Improvements in or relating to Drying Apparatus for Waste Brewery Grains and similar Materials.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 25th May, 1897-Accepted, 25th Sept., 1897
עVUALI MI
Improvements in or relating to Drying Apparatus for Waste Brewery
Grains and similar Materials.
A Communication from ALONZO PAWLING and HENRY HARNISCHFEGER, Machinists,
both of Milwaukee, County of Milwaukee, State of Wisconsin, United States
of America.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 111 Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent 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:-
The main objects of this invention are to continuously evaporate the moisture
from various materials, such as waste brewery grains, and in the attainment of
that end to dispense with the vacuum heretofore employed in apparatus of this
class. While such apparatus has been in use for a number of years, the injection
water required to maintain the vacuum is under some circumstances obtainable
with difficulty, or at such high cost as to render the employment of the apparatus
impracticable, besides the original cost of such apparatus is considerable, and
it requires constant and skilful care and attendance. By dispensing with the
vacuam the use of the injection water required to maintain the vacuum and the
skilled attendance and much of the care required to keep the apparatus in working
order, are avoided, besides the apparatus is simplified and its cost materially
reduced.
The present invention consists in certain novel features in the construction
and arrangement of the component parts of apparatus as hereinafter particularly
described and pointed out in the claims.
In the accompanying drawings like letters designate the same parts in the
several figures.
Fig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of a drier embodying the invention;
Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section of the same on an enlarged scale viewed from the
right with reference to Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an end elevation viewed from the right;
Fig. 4 is an end elevation viewed from the left with reference to Fig. 1; Fig. 5
is a vertical longitudinal section on an enlarged scale of the feeding and com-
pressing device; Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are cross sections thereof on the lines 6-6, 7-7,
and 8-8, Fig. 5; Fig. 9 is an enlarged horizontal section on the line 9-9,
Fig. 6; Fig. 10 is a vertical section on the line 10—10, Fig. 9; and Fig. 11 is
a vertical cross section on a greatly enlarged scale of a portion of the perforated
cylinder constituting a part of the feeding and compressing device.
A designates a casing, the sides of which may be conveniently constructed of
wood lined with zinc, and the ends of cast iron. It is provided near the bottom
in the ends with air inlet openings controlled and adjustable in area by valves
or dampers aa, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. A pipe or stack a opening out of the
upper part thereof serves to conduct off the vapors from the drying material and to
produce an upward draft or current of air through the drier, the strength of such

page_text: dampers a a.
ns, &c.
me amount of air admitted to the drier being regulated
B B are a number of U-shaped troughs or retorts arranged horizontally
above another within said casing and open at the top in communication the
with. They are provided on the bottom and sides with jackets b, b, which a
supplied with steam or other heating medium through a pipe C and branch
containing valves c c.
bottoms of the several jackets, and serves to conduct therefrom the water of co
A waste pipe D is connected by branches d d with t
densation, and with the supply pipe C and its connections to maintain a circulatio
of the heating medium through said jackets.
The ends of the casing are made in sections a³ ³ having openings correspondin
in shape with the cross section of the troughs B B, which are seated therein a
their ends and held down firmly against their seats by inverted bolts at a threaded
in said sections and bearing at their heads against the upper edges of the troughs
on both sides and at both ends as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The several sections as a
are flanged around their edges and the trough openings and are joined and bolted
together in horizontal planes coincident or nearly so with the tops of the troughs
as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The sides of troughs B are each constructed of
boiler iron or sheet metal plates riveted at the ends to U-shaped bars and along
their upper edges to longitudinal bars, thus forming the heating jackets bb; and
the ends of the troughs are made of cast iron plates bolted to the U-shaped bars
in the ends of the jacket and formed with bearings for the journals or gudgeons
of the stirrers. The troughs being thus constructed separately from the casing,
allow for their unequal expansion and contraction without subjecting the apparatus
to injurious strain; either of the several troughs or stirrers may also be removed 2
from the casing for repairs or renewal without disturbing the others. The ends
of the casing being made in sections corresponding with the several troughs,
admits of readily assembling any desired number of troughs one above another
in a single machine and of constructing to order a machine of greater or smaller
capacity as required without change or multiplication of patterns.
30
The upper trough or retort is provided with a rotary stirrer consisting of
or blades e e, formed with wings or flanges at one or both sides and adjustably
attached to angle bars e e¹, which are carried by the outer ends of arms or
spiders e mounted upon a central shaft E, supported in bearings in the ends of
said trough or retort. The scoops or blades e e project outwardly from their 35
scoops
supporting bars et into close proximity with the trough, with their wings or
langes arranged radially with respect to the shaft E, about which they turn.
They serve not only to loosen and agitate the material and prevent it from
dhering to the heated walls of the trough, but also to move it slowly from end
end therein. The progressive movement of the material through the retort 40
ay be accelerated or retarded by adjusting the scoops e e so as to change the
clination of their wings or flanges with reference to the plane of rotation. The
wer retorts or troughs are provided with hollow rotary stirrers which consist
a central hollow shaft or pipe F, attached at the ends to heads formed with
llow gudgeons ff, and a helical heating coil G surrounding said pipe from 45
I to end and connected at the ends with said heads through which it communi-
es with the hollow gudgeons ff. The pipe F communicates at one end through
head to which it is attached with the hollow gudgeon and adjacent end of
heating coil, which is so constructed and arranged as to receive the water of
lensation collecting therein and to conduct it to the opposite end of the stirrer 50
discharge it through the adjacent gudgeon f. The coil is supported on
gg connected at intervals with the pipe F by arms or brackets gl. fl f¹ are
ting wings or plates arranged lengthwise of the pipe F, with which they are
ose contact at their inner edges throughout their entire length, so as to
ct the heat therefrom and communicate it to the material with which they 55
in contact. They are secured and held in place between the brackets ga
wn in Fig. 2. To the outer side of the coil G are secured

page_text: parallel with its axis, and to these bars are adjustably attached outwardly pro-
jecting scoops or blades e, like or similar to those forming a part of the stirrer
in the upper trough or retort. Both the scoops or blades e and e* are adjusted
by loosening the nuts on the bolts by which they are secured to the angle bars e¹
and 3, turning them on said bolts into the desired position, and when they are
properly set, tightening said nuts, or the adjustment may be effected by bending
the flanges so as to incline them more or less to the blades or scrapers. The
coil G is formed with close turns so as to present a large heating surface, and it
is made continuous from end to end without couplings or joints, which are liable
to become loose and leak. It also allows for expansion and contraction due to
the great variations of temperature to which it is subjected, without strain upon
its supporting connections at the ends. It serves not only to heat the material
with which it comes in contact, but also to advance it through the trough or
retort from end to end. The scoops or blades et, which project outwardly from
said coil into close proximity with the walls of the trough or retort, carry the
material upward from the lower part thereof and pitch it forward over and
through the upper part of the coil G and upon the upper part of the pipe F, upon
which it is retained by the wings f¹. The scoops, which are formed on one or
both sides with wings or flanges, may be adjusted so as to retard the progressive
movement of the material produced by the helical coil G more or less, as desired.
The trunnions f f of the stirrers are provided with graphite bearings which
require no oil and are not affected by heat. They have tubular extensions f² f
at their outer ends, projecting through stuffing boxes into hollow heads f³ and f*.
The heads f³ are connected by branch pipes ii with a steam supply pipe I, pro-
vided with a valve and the heads f are connected by pipes jj with a well
or reservoir J, located below them. The coils G of the stirrers are constructed
and arranged to take up the water of condensation collecting in the pipe F and
its connections at the end of each stirrer adjacent to its steam inlet connection
and to discharge it through the hollow trunnion at the opposite end of the stirrer,
from which it is conducted off through the outlet connections into the reservoir J.
A force pump K shown in Fig. 4, driven by an eccentric on one of the trunnions
of the lower stirrer, may be employed to take the hot condensed steam from said
reservoir J and forces it through a pipe k, shown in Fig. 1, back into the boiler
from which steam is supplied to the drier. By thus connecting the pump the
removal of the water of condensation from the heating spaces of the drier and its
return in a heated condition to the boiler to be re-evaporated, are insured while
the machine is in operation.
Each trough or retort B is formed at the upper side of one end with an inlet
spout and at the lower side of the opposite end with an outlet spout 62, the
outlet spout 2 of each upper trough or retort being connected with the inlet
spout of the trough or retort next below it and constituting therewith a passage
between the two retorts. The several discharge spouts 62 are formed in their
outer sides with openings provided, if desired, with gravitating doors 63, by means
of which the condition of the material passing through them may be readily
observed. The discharge spout of the lower trough opens into a closed conduit
or box L, provided with a screw conveyor 1, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, for
removing the dried material as it is discharged from said trough. The casing A
is provided with doors or removable sections a² a², adjacent to the upper open
sides of the troughs or retorts B, thus affording easy access thereto for the purpose
of making repairs, adjusting the scoops on the stirrers, observing the operation
of the machine, etc.
M designates the feeding and compressing device for squeezing free or surplus
water from the material to be dried and delivering it into the upper trough or
retort. It consists of a hollow perforated cylinder m, a feed hopper or spout m¹
opening into one end of said cylinder, a compressing screw m³ extending from the
bottom of the hopper into said cylinder, and mounted on a shaft m³, which passes
axially through the cylinder, and, if desired, a stationary spider or one or more

page_text: rains, &c.
serving to prevent the material acted upon by said screw from partaking of
projecting radially from a sleeve on said shaft to said cylinder a
rotary movement, but this spider may be dispensed with if desired.
The cylinder m and screw m² are enclosed in a case m5 which is connect
and communicates through the bottom at the end opposite hopper ml with t
inlet spout 6' of the upper trough or retort.
The lower part of this case, which may be conveniently cast with the base
the hopper, forms a basin or receptacle out of which a waste pipe m leads f
catching and conducting off the water squeezed from the wet material by th
screw m³. The hopper is provided, as shown in Figs. 5 and 8, with a perforate
plate m which is curved in semicylindrical form around and a short distanc
from the underside of said screw and extends upwardly at the sides thereo
into the throat of the hopper. This plate is preferably provided with longitudina
slats to prevent the rotation of the material with said screw.
That portion of the cylinder m between its discharging end and the spider m³,
is divided horizontally lengthwise into two parts which are connected by ears and
nuts m with right and left screws m8 supported vertically and restrained from
endwise movement by bearings on the case m³, as shown in Figs. 6, 7, 9 and 10.
These screws are connected by
provided with a hand wheel for turning them simultaneously and spreading or
a chain and sprocket wheels and one of them is
contracting the discharging end of the cylinder m.
divided portion of the cylinder is held in a ring m³, and the joints in its sides
are closed by plates m10 riveted to one part as shown in Figs. 7 and 10.
The opposite end of the
The perforations in the cylinder m and plate ml are preferably made flaring
as shown in Fig. 11, to prevent clogging.
N is an agitator consisting of a rotary shaft passing transversely through the
throat of the feed hopper or spout m¹ and provided with radiating arms by which
auy lumps in the material are broken up and the clogging of the feed hopper or
spout is prevented.
The feeding and compressing device and the stirrers may be driven by various 30
forms and arrangements of mechanism.
suitable for the purpose, a cross shaft O, provided with a bevel pinion o, and a
pulley of for connection by a belt with any convenient source of power. The
We have shown as convenient and
pinion o meshes with a bevel gear P formed with or attached to a gear 2, and
mounted to turn upon a stud projecting from one end of the machine parallel 35
with the axes of the stirrers. The gear meshes on the upper side with a similar
gear pl mounted upon the shaft E of the upper stirrer, and on the lower side
with a gear 22 mounted upon the trunnion of the stirrer in the trough or retort
ext below. The gear pe meshes directly with a similar gear p³ mounted on the
rojecting trunnion of the stirrer next below, and if there are more stirrers they 40
re driven in like manner.
The feeding and compressing screw m² is driven by a chain belt from a sprocket
heel p on shaft E, and the agitator is driven by a chain belt from a sprocket
heel n on the screw shaft m³, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4.
Our improved machine operates as follows:
45
The wet material to be dried is fed through the hopper or spout m² at the top
the machine into the perforated cylinder m, any lumps contained therein being
integrated by the agitator N. The screw m³ engaging the material fed into
d cylinder, compresses it against the walls of the cylinder m³ and plate m",
eezing the free or surplus water therefrom through the perforations in said 50
nder and plate into the receptacle in the bottom of case m³, from which it is
ducted off through the waste pipe m6.
passing between the stationary wings of the spider m² at the delivery end of
screw m², the material is prevented from turning with said screw and passing
ugh the adjustable portion of said cylinder it is more or less compressed 55
rding to its nature and condition and the adjustment of the parts of said
der. Drawing the parts of the cylinder together by means of the screws m8

page_text: contracts the delivery end and increases the compression of the material by
checking its discharge from said cylinder. Spreading the parts of the cylinder
expands its delivery end and correspondingly decreases the compression of the
material by allowing it to be discharged more freely.
From the cylinder m the material is discharged into the case m³ and thence
into the upper trough or retort B, comparatively free from water. Upon entering
the upper trough it comes in contact with its heated walls and is constantly
stirred and progressively moved from inlet to outlet by the scoops ee of the upper
stirrer. Brewery waste containing in solution considerable quantities of saccharine
matter, during evaporation passes through a viscous or sticky stage, in which it
tends to adhere tenaciously to heated surfaces. As the material is intended to
pass through this stage in the upper trough, we prefer not to heat the upper
stirrer, and thus avoid the material sticking thereto. The scoops e working in
close proximity with the walls of the trough, prevent the material from adhering
thereto and accumulating thereon. Both before and after the sticky stage is
reached and passed no trouble. is experienced with its sticking to heated surfaces
so that highly heated stirrers may be used in the lower troughs or retorts to
advantage.
The material passing from the upper trough into the one next below it, is carried
upwardly in contact with its heated walls by the scoops e, which as they pass
over the top of the stirrer, thrust the material forward over and between the
turns of the upper portion of the heating coil G. That portion of the material
falling through the coil is caught by the wings f¹ and retained thereby in contact
with themselves and the heated surface of pipe F during the upper part of its
revolution. The turns of the coil are in close proximity with each other and
thus permit only a portion of the material to fall between them, the rest being
pitched forward over the heated surfaces of the coil which forms in effect a cylinder
having a helical slot through its periphery. The helical shape of the coil, which
dips into the material contained in the trough, tends to move it forward from
the inlet to the outlet end, while the wings of the scoops may be set to retard
such progressive movement more or less as desired, according to the nature and
condition of the material.
During the operation of the machine, while the hollow stirrers are constantly
turned, the water formed by the condensation of steam in the pipes F and coils G
and their connections, is taken up at one end of the coils, conducted through
them to the opposite ends, where it is discharged through the adjacent hollow
trunnions ff and the hollow heads ff into the pipes, by which it is
conducted into the reservoir J, whence it is forced by pump K back into the
boiler.
The machine may be provided with any number of troughs or retorts, furnished
with more or less plain or solid and hollow steam-heated stirrers, according to
the nature of the material to be operated upon and the amount of work to be
done.
The doors not only serve for inspecting the material, but also afford
relief and prevent injury to the machine by opening and allowing the material
to escape in case the connections between the retorts below them become choked
or clogged.
Various changes in minor details of construction and arrangement may be made
within the spirit and intended scope of our invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this said
invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is:
1. In drying apparatus the combination of a casing having air inlet and outlet
at or near the bottom and top respectively, a number of steam jacketed troughs
open at the top in communication with the interior of said casing and arranged
one above another, a feeding and compressing device arranged over the upper

page_text: several troughs, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
sively moving the material to be dried through
2. In drying apparatus a trough or retort provided with a rotary helical hea
coil having its turns close to each other, and scoops or blades projecting outsid
said coil close to the walls of the trough or retort and adapted in their ascen
scoop up the material to be dried and pitch it forward over the outer surface
the coil, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
3. In drying apparatus a trough or retort provided with a rotary helical heat
coil and scoops or blades having radially disposed wings or flanges and adjusta
connected with said coil so as to admit of varying the inclination of their wi
or flanges to the plane of rotation, whereby the progressive movement of t
material produced by said coil may be retarded more or less as desired, substantial
as and for the purposes set forth.
· 4. The combination with a jacketed trough or retort of a rotary stirrer co
prising a hollow shaft supported at the ends by hollow trunnions in the en
of the retort and provided with heat conducting radiating wings or plates arrange
lengthwise thereof and in contact therewith, a helical heating coil surroundin
said hollow shaft and its wings and connected at the ends with safd trunnion
and scoops or blades projecting outside of said coil, substantially as and for th
purposes set forth.
5. The combination with a trough or retort of a rotary stirrer com
prising a hollow shaft or pipe provided with radially disposed wings or plate
arranged lengthwise thereof and with hollow trunnions bearing in and projecting
through the ends of the retort, a helical heating coil surrounding said hollow
shaft and its wings, connected at the ends with said trunnions and communi
cating at one end with said pipe so as to receive and remove the water of con-
densation therefrom, scoops or blades having wings or flanges and adjustably
attached to said stirrer outside of said coil so as to admit of varying the inclination
of their wings or flanges to the plane of rotation of the stirrer and thus retard
the progressive movement of the material more or less as desired, substantially
as and for the purposes set forth.
6. In drying apparatus the combination with a trough or retort of a rotary
stirrer comprising a hollow shaft or pipe provided with hollow trunnions
which have bearings in and project through the ends of said trough and having
radially disposed wings or plates arranged lengthwise thereof and in contact
therewith, and scoops or blades constructed and arranged to lift the material
from the bottom of the trough and pitch it over and upon the upper side of said
pipe and its wings, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
7. In drying apparatus a feeding device comprising a hollow perforated
cylinder having feed and discharge openings at or near opposite ends, a screw 4
conveyor placed therein adjacent to the feed opening, and one or more radially
disposed wings located near the discharging end of said conveyor and arranged
to prevent the rotation of the material acted upon by said conveyor, substantially
as and for the purposes set forth.
8. In drying apparatus, a feeding and automatic compressing device for 45
removing water from the material to be dried, comprising a hollow perforated
cylinder, a compressing screw arranged axially within said cylinder, a feed
hopper or spout opening into said cylinder and means of regulating the discharge
of material from said cylinder and thereby subjecting it to greater or less com-
pression by said screw as desired substantially as and for the purposes set forth. 50
9. In drying apparatus a feeding and compressing device comprising a hollow
perforated cylinder, a screw arranged axially in said cylinder, the delivery end of
the cylinder being adjustable in size, substantially as and for the purposes set
forth.
10. In drying apparatus a feeding and compressing device comprising a hollow 55
erforated cylinder, the delivery end of which is divided lengthwise into sections,
crews for adjusting said sections towards and from each other, and cont

page_text: or spreading the delivery end of the cylinder, and a screw projecting axially into
said cylinder, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
11. In drying apparatus a feeding and compressing device comprising a hollow
perforated cylinder, the delivery end of which is divided lengthwise into sections,
a hopper or feed spout opening into the opposite end of said cylinder, a compressing
screw projecting from said hopper axially into said cylinder, stationary wings
arranged radially in said cylinder at or near the delivery end of said screw and
right and left adjusting screws for simultaneously spreading or contracting the
sections of the cylinder at its delivery end, substantially as and for the purposes
set forth.
12. In drying apparatus the combination with a drying trough or retort, of
a feeding and compressing device comprising a hopper or feed snout, a casing
opening at one end into the base or throat of the hopper and at the other into said
trough or retort, a waste pipe leading out of the lower part of said casing which
forms a receptacle for catching the water pressed from the material fed to the
drier, a hollow perforated cylinder arranged horizontally in said casing and
opening at one end into the base of the hopper or feed spout and at the other
into said casing in communication with said trough or retort, a compressing screw
projecting axially into said cylinder from said hopper, and means of regulating the
discharge of material from said cylinder and thereby subjecting it to more or
less compression by said screw, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
13. In drying apparatus the combination of a number of jacketed troughs
or retorts provided with stirrers, a casing enclosing said troughs or retorts on
the sides and formed in the ends with openings in which the ends of the troughs
are fitted and seated, and end plates attached to and closing the ends of said
troughs independently of the casing, whereby endwise expansion and contraction
of the troughs is permitted without injurious strain on the apparatus, and the
removal of any trough or stirrer from the casing is facilitated, substantially as
and for the purposes set forth.
14. In drying apparatus, the combination of a number of jacketed troughs or
retorts, a casing formed in the ends with openings in which the ends of the
troughs are fitted and seated, screws threaded in the ends of the casing and
bearing downwardly against the upper edges of the troughs which are thereby
held snugly against the bottoms of said openings, and end plates attached to and
closing the exposed ends of said troughs independently of said casing, substantially
as and for the purpose set forth.
15. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the complete
drying apparatus substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.