IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRYING WOOL AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Lee Norton, of Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate
Hill, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR DRYING WOOL AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Lee Norton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd August 1858.
I, JAMES LEE NORTON, of Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, in the City
of London, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR DRYING WOOL AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for drying wool
and other substances. For these purposes the wool or other substance is
placed on an endless apron or carrier, which moves into and through an
enclosed chamber. The apron or carrier is formed in such manner as to
allow of air passing through it freely, and through and amongst the wool or
other substance placed thereon and moving therewith, and the apparatus or
interior of the chamber is so arranged that the heated air employed may be
caused alternately to pass upwards and downwards through the carrier, and
through and amongst the wool or substance placed thereon, and the air will
not only be caused to pass in opposite directions through and through amongst

page_text: the wool or other substance on the carrier, but such air will also alternately
be acting on the upper and under surfaces of the carrier, and of the wool or
other substance placed thereon...
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Lee Norton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES LEE
NORTON, of Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said James Lee Norton, Her special licence that I, the said
James Lee Norton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Lee Norton, my executors, administrators, and 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRYING WOOL AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Lee Norton, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW-YE,-that-I,_the_said James Lee Norton, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for drying wool
and other substances. For these purposes the wool or other substance is
placed on an endless apron or carrier, which moves into and through an
enclosed chamber. The apron or carrier is formed in such manner as to

page_text: allow of air passing through it freely, and through and amongst the wool or
other substance placed thereon and moving therewith; and the apparatus or
interior of the chamber is so arranged that the heated air employed may be
caused alternately to pass upwards and downwards through the carrier, and
through and amongst the wool or substance placed thereon, and the air will
not only be caused to pass in opposite directions through and amongst the
wool or other substance on the carrier, but such air will also alternately be
acting on the upper and under surfaces of the carrier, and of the wool or other
substance placed thereon.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 2 a transverse section, of an
apparatus constructed according to my Invention; Figure 3 is a plan of the
same with part of the casing removed. a is a foundation of brickwork, on
the top of which is formed a chamber enclosed by the two side plates b, b,
and the top c, all by preference of cast iron, and stiffened by transverse tie.
rods at intervals. The side plates b, b, carry at their extremities two rollers
d, d, which have mounted on them chain wheels, round which the endless
chains e, e, pass; a plan of a portion of one of these chains is shewn at
Figure 4. The chains as they pass through the chamber rest on ledges fixed
on the side plates b, and are prevented from drawing off these ledges by
transverse rods passing from one chain to the other, and which, while the
chains are travelling, slide along longitudinal bars f, f, arranged to support
them, and which are fixed to the transverse stiffening ties of the chamber.
Between the chains e, e, is stretched an endless apron of strong and very open
canvass formed of hemp or other material, and say 30 feet long and 6 feet
wide. The chamber is closed at its ends in order to prevent the air forced
or drawn through it from escaping without passing from end to end of the
chamber by means of rollers g, g. These rollers, with the exception of the
upper one of each set, are made of wood, and turn on axes passing through
the side plates; their peripheries approach so closely to each other as but
just to allow space for the endless apron to pass between them; the upper
rollers of each set are made of tin to get them as light as possible, and their
axes work in slots in the side plates, so as to allow these rollers to rest on
the fibre or substance on the endless apron, and to rise or fall according as
the thickness of the layer of fibre is greater or less. The fibre or substance

page_text: to be dried is distributed by hand on the endless sheet at the left-hand end of
the apparatus, and is carried through the chamber by the motion. of the apron
produced by driving the roller d with the-chain wheels and also the centre
roller g of the set. At this end of the apparatus, i is a fan for forcing air
through the chamber. I prefer to employ a fan of the construction known as
Lloyd's Patent, and for the size of sheet before mentioned of about 3 feet in
diameter, and drive at about 700 revolutions per minute. The air before
entering the chamber passes through the heater j, which is of the construction
known as Hawksley's Patent, and consists, by preference, of a metal drum or
cylinder closed at each end, and having about 150 to 200 one-inch tubes
passing through it, which tubes form the connection between the fan and the
chamber of the apparatus. Into the metal drum or cylinder around the
tubes steam is introduced from a steam boiler, and a suitable provision is
made for conducting away the water produced by condensation. As the
heated air enters the chamber it is caused to pass up through the endless
apron and the matters on it by the partition k, which terminates just under
the upper portion of the apron, and has an opening through it to allow the
lower part of the apron to pass. is another partition, which obliges the air
again to pass through the material and the apron it is upon. This partition
is, as is shewn, rendered tight by a roller of tin, the axis of which works in slots
in the side plates, to allow of its adjusting itself to the thickness of material
on the endless apron. m and n are two other partitions, similar to k and l
respectively. o is a flue or opening by which the air passes away from the
chamber. In place of a forcing fan, an exhaust fan may be employed, if
preferred.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Lee Norton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
F. SKEETE.
JAMES LEE NORTON. (L.S.)