IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STOVING OR DRYING WOOL, COTTON, AND OTHER LIKE MATERIALS, ALSO GRAIN AND OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Allen Smyth and Charles
Theophilus Ramsay at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 17th September 1872.
We, ALLEN SMYTH and CHARLES THEOPHILUS RAMSAY, both of
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STOVING OR DRYING
WOOL, COTTON, AND OTHER LIKE MATERIALS, ALSO GRAIN AND OTHER LIKE
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to apparatus for stoving or drying wool, cotton,
corn, and other like materials and substances by means of heat radiating
from pipes filled with steam, water, or hot air, but we prefer to use
steam; exhaust steam from an ordinary high pressure engine employed
in any works can thus be utilized, or steam may be taken direct from a
boiler.
"
An apparatus constructed according to our Invention consists of a
framework which supports a series of travelling "brats or endless
bands, these brats or endless bands are placed one above the other and
so arranged that the top or first part will deliver on to the second brat,

page_text: the secend brat on to the third brat, the third brat on to the fourth brat,
the fourth brat on to the fifth brat, and so on, according to the number of
brats in the frame. The brats may be constructed of metal laths
extending across the frame, and supported by and attached to chains
which pass over chain or friction pulleys, or the brats may be composed
of wire network passing over rollers, or of canvas or other suitable
material. In the case of heating by steam a pipe is fitted at the bottom
of the framework and connected either to the exhaust of a steam engine
or direct to a boiler; from this pipe run a series of pipes of smaller
diameter which pass between each respective brat or endless band
alternately, and from thence to an exhaust, or back to the boiler; under
each brat or endless band there is a metal plate to prevent the moisture
arising from the material or substance on each brat moistening the
material or substance on the brat directly above. Between each brat
and underneath these plates there is fitted a blast pipe to clear away
the vapour or moisture, and to supply dry air (which may be heated if
desired) to absorb the moisture arising from the material or substance
drying; the brats may be worked by gearing alternately at either end so
that the brat is always drawn round instead of being driven, the brats
travelling alternately in opposite directions.
The gearing may be fitted in the following manner:—an upright
shaft receiving motion from any suitable mechanical means drives the
shafts carrying the chain or friction wheels or rollers of the brats by
means of worm and toothed wheels, bevel wheels, friction wheels,
or other suitable connecting medium; this shaft drives, say, in the case
of a five brat stove the top brat, the third brat, and the fifth brat; from
this shaft motion is given by an intermediate shaft or strap and pulley
to a second vertical shaft which drives the chain or friction wheels or
rollers of the second and fourth brats, so that these brats travel in
opposite directions to the first, third, and fifth brats.
The action or operation of stoving or drying is as follows:-the
material or substance to be treated is fed on to one end of the top brat in
a thin layer by a continuous feed, the material is carried along by the
brat and delivered at the further end on to the second brat, it is carried
back on to the second brat and delivered on to the third brat, from the
third to the fourth and so on. The material being stoved during its
passage over the heated pipes which pass between the brats is delivered
dry from the bottom brat, or if not so may be repassed through the

page_text: apparatus; in the operation of the material or substance passing from
brat to brat it is mechanically turned so that what was the bottom on
the upper brat becomes the top on the next brat, and so on, thus
exposing both sides to the heat and air alternately.
The apparatus may be cased in with timber, sheet iron, brickwork, or
in any other suitable manner. The speed of the apparatus may be
regulated according to the amount of moisture contained in the material
or substance under treatment; the material or substanco may be
mechanically repassed through the machine by means of the lower
brat discharging on to a lift or elevator, which raises the material or
substance and redelivers it on to the top brat.