IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FLOORS FOR MALT KILNS OR DRYING ROOMS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Boby, of Bury St. Edmunds, in the
County of Suffolk, Agricultural Implement Maker, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FLOORS FOR MALT KILNS OR
DRYING ROOMS."
Scaled the 18th June 1869, and dated the 24th December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Boby at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th December 1868.
I, ROBERT BOBY, of Bury St. Edmunds, in the County of Suffolk;
Agricultural Implement Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FLOORS FOR
MALT KILNS OR DEYING ROOMS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is so to construct the metal floors of malt
kilns and drying rooms as to increase their durability and their rigidity
and to give them a more even surface than metal floors of the ordinary
construction. To this end I compose the floor of detachable panels
which consist severally of a rectangular frame of iron fitted with roul

page_text: or other shaped rods or wires set parallel to each other and sufficiently
close to prevent the escape of wheat kernels between them. These rods
or wires I rivet to the panel frame, and I further support them by
underlying cross bars also made fast to the frame. Panels constructed
in this manner I support on iron girders and transverse beams carried by
the walls of the building, and I thus form a strong floor which will
effectually expose the superincumbent grain or produce to the action of
the ascending currents of hot air. When the drying season is over and
the use of the kiln is not required the panels may be lifted out of their
place oiled and packed away to prevent all unnecessary exposure and the
consequent oxidation of the metal which would take place if the panels
remained in place in the kiln.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Boby in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th June 1809.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
BOBY, of Bury Saint Edmunds, in the County of Suffolk, Agricultural
Implement Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert Boby, Her special
licence that I, the said Robert Boby, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Boby, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF FLOORS FOR MALT KILNS OR DRYING ROOMS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Boby, my execu-
tors 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

page_text: 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 Robert Boby, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hercunto.
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
:-
This Invention relates to a novel mode of constructing metal floors
with interstitial vacuities (suitable for malt kilns and drying rooms).
through which air may be freely passed for drying the grain or other
matter supported on the floor. The merits of this floor are durability and
rigidity, while a more even surface is presented than by metal floors of
tlic ordinary construction.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in diagram a plan of a
floor for a kiln constructed according to this Invention; Fig. 2 shews in
partial plan view on an enlarged scale a portion of the abutting panels
of which the floor is composed; Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the
same, and Fig. 4 is a section taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 shews
in plan my improved panel flooringoted to form the floor or false
bottom of a mash tun; and Fig. 6 is an èiew of two panels shewing
their frames provided with feet for resting e bottom of the tun,
and allowing a free space for the escape of the drainings from the
mash.
Referring to Figures 2, 3, and 4 it will be seen that the panels composing
the floor consist severally of a rectangular frame of wrought iron a, a, of
about three feet square, fitted with rods or wires b, b, set parallel to
cach other and sufficiently close to prevent the escape of wheat or
other kernels between them. These rods or wires I rivet to the panel
frame, and I further support them by intermediate cross bars c, c, also
made fast to the frame. When applying these panels as a flooring for
the kiln or drying room I support them on iron girders A, Fig. 3, and
transverse beams carried by the walls of the building, and I thus form a
strong floor which will effectually expose the superincumbent grain, or
produce to the action of the ascending currents of air. When the
drying season is over and the use of the kiln is not required the panels
may be lifted out of their place, oiled, and packed away, to prevent all

page_text: unnecessary exposure and the consequent oxidation of the metal which
would take place if the panels remained in place in the kiln. The
floor or false bottom for the tun is mainly constructed of rectangular
panels like the floor of the kiln, but to adapt the floor to the circular
shape of the tun I construct segmental panels as shown at Fig. 5,
which fitting in between the sides of the tun and the rectangular
panels will complete the circular figure of the floor or false bottom.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of improvements
in the construction of floors for malt kilns or drying rooms, and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to
he understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I
claim, constructing metal floors of panels formed with interstitial
vacuitics in the manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Boby, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.