Improvements in Apparatus for Drying Bricks and other Products.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application. 18th Nov., 1890-accepted, 20th Dec., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Drying Bricks and other Products.
I, JAMES BOND of 260 South Broad Street, in the City of Philadelphia County
of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, United States of America, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My invention relates to an improved apparatus for drying brick or other products;
and it has for its object a more efficient and economical method of drying by utilizing
the waste heat and gases escaping from the boiler fires and the exhaust steam from.
the engine, and in collecting and concentrating such supplies of heat by means of a
flue and radiators, and then with great circulating force carrying the heat thus
accumulated entirely through the chamber or chambers in which the brick, or other
material to be dried, are placed, thus producing a strong and thorough circulation of
the drying heat throughout the entire apparatus, and at the same time carrying out of
the drier, as fast as it accumulates, all steam and moisture arising from the materials
being dried.
The means I employ to accomplish these objects are illustrated in the accompanying
drawings, in which-
Figure 1 is a plan of the interior of the drying chamber with ceiling and roof
removed.
Figure 2 a similar view of the interior of a hot air chamber above the drying
chamber, and showing pipes by means of which the steam is distributed to the various
radiators.
Figure 3 a cross section in elevation of the drier on line æ æ in Figure 1, and
Figures 4 and details of fan mechanism.
The building composing the drier may be made of brick side walls, and roof and
ends of wood.
The drawings show the apparatus adapted to the drying of brick and the description
will hereinafter be restricted to such drier, although it is obvious that it might be
used for other purposes.
The drier as shown is divided into four apartments-the drying chambers A A',:
divided by a central partition B, a hot air chamber C above the drying chamber, and
an upper air chamber D above the hot air chamber C.
The hot air chamber communicates with the drying chamber through passages (C
at opposite sides of the ceiling C³, and the top air chamber D communicates with the
hot air chamber C, by a passage d' at one side of the ceiling .
The ceiling is provided with a return or a downwardly extending wing, C, for
the purpose of directing the heat to the centre of the drying chamber as it comes in
from the hot air chamber and through the upper portion of the first set of radiators.
The brick to be dried are placed on pallets which are placed on cars E, and thus
arranged for the free circulation of hot air between and around them. Separate
tracks, F are laid which run entirely through the building, and each track space is
provided with a door at each end, all the doors being closed during the process of
drying.
G are radiators, which may be of any well known form arranged at intervals
through the drying chambers A A¹. A double set of radiators g' is placed at one side
of the drying chamber, A, in order to give the entering air as much initial heat as
possible.
H are a series of pipes placed within the hot air chamber, a little above the ceiling.

page_text: which separates the hot air chamber and the drying chambers, and into which steam is
let from a suitable source of supply through a communicating pipe El. The pipes FI
communicate with the radiators through short pipes EL².
The radiators, as shown, are arranged between the tracks and reach from the floor
of the drying chamber to near the ceiling, where they connect, as before stated, to
pipes H. Each radiator has its own discharge pipe heading into the outside air by
means of which an unimpeded circulation of steam is obtained.
K is a flue arranged at one side of the drier and running through it, and built to
nearly the height of the radiators. It is provided with a metallic roof K which is
within the building, one of the side walls of the drier forming a side wall of the flue.
The other side wall of the flue, made of brick or other material is pierced to form
openings, L, reaching from the floor of the flue to the height of the wall or nearly so.
L' is a partition separating the flue K into two parts L2 L³, but which partition does
not extend the entire length of the flue hut terminates at, and connects with one of
the divisions L' of the wall. The purpose of the partition as thus constructed is to
carry heat into the drying chamber A, both at its extreme end and also at points nearer
the end from which the heat is received, so as to produce a uniform flow of heat
through the drying chambers.
M is an exhaust blower placed in a supply pipe H' which leads to the boiler fires.
The object of placing the blower as shown, near one end of the flue is to draw the
heat and force it into said flue; and the mouth of the blower is provided with a
diaphragm or partition M² connected with the partition Lin flue K to divide the
current of hot air and gases and to conduct it into the respective channels L L³ of
the flue. The blower is driven in the usual manner by belt and pulley from any con-
venient shafting and engine.
The letters represent a series of fans, each mounted in a box O' closed at its
ends. The fans and their boxing are arranged in a line through the centre of the
drier, and parallel with the tracks, and with their boxes form a partition which divides
the drier into the two chambers A. A'. The partition thus formed extends from the
floor to the ceiling, and is provided with circular openings, P, to admit of the circu-
lation of hot air from chamber A to A', and which openings constitute the only
communicating passages between the two chambers.
The fans are all connected by bevel gearing R to a main driving shaft T mounted
in the box framework and driven by suitable means from an engine, and are arranged
as shown so as to all revolve in the same direction.
Ware stacks built at intervals along one side of the drier.
These stacks may be constructed of wood or brick, with the outer wall of the stack
resting on an outside wall V and its inside wall built on or into an abutment of the
side wall of the drier.
The operation is as follows:-The machinery having been started exhaust steam
is admitted into the distributing pipes in the hot air chamber, the air in that chamber
being thus heated, at the same time steam is admitted to the radiators in the drying
chambers. At the same time, also, hot air and gases are drawn from the boilers
and forced into the divided flue or tunnel by the blower. Currents of heated air are
drawn by means of the circulating fans from the chambers above the drying chambers,
into the drying chambers and around the return at one side of the ceiling, as indicated
by the arrows also through all the spaces between the radiating pipes; also through
all the passages in the divided flue entering first the drying chamber A through a
double bank of radiators, striking the brick on the cars and surrounding them com-
pletely then drawn through the additional series of radiators in chamber A, then
through the partition between A A', then driven by the fans through the cars of brick,
and radiators in chamber A', and thence into and up out of the stacks.
The entrance to the stacks being constructed somewhat like a fire-place the top of
which is some distance below the ceiling, it will be seen that a large portion of the
hotter and drier air remains naturally near the ceiling of the drying chamber while
the damp and heavier air is carried up the stacks. Recirculation is obtained by the

page_text: return of this portion of hot dry air through the passage at one end of the ceiling
into the hot air chamber, where it mingles with the air in that chamber and is carried
along with it to the opposite end and back into the drying chamber.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is performed, I declare what I claim is;
1. In a drier the combination of a drying chamber, a hot air chamber above the
drying chamber, and an air chamber above the hot air chamber, the said air chamber
communicating with the hot air chamber by a passage at one side, the hot air chamber
communicating with the drying chamber by passages at both sides, and a stack on
one side of the drying chamber, the breast wall of the stack extending some distance
below the ceiling of the drying chamber, whereby the draft of the stack is confined
to the lower portion of the drying chamber while the drier air passes through the
passage in one side of the ceiling into the said hot air chamber and returns to the
drying chamber through the passage in the opposite side of the ceiling, substantially
as described.
2. In a drier, in combination with a pipe leading from a suitable source of
heat, a blower placed in said pipe, a flue connected with the blower, said flue
built within and on, one side of the drier and formed by two walls, one the
side wall of the drier and the other the side wall of the drying chamber
pierced to form long vertical openings into the drying chamber, substantially as
described.
3. In a drier, a pipe or conduit leading from a suitable source of heat, a blower
placed in said conduit, said blower provided with a partition at or in its delivery end,
and a flue built within and on one side of the drier formed by two walls, one the side
wall of the drier and the other the side wall of the drying chamber, and the said flue
divided into channels by a central partition connected to the partition at the end of
the blower, and said channels communicating with the drying chamber through said
openings, substantially as described.
4. In combination with a drying chamber, a flue formed within the drier and on
one side of said chamber between two walls, the outer wall being the side wall of the
drier and the inner wall having passages through it from top to bottom, a middle
partition dividing said flue into two channels but terminating at and connecting
with one of the divisions of the inner wall, whereby heat brought into said
flue is carried into the drying chamber both at its extreme end and also at points
nearer the end from which the heat is received, substantially as and for the purpose
described.
5. The combination with a drying chamber of a hot air chamber above said
drying chamber, a series of steam supply pipes running through said hot air chamber
to heat the same, the series of radiators arranged at intervals in the drying chamber,
branch pipes extending from the hot air chamber through the drying chamber and
connecting each of the radiators separately with the steam supply pipe above,
substantially as described.
6. In a drier, a series of fans in combination with one main shaft for driving them,
the separate gear connection of each fan and said shaft, and arranged to revolve the
fans in the same direction, the boxes closed at their ends, in each of which a fan
is placed, said fans and their boxes, arranged in a line through the centre of the
drier and forming a partition dividing the drier into two chambers, and the tracks
running parallel with the fans, adjacent to aud on both sides thereof, substantially as
described.
7. In a drier, a series of fans extending entirely through the centre of a drier, in
combination with shafting and gearing by which said fans are all revolved in the
same direction, and the boxing enclosing each fan separately and which extends
through the said drier forming a partition dividing the drier into two chambers, the
said boxes opening on each side of a fan to the said chambers, substantially as and for
the purpose described.
8. The hot air chamber, in combination with a main steam supply pipe running

page_text: through said chamber, branch pipes connecting with the said main pipe and extending
at right angles thereto through the chamber, by means of which pipes said chamber
is heated, the drying chamber provided with a ceiling having open communicating
passages at both ends to, said hot air chamber, the radiators in said drying
chamber, communicating with said pipes in the hot air chamber, and said ceiling
provided at one end with a return, whereby the air in the hot air chamber is directed
towards the centre of the drying chamber, substantially as described.
9. The combination with the drying chamber, of the hot air chamber above
and connected by open passages at both sides of the ceiling, a divided hot air flue
formed at one side of the drying chamber and throwing the heat into different
portions of the same, a series of radiators placed in the drying chamber on a line
with and adjacent to said flue, a series of suction fans in the drying chamber next
to and on
a line with the radiators, and a series of discharge stacks on the side
of the drier opposite the side having the said flue, substantially as and for the purpose
described.
Dated this 18th day of November 1890
JAMES BOND,
By L. W., per F. B.