Improvements in Apparatus for Drying Grain, Bark, Leaves, Malt, or other Material.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 17th July, 1894-Accepted, 18th Aug., 1894
COMPLETE FEUITIATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Drying Grain, Bark, Leaves, Malt,
or other Material.
I, IRVIN GILBERT HOOPER, of 326 Ferry Street, in the City of Newark,
County of Essex, and State of New Jersey, United States of America, Mechanical -
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
The primary object of this invention is to provide a drying tower, which meets
all the conditions of successfully and economically drying grain, or the like, by
means of heated air.
These conditions are:-First, that the current of air shall be brought into
intimate and uniform contact with the material to be treated, and further, that all
the material to be dried shall be uniformly subjected to the treating current of air,
and thereby equally dried.
The most efficient construction of a drying chamber is a vertical tower, as
therein, a rising current of air will diffuse itself uniformly throughout the area,
and its ascent, which will be materially assisted by the difference of gravity of the
heated column and the external air, will virtually hold the fine particles of the
material to be dried in suspension, whereby the current of hot air is brought into
more intimate contact with the material to be dried.
The several ends of my invention are intended to secure the successful and
economical drying of grain, or the like, and to meet these ends, I have constructed
the apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters of
reference are employed to indicate like parts in each of the views, and in which
views are illustrated the various mechanical devices employed to accomplish the
various objects above specified.
In said drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of my novel form of grain drying
tower, Figure 2 is a vertical section of the same, showing its use as applied in
connection with a mash tun to receive the wet or moist grain therefrom, and said
view illustrating an arrangement of the various mechanical devices employed.
Figure 3 is a horizontal section taken on line in said Figure 2; Figure 4 is a
vertical section of the lower portion of the tower, on a larger scale, and Figure 5 is
a like view of the upper portion of the tower, clearly illustrating an arrangement of
pivoted or hinged doors, which open automatically in the case of an explosion of
the grain dust in the tower.
The mechanism shown in the various views of the drawings is adapted to perform
the various functions set forth herein, and consists of a suitable tower A., preferably
constructed from boiler iron and provided at intervals with doors a¹, a², a, etc.
Said tower, as will be seen from Figure 1, may be provided with balconies 6 and
a connecting ladder b'.
The construction of the tower is preferably as shown in Figure 2, consisting
essentially of an outer stack or shell a and an inner stack or shell
which stacks
are suitably connected by means of stay-bolts, or in any other well known manner,
thereby providing for an air-tight space between the inner and outer stack, for the
purpose of insulation to prevent the radiation of the heat from the inner stack
through the outer shell of the stack.
Said inner stack c, may be provided with any suitable form of deflectors c' to
prevent any undue escape of hot air from the stack, and also, to prevent the finer
particles of the material to be dried, from being blown out of the top of the tower.
Projecting from the inner surface of said stack c, may be arranged suitable studs or

page_text: small pipes c³. These are arranged to alternate in position with those next above
and below, so that the material discharged at or near the top of the stack, as it
moves downward to the bottom of the stack, will be separated, and all the particles
are thereby uniformly subjected to the treating current and equally dried.
At or near the bottom of the drying tower and leading into and entirely through
the two stacks or shells a and c, is a heat conveying pipe or flue d.
In order to illustrate one use of my drying tower, I have represented in con-
nection with the same, as will be seen from Figure 2, a mash tun E from which
extends the grain conveying tube e, which passes through the shells or stacks a
and c, and is provided with the usual form of conveyor or worm e'. Directly
beneath the outlet e of the tube e and within the stack c, I have arranged a suitable
hopper, which, as will be seen from the section in Figure 4, is provided with an
open bottom, in which are arranged the pivoted louvers or slats f¹ to be opened or
closed by means of a suitable lever, to retain the grain in said hopper or to permit
the same to be dropped into a second hopper g.
Passing through said hoppers ƒ and g is a sort of U-shaped casing h, in the
bottom portion of which is an adjustable bearing h¹, in which rotates a shaft ³
provided with a suitable pulley, not shown in the drawings.
Passing over said pulley in said casing hand over a pulley ; in the upper portion
of the stack c is a conveyor belt i provided with suitable buckets i¹.
. Said belt and its buckets pass through the legs and * of said casing h, as will
be evident from Figures 2 and 4.
A duct g provided with a gate or valve g leads from the bottom of the hopper g
into the side of said casing h, whereby wet or moist grain can be passed from the
hopper 9 into the buckets to be conveyed to the top of the tower and then
dropped from said buckets to be again caught in the hopper f. A second duct g³
provided with a gate or valve gt, leads into a pipe k provided with a conveyor or
worm k¹ for conducting the dried grain or other material to some point outside of
the tower.
C,
As will be seen from Figure 5, in the top of said inner stack I have secured
suitable brackets or supports which carry a suitable deflecting hood / constructed
to retain the hot air in the stack, but still permitting the escape of the air
therefrom, as will be evident from an inspection of said figure.
The top of said stack c is provided with suitable openings c³, while in the outer
stack or shell a are correspondingly arranged openings provided with outwardly
swinging doors a' arranged between the braces or stiffening bars a³, as will be clearly
seen from Figures 1 and 5. Said doors are preferably hinged at the top, whereby,
when an explosion of the grain dust occurs, said doors will swing outwardly and
close by their own weight, as will be evident.
This arrangement of doors, which are of the proper weight to keep them closed
under the normal pressure of the air in the stack, will, by their automatic opening
when an explosion of grain dust occurs, prevent the blowing-off of the hood l.
The operation of the several mechanism herein shown for drying grain or other
like material, is as follows:-
The moist or wet grain is forced from the opening in the pipe e, by means of
the conveyor e therein, into the hopper f, which, when sufficiently filled is emptied
into the hopper g by opening the louvers f¹.
The gate g in the duct g being closed, and the gate 92 in the duct g' being open,
the moist or wet grain passes down into the side of the casing h from which the
buckets on the belt i convey the grain to the top of the stack, whereupon the
returning buckets are emptied of their contents, the grain passing down and being
scattered by the arrangement of the studs c³, and finally they are again caught in
the hopper in which they are retained until the lower hopper g, containing the
moist or wet grain, has been emptied. When the lower hopper has been emptied,
the louvers in the upper hopper fare opened and the grain once more passes into
the hopper g, trom which the material can be made to again pass through the
chute g to be conveyed to the top of the tower, or, if the material has been

page_text: sufficiently dried, said gate or valve
in the chute g¹ may be closed and the grain
allowed to pass through the duct 9 and the now open gate 9' therein, into the
conveyor to be stored away for future use.
In some instances, I may allow the grain, after it has fallen from the top of the
tower, to remain in the hopper f, where it can be sufficiently dried by the heat in
the stack, as will be clearly evident.
It will be seen, that by my arrangement of parts and the general construction of
the drying tower, the material is brought to the top of the tower and then the
material moves by gravity slowly down the vertical chamber, striking the studs,
which separate the grain, whereby all the material is uniformly subjected to the
heated air and equally dried.
Furthermore, owing to the upward flow of the hot air in the tower, the downward
progress of the grain or other material to be dried is impeded, the particles being
virtually held in suspension, whereby the current of air is brought into intimate
and uniform contact with the material to be treated, and none of the material can
escape without being thoroughly dried.
The drying tower herein set forth is especially adapted for the drying of grain,
for the feeding of cattle, but may be used for the drying of bark, leaves, malt, or
any other material.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In a drying tower, the combination,, with the tower proper, of a pair of
hoppers at or near the bottom of the tower, a conveyor chute at one side for con-
veying the material into the upper hopper, a heat duct leading into said tower, a
bucket conveyor for conducting the material to be dried to the top of said tower,
and a conveyor tube at the bottom of said tower, connected and communicating
with the lower one of said hoppers, all arranged substantially as and for the
purposes set forth.
2. In a drying tower, the combination, with the tower proper, of a pair of
hoppers at or near the bottom of the tower, a conveyor chute at one side for
conveying the material into the upper hopper, a heat duct leading into said tower,
a bucket conveyor for conducting the material to be dried to the top of said tower,
a conveyor tube at the bottom of said tower, and deflectors c¹ in the top of the
tower, and studs arranged to separate the falling material, substantially as and
for the purposes set forth.
3. In a drying tower, the combination, with the tower proper, of a pair of
hoppers at or near the bottom of the tower, a casing h, a belt or bucket conveyor,
a duct g, having a gate g² therein, connecting the lower hopper with said casing h,
a duct g³, having a gate g', a conveyor chute & connected with said duct g', and a
conveyor tube e, all arranged, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
4. In a drying tower, the combination, with the tower proper, of a pair of
hoppers at or near the bottom of the tower, a casing h, a belt or bucket conveyor,
a duct g¹, having a gate 9' therein, connecting the lower hopper with said casing h,
a duct g³, having a gate g', a conveyor chute k connected with said duct g³, and a
conveyor tube e, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
5. The drying tower herein set forth, consisting essentially of an outer shell a
and an inner shell c, said shells having correspondingly arranged openings near the
top of the tower, and swinging doors arranged in the openings in said outer shell a,
substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
6. In a drying tower, of the class herein set forth, deflectors c¹ in the top of the
tower, and studs c² extending inwardly from the sides of the tower, for separating
the descending particles of the material to be dried, and means for discharging the
material to be dried at or near the top of the tower, substantially as and for the
purposes set forth.
7. The herein described drying tower; consisting essentially of an outer shell or

page_text: stack a and an inner shell or stack c, means for conveying the material to be dried
through said stacks into or near the bottom of said inner stack c, a conveyor within
said stack c for discharging the material to be dried at or near the top of said stack,
and a conveyor chute at or near the bottoin of said stack c for conducting the dried
material from the stack, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
8. In a drying tower, of the class herein set forth, the combination with the
tower proper, a hopper f provided with slats or louvers fl in its bottom, a conveyor
chute at one side for conveying the material into said hopper, a second hopper g
directly below said first hopper, a bucket conveyor for conducting the material to
be dried to the top of said tower, a duct for conveying the material from said
hopper into said bucket conveyor, and a conveyor tube k at the bottom of said
tower, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
Dated this 15th der of Inne 1894
IRVIN GILBERT HOOPER.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.