Year: 1882

page_text: I, WILLIAM HENRY MURRAY, of the City of Chicago, Illinois, United States
of America, seek leave to amend the specification of Letters Patent, No. 4546 of
1882, as shown in red ink in the copy of the original specification hereunto
annexed:-
My reasons for making this amendment are as follows:-
I strike out the third and fourth claims because I am advised that they may be
held to cover subject matter which was not in itself alone new at the date of the
Patent and I am desirous of making the corrections in the body of the Specification,
in the title, and in the remaining claims to make them accord with the restriction
of the claims and to render them more precise and definite in their language.
The Patent has been assigned to me by deed of Assignment dated the
7th February 1885 and duly registered in the Patent Office.

page_text: In the matter of the application made by William Henry Murray for leave to
amend the Specification of Letters Patent N° 4546 of 1882.
I hereby grant leave to the said William Henry Murray to amend the said
Specification in the manner proposed.

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the firm of Haseltine Lake
& Co. Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London for an Invention of
"AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING MOISTURE FROM
AIR TO BE USED FOR DRYING FISH, MEAT, TEXTILE FABRICS, LEATHER OR OTHER
"
MATERIALS Communicated to him from abroad by Ralph Smith Jennings,
of Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd September 1882.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake and Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, "AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR
EXTRACTING MOISTURE FROM AIR TO BE USED FOR DRYING FISH, MEAT, TEXTILE
FABRICS, LEATHER OR OTHER MATERIALS [A communication to him from abroad
by Ralph Smith Jennings, of Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.]
دو
This invention relates to the treatment of atmospheric air at its natural tempe-
rature by heat to deprive such air of its normal humidity by converting the
moisture into its gaseous constituents, they, with the air, being subsequently reduced
in temperature to blood heat, or to a lower degree, and utilized for drying cotton,
wool, leather, paper, tobacco or other material in a drying room.
It is a well known fact that air at a high temperature, or steam-heat, has
generally a very damaging effect on textile material fruit, tobacco, glue, fish,
chemicals and other matters or substances so that drying by a natural process has
been a necessity. This natural process being slow and always uncertain, it is often
the case that materials while exposed for being dried, do, by reason of change of
weather, absorb moisture, causing serious delays and annoyance, and often loss.
Among articles of food dried in the open air and not susceptible of being dried by
steam heat, is salted codfish, which requires several days of good drying weather to
sufficiently dry it, and in bad weather sometimes weeks. It may however be dried
by my process in any weather, and in the most perfect manner, at common tempe-
ratures, and usually in about two hours, the fish so dried, being whiter and far
better to the taste than those exposed to the sun, rain, dust, and wind, and handled
many times in the ordinary process of treatment.
Fresh meat that generally requires an exposure of forty eight hours to 150°
steam heat to dry suitably for packing, may, by my invention, be dried to better
advantage in a few hours time and at a temperature below blood heat.
Glue and chemicals of various kinds, which to be dried have heretofore required
to be exposed to the open air and subjected to the damaging changes of weather,
may, by my invention, be dried in a few hours and at a temperature of 40° if
desirable.
Boots and shoes in process of manufacture, at a certain stage, require some twenty
four hours exposure to steam heat which often injures the quality by curling the
leather and raising the grain, and gives the goods the appearance of an inferior
article and a harsh and disagreeable feel. By my invention they may be dried in
one quarter the time and the appearance and feel of the leather cannot be injured,

page_text: as the temperature is maintained at a low degree and the process has all the
advantages of nature's most perfect means of drying.
In drying cotton goods, all danger of turning the goods yellow, or of injury to the
texture, is, by my invention, virtually obviated, while the process of desiccation is
greatly accelerated.
Drying wool by steam heat is expensive, and in summer time, very disagreeable.
The wool is rendered "brashy" and often injured by too high a temperature, all of
which objections are overcome, and much time saved, by my invention.
Drying of tobacco by steam heat is a slow, expensive, and often damaging process,
requiring a large amount of space, but with my invention it may be effected rapidly
in a small space and in perfect safety.
.
Manufactured cigars which cannot be dried satisfactorily by steam heat, may, by
my invention, be dried in a few hours.
For laundry drying the value of this invention cannot be over estimated. The
clothes are bleached instead of being turned yellow, as is often the case by the
ordinary process. The strength and texture cannot be injured as is almost always
the case by steam heat and more than half the time and expense are saved.
In drying paper in process of manufacture, what is termed "loft drying" is
equalled, if not improved upon by my invention, the paper being dried thereby as
rapidly as steam drying is effected, and at less expense; loft-dried paper being
worth about one penny per pound more than steam dried paper-the value of the
invention in this connection will readily be understood by persons skilled in making
paper. Air or loft dried strawboard (worth about twenty shillings more per ton
than steam dried paper) may be dried by my invention in less time than is
required to hang it up or to spread it on the ground, to say nothing about the time
required in drying, and the uncertainty of the weather and consequent delays, and
handling required.
Wood-pulp, a material, so difficult and troublesome to dry that it is customary to
ship it from the pulp mills to the paper manufacturer containing about from 60%
to 68% of water, can be dried by my invention thoroughly and rapidly as it comes
from the pulp machine, thereby saving in freight alone an amount more than equal
to the profit now made on the article.
Artificial fertilizers, fish scrap, acid phosphates and the like, for the drying of
which, steam heat has never been successfully used, can, by my invention, be dried
without damage to their quality, in a few hours, and at a merely nominal expense.
In carrying my said invention into practice, I provide a furnace for heating air,
such furnace having immediately over the fire-place a chamber over which is a
smoke-receiving chamber provided with a discharge flue or pipe. From the fire-
chamber a series of pipes extend to the smoke-chamber and upward through the
first named chamber, the whole being arranged so that the smoke and volatile
products of combustion from the fire-place, when the furnace may be in operation,
shall blow through the said series of pipes and into the smoke-chamber.
A pipe is provided leading out of the upper part of the first named chamber and
into a serpentine coil or pipe arranged within a case, which, at its lower part, is
provided with one or more air-inlets. Out of the upper part of this case a pipe
leads to the lower part of the chamber over the fireplace. Furthermore the coil,
at its lower end, communicates with a blower for drawing air from the coil, and
discharging it by an educt into a vertical tubular shaft of a rotary fan. This fan
is provided with a series of, wings or vanes arranged radially to the said shaft.
Between these wings there projects from the shaft a series of curved educts, from
which, when the fan may be in revolution, air from the shaft is discharged against
the vanes in order that it may be deflected from, and thrown off by, them, or
diffused to advantage into the drying room or apartment in which the fan may be
situated. In the lower part of the said apartment is a perforated or foraminous
auxiliary floor. A blower cominunicates with the space beneath the auxiliary floor,
the eduction of said blower being extended upward.

page_text: From the above description it will be seen that when there may be fuel in
combustion in the fire-place of the furnace, and the two blowers and the rotary fan
are put in operation by power suitably applied to them, air in the first named
chamber may be heated to temperature sufficient to decompose the moisture in
said air. The constituent gases resulting from such decomposition, with the heated
air, will be driven into and through the tubular coil and will heat it, whereby it
will be caused to heat the air that may be flowing through the coil-case, which air
thus heated will be drawn out of the upper part of such case and into and through
the moisture decomposing chamber. The air gases reduced to a low temperature
(say about one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, or less if required) will, by the blower,
be extracted from the coil and driven into and out of the fan shaft. The fan, in
revolving, will diffuse the air through the drying room, and upon the goods, articles,
or materials therein to be dried. The air charged with moisture rapidly evapo-
rated from such materials will be extracted from the drying apartment by the
exhausting blower. In this manner atmospheric air charged with humidity can
have the latter decomposed, and with the air be economically utilized as stated. *
According to a modification, the exhaust-blower communicates by a pipe with
the upper part of the air-heating chamber of the furnace. The rotary fan of the
drying chamber is without the curved educts to its hollow shaft which is open at
its upper end, in order that the air may escape therefrom between the vanes and
be diffused, or thrown from them, while they may be in revolution. The shaft may,
however, be provided with lateral, educts.
1970
If desirable there may be interposed between the coil or furnace and its exhaust
blower, or between the latter and the drying room, a refrigerator or means of cooling
or reducing the temperature of the air extracted from the coil.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, and of
an Order of the Lord Chancellor, filed by the said William Robert Lake in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th March 1883. .
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, "AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR
"
EXTRACTING MOISTURE FROM AIR TO DE USED FOR DRYING FISH, MEAT, TEXTILE
FABRICS, LEATHER OR OTHER MATERIALS A communication to me from abroad
by Ralph Smith Jennings, of Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
This invention relates to an improved method or process and apparatus for the
treatment of ordinary atmospheric air to deprive such air of its normal humidity
by converting the moisture into its gaseous constituents, which, with the air, are is
subsequently reduced in temperature to blood heat or to a lower degree and
utilized for drying cotton, wool, leather, paper, tobacco or other material in a
drying room.
It is a well known fact that air at a high temperature or steam heat has generally
a very damaging effect on textile materials, fruit, tobacco, glue, fish, chemicals, and
other matters or substances, so that drying by a natural process has been necessary.
This natural process being slow and always uncertain, it frequently happens that,
by reason of change of weather, the materials, while exposed for the purpose of
being dried, absorb moisture, thereby causing serious delays, and annoyance and
often loss. Amongst articles of food heretofore dried in the open air and not
susceptible of being dried by steam heat, is salted codfish which requires to be
exposed for several days in good drying weather, and, in bad weather, sometimes
requires to be exposed for weeks, to sufficiently dry it. It may, however, be dried
by the present improved process in any weather and in the most perfect manner at
the common temperatures, and usually in about two hours, the fish so dried being
whiter and far more agreeable to the taste than those exposed to the sun, rain,
dust and wind and handled many times as in the ordinary process of treatment.
Fresh meat which generally requires an exposure for forty eight hours to one
hundred and fifty degrees (150°) of steam heat to dry it suitably for packing, may
by the present invention be dried to better advantage in a few hours time and at
a temperature below blood heat
Glue and chemicals of various kinds which to be dried have heretofore required
to be exposed to the atmosphere and subjected to the damaging changes of weather,
may by the present invention be dried in a few hours and at a temperature of forty
degrees (40°) Fahrenheit if desirable.
Boots and shoes in process of manufacture at a certain stage require about
twenty four hours exposure to steam heat, which often injures the quality by
curling the leather and raising the grain, and gives the goods the appearance of an
inferior article and a harsh and disagreeable feel. By the the present invention they
may be dried in one quarter of the time and the appearance and feel of the leather
cannot be injured as the temperature is maintained at a low degree and the process
has all the advantages of nature's most perfect means of drying.
In drying cotton goods, all danger of turning the goods yellow or of injury to
the texture are, by the present invention, virtually obviated, while the process of
desiccation is greatly accelerated.

page_text: Drying wool by steam heat is expensive and in summer time very disagreeable.
The wool is rendered "brashy" and often injured by too high a temperature, all of
which objections are overcome and much time is saved by the present invention.
Drying tobacco by steam heat is a slow, expensive and often damaging process
requiring a large amount of space, but by the present invention it may be effected
rapidly in a small space and in perfect safety.
Manufactured cigars, which cannot be dried satisfactorily by steam heat, may by
the present invention be dried in a few hours.
For laundry drying the value of this invention cannot be over estimated. The
clothes are bleached instead of being turned yellow, as is often the case by the
ordinary process. The strength and texture cannot be injured as is almost always
the case by steam heat, and more than half the time and expense are saved.
In drying paper in the process of manufacture, what is termed "loft drying" is
equalled, if not improved upon by the present invention, the paper being dried
thereby as rapidly as steam drying is effected and at less expense; loft dried paper
being worth about one penny per pound more than steam dried paper, the value of
the present invention in connection with this material will readily be understood
by persons skilled in making paper. Air or loft dried strawboard (worth about
twenty shillings more per ton than steam dried paper) may be dried by the present
invention in less time than is required to hang it up or to spread it on the ground
to say nothing about the time required in drying, the uncertainty of the weather
and consequent delays, and the handling required.
Wood pulp, a material so difficult and troublesome to dry that it is customary
to ship it from the pulp mills to the paper manufacturer containing about from
sixty (60) per cent to sixty eight (68) per cent of water can be dried by the
present invention thoroughly and rapidly as it comes from the pulp machine,
thereby saving in freight alone an amount more than equal to the profit now made
n the article.
Artificial fertilizers, fish scrap, acid phosphates and the like, for the drying of
which steam heat has never been successfully used, can by the present invention be
dried without damage to their quality, in a few hours, and at a merely nominal
expense.
In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated improved apparatus for carrying
into practice the said method or process of drying.
In Figures 1 and 2 which represents, in sectional elevation, different-arrangements
of the said apparatus, A represents a furnace for heating air, which furnace has
immediately over the fire-place a chamber a over which is a smoke receiving
chamber b provided with a discharge flue or pipe c. From the fire-chamber a series
if pipes d extend upward through the chamber a to the smoke-chamber, the whole
being so arranged that the smoke and volatile products of combustion from the fire-
place, when the furnace is in operation, will pass through the pipes d into the
Smoke-chamber.
In Figure, a pipe e is shown leading out of the upper part of the chamber a
and into a serpentine coil or pipe f, arranged within a case B, which at its lower
part is provided with one or more air inlets g.
Out of the upper part of the case B a pipe h leads to the lower part of the
chamber a. The coil fat its lower end communicates with a blower C, for drawing
air from the coil and discharging it by an eduction pipe i into the vertical tubular
shaft of a rotary fan D. This fan is provided with a series of wings or vanes 1,
arranged radially to the said shaft k. Between these wings and projecting from
the shaft are a series of curved eduction pipes m from which, when the fan is
rotating, air from the shaft is discharged against the vanes 1, in order that it may
be deflected from, and thrown off by, them or diffused to advantage into the drying
room or apartment E, in which the fan is situated. In the lower part of the said
apartment is a perforated or foraminous auxiliary floor n. A blower F communicates
with the space o, beneath the auxiliary floor, the ed ction pipe p of the said blower
being extended upward as shown.

page_text: From the above description it will be seen that when there is fuel in combustion
in the fire-place of the furnace and the two blowers and the rotary fan are put
in operation by power suitably applied thereto, air in the chamber a may can be
heated to a temperature sufficient to decompose the moisture in the said air. The
constituent-gases-resulting-from-such-decomposition-will-be driven-with-the heated
air of which the moisture has been thus decomposed will be driven into and
through the tubular or serpentine coil and will raise the temperature of the
same and thereby heat the air flowing through the case B, which air thus heated
will be drawn out of the upper part of such case, into and through the moisture
decomposing chamber a. The air and gases reduced to a low temperature (say
about one hundred degrees Fahrenheit or less if required) will be extracted by the
blower C from the coil f and be driven into and out of the fan shaft k. The fan in
revolving will diffuse the air through the drying room, and upon the goods, articles
or materials therein to be dried. The air charged with moisture rapidly evaporated
from such materials will be extracted from the drying apartment by the exhausting
blower F. In this manner the moisture contained in atmospheric air can be
decomposed and the dry cool air be economically utilized with-the-air as above
specified.
In Figure 2, the coil and its case (or a passage sufficiently extensive to constitute
an equivalent thereof) forming a part of the Apparatus arranged according to
this Invention are not represented, this Figure merely illustrating a modification
of the the exhaust-blower-c-being shown, in this-Figure, as-communicating by-a
pipe-r with the upper part of the air heating chamber a of the furnace. The
rotary fan of the drying chamber which is without the curved eduction pipes m
upon the hollow shaft, which is open at its upper end, in order that the air may
escape therefrom between the vanes and be diffused or thrown from them when
they are rotated. The shaft may, however, if desired be--provided with lateral
eduction-pipes.
If desirable there may be interposed between the coil for-furnace and its exhaust
blower C, or between the latter and the drying room a refrigerator or means for
further cooling or reducing the temperature of the air extracted from the coil f.
Having thus fully described the said invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent and the manner of performing the same I wish it understood
that I Claim:-
First. The combination of means for heating air so as to decompose its moisture,
means for reducing the temperature of such air and the gaseous constituents of
such-moisture, means for discharging such air and-constituents into, and diffusing
it them through, a drying room or apartment, and means for extracting or
discharging it them from this apartment after it has they have become charged
with moisture evaporated through their its agency from a material or materials
in the said apartment, all substantially as, and for the purposes, set forth.
Second. The combination of the air receiving case and its tubular or serpentine
coil with the air-heating furnace, the connecting pipes and the exhaust blower of
the said coil (with or without the rotary fan) all substantially as, and for the purposes,
set forth.
Third. The air-distributor-or-rotary-fan, substantially-as described, consisting of
the-hollow shaft, the wings or vanes-and-the-eduction pipe or pipes adapted to
receive-and-diseharge-air-from-a-blower-as-set-forth.
Fourth. The combination of the air heater with a blower, a rotary-fan, and a
drying-chamber-containing-such-fan-and-having-an eduction pipe,-with-or-without
an-exhaust-blower, for-the-escape-of-air.
Third Fifth. The method or process, substantially as described, of producing a
apidly dessiccative or evaporative atmosphere at a low temperature for use as
above specified, which methiod or process consists in causing atmospheric air, more
or less charged with moisture, to come into contact with a heated surface or surfaces,
so heated as to decompose such moisture and then by suitable means reducing to

page_text: the low temperature required the said air and the gaseous constituents--of-its
moisture.
Fourth Sixth. The combination of the air-heater, the air receiving case, the
tubular coil, the connecting pipes of such coil, case and heater, the blower, the
rotary fan, and the drying apartment containing such fan, all constructed and
arranged to operate substantially as, and for the purposes, set forth.
In Witness whereof I the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Twenty ninth day of March in the year of Our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty three.

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the firm of Haseltine Lake
& Co. Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London for an Invention of
"AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING MOISTURE FROM.
AIR TO BE USED FOR DRYING FISH, MEAT, TEXTILE FABRICS, LEATHER OR OTHER
MATERIALS Communicated to him from abroad by Ralph Smith Jennings,
of Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd September 1882.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake and Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, "AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR
EXTRACTING MOISTURE FROM AIR TO BE USED FOR DRYING FISH, MEAT, TEXTILE
FABRICS, LEATHER OR OTHER MATERIALS" [A communication to him from abroad
by Ralph Smith Jennings, of Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.]
.This invention relates to the treatment of atmospheric air at its natural tempe-
rature by heat to deprive such air of its normal humidity by converting the
moisture into its gaseous constituents, they, with the air, being subsequently reduced
in temperature to blood heat, or to a lower degree, and utilized for drying cotton,
wool, leather, paper, tobacco or other material in a drying room.
It is a well known fact that air at a high temperature, or steam-heat, has
generally a very damaging effect on textile material fruit, tobacco, glue, fish,
chemicals and other matters or substances so that drying by a natural process has
been a necessity. This natural process being slow and always uncertain, it is often
the case that materials while exposed for being dried, do, by reason of change of
weather, absorb moisture, causing serious delays and annoyance, and often loss..
Among articles of food dried in the open air and not susceptible of being dried by
steam heat, is salted codfish, which requires several days of good drying weather to
sufficiently dry it, and in bad weather sometimes weeks. It may however be dried.
by my process in any weather, and in the most perfect manner, at common tempe-
ratures, and usually in about two hours, the fish so dried being whiter and far
DC77

page_text: better to the taste than those exposed to the sun, rain, dust, and wind, and handled
many times in the ordinary process of treatment.
Fresh meat that generally requires an exposure of forty eight hours to 150°
steam heat to dry suitably for packing, may, by my invention, be dried to better
advantage in a few hours time and at a temperature below blood heat.
Glue and chemicals of various kinds which to be dried bave heretofore required
to be exposed to the open air and subjected to the damaging changes of weather,
may, by my invention, be dried in a few hours and at a temperature of 40° if
desirable.
Boots and shoes in process of manufacture, at a certain stage, require some twenty
four hours exposure to steam heat which often injures the quality by curling the
leather and raising the grain, and gives the goods the appearance of an inferior
article and a harsh and disagreeable feel. By my invention they may be dried in
one quarter the time and the appearance and feel of the leather cannot be injured,
as the temperature is maintained at a low degree and the process has all the
advantages of nature's most perfect means of drying.
In drying cotton goods, all danger of turning the goods yellow, or of injury to the
texture, is, by my invention, virtually obviated, while the process of desiccation is
greatly accelerated.
'
Drying wool by steam heat is expensive, and in summer time, very disagreeable.
The wool is rendered "brashy" and often injured by too high a temperature, all of
which objections are overcome, and much time saved by my invention.
Drying of tobacco by steam heat is a slow, expensive, and often damaging process,
requiring a large amount of space, but with my invention it may be effected rapidly
in a small space and in perfect safety.
Manufactured cigars which cannot be dried satisfactorily by steam heat, may, by
my invention be dried in a few hours.
For laundry drying the value of this invention cannot be over estimated. The
clothes are bleached instead of being turned yellow, as is often the case by the
ordinary process. The strength and texture cannot be injured as is almost always
the case by steam heat and more than half the time and expense are saved.
In drying paper in process of manufacture, what is termed "loft drying" is
equalled, if not improved upon by my invention, the paper being dried thereby as
rapidly as steam drying is effected, and at less expense; loft-dried paper being
worth about one penny per pound more than steam dried paper-the value of the
invention in this connection will readily be understood by persons skilled in making
paper. Air or loft dried strawboard (worth about twenty shillings more per ton
than steam dried paper) may be dried by my invention in less time than is
required to hang it up or to spread it on the ground, to say nothing about the time
required in drying, and the uncertainty of the weather and consequent delays, and
handling required.
Wood-pulp, a material, so difficult and troublesome to dry that it is customary to
ship it from the pulp mills to the paper manufacturer containing about from 60°
to 68% of water, can be dried by my invention thoroughly and rapidly as it comes
from the pulp machine, thereby saving in freight alone an amount more than equal
to the profit now made on the article.
Artificial fertilizers, fish scrap, acid phosphates and the like, for the drying of
which, steam heat has never been successfully used, can, by my invention, be dried
without damage to their quality, in a few hours, and at a merely nominal expense.
In carrying my said invention into practice, I provide a furnace for heating air,
such furnace having immediately over the fire-place a chamber over which is a
smoke-receiving chamber provided with a discharge flue or pipe. From the fire-
chamber a series of pipes extend to the smoke-chamber and upward through the.
first named chamber, the whole being arranged so that the smoke and volatile
products of combustion from the fire-place, when the furnace may be in operation,
shall blow through. the said series of pipes and into the smoke-chamber.
A pipe is provided leading out of the upper part of the first named chamber and

page_text: into a serpentine coil or pipe arranged within a case, which, at its lower part, is
provided with one or more air-inlets. Out of the upper part of this case a pipe
leads to the lower part of the chamber over the fireplace. Furthermore the coil,
at its lower end, communicates with a blower for drawing air from the coil, and
discharging it by an educt into a vertical tubular shaft of a rotary fan. This fan
is provided with a series of wings or vanes arranged radially to the said shaft.
Between these wings there projects from the shaft a series of curved educts, from
which, when the fan may be in revolution, air from the shaft is discharged against
the vanes in order that it may be deflected from, and thrown off by, them, or
diffused to advantage into the drying room or apartment in which the fan may be
situated. In the lower part of the said apartment is a perforated or foraminous
auxiliary floor. A blower communicates with the space beneath the auxiliary floor,
the eduction of said blower being extended upward.
From the above description it will be seen that when there may be fuel in
combustion in the fire-place of the furnace, and the two blowers and the rotary fan
are put in operation by power suitably applied to them, air in the first named
chamber may be heated to temperature sufficient to decompose the moisture in
said air. The constituent gases resulting from such decomposition, with the heated
air, will be driven into and through the tubular coil and will heat it, whereby it
will be caused to heat the air that may be flowing through the coil-case, which air
thus heated will be drawn out of the upper part of such case and into and through
the moisture decomposing chamber. The air gases reduced to a low temperature
(say about one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, or less if required) will, by the blower,
be extracted from the coil and driven into and out of the fan shaft. The fan, in
revolving, will diffuse the air through the drying room, and upon the goods, articles,
or materials therein to be dried. The air charged with moisture rapidly evapo-
rated from such materials will be extracted from the drying apartment by the
exhausting blower. In this manner atmospheric air charged with humidity can
have the latter decomposed, and with the air be economically utilized as stated.
According to a modification, the exhaust-blower communicates by a pipe with
the upper part of the air-heating chamber of the furnace. The rotary fan of the
drying chamber is without the curved educts to its hollow shaft which is open at
its upper end, in order that the air may escape therefrom between the vanes and
be diffused, or thrown from them, while they may be in revolution. The shaft may,
however, be provided with lateral educts..
If desirable there may be interposed between the coil or furnace and its exhaust-
blower, or between the latter and the drying room, a refrigerator or means of cooling
or reducing the temperature of the air extracted from the coil.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, and of
an Order of the Lord Chancellor, filed by the said William Robert Lake in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th March 1883.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, "AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR
USED FOR DRYING FISH, MEAT, TEXTILE
A communication to me from abroad
"
EXTRACTING MOISTURE FROM AIR TO BE
FABRICS, LEATHER OR OTHER MATERIALS
by Ralph Smith Jennings, of Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
This invention relates to an improved method or process and apparatus for the
treatment of ordinary atmospheric air to deprive such air of its normal humidity;
by converting the moisture into its gaseous constituents, which, with, the air, are
subsequently reduced in temperature to blood heat or to a lower degree and
utilized for drying cotton, wool, leather, paper, tobacco or other material in a
drying room.
.:
It is a well known fact that air at a high temperature or steam heat has generally,
a very damaging effect on textile materials, fruit;, tobacco, glue, fish, chemicals, and:
other matters or substances, so that drying by a natural process has been necessary.;
This natural process being slow and always uncertain, it frequently happens that,
by reason of change of weather, the materials, while exposed for the purpose of
being dried, absorb moisture, thereby causing serious delays, and annoyance and
often loss. Amongst articles of food heretofore dried in the open air and not
susceptible of being dried by steam heat, is salted codfish which requires to be
exposed for several days in good drying weather, and, in bad weather; sometimes
requires to be exposed for weeks, to sufficiently dry it. It may, however, be dried.
by the present improved process in any weather and in the most perfect manner at
the common temperatures, and usually in about two hours, the fish so dried being.
whiter and far more agreeable to the taste than those exposed to the sun, rain,
dust and wind and handled many times as in the ordinary process of treatment.
Fresh meat which generally requires an exposure for forty eight hours to one
hundred and fifty degrees (150°) of steam heat to dry it suitably for packing, may
by the present invention be dried to better advantage in a few hours time and at
a temperature below blood.heat
$
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Glue and chemicals of various kinds which to, be dried have heretofore required
to be exposed to the atmosphere and subjected to the dainaging changes of weather,
may by the present invention be dried in a few hours and at a temperature of forty
degrees (40°) Fahrenheit if desirable.
8
Boots and shoes in process of manufacture at a certain stage require about
twenty four hours exposure to steam heat, which often injures the quality by
curling the leather and raising the grain, and gives the goods the appearance of an
inferior article and a harsh and disagreeable feel. By the the present invention they
may be dried in one quarter of the time and the appearance and feel of the leather
cannot be injured as the temperature is maintained at a low degree and the process
bas all the advantages of nature's most perfect means of drying.
In drying cotton goods, all danger of turning the goods yellow or of injury to
the texture are, by the present invention, virtually obviated, while the process of
desiccation is greatly accelerated.
Drying wool by steam heat is expensive and in summer time very disagreeable.
The wool is rendered "brashy" and often injured by too high a temperature, all of
which objections are overcome and much time is saved by the present invention.
Drying tobacco by steam heat is a slow, expensive and often damaging process
requiring a large amount of space, but by the present invention it may be effected
rapidly in a small space and in perfect safety.
Manufactured cigars, which cannot be dried satisfactorily by steam heat, may by
the present invention be dried in a few hours.
For laundry drying the value of this invention cannot be over estimated. The

page_text: clothes are bleached instead of being turned yellow, as is often the case by the
ordinary process. The strength and texture cannot be injured as is almost always
the case by steam heat, and more than half the time and expense are saved.
In drying paper in the process of manufacture, what is termed "loft drying" is
equalled, if not improved upon by the present invention, the paper being dried
thereby as rapidly as steam drying is effected and at less expense; loft dried paper
being worth about one penny per pound more than steam dried paper, the value of
the present invention in connection with this material will readily be understood
by persons skilled in making paper. Air or loft dried strawboard (worth about
twenty shillings more per ton than steam dried paper) may be dried by the present
invention in less time than is required to hang it up or to spread it on the ground
to say nothing about the time required in drying, the uncertainty of the weather'
and consequent delays, and the handling required.
Wood pulp, a material so difficult and troublesome to dry that it is customary
to ship it from the pulp mills to the paper manufacturer containing about from
sixty (60) per cent to sixty eight (68) per cent of water can be dried by the
present invention thoroughly and rapidly as it comes from the pulp machine,
thereby saving in freight alone an amount more than equal to the profit now made
on the article.
Artificial fertilizers, fish scrap, acid phosphates and the like, for the drying of
which steam heat has never been successfully used, can by the present invention be
dried without damage to their quality, in a few hours, and at a merely nominal
expense.
"
In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated improved apparatus for carrying
into practice the said method or process of drying.
In Figures 1 and 2 which represent, in sectional elevation, different arrangements
of the said apparatus, A represents a furnace for heating air, which furnace bas
immediately over the fire-place a chamber a over which is a smoke receiving
chamber b provided with a discharge flue or pipe c. From the fire-chamber a series'
of pipes d extend upward through the chamber a to the smoke-chamber, the whole
being so arranged that the smoke and volatile products of combustion from the fire-
place, when the furnace is in operation, will pass through the pipes d into the
smoke-chamber.
0
In Figure 1, a pipe e is shown leading out of the upper. part of the chamber a
and into a serpentine coil or pipe f, arranged within a case B, which at its lower
part is provided with one or more air inlets g.
•
Out of the upper part of the case B a pipe h leads to the lower part of the
chamber a. The coil fat its lower end communicates with a blower C, for drawing
air from the coil and discharging it by an eduction pipe i into the vertical tubular
shaft k of a rotary fan D. This fan is provided with a series of wings or vanes l,
arranged radially to the said shaft k. Between these wings and projecting from
the shaft are a series of curved eduction pipes m'from which, when the fan is
rotating, air from the shaft is discharged against the vanes l, in order that it may
be deflected from, and thrown off by, them or diffused to advantage into the drying
room or apartment E, in which the fan is situated. In the lower part of the said
apartment is a perforated or foraminous auxiliary floor n. A blower F communicates
with the space o, beneath the auxiliary floor, the eduction pipe p of the said blower
being extended upward as shown.
From the above description it will be seen that when there is fuel in combustion
in the fire-place of the furnace and the two blowers and the rotary fan are put
in operation by power suitably applied thereto, air in the chamber a may be heated
to a temperature sufficient to decompose the moisture in the said air. The
constituent gases resulting from such decomposition will be driven with the heated
air into and through the tubular or serpentine coil and will raise the temperature
of the same and thereby heat the air flowing through the case B, which air thus
heated will be drawn out of the upper part of such case, into and through the
moisture decomposing chamber a. The air and gases reduced to a low temperature
i

page_text: (say about one hundred degrees Fahrenheit or less if required) will be extracted by
the blower from the coil and be driven into and out of the fan shaft. The fan in
revolving will diffuse the air through the drying room, and upon the goods, articles
or materials therein to be dried. The air charged with moisture rapidly evaporated
from such materials will be extracted from the drying apartment by the exhausting
blower. In this manner the moisture contained in atmospheric air can be
decomposed and economically utilized with the air as above specified.
In Figure 2, the coil and its case are not represented, the exhaust blower c being
shown, in this Figure, as communicating by a pipe r with the upper part of the air-
heating chamber a of the furnace. The rotary fan of the drying chamber is without
the curved eduction pipes upon the hollow shaft, which is open at its upper end, in
order that the air may escape therefrom between the vanes and be diffused or
thrown from them when they are rotated. The shaft may, however, if desired be
provided with lateral eduction pipes.
If desirable there may be interposed between the coil or furnace and its exhaust.
blower, or between the latter and the drying room a refrigerator or means for
cooling or reducing the temperature of the air extracted from the coil.
Having thus fully described the said invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent and the manner of performing the same I wish it understood
that I Claim :-
First. The combination of means for heating air so as to decompose its moisture,
means for reducing the temperature of such air and the gaseous constituents of
such moisture, means for discharging such air and constituents into, and diffusing
them through, a drying room or apartment, and means for extracting or discharging
them from this apartment after they have become charged with moisture evaporated
through their agency from a material or materials in the said apartment, all
substantially as, and for the purposes, set forth.
Second. The combination of the air receiving case and its tubular or serpentine
coil with the air-heating furnace, the connecting pipes and the exhaust blower of
the said coil (with or without the rotary fan) all substantially as, and for the purposes,
set forth.
Third. The air-distributor or rotary fan, substantially as described, consisting of
the hollow shaft, the wings or vanes and the eduction pipe or pipes adapted to.
receive and discharge air from a blower as set forth.
Fourth. The combination of the air-heater with a blower, a rotary fan, and a
drying chamber containing such fan and having an eduction pipe, with or without
an exhaust blower, for the escape of air.
Fifth. The method or process, substantially as described, of producing a rapidly
dessiccative or evaporative atmosphere at a low temperature for use as above
specified, which method or process consists in causing atmospheric air, more or less
charged with moisture, to come into contact with a heated surface or surfaces, so as
to decompose such moisture and then by suitable means reducing to the low
temperature required the said air and the gaseous constituents of its moisture.
Sixth. The combination of the air-heater, the air receiving case, the tubular coil,
the connecting pipes of such coil, case and heater, the blower, the rotary fan, and
the drying apartment containing such fan, all constructed and arranged to operate
substantially as, and for the purposes, set forth.
In Witness whereof I the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Twenty ninth day of March in the year of Our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty three.