficiently acted
on by the centrifugal force during its passage. The inside of the wire-gauze surface
of the turbine is made slightly taper and the turbine and hollow drum can be adjusted
relatively to each other so as to have the outer edges of the helical blade or blades as
close as is in practice found necessary to the wire gauze. The shaft of the hollow
drum passes through a tubular shaft on which the turbine is fixed, and the driving
pulleys may both be fixed on the shafts beyond either end of the turbine or one
beyond each end.
The apparatus, otherwise than as hereinbefore mentioned is constructed substantially
as described in the earlier specification herein before referred to; and it may be
made with its axis otherwise than horizontal the sugar or other matter being fed in
at the higher end and discharged from the lower end.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood I hereunto append a sheet of explanatory drawings
to be hereinafter referred to and showing two modifications of my improved
apparatus.
Figure, 1, on the accompanying sheet of drawings is a longitudinal vertical section
of one modification of my improved apparatus, a small portion of it being in elevation;
and figure, 2, is a similar view of a second modification. In these drawings the same
reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are
repeated.
The apparatus shown in figure, 1, is carried by a hollow bed frame, 1, having on
i wo pedestal bearings, 2, 3. In one, 2, of these bearings there is fitted to rotate
an elongated tubular boss, 4, formed on an end disk, 5, fixed to the discharging end
of the basket or outer cylinder, 6; and this tubular boss, 4, has extending through
and rotating in it a central shaft, 7, on which the drum or inner cylinder, s, is
fixed, this drum being made, with a boss, 9, at one end, whilst a pulley-like
piece, 10, fixed on the shaft, 7, supports its other end. The basket, 6, made
with a boss, 12, at its inlet end, this boss being fitted to turn on the central shaft, 7,
and having fixed on it a pulley, 13, for a driving belt. The central shaft, 7, is
continued beyond the boss, 12, and pulley, 13, and is fitted to rotate in the pedestal
bearing, 3, a pulley, 14, for a driving belt being fixed on its overhanging end. The
central shaft, 7, is prevented by collars, 13, from moving on end in the bearing, 3,
and the tubular boss, 4, of the basket, 6, is similarly prevented from moving on
end in the bearing, 2, whilst the drum, 8, can be accurately adjusted longitudinally
in relation to the basket, 6, by adjusting the pedestal bearing, 3, on the bed
frame, 1.
The end connecting the cylindrical basket, 6, to the boss, 12, is made with
openings, 16, into which the moist sugar is led by the delivery spout, 17, of a
hopper, 18, into which the sugar is put and in which it may if necessary be loosened
or broken up by a rotating stirrer such as is indicated by dotted lines. The drum, 8,
is made without openings at the inlet end, and the sugar entering is thrown by the
centrifugal action into the annular cylindrical space between the drum and the
basket, 6. The shell of the basket, 6, is made with coarse perforations, and is lined
with wire gauze in the usual way; and the liquid thrown off from the sugar passes
through the wire gauze and the perforations into an outer enclosed space, 19, from
which it is led away by a pipe at, 20. The inner cylinder or drum, 8, is perforated to
allow air to have access to the sugar, the air entering the drum through openings in
the outer end disk, 4, and in the piece, 1.. (These perforations although shown only
at the sectioned parts of the drum are formed all round it.) The drum, 8, is made
with a helical blade, 21, upon its outside and extending for several convolutions
round it, and this helical blade through the effect of the difference in the speeds of the 5
drum and basket, 6, makes the sugar travel slowly along the basket until it reaches
the end furthest from the hopper, 18.. At this; the discharge end, the basket is formed

page_text: with an enlarged part, 22, which is made with a series of large-openings, 23; and
through these openings the dried sugar is thrown into an enclosed space, 24, which is
separated from the receiving space, 19, for the liquid, by a fixed partition, 31, and by
a flange, 32, formed on the outside of the basket, 6.
The modified apparatus shown in figure, 2, is carried by a hollow bed frame, 1,
having on it two pedestal bearings, 2, 3, in which there is carried a central shaft, 7,
having fixed on it a pulley, 14, for a driving belt, and a boss, 9, to which the inner
drum, 8, is fixed. The basket or outer cylinder, 6, is fixed on a boss, 12, which is
made with a long tubular part, 25, carried and rotating on the central shaft, 7, and
having fast on it a pulley, 13, for a driving belt. The tubular part, 25, is lined with
brass bushes fitted to run on a steel tube, 26, on the shaft, 7, this tube being slightly
tapered and provided at its smaller end with a screw nut, 27, bearing on the end of
the tubular part, 25, for drawing along the tube in order to tighten it in the brass
bushes. A short tube or sleeve, 28, fitted to run on a brass bush between collars on
the shaft, 7, and made with capstan holes for turning it by, is screwed internally to fit
an external screw thread formed on the tubular part, 25, of the basket boss, 12; and by
means of this tube, 28, the basket, 6, can be adjusted along the shaft, 7.
The shell of the basket, 6, is made with coarse perforations, and is lined with wire
gauze in the usual way; and the liquid thrown off from the sugar passes through the
wire gauze and the perforations into an outer enclosed space, 19, from which it passes
by an outlet, 20. The inner cylinder or drum, 8, is coarsely perforated to allow air
to have access to the sugar, the air entering at the open end of the drum. (These
perforations although shown only at the sectioned parts of the drum are formed all
round it.) The moist sugar or granular matter is supplied from a hopper, 18, by a
spout, 17, extending down in an inclined direction at one side of the shaft, 7, so as to
deliver the sugar or matter at the inner end of the interior of the drum, 8, where it is
thrown by the centrifugal action through openings, 29, in the cylindrical part of the
drum into the annular cylindrical space between the drum and the basket, 6. The
openings, 29, are formed by making the shell of the drum, 8, discontinuous at the part
but connected by ribs, 30. The drum, 8, is made with a helical blade, 21, upon its
outside and extending for several convolutions round it, and this helical blade, through
the effect of the difference in the speeds of the drum and basket, 6, makes the sugar
travel slowly along the basket until it reaches the outer open end where it is thrown
out into an enclosed space, 24, which is separated from the receiving space, 19, for
the liquid by a fixed partition, 31, and by a flange, 32, formed on the outside of the
basket, 6.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. Centrifugal apparatus for continuously drying sugar or other granular matters
the parts of which are constructed and combined together substantially in the
improved manner hereinbefore described and as shown in figure, 1, of the accom-
panying drawings.
2. Centrifugal apparatus for continuously drying sugar or other granular matters
the parts of which are constructed and combined together substantially in the improved
manner hereinbefore described and as shown in figure, 2, of the accompanying
drawings.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.