IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRYING AND BLEACHING GRAIN AND OTHER MATERIALS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Creasy, of Bulls Hall, Bedfield, Wickham'
Market, in the County of Suffolk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR DRYING AND BLEACHING GRAIN AND OTHER MATERIALS."
Sealed the 12th June 1866, and dated the 19th December 1865,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by. the said William Creasy at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th December 1865.
I, WILLIAM CREASY, of Bulls Hall, Bedfield, Wickham Market, in the
County of Suffolk, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRYING AND BLEACHING GRAIN AND OTHER
MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery fordrying and
bleaching grain and other materials. For this purpose of drying grain and
other materials I employ a casing, which is divided internally into a series of
compartments by a number of perforated partitions parallel the one to the
other. The grain or material is placed between these partitions so as
completely to fill each alternate compartment, the others being left vacant.
Heated air is by a fan forced into the bottom vacant compartment of the case,
[Price]

page_text: and it has to pass upwards through all the compartments charged with the
grain or material to the vacant compartment at the top of the case, from
which it is drawn by a fan. The employment in this manner of two fans, the
one to force air into the case and the other to draw it out after it has done
its work, greatly facilitates the getting the air through the material. Usually
I make the case above mentioned of rectangular form, and capable of rocking
on trunnions, through one of which the heated air is forced in. In filling and
discharging the apparatus the case is tipped on its trunnions. The filling is
effected by means of a hopper, from which there is a passage into each of the
grain compartments; these passages are when the case is tilted at the upper
ends of the grain compartments, and the grain or material supplied in the
hopper runs in through them until the compartments are full. For emptying
the compartments each of them is fitted with a spout, which when the case is
tilted is at its lowest end, and the grain or materialruns out through it, oritmay
be necessary in drying some materials to have a close fitting door at the end
of the drying case to open for the purpose of filling and emptying. The hot air
is produced by burning fuel in a stove, or it can be obtained from the furnace
of the engine that drives the machine, from which the air so heated with the
products of combustion pass into a chamber, from which it passes to a fan;
the fan draws the heated air out of the reservoir, and forces it into a pres-
sure chamber surrounding the chamber from which the hot air is drawn.
From the pressure chamber the hot air passes to the drying case as already
described. When it is desired to bleach the grain or material as well as to
dry it sulphurous acid or other bleaching gas or vapour.may be used together
with the air. In order that this gas may be economized, and also in some
cases to economize heat, I provide a passage by which the air and gas
exhausted by the discharging fan may be supplied back to the forcing fan,
and so a circulation may be kept up. In place of making the drying case as
above described it may be made cylindrical, and mounted on a vertical axis.
In this case the filling and discharging the grain compartments is effected
by rotating the case. The grain or material is supplied by a hopper; at the
centre there is an opening therefrom into each of the grain compartments, and
by centrifugal force the grain or material is driven out from the hopper into
the compartments until they are full. To empty the compartments passages
are opened at the periphery, and by revolving the case the grain is thrown
into an outer casing, from which it is discharged by spouts. The axis of the
case is made hollow, the heated air and grain being passed through it.
"

page_text: .
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Creasy in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CREASY, of Bulls Hall, Bedfield, Wickham Market, in the County of Suffolk,
send greeting.
°
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,give and grant unto me,
the said William Creasy, Her special licence that I, the said William Creasy,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Creasy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 MACHINERY FOR DRYING AND BLEACHING GRAIN AND OTHER MATERIALS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that 1,the said William Creasy, 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
mouths next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Creasy, 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 machinery for drying and
bleaching grain and other materials. For the purpose of drying grain and
other materials I employ a casing which is divided internally into a series of
compartments by a number of perforated partitions, parallel the oue to the
other. The grain or material is placed between these partitions so as com-
pletely to fill each alternate compartment, the others being left vacant. Heated
air is by a fan forced into the bottom vacant compartment of the case, and it
has to pass upwards through all the compartments charged with the grain or

page_text: material to the vacant compartment at the top of the case, from which it is
drawn by a fan. The employment in this manner of two fans; the one to force
air into the case and the other to draw-it. out after it has done its work,
greatly facilitates the getting the air through the material. Usually I make
the case above-mentioned of rectangular form, and capable of rocking on
trunnions, through one of which the heated air is forced in. In filling and
discharging the apparatus the case is tipped on its trunnions. The filling is
effected by means of a hopper, from which there is a passage into each of the
grain compartments; these passages are when the case is tilted at the upper
ends of the grain compartments, and the grain or material supplied in the
hopper runs in through them until the compartments are full. Foremptyingthe
compartments each of them is made with an opening, which when the case is
tilted is at its lowest end, and the grain or material runs out through it. The
hot air is produced by burning fuel in a stove, or it can be obtained from the
furnace of the engine that drives the machine from which the air is so heated
with the products of combustion pass into a chamber from which it passes to
a fan, the fan draws the heated air out of the reservoir, and forces it into a
-pressure chamber surrounding the chamber from which the hot air is drawn.
From the pressure chamber the hot air passes to the drying case as already
described. When it is desired to bleach the grain or material as well as to
dry it sulphurousacid or other bleaching gas or vapour may be used together
with the air: In order that this gas may be economized, and also in some
cases to economize heat, I provide a passage by which the air and gasexhausted
by the discharging fan may be supplied back to the forcing fan, and so a
circulation may be kept up.
Figure 1 is a side view; Figure 2,a longitudinal section, and Figure 3, a
transverse section, of a machine suitable for drying and bleaching grain, con-
structed as above described.
a, a, is the frame and external casing of the machine; b and c are two
chambers or compartments formed therein; the larger of these marked b con-
tains the case d for receiving the grain,and the smaller c is a hot air chamber.
.The case dis mounted on trunnions d', d', on which it is able to rock,and one
of the trunnions is hollow and opens into the chamber c,and through it heated
air enters the lower part of the case d; d²,d³ are partitions of perforated zinc
dividing the cased into a number of compartments dx parallel the one to the
.other; is a passage formed at one side of the case, and one-half of the
compartments dx, viz.,every alternate compartment, opens into the passage d;
d' is a door closing the compartments dx on the side opposite to the passage

page_text: d. Thus it will be seen that when the case dis tilted on its trunnions, and
the door is opened, any grain the case contained will be discharged from
the machine, and then on closing the door d, and pouring, grain required
to be dried into the hopper e at the top of the machine the said grain will
pass into the passage d³, and thence into every alternate compartment d*, and
by tilting the case to one side and the other these compartments can be
completely filled. a¹ is a door at the front of the chamber b, which is open
whilst the case d is discharged and refilled; fand g are two fans; the fant
draws heated air, by means of a pipe / passing to its centre, from a hot air
reservoir i, which is connected with the stove k, (as shown in Figure 5), or.it
may be with the furnace of the engine which drives the fans, and the hot air
so drawn by the fan f is forced by it into the chamber c, from which it passes
by the trunnion d' into the chamber, and it rises up through the compartments
dx and the grain therein; this passage of the heated air through the grain
is greatly assisted by the fan y, which produces a partial vacuum over the top
of the case d, and the air drawn by this fan passes by the pipe to the opening
m, where it may escape, or this opening may be closed or partly closed by a
valve m', and then the same air ora portion of it is caused to pass a second time
through the grain, as is useful especially when bleaching bymeans of sulphurous
acid gas. Usually coke or Welch coal is burnt in the stove k, and when it.is
desired to bleach the grain sulphur is thrown in on to the coke or coal.
.:
Figure 4 is a side view, Figure 5 a longitudinal section, Figure 6 a plan,
and Figure 7 an end view, partly in section, of a bleaching and drying
machine, which is a slight modification of the machine above described;
there the case d is not made to rock, and the perforated partitions d² are
made into moveable trays supported on ledges. To charge the machine
door do at the end is opened, one set of trays is removed, and another fresh
set of trays with grain or material to be dried is introduced, or the same
trays may be emptied and refilled. This machine may be used for drying
some descriptions of materials for which the machine first described is
inapplicable.
In place of making the drying case, as above described, it may be made
cylindrical, and mounted on a vertical axis; in this case the filling and dis-
charging the grain compartments is effected by rotating the case. The grain
or material is supplied by a hopper; at the centre there is an opening there-
from into each of the grain compartments, and by centrifugal force the grain
or material is driven out from the hopper into the compartments until they are
full., To empty the compartments passages are opened at the periphery, and

page_text: by revolving the case the grain is thrown into an outer casing, from which it
is discharged by spouts. The axis of the case is made hollow, the heated air
and grain being passed through it.
Figure 8 is a vertical section, and Figure 9 a horizontal section of a
machine thus arranged. a, a, is the frame and exterior casing of the machine ;
b is an axis passing up vertically through it; it is supported in a step b¹ at its
lower end and in a bearing 62 above; c is a drum mounted on the axis 6 at its
periphery ; it is enclosed by the curved plates c³, c, at the ends of which are
openings furnished with valves c³ capable of being opened and closed at
pleasure; c³, c³, are partitions of perforated zinc or other similar material
dividing the drum c into a number of parallel compartments; d is a chamber
underneath the drum c; into it heated air is forced by a fan, as already
described. Every alternate compartment in the drum c communicates with
the passages e, e, in the central trunk e, and those at the top communicate
with a hopper f, into which the grain with which the machine is to be fed is
placed; thus when the drum c is rotated, the valves c being closed, the grain
passes by the centrifugal action from the hopper finto the alternate compart-
ments of the drum c, which are thus filled; and, again, when this grain is
dried, by opening the valves c², and rotating the drum, the machine is dis-
charged, the grain being thrown out into the outer casing a, from which it
dows by the spouts a¹, a¹; g is the second fan which exhausts the air from
the
space or chamber h over the drum c, and so assists the passage of the
heated air through the material, as in the machines already described; this
fan is mounted on a tube on the axis b, and this tube is caused to rotate by a
band passing around a pulley g' upon it. The centre of the fan is in con-
nection with the passages e², e2, of the trunk e, and these passages also open
into the space or chamber in the casing over the drum c.
the fan g is either allowed at once to escape or some or
to the first fan, as in the machine first described.
The air drawn by
all of it returned
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the exact details described; but what I claim is, the construction of drying
and bleaching machines in which the material to be treated is disposed in
layers with two fans, one forcing and the other drawing the heated air through
the layers of material, and the coupling such fans so that the same bleaching
vapour or hot air may be caused to pass more than once through each portion
of grain, as above described.
I also claim the arranging the drying case in such machines on trunuious

page_text: or axes, so that the compartments for receiving the material may be charged
and discharged by tilting the case, as above described.
I also claim the arranging the drying case in such machines, so that the
compartments for receiving the material may be charged and discharged by
centrifugal force obtained by rotating the case, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Creasy, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
WILLIAM CREASY. (L.s.)