IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRYING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Petrie, junior, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Maker, and John Fielden, of the same Place, Mechanical Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRYING
WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Petrie and John Fielden
"
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th December 1878.
JOHN PETRIE, junior, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker,
and JOHN FIELDEN, of the same Place, Mechanical Engineer. IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRYING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Our Invention relates, firstly, to a method of constructing the apparatus by which
wool or other fibrous material is conducted to or from or conveyed through machines
used for drying the same. For these purposes we use a series of bars which are
caused to rise and fall through openings formed in a plate or table upon which the
material rests, and at the same time to move forward and backward, by the former
of which movements the material is conveyed as desired, but we propose to effect
these movements by cam or similar apparatus so that the forward and backward
movements shall be in parallel lines, and the rising and falling at right angles
thereto or substantially so. We also propose to form addidtional openings in the
plate or table through which air may pass.
In drying machines in which the material to be dried is passed by a series of
travelling surfaces or conveyed from one to another we employ a blast or current
of air at artificial or natural temperatures for lifting or otherwise transferring the
material to a travelling surface or from one travelling surface to another, from
whence it falls or is passed on to another, and so on through a series of any required
number, until having arrived at the last of the said series it is delivered by rollers
or by other suitable means. We propose to use steam pipes or other heating appa-
ratus within the machine, and to prevent the too rapid carrying forward of the

page_text: «
material by the blast of air by the interposition of a cage" or other suitable
arrangement.
The series of conveyers or travelling surfaces are, by preference, disposed one
above another, but they may be arranged in a line, the blast of air being employed
through a trunk to transfer the material from one to another, or in the vertical
arrangement there may be intervening conveying blasts.
Another part of our Invention consists in a method of transferring the material
from one conveying surface or series of conveying surfaces to another, for which
purpose we employ transverse conveyers on to which the material falls, such transverse
apparatus delivering the material on to another series or one of a series to be again
treated by a blast of air as above described or by other elevating or transferring
apparatus. This transverse operation may be adapted to series of conveyers placed
side by side so as to constitute one machine in itself or may be otherwise disposed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Petrie and John Fielden in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th June 1879.
JOHN PETRIE, junior, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker,
and JOHN FIELDEN, of the same Place, Mechanical Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRYING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Our Invention consists, firstly, in a method of constructing the apparatus by
which wool or other fibrous material is conducted to or from or conveyed through
machines used for drying the same. For these purposes we use a series of bars
which are caused to rise and fall through openings formed in a plate or table upon
which the material rests, and at the same time to move forward and backward, by
the former of which movements the material is conveyed as desired, but we propose
to effect these movements by cams or similar apparatus so that the forward and
backward movements shall be in parallel lines, and the rising and falling at right
angles thereto or substantially 60. This part of our Invention is shown at Figs. 1
and 2. At a are fixed rails extending across the feeding or conveying apparatus as
the case may be, and upon this are secured by means of bolts b, a series of plain
surfaces c which constitute in their series a stationary table, but they are set at a
certain distance apart in order to leave spaces for the reception of a series of bars d
which as will hereafter be seen have two motions; Fig. 2 shews this part of the
apparatus broken off, but it of course extends across the whole width of the con-
veyer. At e are two studs, loosely on which are links f connected to a table g
which may therefore move upon the said studs as centres. Upon this table
mounted two carriages h, i, so as to be capable of sliding thereon in a right line by
means of guides k, the said two carriages being connected together by a rod l. To
the carriage i is jointed a rod m connected at its other end to a crank pin n upon a
wheel o which is driven by the motive power through the medium of a shaft p, and
are

page_text: upon this shaft is a cam q bearing against a plate on the lower surface of the table
g. Upon the carriages h, i, are T irons extending across the apparatus on which
are situate the bars d, such bars being notched out so as to embrace the T ends.
In the Drawing the bars d (which are the conveyors) are shewn in an elevated
position, but supposing them to be brought down to the level of the surfaces c, then
they, together with the said surfaces constitute a table on which the material rests
and on to which it is fed by any ordinary means. That being the position of the
parts the revolution of the shaft p will by means of the cam q elevate the table g 80
as to cause it to swing upon the centres e, and at the same time the crank pin m
will by means of the rod m cause the carriages h, i, to travel upon their guides k.
These combined movements will cause the bars d to rise through the spaces between
the surfaces c in a vertical or nearly vertical direction, raising the material resting
thereon, and then to travel forward, whereby the said material is conveyed in the
required direction. When the cam 9 by its revolution ceases to act upon the table
g it drops by its own gravity and consequently the bars & fall to the starting level,
and the crank pin n at the same time begins to cause the carriages h, i, to travel in
the reverse direction to that above described, whereby the said bars are carried
backward to their starting position, and when they again rise and move forward by
the means above explained they convey forward another charge of material. The
rod m, links f, and cam q are of course in duplicate, one set for each side of the ap-
paratus as will be readily understood. In order to prevent the bars d from rising
from the transverse supports, there are clips 8 screwed to the said bars and bearing
against the ends r.
The second part of our Invention refers to drying machines in which the material
is passed in a series of travelling surfaces from one to another and consists in the
employment of a blast of air at natural or artificial temperature for lifting or other-
wise transferring the material to a travelling surface, or from one to another and so
on through any required series. One form of applying this part of our Invention
is shewn in longitudinal section at Fig. 3, and in cross section, Fig. 4. The conveying
surfaces shewn are of the same construction as those above described, but they may
be of any other construction and now in use, and we shall therefore refer to them
generally as conveying surfaces. At t is a chamber which may be heated by steam
pipes u or by any other ordinary means. Atv is a wind trunk communicating at
its lower end with a fan w by means of which a current of air may be caused to
pass into the upper part of the chamber t. The feeding apparatus is shewn at A
and that for the delivery at B. The material fed at A falls upon the conveyor 1,
and is gradually carried forward thereby to a pair of rollers x which deliver it into
the trunk v, here it meets a blast of air and is elevated thereby to the conveyor 2
which passes it onward beneath a roller y swinging upon the axis of an ordinary
cage, the object of which is to prevent the too rapid carrying forward of the ma-
terial by the current of air. As the surface 2 conveys the material forward it
gradually falls on to a second conveyor which by acting in the opposite direction
deposits it on to a third conveyor 4 which carries it in the opposite direction, and
here it might be delivered at B. That, however, is not the arrangement shewn, for
according to the machine as illustrated the conveying surface 4 terminates at C so
far as this series is concerned, and the material is deposited thereby on to a con-
veying surface 5 which acts at an angle to those above described as will be seen by
reference to Fig. 3, and this by conveying the material transversely deposits it on
to the surface 6 of another series, and answering to that shewn at 1, see Fig. 4,
by which it is again delivered to the wind trunk v and thus elevated as before
described to the top 7 of the second series to be passed downward in the manner
before mentioned, until it is delivered by a second transverse conveyer 8 to a third
10, answering to that shewn at 1, to be again elevated by the wind trunk to the
conveyer 11, of a third series, by the next 13 to that shewn at 14, which in this
series is continued to the delivery apparatus B to be deposited in any well known
manner. The several series of conveyors, as shewn in Fig. 4, are divided by parti-
tions D, and the working parts in the said Fig. are merely shewn as diagrams, but

page_text: as before stated they may be conveying surfaces of any construction and may be
repeated as often as desired by the enlargement of the series by the use of cross
conveyors or curtailed as above explained. In Fig. 3 the cams q are shewn as
driven from an upright line shaft F by means of bevil wheels, but any ordinary
arrangement may be adopted, depending upon the construction of the conveyors;
Fig. 5 shews a modification of this part of our Invention. In this case the trans-
ferance of the material from one conveyor to another by a blast of air is in a hori-
zontal direction a, b, being two conveyors between which there is the fan c. From
the first a the material is received by rollers d which deliver it to the wind trunk v
to be elevated, and then deposited on to the second conveyor b, and this with inter-
vening wind trunks may be continued for any required series, and if desired in
combination with cross feeders so as to deliver the material to another series parallel
to that shewn in the Drawing.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, we desire it to be understood that
we claim as secured to us under the above in part recited Letters Patent, and for
the purposes above set forth,-Firstly. The use of the rising and falling conveying
bars illustrated at d, Figs. 1 and 2, substantially as described. Secondly. The use
of a blast of air for transferring the material from one conveying surface to another.
Thirdly. The use of transverse apparatus for transferring the material from one
conveying surface to another.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Petrie, junior, and John Fielden, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Nineteenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy nine.