Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1886

page_text: Apparatus therefor.
I EDWIN WILLIAM COLLIER of 16 Hill Street, Finsbury Square, in the County of
Middlesex Commercial Traveller do hereby declare the nature of my invention to
be as follows:-
This invention is applicable in most commercial processes where a wet or semi-
liquid material like cement-slurry, or the brine in salt-works requires to have the
moisture removed; I will describe it as applied to cement slurry.
Cement slurry is usually spread upon plates over a furnace and the steam is
allowed to escape as it can and in heavy weather it hangs about and seriously
delays the drying; this process is very slow.
In carrying out my invention I take any suitable form of drying floor and cover
it over; the furnace which heats the floor delivering into the chamber thus formed
instead of into the usual chimney.
Preferably at the end of the chamber remote from the entrance the chamber
communicates with a fan of any suitable construction which withdraws both the
products of combustion from the furnace and the steam from the slurry.
The fan I prefer to use is that known as the Wing Diso Fan as being. the most
suitable for the purpose.
By this means the slurry is subjected to heat both above and below and the
steam given off is drawn off by the fan as fast as produced irrespective of the con-
dition of the atmosphere, while the heat from the furnace is more thoroughly
utilised than by the present system and the expensive chimney stacks may be
dispensed with.
Where the contact of the products of combustion would damage the material
to be dried I prefer to have any suitable sort of pipe or coil in the furnace or
contiguous thereto; this pipe opens into the chamber supplying heated air which
enters the pipe in any convenient manner is heated in passing through it and
discharged into the chamber.
The fan sucks out the heated air and steam while the products of combustion
pass by another channel to a chimney or may be conveyed to the fan but are kept
from contact with the material under treatment.
. iou 3
1000

page_text: Improvements in Drying Slurry and other Materials and
Apparatus therefor.
I EDWIN WILLIAM COLLIER of 16 Hill Street, Finsbury Square in the County of
Middlesex, Commercial Traveller, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention is applicable in most commercial processes where a wet or semi-
liquid material like cement-slurry or the brine in salt works requires to have the
poisture removed; I will describe it as applied to cement slurry.
'Cement slurry is usually spread upon plates over a furnace and flues, and the
steam is allowed to escape as it can, and in heavy weather it hangs about and
seriously delays the drying; this process is very slow.
In carrying out my invention I take any suitable form of drying floor and cover
it 'over, the furnace which heats the floor delivering into the chamber thus formed,
instead of into the usual chimney.
Preferably at the end of the chamber remote from the entrance, the chamber
communicates with a fan of any suitable construction, which withdraws both the
products of combustion from the furnace, and the steam from the slurry.
The fan I prefer to use is that known as the Wing Disc Fan as being the most
suitable for the purpose.
By this means the slurry is subjected to heat both 'above and below, and 'the
steam generated is drawn off by the fan as fast as produced irrespective of the
condition of the atmosphere, while the heat from the furnace is more thoroughly
utilized than by the present system, and the expensive chimney stacks may be
dispensed with.
Where the contact of the products of combustion would damage the material to
be dried, I prefer to have any suitable sort of pipe or coil in the furnace or con-
tiguous thereto; this pipe opens into the chamber supplying heated air which
enters the pipe in any convenient manner is heated in passing through it and
discharged into the chamber. The fan sucks out the heated air and steam while
the products of combustion pass by another channel 'to a chimney or may be
conveyed to the fan, but are kept from contact with the material under treatment.
Instead of using a special furnace in connection with the drying floor the heat
may be taken from any suitable source as from the cement kilns.
My invention will best be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings
of which Figures 1, 2 and 3 are sectional elevations showing the furnace placed in
or connected with a flue leading to an upper or drying chamber at the far end of
which remote from the entrance is placed a 'fan.
1:
The covering is shewn of brickwork. In many cases it would not be a per-
manent covering of brickwork, but a light covering of sheet iron or other material,
that could be removed for access to the material being dried.
Figure 4 is a plan showing the method by which steam and products of com-
bustion of several flues and chambers are carried off by means of one fan.

page_text: In Figure 1 A is the furnace the heat and products of combustion of whịch
travel along the flue B from whence they are discharged by way of passage C
into the drying chamber D. The steam arising from the semi-liquid material to be
dried together with the products of combustion of the furnace are drawn off by
means of a fan E of any suitable construction thus effectually preventing the
vapours hanging about which hitherto has so seriously delayed drying processes
generally,
The chamber shewn in Figure 2 is of similar construction to Figure 1 with
the addition of a pipe or pipes H for the admission and regulation of air to the
flue B. Instead of a circular or series of circular pipes being used a shallow casing
proportionate to the width of the furnace and open at each end may be used the.
inlet end being furnished with a damper to regulate the amount of air admitted.
This arrangement is useful when a gas furnace is employed. If the whole of the
air sucked in by the fan were to come into direct contact with the gas jets the
heat would be dissipated and irregular whilst gas would be wasted but by pre-
venting more air than is necessary to support the combustion of the flames from
coming in contact therewith and admitting the rest through tubes in contact with
the flame and highly heated thereby the jets burn steadily and the whole heat of
the gas consumed is utilized. It is obvious that this method of regulating the
admission of air is equally applicable whatever sort of furnace may be employed.
It is not necessary that the pipe or pipes should be in contact with the furnace it
may be found convenient to place one or more at some distance therefrom for the
purpose of admitting cool air to the drying chamber should the temperature therein
become too high.
Figure 3 shows one form of my apparatus when the products of combustion
would damage the material to be dried by coming into contact with the same.
The heated external air is discharged from pipes into a chamber G in which is
placed the material to be dried constructed beneath chamber D while the products
of combustion pass through flue B into chamber D and are together with the
steam arising from G drawn off by fan E or by a short chimney as desired and
another process by which I can obtain heat is to pass into lower chamber—thence
into upper chamber and fan heated air or products of combustion from any avail-.
able source such as kilns or coke ovens either alone or in combination with the
products of combustion of furnace.
Chamber D would not necessarily be above chamber " G." It might be under
or alongside chamber B or alongside chamber G and suitable means of access
would be provided.
Either one fan may be employed for each chamber or the products of combustion
and steam from several flues and chambers may be drawn off by means of one
large fan as shewn in Figure 4.
The steam and products of combustion drawn off by the fan may be dis-
charged (a) directly into the atmosphere, (b) into a short chimney shaft (c) into a
condensing chamber or when products of combustion contain ammonia or anything
worth saving (d) into a washing chamber.
I do not however confine myself to any particular construction of drying
chamber.
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. The employment of an exhaust fan for the purpose of removing the steam or
vapour as well as the products of combustion from drying floors substantially as
specified.
2. The combination with a drying floor such as indicated in Figure 1 of the
accompanying drawings of an exhaust fan for the purpose of drawing off the steam
or vapours arising from the materials being dried together with the products of
combustion substantially as specified.

page_text: 3. The combination with a drying floor and exhaust fan of a pipe or pipes such
as H for admitting or regulating the supply of air to the drying chamber sub-
stantially as specified and illustrated in Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings.
4. The combination with a drying chamber such as G of a pipe or equivalent
such as H for the purpose of admitting air to the chamber and preventing the
contamination by the products of combustion of the material being dried sub-
stantially as specified.
5. The combination of a divided drying chamber for the purpose of preventing
the contamination of the materials being dried by the products of combustion and
the combination therewith of a pipe or equivalent such as H and a fan such as E
substantially as specified and illustrated in Figure 3 of the accompanying sheet of
drawings.
6. The combination with a series of drying chambers D erected side by side and
opening into a common chamber D³ of a fan E serving to exhaust the steam or
vapour and products of combustion arising from the whole series substantially as
specified and illustrated in Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 09th dow of October 188R