An Improved Machine for Drying Wool.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Aug., 1887.
Specification Accepted, 27th Sept., 1887.
CUM LEID DIECIFICATION.
An Improved Machine for Drying Wool.
We WILLIAM NELSON of Tomoana in the Provincial District of Hawke's Bay in
the Colony of New Zealand Sheep Farmer and EUGENE BOWEN of Tomoana aforesaid
Wool Classer do hereby declare the nature of our invention for AN IMPROVED
MACHINE FOR DRYING WOOL and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The objects of our Invention are to expose the wool to be dried to a current of
warm air so that its fibres may be repeatedly acted upon by such air and thus be
regularly and rapidly dried and to expel the dried wool from the machine by means of
a blast or current of air.
Our improved machine consists of a drum open at both ends and revolving in a
casing the cylindrical portion of the said drum being constructed of bars affixed to
annular bands between which bars air is forced from a longitudinal air-trunk
constructed in the said casing. The interior of the drum is furnished with longitudinal
shelves which as the drum revolves successively take up portions of the wool and allow
them to fall and thus expose them fully to the current of air. The dried wool is
ejected from the machine by means of a current of air diverted from the air-trunk and
forced through a pipe opening into the feed end of the drum.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention we will proceed to describe the
manner in which the same is to be performed reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon.
Figure 1 represents the machine partly in side elevation and partly in section
taken on the line Y Z Figure 2. Figures 2 and 3 respectively represent the
feed and discharge ends of the drum. The same letters indicate the same parts in
all the Figures.
A A is the casing of the machine B is the drum the ends of which are each formed
of two wooden rings 662 made in segmental portions or felloes and screwed together,
the ring b¹ being strengthened with an iron band or tire 63 which runs upon Hanged
friction-rollers c carried by the frame C being steadied by friction-rollers cc.
The drum may be driven from either end by means of a belt & passing from the

page_text: ring b² to a driving-pulley e mounted in a bearing on a gallows et flanges 14 3ª being
affixed to the rings to keep the casing as airtight as may be and to prevent wool
from getting to the said rings. A fillet 10 is also affixed to the ring 62. Or the
drum may be driven from both ends by means of belts passing over the rings 162.
bebe are longitudinal bars affixed to the rings 6. To these bars are affixed iron
bands or rings 67 68 68 are smaller bars affixed to the said bands by screws a few
of which are indicated at 6°. D D are the shelves consisting of curved iron bars d'
to which are screwed longitudinal bars d² d². Those portions of the bars d¹ to which
the bars d² are screwed are of half-round iron but the portions which pass through
the bars are cylindrical and have screw-threads by which they are affixed to the
said bars. E¹ (see Figure 2) is a half-door which closes the open part of the feed-end
of the casing the other part being a fixture. ¹ is an aperture (closed by a sliding
shutter) through which a handful of the wool can from time to time be taken to
ascertain if it be sufficiently dried. E2 (see Figure 3) is a door by which the whole
of the discharge end of the casing can be closed. The doors E' E2 are shown open in
order to exhibit the interior of the drum. They are each suspended by cords e e²
passing over pulleys ³ ³ mounted on the gallows the said cords carrying
counterbalance weights ee. The said doors slide in grooves ee in the standards of
the said gallows. I is an air-trunk into which warm air is forced through the main-
trunk G by a fan or other suitable blowing apparatus. The said air-trunk F is
constructed at one of the lower angles of the casing A and has a longitudinal slit (1
through which the air passes between the bars 68 68 into and obliquely through the
drum to a longitudinal opening I near the opposite upper angle of the said casing
through which opening the heated air escapes from the machine. (The course of the
said air is indicated by the arrows). Or such air may be exhausted by means of an
exhaust-fan in which case an air-trunk is fixed over the aforesaid opening and
connected with the said fan by a pipe. The exhaust fan referred to is to aid the blast
being used in addition thereto. His a pipe the bent end of which projects through
the casing into the drum through which pipe air is forced into the said drum for the
purpose of blowing the dried wool out of it and thus rapidly emptying the said drum.
The lower end of the pipe H opens into the air-trunk G and the upper end of the
said pipe is bent at h and made of an elliptical form as shown at Figure 2 in order to
direct the blast in the most effective way onto the wool. By referring to that figure
.it will be seen that as soon as each of the shelves D D has passed its highest point of
revolution a blast of air is directed upon the dried wool just as it is falling from the
shelf. is a flap-valve mounted on a spindle g2 turned as required by a handle g3
which can be hooked to the casing so as to keep the said valve either in its horizontal
or vertical position. When the valve is horizontal it closes the communication between
the air-trunk G and the air-pipe H and admits the current of air to the air-trunk F
and when the said valve is vertical it shunts the air from the air-trunk F into the
pipe H.
a a are doors for the removal of the dust which is shaken out of the wool.
Although we have represented our machine as made chiefly of wood it may be made
of galvanised iron or other suitable material.
Two or more of our machines may be arranged side by side in which case the air-
trunks thereof receive their supply of air from a main-trunk common to all.
The action of the machine is as follows: The workman first starts the drum and
fixes the valve gl in its horizontal position and thus directs the current of warm air
into the air-trunk F. He then throws the wet wool to be dried into the said drum
through the feed end thereof and closes the door E¹. As the drum revolves the
shelves D D carry up portions of the wool which fall from the said shelves as they
pass their highest point of revolution. The fibres are thus repeatedly exposed to the
current of warm air passing upwards from the air-trunk F until they are dried and
are also freed from the greater part of any dust &c. which they may contain and which
being shaken out by the action of the drum falls through the bars thereof onto the
floor from which it can from time to time be removed through the doors a a. When
the wool has been sufficiently dried the workman opens the door E2 and fixes the
valve g' in its vertical position and thus diverts the air from the air-trunk G to the

page_text: pipe H whence it issues with sufficient force to expel the dried wool from the drum as
the said wool falls from the shelves D D. He then without stopping the drum closes
the door E2 opens the door E' fixes the valve g' in its horizontal position throws in
more wet wool and the operation is repeated.
We have found in practice that four revolutions a minute is a good speed at which
to drive the drum and that a blast of air at a temperature of from 96° to 100° Fahren-
heit gives a good result but we do not limit ourselves either to the speed or the heat
described or to any other of the precise details described as they may be varied without
departing from the nature of our Invention.
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:
The general combination and arrangement of parts constituting the improved wool-
drying machine herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings
that is to say a drum constructed with open ends and with bars and shelves for
supporting and raising the wool the said drum revolving in a casing furnished with a
longitudinal air-trunk and with doors an air-pipe being applied to the feed-end of the
said drum and the whole being arranged and operating essentially as and for the
purposes described.