IMPROVE- MENTS IN TREATING SEAWEED AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Alfred Wünsch, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TREATING SEAWEED AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
 ܳܪ
Sealed the 29th August 1863, and dated the 4th March 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Alfred Wünsch
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th March 1863.
I, EDWARD ALFRED WÜNSCH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SEAWEED AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," to be as
follows, that is to say:―
This Invention relates to the treating of seaweed in an improved manner
and by means of improved apparatus, with the view of rendering it more satis-
factorily available than hitherto for the various uses to which it is or may be
put. Seaweed may be used as an ingredient in food for cattle, and as a
manure, or as an ingredient in compound manure, but it is of most importance
as a raw material for the chemical manufacturer. In its wet state, as is well
known, the weight and difficulty of carriage of seaweed is very dispropor-
[Price 8d.1

page_text: tionate to its value, whilst the drying and burning of it for the purpose of
reducing its bulk and weight have hitherto been conducted in a very unsa-
tisfactory manner, and so as to confi ne the remunerative collection of it to a
few favorable parts of the coast. It has been a common practice to dry the
seaweed by simple exposure to the atmosphere,a mode entirely dependent upon
the weather. Artificial drying by stove arrangements of the ordinary kind
would be too expensive on account of the cost of the fuel, and of the numerous
erections that would be required at the various parts of the coast where the
seaweed is collected, or on account of the alternative cost of conveying
the seaweed to distant drying stations. By the present Invention, however,
the seaweed itself is made to supply a large portion of the heat required for
the drying operation, and for this purpose furnace arrangements are adopted
somewhat similar to what have been proposed for burning "begasse" and
other kinds of wet fuel. In one modification of such arrangements alow grate
is provided to receive, in the first instance, ordinary dry fuel to get up the
requisite heat to start with. Above this low grate there is a second grate
forming the bottom to a chamber arranged to receive the seaweed in its fresh
or more or less dried state, as it may happen to be collected on the sea-shore.
A fire of ordinary fuel being kindled, the heat from it causes the seaweed to
give off its vapours and gases, which pass into a mixing or combustion
chamber, wherein they combine with the intensely heated gases from the lower
furnace. The seaweed in the upper furnace or chamber becoming gradually
dried and charred falls through the upper grate to the furnace below, and if it
is not sufficient to keep up the necessary heat of that furnace, will, at least,
supply the place of a large portion of ordinary fuel; the gases and vapours
from the wet seaweed combining in the combustion chamber with the gases
from the lower furnace, there is therein induced an intensified combustion
giving rise to great heat. The ashes from the furnaces may or may not be
profitably available for the obtainment of various products, as may also be the
gases resulting from the combustion; but the principal object of this part of
the Invention is to employ the heat obtained, as described, to dry further large
quantities of the seaweed. The arrangements for doing this are obviously
susceptible of various modifications. In one convenient arrangement the com-
bustion chamber, in which the intense heat is generated, is made to act as the
bottom heating flue or chamber of a stove arranged to receive the seaweed to be
dried. It is preferred to carry on the operations in a continuous manner, with
which view the stove is provided with a series of stages consisting of endless
chains of bars. The seaweed in its natural state, or after being crushed between

page_text: rollers or otherwise, is introduced upon one end of the top stage, and is carried
along by the movement of the endless chain of bars to the other end, where it
falls on the stage below, which moving in the opposite direction carries it to
its other end, and discharges it on the next lower stage, and so on until the
seaweed is delivered by the bottom movable stage in a dry condition. In
combination with this drying apparatus it is intended to provide hydraulic
pressing apparatus for packing the seaweed into a small bulk. Finally, the
drying and packing apparatus may be erected on the shore, or it may be
arranged to be moved about from place to place on land; it is, however, pre-
ferred to fit it upon a floating vessel, so that it can be easily moved about from
place to place by sea, which will permit of its use in many localities to which
access would not be practicable by land. The floating vessel may be arranged
to be towed from place to place, or it may be fitted for sailing, or for the
application of steam propulsion, in which last case provision may be made to
avail of the arrangements for using the seaweed as fuel to generate the
necessary steam. There may be comprised in the floating vessel apparatus,
such as pans or retorts and furnaces, for burning or distilling the dried seaweed,
and so reducing it into a still smaller compass than when dried only. In
general it is preferred to burn the dried seaweed on leaving the drying stove,
in order to reduce the bulk and weight as much as possible; in burning it,
however, care is taken to avoid fusing it. The heat generated in burning the
seaweed may be made to assist in the preliminary drying operation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Alfred Wünsch in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 4th September 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
ALFRED WUNSCH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord Oi.e
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edward Alfred Wünsch, Her special license that I, the said Edward.
Alfred Wünsch, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as

page_text: I, the said Edward Alfred Wünsch, my executors, administrators, or 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 "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN TREATING SEAWEED AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Alfred Wünsch, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under
the hand and seal of one of them, 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 Edward Alfred Wünsch, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to the treating of seaweed in an improved manner
and by means of improved apparatus, with the view of rendering it more
satisfactorily available than hitherto for the various uses to which it is or may
be put. Seaweed may be used as an ingredient in food for cattle, and as a
manure, or as an ingredient in compound manure, but it is of most importance
as a raw material for the chemical manufacturer. I may here remark that
my said Invention does not relate to the processes employed by the chemical
manufacturer, but to the preliminary treatment or preparation of the material,
a principal object being that it may be supplied to the chemical manufacturer
at a cheaper rate and more abundantly than hitherto. In its fresh wet state,
as is well known, the weight and difficulty of carriage bf seaweed is very
disproportionate to its value, whilst the drying and burning of it for the
purpose of reducing its bulk and weight have hitherto been conducted in a
very unsatisfactory manner, and so as to confine the remunerative collection of
it to a few favorable parts of the coast. It has been a common practice to dry
the seaweed by simple exposure to the atmosphere, a mode entirely dependent
upon the weather, and on that account extremely uncertain. Artificial drying
by stove arrangements to the ordinary kind would be too expensive on account
of the cost of the fuel, and of the numerous erections that would be required
at the various parts of the coast where the seaweed is collected, or on account
.

page_text: of the alternative cost of conveying the wet, bulky, and heavy seaweed to,
distant drying stations. By my present Invention, however, the seaweed
itself is made to supply a large portion of the heat required for the drying.
operation,and for this purpose Iadopt furnace arrangements somewhat similar
to what have been proposed for burning "begasse" and other kinds of wet
fuel.
:
And in order that this part of my said Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended a
Sheet of explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing
a modification of my improved arrangements for dryingseaweed and for using
a portion of the seaweed as fuel.
Figure 1 is a front elevation, partly in section; Figure 2 is a plan, partly in
section; and Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical section at right angles to
Figure 1.
In this modification the furnace is divided by vertical partition walls into.
three separate chambers, one of which is shown in section in Figure 1, whilst
the fire-doors of the others are shown in elevation. Each of the three
chambers is fitted with a low grate 1, of the ordinary kind, which separates
the ash-pit 2 from the lower furnace space 3, whilst a grating 4 of open
brickwork separates the furnace space 3 from an upper furnace space 5. All
the six furnace spaces 3, 5, communicate by openings 6 at their inner ends
with flues 7 leading to a combustion chamber 8, and the several openings 6
are fitted with dampers, so that the egress of gases or vapours from each
furnace space may be separately regulated. The combustion chamber 8 is
constructed, by preference, of fire-bricks and slabs, and occupies longitudinally
the central part of the floor 9 of a stove or drying chamber 10. The sides and
roofing of the stove 10 and of the furnaces consists of brickwork, and the
parts are bound together so as to resist the action of considerable variations in
temperature by external iron side plates combined with transverse tie-rods,
the roof of the stove being bound down by iron straps. At the end furthest
from the furnaces the combustion chamber 8 communicates with two flues,
one on each side, and one 11 indicated by dotted lines in the lower half of.
Figure 2. The flues 11 return towards the furnaces and then again follow
the opposite direction, as at 12, finally reuniting in the cross flue 13, and
passing thence by a central flue 14 to a chimney or funnel. The heat is
radiated directly upwards into the stove chamber 10 from the tops of the
combustion chamber Sard of the flues 11, 12, 13; and to utilise the heat as
much as possible, the air, which lias to be admitted into the stove to form a

page_text: current and carry off the vapour from the seaweed, is made to pass in contact
with the bottoms of the combustion chamber 8 and flues 11, 12, 13, prior to
its entrance into the chimney 10. The air is primarily admitted by an
opening 15 into a space above the middle furnace space 5,and it passes thence
into spaces above the two side spaces 5, wherein it becomes partly heated, and
whence it passes by flues 16 into a space 17 beneath the combustion
chamber 8 and flues 11, 12, 13. In this space 17 the air becomes greatly
heated, and it issues up into the chamber 10 by spaces 18 between the
flues 11 and the combustion chamber 8. The ingress of air may be regulated
by dampers, and, if necessary, direct openings through the side walls may be
formed for its admission into the heating chamber 17. If necessary the air
may be forced through the apparatus by means of a fan, and its entrance into
the stove chamber 10, through the openings 18, may be regulated by placing
bricks in any suitable manner at intervals across those openings. When com-
mencing to heat the stove a direct communication 19 is opened from the com.
bustion chamber 8 into the flue 14.so that the gases have not then to traverse the
flues11,12,13, but on the furnaces getting into active operation this communica-
tion 19 is closed by means of a sliding damper. At starting,afire of ordinarydry
fuel is made in each of the three lower furnace spaces 3,and whenaconsiderable
heat has been attained, the seaweed,in a fresh or more or less dried condition,
as it may happen to be collected on the sea-shore, is introduced into the upper
furnace spaces 5. The heat causes vapours and gases to be given off from the
seaweed, and these proceed to the combustion chamber 8, wherein they become
mixed and combined with the highly heated gases from the lower furnace
spaces 3, whence arises an intensified combustion producing great heat. The
admission of air into the furnaces is regulated according to the state of the com-
bustion, and as at times little or no air is needed doors or dampers are fitted to
the ash-pits 2,for the purpose of excluding it when necessary.
The operations
of feeding the several lower and upper furnace spaces 3 and 5 with fuel or
seaweed are alternated as regards the three furnaces, in order that the com-
bustion in the chamber 8, with which all communicate, may be maintained as
uniformly as possible. With this arrangement when the vapours and gases
from the upper and lower spaces 3, 5, of one of the three furnaces are com-
paratively cool, those from the others will be hotter, and insure the combus-
tion of the whole on becoming mixed. The seaweed in each upper furnace
space 5 becoming gradually dried and charred falls through the interstices of
the upper grate 4 to the furnace space 3 below, and if it is not sufficient
to keep up the necessary heat in the latter space, it will, at least, supply

page_text: the place of a large portion of ordinary fuel. The ashes from the furnaces
may or may not be profitably available for the obtainment of various useful
products, as mayalso be the gases resulting from the combustion; but the prin-
cipal object of this part of my said Invention is to employ the heat obtained, as
herein-before described, to dry further large quantities of the seaweed. The
arrangements for doingthis are obviously susceptible of various modifications,
but I prefer to use arrangements substantially such as are represented in the
accompanying Drawings, and which admit of the operations being carried on
continuously or nearly so. As herein-before mentioned, the combustion
chamber 8, and flues 11, 12, 13, form the bottom heating flue of a stove
chamber 10. This stove chamber 10 is arranged to receive the seaweed to be
dried, being provided with a series of stages 21, 22, 23, 24, consisting of bars
or plates jointed together in the form of endless chains. Each plate consists
of strong wire gauze upon a light frame,and the plates are jointed together by
means of rods passed through eyes fixed on the plates, or in any other simple
and convenient manner. The endless chain stages are mounted upon square
barrels 25, 26, each plate in succession applying itself to a side of the barrel
as it moves round. The barrels 25 at one end of the stages are geared toge-
ther, so that the alternate stages move in opposite directions by means ofspur
wheels 27 placed on the ends of their spindles outside of the stove, and on the
end of one of the barrel spindles there is fixed a ratchet wheel 28, which is
actuated by a lever and pawl. The lever is made to reciprocate by means of
any convenient prime mover (not shown in the Drawings), provision being
made for varying the speed or length of stroke with facility, so that the rate of
travel of the stages 21, 22,23,24, may be at any moment adjusted to suit the
heat of the stove. Or the stages may be worked by hand, by means of a wheel
and pinion, inwhich case it maybe convenient to actuate the stagesat intervals,
moving them at each time sufficiently to transfer the seaweed from each stage
to the next below it. The fresh seaweed is introduced by valved openings 29
upon the top stage 21, and is gradually moved along thereby to the front end
of the stove; it there falls over on the stage 22 below this second stage
being made to project beyond the first one so as to catch it, and it is carried
to the back end along this second stage, and is delivered by it upon the third
stage 23 below. The seaweed is carried forward again by the third stage 23,
and is finally returned by the fourth and lowest stage 24 to the discharge
outlets 30. These discharge outlets 30 are fitted with drums 31, partitioned
radially, and arranged so as to discharge the dried seaweed without admitting
an injurious amount of cold air. Motion is given to the drums 31 by means

page_text: of pulleys and a belt from the spindle of one of the barrels 25. A funnel 32
is fitted in the roof of the stove for the egress of the vapours arising from the
moist seaweed, and this funnel is fitted with a damper to regulate the current.;
The seaweed may be introduced into the stove in the state in which it
is collected on the sea-shore, or it may be previously crushed between*
rollers.
In combination with my improved drying apparatus I purpose employing
hydraulic pressing apparatus of anysuitable known kind for packing the dried
seaweed into a small bulk.
The drying apparatus may be erected on the shore, or it may be arranged
to be moved about from place to place on land; I, however, prefer to fit it
upon a floating vessel, so that it can be easily moved about from place to
place by sea, which will permit of its use in many localities to which access
would not be conveniently practicable by land. The floating vessel may be
arranged to be towed from place to place, or it may be fitted for sailing, or for
the application of steam propulsion, in which last case provision may be
made to avail of the arrangements for using the seaweed as fuel to generato
the necessary steam. As a very moderate speed will be requisite, convenient
floating vessels for my purpose will be such as are used at present, as screw-
propelled lighters of small draught, the propelling machinery occupying a
small space in the stern of each. There may be comprised in the floating
vessel apparatus,such as pans or retorts and furnaces, for burning or distilling
the dried seaweed, and so reducing it into a still smaller bulk than when dried
only. In general, however, I prefer to burn the dried seaweed on its leaving
the drying stove, in order to reduce the bulk and weight as much as possible,
but care must be taken not to fuse it.
t
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be performed, I have to state that I do not restrict.
myself to the precise details herein described and delineated, but that what I
believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
1, the treating of seaweed in the improved manner herein-before described,
or in a manner substantially the same.
2,the combining or arranging of the parts of apparatus for treating seaweed,
substantially as herein-before described.
3, the employing of a quantity of seaweed as a part of the fuel in obtaining
heat for drying other quantities of seaweed, substantially as herein-before
described.
. J

page_text: 4, the drying of seaweed by means of floating or other portable apparatus,
ubstantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Alfred Wünsch, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hund red and sixty-three.
EDWARD ALFRED WÜNSCH. (L.S.)
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square,
Glasgow.