IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING MALT AND ALSO BREWERS' AND DISTILLERS' GRAINS AND SPENT HOPS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Lee Norton, of Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate
Hill, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DRYING MALT AND ALSO BREWERS' AND DISTILLERS' GRAINS AND SPENT
HOPS."
Sealed the 15th November 1867, and dated the 18th May 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Lee Norton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th May 1867.
I, JAMES LEE NORTON, of Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, in the City
of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN DRYING MALT AND ALSO BREWERS' AND DISTILLERS' GRAINS AND SPENT
HOPs," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in drying malt and also
brewers' and distillers' grains and spent hops. I pass the materials into a
casing by preference of a cylindrical form and placed horizontally. A
current of heated air is caused, usually by means of a fan or steam jet, to pass
through the casing from end to end, and the casing is caused to revolve.
The material is fed in at one end of the casing, and is discharged at the other,

page_text: the material traversing the casing in the opposite direction to the current of
heated air. The continuous motion of the material through the casing is
produced by means of a number of shelves on the interior of the casing,
which as the casing revolves raise the material from the bottom of the casing,
and when it gets nearly to the top allow it to fall back, and in falling it
comes against inclined directing plates mounted on an axis passing through
the casing. The inclination of the directing plates is made adjustable to allow
of the due regulation of the time during which the material is subjected to
the drying operation. I would remark that a similar revolving cylinder or
casing has heretofore in some cases been used as a drying apparatus, but it
has been heated externally only by a furnace in place of by a current of hot
air passing through it, which renders it inapplicable to the drying of materials
which would be injured by the high heat to which the casing has to be raised
when this method of heating is resorted to. In place of employing a revolving
casing the casing may be stationary, the shelves or lifters being carried round
within it. In place of employing inclined directing plates to cause the
material to travel onwards the casing may, but less conveniently, be set in an
inclined position. Also in some cases I make the casing of wire gauze or
other openwork material, and I cause the current of air to pass through it
transversely. Sometimes I use one openwork cylinder within another; the
space between them is divided longitudinally into a series of chambers, it may
be four or other number into which the material is placed, and there are also
radial shelves on the exterior of the inner cylinder. As the apparatus
revolves the material falls from one cylinder on to the other, and so every
part of it is thoroughly exposed to the current of air passing through the
apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Lee Norton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th November 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
LEE NORTON, of Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, in the City of London,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said

page_text: James Lee Norton, Her special licence that I, the said James Lee Norton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Lee Norton, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN DRYING MALT AND ALSO BREWERS' AND DISTILLERS' GRAINS AND SPENT
Hops," upon the condition (amongst others) that 1, the said James Lee Norton,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 James Lee Norton, 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 drying malt, and also
brewers' and distillers' grains and spent hops. I pass the materials into a
casing, by preference of a cylindrical form, and placed horizontally. A
current of heated air is caused, usually by means of a fan or steam jet, to
pass through the casing from end to end, and the casing is caused to revolve.
The material is fed in at one end of the casing, and is discharged at the other,
the material traversing the casing in the opposite direction to the current of
heated air. The continuous motion of the material through the casing is
produced by means of a number of shelves on the interior of the casing, which
as the casing revolves raise the material from the bottom of the casing, and
when it gets nearly to the top allows it to fall back, and in falling it comes
against inclined directing plates mounted on an axis passing through the
casing. The inclination of the directing plates is made adjustable to allow
of the due regulation of the time during which the material is subjected to the
drying operation. I would remark that a similar revolving cylinder or casing
has heretofore in some cases been used as a drying apparatus, but it has been
heated externally only by a furnace in place of by a current of hot air passing
through it, which renders it inapplicable to the drying of materials which
would be injured by the high heat to which the casing has to be raised when
this method of heating is resorted to.

page_text: Figure 1 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 2 a cross section, of a
machine made in accordance with this part of my Invention; Figure 3 is a
side view of the same.
A is the cylindrical chamber provided with shelves A', A¹, A¹; B, B, are
stationary or fixed ends of the chamber A; C, C, C, are the directing plates;
they are fixed on an axis D. A small handle E is fastened on to the axis D,
and by turning this axis partly round the angle of inclination of the directing
plates to a vertical line may be regulated. As the directing plates are repre-
sented in the Drawings they are at their maximum inclination to the vertical.
It will be evident that by turning the axis one quarter round the plane of
each directing plate will be brought to a vertical position, and that then the
plates will have no directing action on the material in the casing by approach-
ing one or other of these extreme positions the directing action of the plates
may be increased or diminished as may be required. F is the hot air flue
receiving suitably heated air from any convenient source; G is the chimney
by which the moist air passes away; a draft may be maintained in this
chimney by a fan or by a steam jet or otherwise. The material to be dried
is fed into the machine through the hopper H, and when dry it is thrown out
at I; K, K, K, are toothed bands on the cylinder A, by means of which it
is revolved; L, L, L, are pinions which work into these toothed bands.
These pinions are fixed on the shaft M, which is driven by means of the
gearing and pulleys N ; the machine is supported on friction rollers 0, 0, 0.
Or, according to my Invention, in place of employing a revolving casing
the casing may be stationary, the shelves or lifters being carried round
within it.
Figure 4 is a cross section, and Figure 5 a longitudinal section, of a machine
made in this way. A is the outer fixed casing, and B, B, the shelves which
are attached to frames C1, C2; and these frames turn upon the axis D, which
carries the inclined directing plates E, E. The axis D projects through a
boss on the frame C¹, and has a handle E' fastened on it, by means of which
the axis may be turned and secured, and the angle of the directing plates
regulated. The bevil wheel F is fixed on a continuation of the boss on the
frame C, and by means of the driving pulleys G a revolving motion is imparted
to the frames C1, C2, and the shelves or lifters B; or, according to my Inven-
tion, in place of employing inclined directing plates to cause the material to
travel onwards, the casing may, but less conveniently, be set in an inclined
position.
Figure 6 is a side view of a machine in which the cylindrical casing is
itself inclined. A is the casing, and B the driving pulleys actuating revolving

page_text: shelves or lifters, as in Figure 5. The machine is supported on a centre C,
and can be raised or lowered by means of the chains D.
According to my Invention also in some cases I make the casing of wire
gauze or other openwork material, and I cause the current of air to pass
through it transversely.
The apparatus may be of either of the forms above described, but with the
outer casing of openwork material and omitting the air pipes; such an
apparatus is enclosed in a flue or casing in which a current of air is maintained
in such manner that the air may pass through the openwork casing in at
one side and out at the other side, or otherwise so as to traverse the
casing.
According to my Invention also I sometimes use one openwork cylinder
within another; the space between them is divided longitudinally into a series
of chambers (it may be four or other number), into which the material is
placed; and there are also radial shelves on the exterior of the inner cylinder.
As the apparatus revolves the material falls from one cylinder on to the other,
and so every part of it is thoroughly exposed to the current of air passing
through the apparatus.
Figure 7 is a cross section of a chamber thus formed of two gauze cylinders
A and B; the shelves C, C, are fixed on the inner one. The two cylinders
may revolve together, and the progress of the material from end to end may
be maintained by inclining the apparatus or otherwise. I prefer to obtain a
current of air through the openwork casings by connecting the space within
the inner one with a chimney in which a draft is maintained by a fan, a steam
jet, or otherwise.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Lee Norton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
J. L. NORTON. (L.S.)