GB398628A - Automatic kiln drying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

398,628. Drying grain &c. MURPHY, J., Mill Place, Bandon, and BAND ON MILLING & ELECTRIC LIGHTING CO., Ltd., Bandon, Co. Cork, Irish Free State. July 25, 1932, No. 20977. [Class 34 (ii).] Apparatus for drying grain or like granular materials comprises a single horizontal stationary floor 1 heated by suitable means such as a coke fire, electrical means, or steam piping, and a plurality of horizontal arms 13 non- rotatable about their own axes, mounted so as to rotate about a vertical shaft 2, and provided with vertical paddles or blades 16 inclined at an angle to the direction of travel, for the purpose of turning the grain and moving it towards a discharge aperture or apertures 21. The mechanism for driving the arms 13 consists of a worm wheel 5 keyed to the shaft 2 and driven by a worm 6 mounted on a horizontal shaft 7 driven through the intervention of a flexible coupling 8. A second worm reduction mechanism 9 is driven by a pulley 10, which is in turn driven by a belt from a prime mover. The whole operating mechanism is mounted, preferably as a unit, on girders 11 supported at their ends on the kiln walls 24. The blades 16 are set in staggered relation in the successive rotating arms. Instead of arranging all the blades at the same angle as shown, the angle may be reduced in successive blades from the centre to the periphery of the rotating arm, so as to achieve an even height of grain. A blade 20 is placed at the extremity of each arm 13 at right-angles to the direction of motion, in order to sweep the grain towards the apertures 21. Instead of the arrangement shown, the discharge apertures may be arranged in the centre of the floor, the grain being fed thereto at the periphery instead of at the centre. In another alternative form, the end blades 20 and the apertures 21 can be eliminated, the grain being pushed over the edge of the walls of the kiln floor down inclines into suitable scoops and shoots. Instead of a floor of perforated tiles 22 as shown, a floor of wire mesh or imperforate sheet metal may be employed.