IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING DRYING STOVES
Year: 1853

page_text: Sealed the 5th May 1854, and dated the 18th November 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Holmes
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 18th November 1853.
I, THOMAS HOLMES, of Pendleton, in the County of Lancaster,
Bleacher, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING DRYING STOVES" to be as follows:-
My improvements are particularly applicable to stoves for drying
piece goods, but they are also applicable to stoves for drying yarns and
for other purposes. In ventilating drying stoves it has hitherto been
customary to place the ventilators at the top of the stove, but as it
is well known that warm air ascends and cold air descends, it is evident
that by this arrangement a great deal of heat must be wasted. Now
my improvements cousist in placing a series of tubes in the drying

page_text: stove; these tubes are open at or near the floor of the stove, and above
they are carried singly through the roof of the stove, or they may be
united and conveyed to a ventilator. By this arrangement the cool air
and moisture which descends is conveyed away up the tubes, and the
hot air for drying is more uniformly distributed in the stove. I also
propose in some cases to convert the cast iron columns of the building
into ventilating tubes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Holmes in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th May 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
THOMAS HOLMES, of Pendleton, in the County of Lancaster, Bleacher,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the 18th day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Holmes, Her special
license that I, the said Thomas Holmes, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Holmes, my execu
tors, 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 IMPROVEMENTS IN
VENTILATING DRYING STOVES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Thomas Holmes, by an instrument 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 per-
formed, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Holmes, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say:
The nature of my Invention consists in improving the ventilation of
drying stoves, by conveying the heated air, after it has absorbed the
moisture in the goods to be dried, through flues, which are opened when
required, and which I prefer to place near the floor of the drying stove.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to de-
scribe the means pursued by me, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawing and to the letters and figures marked thereon.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1, represents a sectional elevation of a drying stove to which
my improvements are applied; Figure 2, is a plan of part of the same;
and Figure 3, is an elevation of two of the improved ventilating flues.
a, a, are the outer walls; b, b, the top rails on which the piece goods c, c,
are suspended; d, d, are columns supporting the centre beam e; and
ff, are the channels in the floor through which the hot air by which
the stove is heated ascends in the ordinary manner; all these parts are
common to drying stoves now, in use; g, g, are tubes or flues reaching
from the floor to the top of the stove; these flues are shewn in the
Drawing to pass through the roof, but they may, if preferred, be
united in a ventilator; the tubes or flues g, g, are provided with sliding
doors which are raised or lowered when required by the attendant.
When the goods to be dried have been hung in the stove, the sliding
doors g', and all the doors and windows in the stove, must be closed; the
heated air for drying the goods is then forced into the stove by a fan or
other suitable apparatus until the air in the stove is saturated with mois-
ture, the attendants then open the doors g', to allow the air which has
become surcharged with moisture to escape through the tubes g; the
hot air continues to be supplied to the stove as before, consequently as
the cooler portion of air, or that which has absorbed part of the moisture,
escapes by the tubes g, the warmer air descends to fill up the space of
that which has escaped; by this means a complete ventilation is esta-

page_text: blished from the upper, to the lower part of the stove, and the moisture
in the goods being rapidly evaporated effects a considerable, saving in
the time required for drying the goods in the stove. It may in some
cases be desirable to place the sliding doors g', at some distance from
the floor of the stove, instead of placing them close to the floor, as shewn
in the Drawing; the mode of constructing the flues g, may be varied,
according to circumstances, or they may be built in the walls of the
stove, or the columns d may be used as flues. I have only shewn
my improvements as applied to a stove for drying piece goods, as the
alterations required for applying them to stoves for drying yarns or
other similar purposes are so evident that any competent workman may
construct them from the foregoing description.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the details herein set forth,. as the same may.be varied, but
what I consider as new and wish to secure by these Letters. Patent is,
the method of using and applying flues to increase the ventilation in
drying stoves, as herein-before shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Holmes, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of May, One thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Thomas
in the presence of
Holmes
THOMAS HOLMES. (L.S.)
H. B. BARLOW,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.