A METHOD OF DRYING MALT AND ALL KINDS OF GRAIN AND SEED
Year: 1811

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ADAM, of Pitkellony, in the County of Perth, Esquire, senil greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of
November, in the fifty-second year of His reign, give and grant unto me,
the said James Adam, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Janies
Adam, my exécutors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Inven-
tion of "A METHOD OF DRYING MALT AND ALL KINDS OF GRAIN AND SEED;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
James Adam, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to
cause a particular description of my said Invention; and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within two calendar months after the date of the said recited
Letters Patent, as in 'and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may
more fully and at large appear."
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Adam, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention; and
the manner in which the same is to be performed are particularly described
and ascertained as follows, that is to say:

page_text: My said Invention of a Method of Drying Malt, and all Kinds of Grain
and Seeds, consists in the application of heat from steam to the above
purposes, which may be most conveniently done by confining the steam within
a chest or chests, or in hollow cylinders, or other vessels of any form or shape
suitable to the purpose, on a floor of metal, pottery, or other substance or
substances which most easily transmit heat, and which, being formed steam-
tight, permit the heat to pass through the same without any steam or moisture,
and that the malt and other grain being spread upon the floor, is thereby dried
in an equable, gentle, and regular manner; and the degrees of heat may be
easily regulated by the admission of more or less steam through a cock,
valve, or other contrivance for admitting the steam, so that considerable
precision in the degree of heat given to all parts of the floor may always be
attainable, and the grain, malt, or seeds may be stirred in the usual way, or by
proper machinery adapted to the purpose. The heat may be applied to the
grain, malt, or seeds to be dried in various methods; as, for example, the steam
may be admitted directly under and introduced into contact with the floor
whereon they rest, by forming the same into a close vessel or chest, as in
Figure fourth; or the steam may be admitted into vessels placed under the
floor in any convenient manner, and the heat emitted from these will ascend
and pass through the floor; and which floor may in this last case either be
steam-tight or may be perforated with small holes to allow the heat and air
to pass through the grain, malt, and seeds to be dried, as the case may require.
The floors may be of any dimensions required; the material I most approve
of for constructing them is cast iron made in plates of suitable size and thick-
ness, those of four feet square may be about three eighths of an inch thick;
and they may be joined together with flanges on the under side, so as to leave
the floor smooth on the upper side where the malt or other grain is spread,
about four inches less or more, as circumstances may direct. Below this upper
floor may either be placed hollow cylinders, chests, or other vessels for receiving
the steam separate from the floor, or there may be placed a similar floor of
the same or other materials, and joined round the edges to the upper floor by
flanges, or any suitable method, so as to make the whole steam-tight; for which
purpose also, if the plates are of cast iron, they must be cemented together with
the iron cement well known to and used by steam-engine makers and other
workmen, and some other proper cement; and if of tin or copper, or of
pottery, or of any other material, they may be joined by the means already
known for rendering those respective substances wholly steam-tight. The steam
will be produced by a boiler of suitable dimensions to the size of the kiln,
placed conveniently either below or above, or on a level therewith, as may be

page_text: most convenient for the situation; and the boiler, being furnished with a cover
and a pipe to conduct the steam, may be constructed in the manner usual with
the boilers of steam or fire engines; and the steam so conducted by one or
more pipes may be introduced at one or more places of the steam floor, chests,
or hollow cylinders, as required, a place being left therein or raised therefrom
with a pipe to allow the air to go out while the steam is first admitted, and
which may then be shut. And also a safety valve being provided therein in
case of sudden condensation, and a pipe or gutter being provided for carrying
off the condensed steam, which may either be returned to the boiler or let off
at any convenient place by a cock, valve, or other contrivance.
In the margin of these Presents I have exhibited methods of applying the
principle of my Invention to practice; but it is by no means to be understood
that these are the only methods of carrying it into execution. The mode may
be varied according to circumstances, the situation of premises, and the discre-
tion or judgment of the builder or proprietor.
Fig. 1: a, a, the boiler and brickwork; b, the steam pipes; c, c, a set of
pipes filled with steam; d, d, the vent or chimney from the boiler, continued
through to assist in heating; e, a safety valve.
Fig. 2, plan f, f, shews the manner in which the perpendicular pipes are
joined to the horizontal ones; g, g, represent air-holes to admit the cold air to
be heated in passing the upright pipes.
Fig. 3, perspective view of the kiln: h, h, the holes for letting in the cold
air and making it pass upwards between the walls till it come to the top of the
inside wall, when it passes through the plate i, i, Fig. 1, and dries the
grain.
Fig. 4 is a kiln, with metal plates made completely steam-tight, and
upon which the grain or seeds are to be laid when to be dried.
a, a, the
boiler and building; b, the steam pipe; c, c, the metal plates of the kiln; d,
the vent; e, a cock or valve for letting off the air when the steam is set into
the chest; ff, the wooden joist upon which the plates rest.
Fig. 5 is a ground plan of Fig. 4, and as the same letters refer to the same
things, it will be understood by examining it.
Fig. 6 is a section of a circular one, of nearly the same construction as
Fig 4, but having a free space all round it for the purpose of turning the
grain, &c., without going on to it with the feet; and from its form being
circular it may be turned by machinery with a rake, or similar contrivance, by
turning up the grain, &c. from the bottom, thereby exposing it afresh to the
action of the heat and air. The same figures refer to the same things in it as
in Figure 4, with this difference, that the air is admitted at the side walls for
carrying off the moisture.

page_text: Fig. 7 is a ground plan of Fig. 6, which may stand upon a wooden floor
with a pass all round it, so that access can be had to every part of it; the
same letters in it' also 'refer to the same things as the former. There is
neither boiler nor vent drawn to it; not being necessary, as it will be sufficiently
understood by the former: The scale in all is one fourth of an inch to
a foot
In witness whereof, I, the said James Adam, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twelve.