IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING GRAIN, FLOUR, TIMBER, FRUIT VEGETABLES. AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, of
16, Castle Street, Holborn, City, London, Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING GRAIN, FLOUR, TIMBER,
FRUIT VEGETABLES. AND OTHER SUBSTANCES." _A communication.
Sealed the 7th April 1854, and dated the 14th October 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Edouard
Loradoux Bellford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 14th October 1853.
I, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street,
Holborn, London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING GRAIN, FLOUR, FRUIT,
VEGETABLES, TIMBER, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:
This Invention relates to a novel, economical, and safe method of
employing "superheated" steam, or steam which is heated after its
evaporization, for the purpose of drying those articles usual dried in
kilns, stoves, ovens, and by heat generally, or for the drying of any
articles to which it may be applicable. It consists in performing the

page_text: drying operation in a chamber which is supplied with, or which has
generated within it, a quantity of steam which is only sufficient to keep
the substance or material to be dried from scorching, and which is
heated by the waste heat from the fire, which vaporises, it without
creating pressure, to the requisite temperature for drying rapidly. In
order to apply my Invention for drying the various materials for
which it is suitable the apparatus must be of two kinds, between which
the only difference is, that in one the substances or materials to be
dried are brought into direct contact with the steam, but in the other
they are conveyed through it in pipes or conductors which are wholly
or partly surrounded by it. The latter form of apparatus is almost
exclusively intended for the drying of grain, flour, or meal, &c., or of
any substance or material composed of small or fine particles, which
could not conveniently be diffused sufficiently to bring all alike into
contact with the steam.
The accompanying Drawing exhibits both forms of the apparatus.
Fig. 1, represents a longitudinal vertical section of that form for
drying grain, flour, meal, &c. Fig. 2, is a transverse vertical section
of the same. Fig. 3, is a transverse vertical section of the drying
tubes or conductors, showing their communications with each other,
and also the conveying mechanism and its gearing. In this apparatus
the steam is generated within the drying chamber, which consists
simply of a box A of any of any desirable size, which may be made
of wood or sheet metal if intended to be portable, or of brickwork
if stationary. The bottom B of this chamber must be formed of
sheet metal, and the whole or part of it is so formed as to con-
stitute a shallow pan C, to contain a small quantity of water from
which to generate the steam. The chamber is erected upon a suitable
fire-place E, or a fire-place is made is made in any convenient way
under the bottom or pan, the smoke pipe or flue D from the said fire-
place rising into and traversing the chamber A several times its
length before being connected with the chimney. The water in the
pan C is caused to evaporate by the heat of the fire, and the steam
rising into the chamber A fills it, and becomes "superheated" by the
heat which it receives from the smoke pipe, but is not allowed to attain

page_text: a degree of pressure much exceeding that of the atmosphere without
the chamber, as an escape is provided at a, into the smoke pipe. The
drying tubes through which the grain, flour, meal, &c. is conducted
consists of a series of tubes F, F, running horizontally through the
steam chamber in the same vertical plane, and protruding at each end
in the form of semi-cylindrical open troughs, as shown at b, b, in
Fig. 1, and 3.
Each tube is furnished with a revolving screw con-
veyer G, which work in bearings in a suitable framings H, outside the
chamber, and the whole of the conveyers receive rotary motion from
any prime mover through a train of gearing at one end. The material
to be dried is fed in a suitable quantity into the uppermost tube of the
series F, F, at one end, and the several conveyers revolve in such
directions that the material to be dried is conveyed through the
chamber to the opposite end of the tube, whence it falls through suitable
openings C, provided for the purpose into the open trough b, of the
second tube, in which it is conveyed back through the chamber to the
opposite end, and then drops through other openings C, into the third
tube, and so on back and forth through the series until it falls from the
lowest tube into a suitable receptacle. The speed of the conveyers
may be regulated to convey the material at any velocity through the
drying tubes to suit its nature or degree of moisture, or to expel any
desired per-centage of the moisture contained within it. Fig. 4, is a
horizontal section through the steam drying chamber of the other
form of my improved apparatus. Fig. 5, is a longitudinal vertical
section of the same. Fig. 6, is a transverse vertical section of the
same. Fig. 7, is a sectional plan of the fire chamber and flues. In
this form of the apparatus, as in the other, the steam is generated
from water contained in a shallow pan C¹, at the bottom of the
chamber A¹, but as all the internal room is required to contain the
materials to be dried it is better that the smoke pipe or flue D¹ cir-
culate at or beneath the bottom. As this form of apparatus will be
principally used for drying timber it will be require to be of large
size. I employ carriages on a railway to run the charges into and
from the chamber, therefore the whole should be so constructed as to
bring the railway on a level with the surrounding ground or floor for
convenience of loading and running the carriages in and out. This

page_text: renders it necessary for the fire and heating flues to be sunk below the
ground. The best mode of constructing the flues is to raise parellel
walls I, I, the thickness of a single brick, and have openings at the
ends as shown in Fig. 7, and cover the whole with an arch or arches B',
which form or forms the bottom of the chamber.
The water pan is
sunk a little below the floor, and the floor is inclined towards it as
shown in Fig. 5, so that any condensed steam which falls may return
naturally, to the pan. The sides and top of the chamber I make of
wood, double, with a space between the inside and outside filled with
sawdust, tan bark, charcoal, or other non-conducting substance. The
doors L cover the entire ends of the chamber, being hinged at the
sides and opening in the centre; they may be either single or double.
The railway J, J, which supports the timber carriages K, runs clear
through the chamber, and the carriage is of such height that when in
the chamber the lowest tier of timber stands about 18 inches above the
arch B, to prevent scorching. The carriage is loaded outside the
chamber, and is then run in from the front and the doors closed. The
steam evaporated from the water in the pan C' rises into the chamber,
and then receives additional heat from the sheet iron bottom or arch
B, and becomes. "superheated," though pressure does not accumulate
owing to the small quantity of steam generated, and the chamber not
being of steam-tight construction. The timber remains in the chamber
and is steamed till all the sap and moisture is extracted, and while
very hot it. should be run out at the back while another carriage load
is run in at the front. By this no time is lost, the timber is removed
while there is internal heat sufficient to expel much of the moisture
left in it by the steam, and the necessity..of going into the steam
chamber to remove the timber is obviated.
In each apparatus represented a pipef leads from the water pan to
the exterior of the drying chamber, with its mouth bent upwards; this
serves to supply the pan with water by pouring. it in. The proper level
of the water is intended to be above where the pipe communicates with
the pan, and then the. pipe will be closed. by the water, but when the
level is too low, the steam will escape by the pipe, and give notice that
water should be supplied.
:-
By experiments with an apparatus similar to that last described it

page_text: has been shown capable of extracting 1000 to 1800 pounds of moisture
from 1000 cubit feet of timber, the quantity varying in different
times.
A similar apparatus furnished with proper shelves may be used
advantageously to dry fruit, table vegetables, and many other articles
or substances, and will effect this without discoloration.
The use of steam in this way, viz., "superheated" without pressure,
for drying purposes, possesses the advantage of safety both from fire
and explosion, of economy both in the use of fuel and in the first cost
of the apparatus, and of enabling the temperature to be readily con-
trolled, the steam acting as it were as a regulator to the heat, and
allowing it to be governed by the combustion. In order to control the
combustion, dampers or other suitable devices may be furnished.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 8th April 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn
(City), London, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of October; in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs & successors.
give and grant unto me, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
Her special licence that I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, 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 communicated to me by a foreigner
residing abroad, for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING GRAIN, FLOUR, TIMBER,

page_text: FRUIT, VEGETABLES, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford, 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, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed (that is to say):
This Invention relates to a novel, economical, and safe method of
employing "superheated steam, or steam which is heated after its
vaporization, for the purpose of drying those articles usually dried in
kilns, stoves, ovens, and by heat generally, or for the drying of any
articles to which it may be applicable. It consists in performing the
drying operation in a chamber which is supplied with, or which has
generated within it, a quantity of steam which is only sufficient to keep
the substance or material to be dried from scorching, and which is
heated by the waste heat from the fire which vaporizes it, without
creating pressure, to the requisite temperature for drying rapidly. In
order to apply the Invention for drying the various materials for which
it is suitable the apparatus must be of two kinds, between which the
only difference is, that in one the substances or materials to be dried
are brought into direct contact with the steam, but in the other they
are conveyed through it in pipes or conductors which are wholly or
partly surrounded by it. The latter form of apparatus is almost ex-
clusively intended for the drying of grain, flour, meal, &c., or of any
substance or material composed of small or fine particles which could
not conveniently be diffused sufficiently to bring all alike into contact
with the steam.
The accompanying Drawing exhibits both forms of the apparatus.
Fig. 1, represents a longitudinal vertical section of that form for drying
grain, flour, meal, &c. Fig. 2, is a transverse vertical section of the

page_text: same. Fig. 3, is a transverse vertical section of the drying tubes or
conductors, showing their communications with each other, and also
the conveying mechanism and its gearing. In this apparatus the steam
is generated within the drying chamber, which consists simply of a
box A of any desirable size, which may be made of wood or sheet
metal if intended to be portable, or of brickwork if stationary. The
bottom B of this chamber must be formed of sheet metal, and the
whole or part of it is so formed as to constitute a shallow pan C, to
contain a small quantity of water from which to generate the steam.
The chamber is erected upon a suitable fire-place E, or a fire-place is
made in any convenient way under the bottom or pan, the smoke
pipe or flue D from the said fire-place rising into and traversing the
chamber A several times its length before being connected with the
chimney. The water in the pan C is caused to evaporate by the heat
of the fire, and the steam rising into the chamber A fills it, and becomes
"superheated" by the heat which it receives from the smoke pipe, but
is not allowed to attain a degree of pressure exceeding or much ex-
ceeding that of the atmosphere without the chamber, as an escape is
provided at a, into the smoke pipe. The drying tubes through which
the grain, flour, meal, &c. is conducted consist of a series of tubes F, F,
running horizontally through the steam chamber in the same vertical
plane, and protruding at each end in the form of semi-cylindrical
open troughs, as shown at b, b, in Figs. 1, and 3. Each tube is
furnished with a revolving screw conveyer G, which works in bearings
in a suitable framing H, outside the chamber, and the whole of the
conveyers receive rotary motion from any prime mover through a train
of gearing at one end. The material to be dried is fed in a suitable
quantity into the uppermost tube of the series F, F, at one end, and
the several conveyers revolve in such directions that the material to be
dried is conveyed through the chamber to the opposite end of the tube,
whence it falls through suitable openings C, provided for the purpose,
into the open trough 6, of the second tube, in which it is conveyed back
through the chamber to the opposite end, and then drops through other
openings C, into the third tube, and so on back and forth through the
series until it falls from the lowest tube into a suitable receptacle. The

page_text: speed of the conveyers may be regulated to convey the material at any
velocity through the drying tubes to suit its nature or degree of moisture,
or to expel any desired per-centage of the moisture contained within it.
Fig. 4, is a horizontal section through the steam drying chamber of
the other form of my improved apparatus. Fig. 5, is a longitudinal
vertical section of the same. Fig. 6, is a transverse vertical section of
the same. Fig. 7, is a sectional plan of the fire chamber and flues.
In this form of the apparatus, as in the other, the steam is generated
from water contained in a shallow pan C, at the bottom of the
chamber A¹, but as all the internal room is required to contain the
materials to be dried it is better that the smoke pipe or flue D¹.
circulate at or beneath the bottom. As this form of apparatus will be
principally used for drying timber it will require to be of large size. I
employ carriages on a railway to run the charges into and from the
chamber, therefore the whole should be so constructed as to bring the
railway on a level with the surrounding ground or floor for convenience
of loading and running the carriages in and out. This renders it
necessary for the fire and heating flues to be sunk below the ground.
The best mode of constructing the flues is to raise parallel walls I, I,
of the thickness of a single brick, and leave openings at the ends, as
shown in Fig. 7, and cover the whole with an arch or arches B¹ which
forms or form the bottom of the chamber. The water pan is sunk a
little below the floor, and the floor is inclined towards it, as shown in
Fig. 5, so that any condensed steam which falls may return naturally
to the pan. The sides and top of the chamber are made of wood,
double, with a space between the inside and outside filled with saw-
dust, tan bark, charcoal, or other non-conducting substance. The
doors L cover the entire ends of the chamber, being hinged at the
sides and opening in the centre; they may be either single or double.
The railway J, J, which supports the timber carriage K, runs clear
through the chamber, and the carriage is of such height that when in
the chamber the lowest tier of timber stands about eighteen inches
above the arch B, to prevent scorching. The carriage is loaded
outside the chamber, and is then run in from the front and the doors
sclosed. The steam evaporated from the water in the pan Crises

page_text: into the chamber, and then receives additional heat from the sheet iron
bottom.or arch B, and becomes "superheated," though pressure does
not accumulate owing to the small quantity of steam generated, and the
chamber not being of steam-tight construction. The timber remains
in the chamber and is steamed till all the sap and moisture is extracted,
and while very hot it should be run out at the back, while another
carriage load is run in at the front. By this process no time is lost,
the timber is removed while there is internal heat sufficient to expel
much of the moisture left in it by the steam, and the necessity of going
into the steam chamber to remove the timber is obviated.
In each apparatus represented a pipe f leads from the water pan to
the exterior of the drying chamber, with its mouth bent upwards; this
serves to supply the pan with water by pouring it in. The proper level
of the water is intended to be above where the pipe communicates with
the pan, and then the pipe will be closed by the water, but when the
level is too low the steam will escape by the pipe, and give notice that
water should be supplied.
By experiments with an apparatus similar to that last described it
has been shown capable of extracting one thousand to eighteen hundred
pounds of moisture from one thousand cubic feet of timber, the quantity
varying in different kinds.
A similar apparatus furnished with proper shelves may be used
advantageously to dry fruit, table vegetables, and many other articles
or substances, and will effect this without discoloration.
The use of steam in this way, viz., "superheated" without pres-
sure, for drying purposes, possesses the advantages of safety both
from fire and explosion, of economy both in the use of fuel and in the
first cost of the apparatus, and of enabling the temperature to be
readily controlled, the steam acting as it were as a regulator to the heat,
and allowing it to be governed by the combustion. In order to
control the combustion, dampers or other suitable devices may be
furnished.
I claim the process herein described of drying grain, flour, meal,
timber, fruit, vegetables, and other materials and substances commonly
dried in kilns, stoves, ovens, and by heat generally, by surrounding them

page_text: with steam which is generated and "superheated" in a vessel in which
it is not confined to produce pressure, whether the said materials and
substances are placed in direct contact with the steam itself, or are
conveyed through pipes or conductors, which are wholly or in part
surrounded by the steam as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day
of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-four.
A. E. LORADOUX BELLFORD. (L.S.)