IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE DRYING OF GUANO, MANORE, OR OTHER SIMILAR SUBSTANCES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lewis Pocock, the younger, of Gower Street,
in the County of Middlesex, Merchant, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE DRYING OF
GUANO, MANORE, OR OTHER SIMILAR SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 26th March 1872, and dated the 4th October 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lewis Pocock at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th October 1871.
I, LEWIS POCOCK, the younger, of Gower Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE DRYING
OF GUANO, MANURE, OR OTHER SIMILAR Substances," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improved means or apparatus for
drying guano, manure, or other like substances, by the employment of
which a great saving in the time and labour ordinarily required in such
operations will be effected.

page_text: Hitherto the ordinary method or plan of drying guano or manure has
been by the use of drying floors or cylinders.
My Invention, however, consists mainly in the employment and
adaptation of what I propose to term "drying shutters," which I
propose to use in substitution for the present means of drying guano, ||
manure, or such like substances.
These shutters will be constructed of readily movable wooden or metal
frames, on which canvas or other suitable material is stretched or
secured. On these shutters or frames so covered the guano, manure, or
substance to be dried will be laid or spread.
The shutters or frames will be placed in ranks or rows at convenient
distances apart, and they will be arranged either perpendicular or
slightly slanting on or across the floor of the drying chamber or room,
and their tops may be caused to lean against horizontal supporting bars,
or they may be supported in or by other suitable and convenient fittings 1
or receptacles provided in the chamber or room.
By the use of the shutters or frames it will be found that a much
larger quantity of material can be dried at the same time than can be
dried on the ordinary flat drying floors.
1
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said Lewis Pocock in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 4th April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEWIS
Pocock, the younger, of Gower Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Пer heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Lewis Pocock, the younger, Her 3
special licence that I, the said Lewis Pocock, the younger, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Lewis Pocock,

page_text: the younger, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
tinic 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 "IMPROVED MEANS OF APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE
DRYING OF GUANO, MANURE, OR OTHER SIMILAR SUBSTANCES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Lewis Pocock, the
younger, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands, and scals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the samo
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 Lewis Pocock, the younger, 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 in writing, and on
reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, that is
to say :-
-
This Invention relates to certain improved means or apparatus for
drying guano, manure, mud, or other similar substances, by the
employment of which a much larger proportion of material can be
dried and removed at and in a given time than has heretofore been
practicable, and a great saving in the time and labor ordinarily required
for a like or given quantity, and consequently of expense incurred in
such operations is effected; at the same time the essential qualities of
the guano or manure which render it valuable to the agriculturalist are
preserved to a much greater degree.
Hitherto the ordinary method or plan of performing the above
operation has been by the use or employment of drying cylinders, floors,
or kilns.
"
"
"
The present Invention, however, consists mainly in the employment
and adaptation of what I term " drying shutters or drying frames
in substitution for the present means of performing the said operation.
The Invention will be readily understood on reference being had to
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings and to the following explanation

page_text: or description thereof, that is to say :—On the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a building, in which
the frames are placed during the drying operation, and which is capable
of holding or containing three hundred of such frames (but such
buildings may bo constructed of any desired form or capacity); Figure 26
is an elevation of the same shewing the arrangement of the component
chambers or rooms; Figure 3, side A, a half section plan shewing three
of such rooms, each containing 50 frames, and side B, a half plan of
the roof also, and partly in section, shewing the arrangement and
direction of the flues for carrying off the moisture; Figure 4 is a 1
longitudinal section of one chamber through the line A, B; Figure 3,
and Figuro 5 a transverse section of the same through C, D; Figures 6
and 7 are clevations of the two sides of the frame; Figure 9 a plan, and
Figures 8 and 10 sections of the same.
The shutters or frames a are constructed of wood or metal, and of a 1
readily movable size (say) 7 feet × 3 feet and 14 inches in thickness,
or of any other convenient dimensions. On one side (Figure 6) canvas
or other suitable material of a very coarse quality or texture is stretched
and secured, and on the other side (Figure 7) a similar canvas or other
covering is placed, but permanently secured only at one end b. The a
guano, manure, mud, or other substance to be dried, is laid or spread
upon the inner surface of the first canvas, and then covered over by the
second; the extremity or end c of which is furnished with a retaining
metal rod d, the ends of which are then placed (so as to stretch the
canvas on the substance) in suitable projections or eyelets e at the same
end of the frame, or is held or secured therein by small pins; or the
same result may be obtained by cyclets on the canvas and hooks on the
frame, or vice versa, or by any other simple and suitable means.
The shutters or frames thus charged are then placed in ranks or rows
at suitable distances apart, by preference perpendicularly on the floor;
of the chamber or room, being easily run thereinto and removed there-
from when required by means of grooved wheels f, with which they are
provided and which run on suitably shaped guiding rails or bars placed
on the floor and above them, by which means they are effectually
kept or supported in their desired places until the operation is effected, ;
or they may be supported by other suitable and convenient fittings or
receptacles provided in cach chamber or room.
I
By constructing the building in compartments, chambers, or rooms.

page_text: as shewn, the work is performed continuously and much more econo-
mically than has hitherto been practicable, for whilst one is being
emptied the last so treated can be refilled.
Hot air from a furnace is caused to rise through the floor of each
chamber, and circulates freely therein, causing evaporation to proceed on
each side of the frames, when it ascends the flues carrying off the
moisture up the shaft.
To render the guano mud on coming from the settling tanks or the
manure or other substance of a suitable consistency to be placed in the
frames without excess of moisture a sufficient quantity of the already
dried material is added to it.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention for
"Improved Means or Apparatus to be Employed in the Drying of
Guano, Manure, or other similar Substances,” together with the manner
in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical
effect, I would remark, in conclusion, that I claim as my Invention, the
employment or adaptation of "drying shutters" or "drying frames"
for the purposes hercin set forth, constructed substantially as herein-
before described and as illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, and their employment and peculiar arrangement in a building
or buildings, constructed substantially as above described, or any mere
modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lewis Pocock, junior, have licrc-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand-eight hundred and seventy-
Witness,
BRISTOW HUNT,
Solicitor and Patent Agent,
1, Serle Street,
Lincoln's Inn.
LEWIS POCOCK, JR. (L.S.)