Im- PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING MOISTURE FROM POTTERS' CLAY AND COMPOUNDS THEREOF, CEMENTING COMPOUNDS, SEWAGE SLUDGE, BREWERY RESIDUES, AND VARIOUS OTHER SUBSTANCES, AND FOR DRYING AND CALCINING SOME OF THE ABOVE-NAMED AND OTHER SUBSTANCES.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John James Bodmer, of 23, The Grove, Hammer-
smith, and Louis Rudolph Bodmer, of 2, Lansdown Road, Notting
Hill, both in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of “Im-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING MOISTURE FROM POTTERS' CLAY
AND COMPOUNDS THEREOF, CEMENTING COMPOUNDS, SEWAGE SLUDGE, BREWERY
RESIDUES, AND VARIOUS OTHER SUBSTANCES, AND FOR DRYING AND CALCINING
SOME OF THE ABOVE-NAMED AND OTHER SUBSTANCES.
37
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John James Bodmer
and Louis Rudolph Bodmer at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 6th June 1873.
We, JOHN JAMES BODMER, of 23, The Grove, Hammersmith, and LOUIS
RUDOLPH BODMER, of 2, Lansdown Road, Notting Hill, both in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING MOISTURE FROM POTTERS' CLAY
AND COMPOUNDS THEREOF, CEMENTING COMPOUNDS, SEWAGE SLUDGE, BREWERI
RESIDUES, AND VARIOUS OTHER SUBSTANCES, AND FOR DRYING AND CALCINING SOME
OF THE ABOVE-NAMED AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists

page_text: materials used in the manufacture of cement, cementing compounds,
sewage sludge, materials used in brewing, and brewery residues,
peat, and various other substances.
Secondly. In an apparatus or furnace for the purpose of completing
the drying and for burning or calcining of such of the above named
materials and others which require application of heat. Such furnace
being also applicable to roasting ores, calcining lime, cement, or similar
materials.
In carrying out the first part of our Invention we use either a
material which will with facility absorb and under subsequent pressure
give up moisture, or a material which will act more in the manner of
a strainer. In the first case felt or cloth or similar textures are used.
The apparatus consists of succession of pairs of rollers between and
over which endless belts or aprons are made to travel. The wet substance
is fed in from a hopper or other feed apparatus, and after having
given up by degrees more or less of its moisture it issues in a more
or less dry condition from the end of the apparatus. Squeezing rolls
Rollers are
are applied to cause the cloth to give up the moisture.
used as spreaders or guide rolls; the lower rollers may be lined with
the same or a similar description of cloth as that of which the belts
are made; or the lower rollers may be covered with india-rubber
or other clastic material; or we use non-absorbing belts over the
material under treatment, and absorbing belts or belts which act as
strainers under the same. Absorbing or other wipers are brought
in contact with the belts and rolls for removing the moisture there-
from. Scrapers or brushes are used when required. The returning
belt or belts may be carried through water to be cleaned. The position
of the rolls may be either horizontal, slanting, or vertical. Substances
requiring the application of heat may be fed into the furnace direct
by the delivery belt of the absorption apparatus.
In carrying out the second part of our Invention we make use of
a drying and calcining furnace on the rotary principle. We prefer
a table or bed rotating horizontally and having a drying chamber
over the furnace arch, the chief considerations being that sufficient
time be given in proportion to the heat employed to cause the material
to undergo the necessary degree of drying, burning, or calcination

page_text: whilst it travels from the feed to the delivery part of the furnace
or apparatus. As above stated we also use the said furnace for roasting,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John James Bodmer and Louis Rudolph Bodmer
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th December 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
JAMES BODMER, of 23, The Grove, Hammersmith, and LOUIS RUDOLPH
BODMER, of 2, Lansdown Road, Notting Hill, both in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-sixth
year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said John James Bodmer and Louis Rudolph Bodmer,
Her special licence that we, the said John James Bodmer and Louis
Rudolph Bodmer, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said John James Bodmer and Louis Rudolph Bodmer,
time
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
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 APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING MOISTURE FROM POTTERS' CLAY AND COMPOUNDS
THEREOF, CEMENTING COMPOUNDS, SEWAGE SLUDGE, BREWERY RESIDUES, ANDd
VARIOUS OTHER SUBSTANCES, AND FOR DRYING AND CALCINING SOME OF THE ABOVE-
NAMED AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said John James Bodmer and Louis Rudolph Bodmer, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John James Bodmer and Louis
Rudolph Bodmer do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and

page_text: in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our Invention consists, firstly, in certain methods and apparatus
for partly drying or extracting moisture from potters' clay, sewage
sludge, peat, brewery residues, and various other substances.
In carrying out our Invention we pass the material under operation
upon and between travelling belts or aprons through squeezing rolls.
We either use two belts made of a texture which will with facility
absorb moisture and under subsequent pressure again give it up.
We use one belt of absorbing material, and one of india-rubber, gutta
percha, or other non-absorbing material, or we use rollers covered with
absorbing material in conjunction with belts made of canvas or other
straining material, or other combination of belts and rollers, but we
prefer for most purposes to use one belt of straining material in
combination with non-absortant belts and rollers, one or both of each
pair of rollers being either of metal or wood or covered with india-rubber.
When using belts or rollers covered with absorbing material we prefer
to protect them with belts of straining material to prevent their
becoming choked or otherwise injured by contact with the substance
under operation. In each pair of rollers one roller is pressed against:
the other by means of springs or weights.
3
In Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 is a diagram
showing one modification of our said apparatus. The substance under
operation, for instance maccerated peat, is fed into the hopper A,
as the rollers B, C, D, and E, and non-absorbing belt F, and straining 2
belt G, are set in motion in the direction of the arrows the peat is
drawn under the first pair of rollers and passed forward between the
belts F and G to the next pair of rolls B, C, in passing through which
a portion of the moisture is squeezed out through the straining belt G,
and will run down over the roller C and drop on to the pan or tray H,
from whence it is carried away. On passing the second, third, and
fourth pair of rolls the same operation will repeat itself, and the peat
will issue from the last pair comparatively dry and pass down on the
belt G to the guide roller I, where it is peeled off the belt by a suitable
scraper or wiper and allowed to drop on the carrier belt over the roller 3
K and carried away. Any material which may adhere to the belt F
is scraped off the same when or before passing over the tension roller L,
and allowed to drop on to the belt G. Absorbing or other wipers, as
'

page_text: indicated by the lines M, are fixed in front of the rollers C to assist in
discharging the exuding moisture.
If the rollers C are covered with absorbing material, squeezing rolls N
are applied to squeeze the moisture out of the absorbing material,
but with plain rolls and a straining belt over them the squeezers N are
not required. In the case of peat pulp the same may if preferred be
fed out upon the belt direct from a maccerator and the hopper A with
discharging roller D dispensed with. If sewage sludge or other thin slip
has to be dried the hopper A is made with a bottom and the discharge
regulated by a slide or other means.
In working slip we also employ a broader straining belt, and after
the slip is deposited on it the sides of the belt are folded over each
other from both sides by stationary folders; by these means the slip
enters into and passes through the rolls well closed in, so as to prevent
its escape over the sides of the belt. On issuing from the last pair of
rolls B, C, the belt is unfolded again and the contents discharged at
the roller I as already described. The carrier belt over roller k may
now convey the partially dried deposit direct to the furnace, which will
be described hereafter. In treating sewage sludge and similar substances
it may be necessary to pass the belt G through a water trough where
it will be washed as it passes through by either stationary or revolving
wipers or brushes. The wet belt is in this case squeezed dry before
passing the apparatus again by the squeezing roller E¹. Fig. 2 is
another modification of apparatus, the corresponding parts having the
same letters of reference, and said parts performing the same functions
as those of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a further modification of the drying apparatus. In this
case the belts F and G may either both be of absorbing materials or
of straining material, or one of absorbing and the other of straining
material. The belts with the material between them after leaving
the rolls C, D, of the hopper pass upwards vertically through the several
pairs of rolls B, C. The moisture will flow out of both belts and guided
by the scrapers M. flow into a receiver.
The second part of our Invention consists in apparatus and furnaces
for the purpose of completing the drying of substances partially dried
by the apparatus above described, and of other substances, and for
burning and calcining and roasting cement, lime, ores, sewage deposit,
and other substances. If the material to be treated requires both

page_text: drying and subsequent burning or calcining, we prefer to construct
our furnace so as to perform both operations at the same time, both
operations being continuous and combined, the drying furnace supplying
the burning or calcining furnace with the dried and heated materials
in the same measure as the calcined materials are discharged from the
latter. The drying furnace is constructed with a circular or annular
bottom heated from a flue beneath it, and travelling scrapers carry the
material all round the said bottom whereupon they will drop through
a suitable opening either into the calcining furnace beneath it (if the
two furnaces are combined), or into suitable receivers if they are not
combined.
The calcining furnace is constructed with a horizontally revolving
bottom charged through the roof or through the side. After the material
has travelled round the furnace it is discharged by a waterbosh scraper
into a chamber or receiver.
Sheet II. Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the drying and
calcining furnace. Fig. 5 is a ground plan partly in section of the
same. The furnace is fired through the door A and the grate B, from
whence the flame passes into the calcining chamber D issuing after
having circulated through the latter through flue E into the circular
flue F, from which it escapes through the side flue G into the stack H.
The travelling bottom D¹ as well as the scrapers of the upper or drying
compartment move in the direction of the arrows whilst the flame travels
in the opposite direction. The material is fed upon the bottom of the
drying chamber, either by hand from a stage or by a feed belt behind
the opening or slit I', from whence the travelling scrapers carry it round
the chamber and discharge it through the said opening or slit I' into
the calcining chamber below. On the rotating bottom D' of the calcining
chamber D the material distributes itself in a uniform layer, and is
carried round towards the waterbosh K, along which it discharges itself
into chamber L, from whence it is withdrawn. If in a viscous condition
the material is made to pass through a pair of rolls, from which it issues
in the shape of scale, which greatly facilitates its further reduction into
powder.
In the case of lime or calcined sewage and other matters not in a
viscous condition other convenient apparatus are used for discharging
the same from the chamber L.
The revolving bottom D¹ of calcining chamber D as well as the scrapers
of the upper or drying chamber, are put in motion from the vertical

page_text: shaft M. The revolving bottom D' is supported upon antifriction rollers
N carried by circular frame O, and supported by the circular rail P,
The guide rolls Q retain the antifriction rollers N and the revolving
bottom D in position. The wheel R is driven from the pinion S through
the carrier wheel S¹. The scraper frame T with scrapers T" is supported
upon the wheel U, and is caused to rotate by a chain V from the chain
pulley V¹. When found desirable the top flue can be dispensed with,
and the bottom plates of drying chamber may simply rest on the arch
of the calcining chamber, the flue from the latter in this case going
direct into the stack.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed or put in practice, we hereby declare that we claim in regard
thereto,―
1. Belts in combination with rollers and other parts substantially as
herein-before described as means of extracting moisture from and part
drying substances.
2. The construction and use of drying and calcining furnaces sub-
stantially as above described.
3. The use in furnaces of arrangements for drying, roasting, calcining,
or burning by causing the material to travel round a vertical axis.
It being understood that we do not restrict ourselves to the precise
details shown in the Drawings, and herein described, as the same may
be varied according to the requirements of cach particular case without
departing from the principle of our said Invention.
In witness whereof, we, the said John James Bodmer and Louis
Rudolph Bodmer, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
T. MORGAN.
Secretary,
Inventors' Patent Right Ass", Limited.
21, Cockspur Street, S.W.
J. J. BODMER. (L.S.)
L. R. BODMER. (L.S.)