IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OR PROCESS OF DRYING MALT, GRAIN, OR ROOTS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Nash, of Market Rasen, in the County of
Lincoln, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OR PROCESS
OF DRYING MALT, GRAIN, OR ROOTS."
Sealed the 23rd February 1855, and dated the 27th December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Nash at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th December
1854.
I, JOHN NASH, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OR PROCESS OF DRYING MALT, GRAIN, OR ROOTS,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention is an improvement on the process of drying malt, grain, and
roots, by the application of hot water apparatus after the growing process is
completed.
No. 1 is the low room of the kiln. Under the ordinary plan there are
ground arches, with fire-place about the centre; in this, it is a room for the
growing of grain before dried. No. 2 is a floor, made of plaster, or any suit-
able material, supported by pillars. This floor is of three-fold use; viz, 1st,
to carry a sufficient quantity of pillars, of either brick, stone, iron, or any other

page_text: suitable material, for the purpose of supporting floor or frame No. 3; 2nd,
the iron bars passing through the pillars to support hot water pipes;. 3rd, for
receiving the fibres, roots, or comb which fall through the holes whilst the
drying is going on. No. 4 is supported by iron bars, resting on the pillars,
named before, on which are tiles made of clay, iron wire, or any other suitable
material; on this floor the malt, grain, or roots are placed for being dried
sufficiently. No. 5 is a low room, built by the side of the drying kiln, in
which is placed a furnace for generating the heat passing through the ascen-
sion pipe to pipes in floor No. 3; this room contains an iron door, communi-
cating with floor No. 2, for the purpose of moving the malt comb when
necessary. The advantages to be derived in this over the ordinary plan of
drying malt, grain, or roots are saving in labor and fuel. The difference are
the value of the malt comb, between its falling down amongst the sulphur
and dust and falling in a clean chamber, will be considerable; as, under the
ordinary plan, the comb is used for manure, and under this plan it will be
suitable food for cattle; and in consequence of the regular heat, more goods
may be dried in the same time and space as in the ordinary plan.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Nash in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th June
1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
NASH, of Market Rasen, in the County of Lincolnshire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Nash, Her special licence that I, the said John Nash, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Nash, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OR PROCESS OF
DRYING MALT, GRAIN, OR ROOTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,

page_text: the said John Nash, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
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 John Nash, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the annexed or accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
forming part of this my Specification, and to the letters of reference marked
thereon, to denote similar parts where such parts appear or can be seen on each
of the Diagrams respectively.
My Invention is an improvement upon the mode or means at present in use
for drying malt, grain, roots, or other vegetable matter, by making use of hot
water and hot air, or the former only for the purpose, conducted and applied
as hereafter described. In obtaining the necessary caloric from hot water and
air, instead of the ordinary means, I secure many advantages, amongst others,
great saving in fuel; for by my improvements malt is dried effectually with
less than one-half the fuel used in an ordinary drying kiln of similar capacity.
I also ascertain that the difference in the value of the malt comb, on a com-
parison between my process and those hitherto used, is
very considerable. By
my Invention, the comb is obtained perfectly clean and sweet in the drying
chamber or compartment of the kiln, and is not injured by falling amongst
sulphur and dust, as is the case in kilns of the ordinary construction; indeed
the absence of sulphur in my manipulations of malt, grain, or roots alone, sup-
posing there to be no other advantage arising from my process, ought to recom-
mend it to the public use, as the operators will escape the asthmetical short-
ness of breath consequent on the old system; but when to this is added a gain
or saving in every part of the process of drying malt, it must be manifest that
its use will prove a great public benefit, both statistically and morally. Instead
of using the comb for manure, I find that that part of the comb produced by
my Invention in the chamber, as aforesaid, is a good and nutritious food for
cattle; thus a double advantage is derived from the same product. In my
arrangements it will be seen that I have obtained the power of regulating the
heat over every part of my chamber at pleasure, also providing that it shall be
equal in all parts thereof. By the absence of both smoke and sulphur in my
chamber or rooms, I ascertain that the quality of the dried malt, grain, or
roots is considerably better than any previously produced, and that beer made

page_text: from the malt dried under or by my Invention exceeds in quantity (allowing
the same strength to each) that made from malt dried under the processes in
general use by full twenty per cent. Again, I have to observe that the malt
treated under my Invention will when prepared be as pale as is the color of
the barley from which it is produced when such barley is first placed in the
cistern; and it is manifest that a pure malt will produce a more genuine or
nutritious beer or liquor than a malt charged with all the impurities attendant
on the present system of malting, where sulphur so noxiously prevails. I must
further observe, before entering upon the description of my modus operandi,
that I not only use a considerable per-centage less sacharine in brewing
with the malt produced by my Invention, but that I obtain an important addi-
tion of sacharine thereby, and it is scarcely needful to observe that good
sacharine extracted from good malt is most valuable to the brewer. I may
thus sum up the principle advantages of my improvements in the means or
process of drying malt, grain, or roots:-I economize largely in the quantity
of fuel used; I increase considerably the value of the malt comb; I increase the
quantity of sacharine, and effect an economy in the after use thereof; I render
the quality of the malt superior, and the color brighter and more natural.
These improvements combined effect a saving in material and increased value
of product, which, submitted to calculation on a large scale, appear almost
fabulous; but I have certain data, from which I may state with confidence that
if four million quarters of barley be malted and used in a year, the saving or
gain would approximate (by using my Invention instead of the usual kilns, &c.)
two million pounds sterling, exclusive of the saving in coal (made into coke),
which in the above given quantity could not be less than a twentieth of that
amount. As there is no essential difference between my mode of treating
malt and other grain or roots until I place them in the kiln to be treated
according to my Invention, it will be unnecessary to enter into any detail of
the earlier stages of malting; I therefore at once proceed to describe my
Invention, and the accompanying Drawing.
Figure 1 being a front elevation of the drying kiln; Figure 2, a plan view
of the drying floor; Figure 3, a plan of the hot-air flues; Figure 4, a sectional
view of the furnace; Figure 5, an elevation of the inner face of the front wall
of the drying chamber, with the ascension, expansion, and fill pipes. At
Figure 1 will be seen a front elevation of the drying kiln, which is divided
into a room, technically termed the low room, which I use for growing or
withering the grain, before it, the grain, is dried; the roof of which is supported
by pillars, and the ceiling either groined, or otherwise solidly constructed, so as

page_text: to bear its share of the superincumbant weight, the first portion of which is
the floor of the drying chamber. This floor is to be made of plaster, or any
other material snitable for the purpose, and it receives the fibres, roots, or
comb which fall through while the process of drying is going on.
On this
floor is placed a number of short pillars a, a, made of brick, stone, metal, or
other suitable material; these pillars serve as bearers to certain joists or balks
b, the ends of which joists or balks meet in the centre of the top of the pillars,
and are securely attached together and thereto, and in their turn serve to sup:
port the iron rafters c, which support the rafters on which the perforated plates,
tiles, or metallic wirework, on which the wire on which the malt, grain, or roots
rest during the operation of drying. Between these balks and the floor, hot
water pipes d, and flues, with their rests or supports, are placed or laid, (but
these will be found described in the description herein-after given of Diagram
Figure 2. In the elevation will be noticed four holes ff, through which
(there being the same number on each side of the kiln) I effect. ventilation
when required. These apertures communicate with the chamber containing
the hot water pipes and flues, and the air admitted passes upwards through the
perforated tiles, wirework, or other material on which the malt is placed for
drying, and thus through the malt or grain undergoing that process. These.
apertures are closed, when not in use, by caps provided to fit them, and so
exclude the outer air; they may be of any number, according to the size of
the kiln. There are also four or more apertures left in the ceiling of the low
room, communicating with the drying chamber, for ventilating the latter in
conjunction with (or otherwise) those already described, and the operation of
the latter is similar to the former. A man-hole 9 is also provided for cleaning
out the pipe and flue chamber, and removing the malt comb, and is closed by
an iron door. And I would here observe that the hot water pipes used in my
Invention are to be cleansed from deposits or impurities when required by
means of a force pump, to be applied wherever it may be found most con-
venient to connect its mouth with the said hot water pipes. On the outside of
the kiln it will be seen, by reference to the elevation aforesaid, is the furnace
house (shewn on the Drawing in dotted lines only), the furnace for generating
the heat passing through the ascension pipes to pipes d, d, and the chimney or
shaft. The hot water pipes d, d, are shewn going from the sides of the
furnace up the front of the kiln and entering under the drying floor. A
better view of the furnace, with the coils of piping heated thereby, is given at
Figure 4, where the said pipes, marked d, d, are shewn in sectional elevation,
a.coil being placed on each side of the fire. Figure 2 is a plan view of the

page_text: drying chamber or floor; a, a, being the pillars which support the cross bars b, b,
on which the pipes d, d, are laid, the cross bars c, c, in the opposite direction
being here placed to carry the rafters (before mentioned), on which the perfo-*
rated tiles, perforated plates, or wire-work are placed. Under the bearers of
the hot water pipes, and attached thereto, hot air pipes or flues e are placed
(shewn at Figure 3), and in red lines at Figure 2. It will be right to observe,
that these flues, although used by me both for obtaining hot air for use in
the drying chamber and for economizing fuel, are not absolutely necessary to
the success of the process of malt drying by hot water pipes, which forms the
staple of my Invention, and when used they need not be placed in the posi-
tions I have shewn them, but in any position which may be found convenient.
These flues, receiving and conducting hot air through the drying chamber, pass
the used air through a pipe h, which connects the kiln to the chimney or
shaft; these flues are shewn in dotted lines at Figure 1, and in plan at Figures
2 and 3. At Figure 5 will be seen an elevation of ascension pipes and expan-
sion chambers, the Diagram representing the inner face of the wall of the
drying room or chamber. The hot water is forced from the aforesaid furnace
up the ascension pipes d, in the direction of the arrows, into the expansion
chambers j, and thence descends to serve the horizontal pipes d.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the means by which
it is carried into practical effect, I would here remark that I have described
and shewn the arrangement as applied in a kiln already constructed and used
by myself; that I find the combination of parts therein used to answer perfectly
well for the purposes set forth in the title of the Letters Patent granted to me
on the Twenty-seventh December, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
aforesaid. But I would have it distinctly understood that I do not confine
myself to the details herein described and shewn in the accompanying Draw-
ings, such as the quantity in measure or capacity in the bore of the piping, the
exact mode of laying or connecting the hot water pipes or services, the height
of the drying chamber, or the service of the flues, as the whole may and indeed
must be varied to suit the size or capacity of different kilus; or, in other words,
the proportions must be adapted to suit the circumstances of each particular
case where my Invention may be brought into use, and this may be done
without at all departing from the principle of my Invention as herein set
forth. And; again, I lay no claim to the exclusive use of any of the parts,
either in apparatus or in construction, taken simply as parts, and not put in
combination, for the purposes of my Invention.
But what I do claim is, the exclusive use, as of my Invention, of the com-

page_text: bination of mechanical arrangements herein-before described, forming when so
combined a means for the introduction of hot water and hot air (or the former
alone) into the drying chamber of malting kilns, and consequently effecting
improvements in the means or process of drying malt, grain, or roots.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Nash, have hereunto affixed my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
JOHN GEDGE, Patent Agent,
4, Wellington Street South,
Strand, London.
JOHN NASH. (L.S.)