IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DESSICATING AT LOW TEMPERATURES, COAL AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1884

page_text: .I, HENRY GEORGE FAIRBURN of 222 Cowbridge Road, Cardiff in the County of
Glamorgan, South Wales, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention
for IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DESSICATING AT LOW TEMPERATURES, COAL
AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, to be as follows:-
To make this class of machinery more effectual and continuous in its action
more economic and demanding much less attention or supervision than heretofore.
My machine is in the form of a long closed and shallow chamber or trough
made of clay brick or metal, and partly exhausted of air and vapour placed over
flues heated by steam, gas, hot air or fuel and fitted internally with a frame into
which is fitted at convenient distances a series of transverse bars susceptable of
easily being removed or changed and to which are suspended a number of pen-
dulous propellor prongs, tines or blades which by a motion communicated to it
and thence to the propellor blades as more fully described hereafter propels the
coal or other substance to be dessicated through the chamber or trough in a
continuous or intermittant manner and at the same time changing and moving it
about so that every portion of the substance is brought in contact with that part
of the chamber that is the bed or floor, which is the warmest being situate
immediately over the heated flues.
To arrange the machine for work, if metal be used in its construction, a number
of iron plates should be fitted together so as to make a floor or bed of a con-
venient surface area say of (5) five feet wide by (20) twenty feet long quite flat
and level.
At each side of this floor are placed along its entire length a sufficient number
of plates or girders to form sides about 18 inches high and provided near their
upper edge with a ledge containing a number of pockets or recesses at suitable
distances in which small rollers revolve to facilitate the reciprocating motion and
carrying of a frame of the same length and width as the inside of the trough and
adjusted to receive at distances of about 20 inches apart the trunnion ends of a
series of transverse bars from each one of which are suspended one or several of
the propellor prongs or blades fixed so as when in motion to remain rigid when
drawn in the direction the substance to be dessicated has to travel and swing

page_text: loose when drawn in the contrary direction in the first case propelling the
substance forward and cleaning by its friction therewith the portion of the bed
or floor of the chamber over which it passes, and in the second, spreading the
substance over the warm bed plates of the chamber ready for the propulsion of the
next blade or prong.
The ends of the trough are then fixed so that the whole form an oblong chamber
with bottom sides and ends but as yet without a cover.
To the frame resting as above described within the trough duly fitted with the
transverse bars is then adjusted a rod passing through asbestos packing in one end
of the chamber by means of which (after a tight fitting cover has been placed over
the entire trough) a slow reciprocating motion is communicated to the frame and
thence to the propellor blades or prongs and the chamber susceptable of being
exhausted of air is actually exhausted of all air or vapour worked by a suitable
apparatus.
This chamber or trough being then placed over heated flues and the substance
to be dessicated is introduced at one end through an aperture which is made to
open and close automatically to correspond with the motion communicated to the
internal frame and propellors and as the substance passes on from one blade to the
next, the moisture extracted in the form of vapour is drawn off by exhaustion and
when the substance arrives at the opposite end it is perfectly dessicated or dried
and can be drawn off through a similar aperture to the one at which it had
entered and passed through a revolving screen to be separated or sifted into the
various sizes desired and loaded into trucks or wagons for transit or otherwise.

page_text: Coal and other Substances.
I, HENRY GEORGE FAIRBURN, of 222 Cowbridge Road, Cardiff, in the County of
Glamorgan, South Wales, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention
for IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DESSICATING AT LOW TEMPERATURES, COAL
AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for dessicating at
low temperatures, coal and other substances, after they have been washed, and also
for making this class of machinery more effectual and continuous in its action,
thus requiring much less attention or supervision than any machinery of a similar
nature heretofore manufactured, and thereby making it far more economical to
work For these purposes I make a machine consisting of a long, closed and
shallow chamber or trough, of clay, brick, metal, or other suitable material-This
chamber or trough No 1. is placed over flues heated by steam, gas, hot air or fuel,
and is partially exhausted of air or vapour-It is fitted internally with a frame Nº 2
in which are fixed at convenient distances a series of transverse bars B to which
are suspended a number of pendulous propellor prongs, tines or blades N° 3 and O
capable of being easily removed or changed which by a motion communicated to
the said frame, and thence to the propellor prongs, tines or blades, (as more fully
described hereafter) propels the coal or other materials to be dessicated, through
the chamber or trough, in a continuous or intermittent manner, and at the same
time changing and moving the material about, so that every portion of it is
brought in contact with that part of the chamber which is the bed or floor No 4,
and which is the warmest, being situated immediately over the heated flues A—
connected with and heated by the furnace marked O.
In erecting and arranging the machine for work, if metal is used in its con-
struction, a number of iron plates are fitted together, so as to make a floor or bed
of a convenient surface area, say of five feet wide, by twenty feet long, and flat and
level-At each side of this floor are placed along its entire length a sufficient
number of plates or girders D to form sides about eighteen inches high, and
provided near their upper edge with a ledge, containing a number of pockets or
recesses No 5 at suitable distances, in which small loose rollers N revolve to
facilitate the reciprocating motion, and carry the frame before-mentioned, which
is of the same length and width as the inside of the chamber or trough,
and which is adjusted to receive at distances of about twenty inches apart the
trunnion ends of a series of propellor prongs, tines or blades No 3 and C fixed so
as when in motion they remain rigid when drawn in the direction the substance
to be dessicated has to travel, and they swing loose when "drawn in the contrary
direction, thus, in the first case, propelling forward the material to be dessicated,
and cleaning by friction therewith the portion of the bed or floor of the chamber
or trough over which it passes; and in the second case, spreading the materials
over the warm bed or floor plates of the chamber or trough, ready for propulsion
by the next set of prongs tines or blades.

page_text: 1
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The ends of the chamber or trough are then fixed so that the whole forms an
oblong chamber or trough, with the bottom, sides and ends, but as yet without
a cover To the frame, resting as above described, and duly fitted with the
propeller prongs, tines or blades is then attached a rod E passing through asbestos
packing No 6 in one end of the chamber or trough-A tight-fitting cover fitted
with dome I and pipe K is then placed over the entire chamber or trough, and by
means of the rod attached as before-mentioned, a slow reciprocating motion is
communicated to the frame, and thence to the propellor prongs, tines or blades,
and the chamber or trough is exhausted of air or vapour by any suitable apparatus,
as the dessicating is in progress.
This chamber or trough being situated over heated flues À the material to be
dessicated is introduced from the hopper H at one end through an aperture G
which is made to open and close automatically, by means of the sliding measure P
to correspond with the motion communicated to the internal frame and propellor
prongs, tines or blades, and as the material passes on from one prong tine. or blade
to the next, the moisture extracted therefrom in the form of steam or vapour is
drawn off by exhaustion, and when the material arrives at the opposite end to
where it was put in, it is perfectly dessicated or dried, and can be drawn off
through a similar aperture to the end at which it entered the machine or as.
shown in drawing herewith marked M-It is then passed through a revolving or
other screen, to be separated or sifted into the various sizes desired, and loaded
'into trucks or wagons for transit or otherwise.
· Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. Dessicating coal or other materials, at low temperatures, in closed heated
chambers, which are practically exhausted of air and vapour, in combination with
swinging and reciprocating propellor prongs, tines or blades.
2. A closed and heated chamber which is practically exhausted of air and
vapour, in combination with means of propulsion therein, of coal or other materials
to be dessicated by a series of loose pendulous prongs, tines or blades, caused to
'swing into position, and to work by a reciprocating motion of the frame.
3. Loose pendulous and corrugated prongs, tines or blades, to swing in. one
direction only, from a perpendicular line, for the purpose of dividing, mixing and
propelling coal or any other materials to be dessicated, in a continuous or inter-
mittent manner by a slow and reciprocating motion.
4. The mechanical arrangement and combination of the several parts when
employed in the manner and for the purposes of my said invention herein-
⚫ before-set forth and described.
Dated this thirty-first day of January 1885.