A IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DRYING
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Henry Olivier, of No. 37, Finsbury Square,
in the City of London, Commission Merchant, for the Invention of
"A IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DRYING."-A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Henry Olivier
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th October 1854.
I, CHARLES HENRY OLIVIER, of 37, Finsbury Square, in the City of London,
Commission Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DRYING " to be as follows, viz. :-
This apparatus consists of a dark and closed chamber, constructed of brick-
work, in the front of which there are several doors, through which the objects
to be dried are introduced. In such chamber are placed iron steam cases of
rectangular form, of about eight (8) feet in length, about three (3) feet in
width, and about seven (7) inches in depth; these dimensions may be varied,
according to the objects that are to be dried. The steam cases above described
are made in the shape of rectangular boxes, well closed, so as to be steam-
tight; these are placed in such dark chamber on cross beams, kept firmly sup-
ported by iron uprights. These steam cases are arranged side by side, at the
distance of about one foot eight inches (1 f. 8 i.) from each other, and upon
them plates of sheet iron are laid from one extremity of the range to the other,
so that the said steam cases themselves, and the plates of sheet iron laid upon
them, form a continuous platform. A second platform may be made also by
means of a second series of such steam cases, and of plates of sheet iron placed

page_text: at any convenient or required distance above the first series; any number of
them could be thus arranged if it were needed, so that the objects to be dried,
which are placed on such platform, are dried both on their upper & lower
surfaces more rapidly, and with greater cleanliness, than with any apparatus
heated by the direct action of fire.
THE METHOD OF INTRODUCING THE STEAM TO THE STEAM CASES.
At the extremity of the first steam case there is a tube, of one inch in
diameter, through which steam from the boiler of a steam engine is introduced;
at the other end of the said steam case there is also a second tube of the same
dimension, which communicates with the second steam case, and thus from
one steam case to the other there is a continuous steam communication, and
in the last one of the series there is a discharge pipe for the steam which has
effected its passage through the entire range of the steam cases for the purpose
of heating the aforesaid chamber, as before described. Each steam case must
also have at each of its extremities a small discharge pipe & cock, by which to
let off the water of condensation of the steam, and such discharge pipes are
laid both to the right and to the left of the front of the apparatus, so as not to
obstruct the door ways for the introduction of the objects to be operated on.
On eacli platform there are four discharge pipes, their dimension being deter-
mined with precision by the ventilation required for the damp arising from the
objects to be dried. Above the chamber another tube also projects about two
feet (2 f.) through, and by which all the evaporation from the objects drying
will be driven out.
In cases, however, where there is no supply of steam from a steam engine
to heat the said drying apparatus, then a small pipe must be fixed between a
steam boiler & the first steam case, & then a discharge pipe must be provided
to the last steam case as well as a cock, by which to regulate or close the
issue of the steam therefrom; in this case it would be necessary to place a
safety valve upon one of the steam cases.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Henry Olivier in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th April 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
HENRY OLIVIER, of No. 37, Finsbury Square, in the City of London, Commis-
sion Merchant, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles Henry Olivier, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Henry Olivier, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles Henry Olivier, 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
of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DRYING," "a communication," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Henry Olivier, by an instru-
ment 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 Charles Henry Olivier, 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 :-
This Invention consists in the manner of drying grain or any other article,
as hereafter described. The accompanying Drawings represent the apparatus
to be used for such purpose.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the apparatus, shewing one set of doors open.
Fig. 2 is a plan of the steam boxes, shewing the ingress and egress of the
steam.
Fig 3 is a view, shewing three sides of the steam box.
Fig. 4 is a view, shewing 3 sides of a steam box, which can be used instead
of the before-mentioned one.
Fig. 5 is a plan of a tube.
Figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9 represent tools for working the matters to be dried.
Fig. 10 is a view, shewing 2 sides of flat curved pipes.
A is a pipe for the ingress of the steam to the boxes B, in which the steam
circulates, as shewn by the arrows, and discharges itself at L. C, sheets of
iron covering the spaces between the boxes, to form with them the platforms on
which the matter to be dryed is placed. The said platforms are fixed on cross
pieces. The small pipes D are for the discharging of the water proceeding

page_text: from the condensation of steam as it circulates through the boxes, and falls
into small tubs I at the foot of the apparatus, as shewn in Fig 1. E, the
dark chambers to dry the grain or other material. The doors F of the dark
chambers are double.
The brickwork G supports the apparatus, and through which the small
pipes D pass, for the discharge of the water of the condensed steam.
very short pipes with cocks, to throw out the steam proceeding from the
matters that are being dried in the said dark chambers E, which pipes are
placed against the interior facing of the upper box, so that the whole steam of
each platform may issue by the same upper pipe. J is a tube, which may be
placed round the dark chambers under the platform, in case a strong heat
should be needed in the said dark chambers.
A safety valve M is connected with the pipes or boxes, in case it is
necessary to work with the pressure of the steam, instead of the waste steam
of a steam engine. The covering N of the dark chambers is either by a roof
on iron cross pieces, or by planks coated with sheet iron, so as to close per-
fectly the dark chambers. The flat curved pipes O, Fig. 10, are used to
produce a temperate and equal heat, and are placed on iron cross pieces, with
the necessary rests for solidity, and covered with a thin sheet of iron, under
which all the heat of the pipes will produce the said temperate and equal
heat. This mode may be especially adopted for all objects that do not require
too great a heat, such as coffee, grain, &c. If it be desired to dry woods, gun
stocks, or like objects, there are placed, a short distance from the base of the
said flat curved pipes, hooks or iron cross pieces; and if for any other purpose
the matter to be dried required a loftier space, the dark chamber might be
raised. The tools P are required to turn the material or matter while drying,
and for withdrawing the same from the dark chambers.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Henry Olivier, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this 26th day of April, in the year of our Lord
C. H. OLIVIER. (L.S.)