IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF MAKING MALT PROM RAW GRAIN, AND IN THE MACHINERY
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Kunkler, of Lenzburg, Switzerland,
Maltster and Brewer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
METHOD OF MAKING MALT PROM RAW GRAIN, AND IN THE MACHINERY AND
Sealed the 27th July 1875, and dated the 29th May 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Kunkler at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 29th May 1875.
I, EDWARD KUNKLER, of Lenzburg, Switzerland, Maltster and Brewer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE METHOD OF MAKING MALT FROM RAW GRAIN, AND IN THE
MACHINERY AND ARRANGEMENT OF MACHINERY FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as
follows:-
This Invention of improvements in the method of makine malt from

page_text: wire gauze bottoms, in which the wetted grain is received and placed
to be germinated and to be kiln dried.
Secondly. In the use of a chamber or tiers of chambers in which the
said wagons are placed, and wherein they are subjected to upward or
downward currents of moist, cold, or warm air or due proportion of
any of them at the desired temperature required for the germination of
the grain.
Thirdly. In the contrivance for hermetically placing the upper or
lower rim of the wagon in connection with the floor or roof, or in
enclosing either of them, so that air may be forced up or down through :
the layers of wetted grain in the wagon.
Fourthly. In the use of chambers or tiers of chambers in the which
the said wagons are placed for the purpose of kiln drying.
And, Fifthly. In the arrangement of the air chambers and saturating
chambers and connections, and in the heating vapourising and cooling
appliances to be used in connection with these chambers in the manu-
facture of the malt.
In the process of malting as hitherto generally practised, after the
grain is wetted it is laid in couches involving continually repeated
labour in turning over the grain for the purposes of relieving the layer
of grain of the evolved carbonic acid gas, of aerating it more perfectly,
and of equalizing the difference of humidity that exists between the top
and bottom of the layer after it has laid some time. In this my
improved method I take the wetted grain and place it in wagons of
about 5 metres by 2 metres, holding a depth of grain about 40 centimetres;
though these proportions are varied with the size of the plant required
and the kind of grain to be malted; the bottom is composed of wire,
wire gauze, or perforated metal, and the sides of the wagon are com-
posed of iron or galvanized iron or any other suitable material. The
wetted grain being placed in these wagons are taken to the chambers
which are constructed so as to be capable of receiving the wagons, and
of being closed up by doors or other contrivances when the wagons have
been admitted; the wagons are now placed on the bottom of the floor,
and secured by the outer circumference so as to give an air-tight
junction between the outer lower rim of the wagon and the floor, or if
desired to the upper rim; this arrangement is contrived so that air may
be given as in the first case to the enclosed space under the wagon which

page_text: may be forced up through the grain or be drawn down through it, and
in this way by suitable air ways in connection with suitable fans, piston
engines, or other appropriate means the warm air, cold air, moist or dry;
as drawn from suitable chambers of the different temperature, dryness
or moistness required is supplied to the grain in the most desired
conditions favorable for the transformation of the grain up to the
proper point of germination.
I prefer to make the junction of the rim to the floors by resting the
rim on a piece of india-rubber hose continuous and of the same plan as
the wagon rim, so that when water is forced into the pipe by pressure an
air-tight junction is formed between the rim of the wagon and the
floor.
The degree of germination required being arrived at the wagons are
now removed and placed in other chambers constructed on the same
principle, and there subjected to currents of warm air till the kiln
drying completes the manufacture of the malt, the wagon is removed
and the contents shot out into the magazine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Kunkler in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd November 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
KUNKLER, of Lenzburg, Switzerland, Maltster and Brewer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors
give and grant unto me, the said Edward Kunkler, Her special license
that I, the said Edward Kunkler, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Kunkler, 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
.

page_text: vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE METHOD OF MAKING MALT FROM RAW GRAIN, AND IN THE MACHINERY
AND ARRANGEMENT OF MACHINERY FOR THAT PURPOSE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Edward Kunkler, 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 Edward Kunkler, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say:—
This Invention of improvements in the method of making malt from
raw grain, and in the machinery and arrangement of machinery for that
purpose consists in,-
Firstly. In the use of a wagon or wagons with perforated sieve or
wire gauze bottoms, in which the wetted grain is received and placed to
be germinated and to be kiln dried.
Secondly. In the use of a chamber or tiers of chambers in which the
said wagons are placed, and wherein they are subjected to upward or
downward currents of moist, cold, or warm air, or due proportion of any
of them at the desired temperature required for the germination of the
grain.
Thirdly. In the contrivance for hermetically placing the upper or
lower rim of the wagon in connection with the floor or roof or in
enclosing either of them, so that air may be forced up or down through
the layers of wetted grain in the wagons.
Fourthly. In the use of chambers or tiers of chambers in the which
the said wagons are placed for the purpose of kiln drying.
And, Fifthly. In the arrangement of the air chambers and saturating
chambers and connections, and in the heating vapour and cooling
appliances to be used in connection with these chambers in the manu-
facture of the malt,

page_text: In the process of malting as hitherto generally practised after the
grain is wetted, it is laid in layers involving continually repeated
labour in turning over the grain for the purposes of relieving the layer
of grain of the evolved carbonic acid gas, of aerating it more perfectly,
and of equalizing the difference of humidity and temperature that exists
between the top and bottom of the layer after it has lain some time.
In this my improved method I take the wetted grain and place in
wagons of about 5 meters by 2 meters, holding a depth of grain
about 40 to 60, or even more centimetres, though these proportions
are varied with the size of the plant required and the kind of grain to
be malted; the bottom is composed of wire, wire gauze, or perforated
metal, and the sides of the wagon are composed of iron or galvanised
iron or any other suitable material. The wetted grain being placed in
these wagons they are taken to the chambers which are constructed so
as to be capable of receiving the wagons, and of being closed up by
doors or other contrivances when the wagons have been admitted; the
wagons are now placed on the bottom of the floor and secured by the
outer circumference so as to give an air-tight junction between the outer
lower rim of the wagon and the floor, or if desired to the upper rim;
this arrangement is contrived so that air may be given as in the first
case to the enclosed space under the wagon, which may be forced up
through the grain or be drawn down through, and in this way by
suitable air ways in connection with suitable fans, piston engines, or
other appropriate means the warm air, cold air, moist or dry, as
drawn from suitable chambers of the different temperature dryness or
moistness required is supplied to the gain in the most desired conditions
favorably for the transformation of the grain up to the proper point of
germination.
I prefer to make the junction of the rim to the floors by resting the
rim on a piece of india-rubber hose continuous, and of the same plan as
the wagon rim, so that when water is forced into the pipe by pressure
an air-tight junction is formed between the rim of the wagon and the
floor.
The degree of germination required being arrived at the wagons are
now removed and placed in other chambers constructed on the same
principle, and there subjected to currents of warm air till the kiln
drying completes the manufacture of the malt, the wagon is removed,
and the contents emptied out into the magazine.

page_text: In the Drawings hereto attached and forming part of this Specifi-
cation like letters represent like parts in all the Figures.
T
and forming part of this specin-
cation like letters represent like parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 is a ground plan of part of a malting plant.
Figure 2, elevation of the building containing the vessels in which the
grain is wetted.
Figure 3, clevation of air passages leading to and from well for
supplying moist air; Figure 4, ground plan of part of Figure 3.
Figures 5, 6, 7, elevations of wagons; and Figure 8, malting chamber
in section with wagons therein.
Figure 9, clevation of kiln oven; Figure 10, section of same with
wagons therein.
The process of malting is thus conducted by means of the described
apparatus. The barley or other grain on the granary floor A is conveyed
by the moveable spout a' to the steeping vats a³, whence, after wetting the
required time it is drawn off by the outlets a' into the wagons B, each
of which is provided with a perforated bottom of iron galvanised, or with
the ordinary wire malt screen, also in galvanised iron. The sides of the
wagons are also composed of galvanised iron which I prefer as the most
suitable material though I do not confine myself to it exclusively, the
grain being levelled into the wagons; these are then run upon rails 6ª
which are continued on the wagon platform 6'; the wagon platform
carries two tiers of wagons in the Drawings, though one only or more
than two may be employed; the wagon platform itself is moved upon
rails
which command the range of the chambers and kiln; the rails
arc laid at right angles to the rail laid on the wagon platform, con-
sequently when, as in the Drawings, the germinating chambers and kilns
are built in two stories, the wagon platform carries its two wagons to the
mouth of the two tiers of germinating chambers or to the mouths of the
kilns likewise arranged in two tiers.
To follow out the operation the two wagons on the platform are
wheeled to the mouths of the germinating chamber by means of
the crane on the platform, the doors of the chambers are lifted up, the
wagons thrust in on rails within the chambers, and the doors closed; the
lower frame of the wagons now rest over a corresponding frame within
the chambers and the longest frame is laid a hose pipe of india-rubber
or canvas lined with india-rubber shewn in the plans as c¹. When the

page_text: wagons are thrust in this tube is in a state of collapse, but when the
wagons are placed in position water is turned into the hose with a certain
head of pressure, and the tube expanding forms an air-tight junction with
the rim of the wagon, and the rim which forms an air-tight reservoir
equal in size to the frame of the wagon, and bounded by the lower floors
of each of the compartments of the germinating chamber, communicating
with these lower floors are series of air ways e', also in communication
with the well E and the fan F, corresponding air ways are made with the
upper ways of the germinating chambers also in communication as desired
with a fan. By this arrangement I am enabled to send the desired
currents of air either up or down through the layer of grain now enclosed
in the wagon, either by the arrangement of fan and air ways shown,
giving an upward pressure current through the grain or by exhausting
the upper part of the chamber, and thus keeping the same direction of
current, or by applying the pressure current in the upper portion of the
chamber and sending the current downwards.
When the air required is of the same nature as the atmospheric air,
that only is sent through the grain if required with more moisture, it is
sent through the passages communicating with the well E or reservoirs
of water, and if necessary subjected to the action of jets of water issuing
from the pipes et laid as shewn, or otherwise placed in the air ways.
It is obvious that by modifications of this arrangement I can have
complete control of the quality of the air passing through the grain as
to quantity of contained moisture, and the application of steam coils or
blocks of ice or refrigerators will enable any temperature to be obtained
at any season of the year and in any climate, so that the operation of
germination is completely under control.
The germination being finished the wagon platform is brought to the
mouth of the chambers, the doors opened, the wagons brought out on to
the platform, and the platform taken to the kiln D, the doors are opened
the wagons thrust in, which are again made tight by the hose d¹ to the
rim and frame projected upward from the lower floor of the kiln as
described in the germinating chamber; the doors are now closed, and by
means of the fan hot air is driven up through the grain till the operation
is finished; the malt is then withdrawn as before described on to the
platform which is wheeled away to the store, the grain never having
been disturbed from its being received as wet barley in the wagons till
ready to be used as malt.

page_text: Having now described and particularly set forth the nature of the
said Invention and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would
have it understood that I do not claim germinating grain in vessels up
or down which currents of air may be forced, but I do claim and desire
to secure in the in part herein recited Letters Patent,―
First. The germinating of grain in wagons for the purpose of malting,
such wagons being placed in germinating chambers with practically air-
tight connections with fans, and by which air in the desired condition is
made to traverse up or down the layers of grain, substantially as
described.
Secondly. I claim the method of kiln drying germinated grain in
wagons wheeled into kilns with practically air-tight connections with
fans, and by which hot air is made to traverse up or down the layers of
grain, substantially as described.
Thirdly. I claim the method herein described of making the junction
of the rims of the wagons to the air ways by means of the water hose,
substantially as described for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Kunkler, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.