US1551818A - Art of drying macaroni - Google Patents

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Sept. 1, 1925.

C. T. GARNSEY ART OF DRYING MACARONI Filed Oct. 29, 1925 m\\ :b. 1. @ii p lbiitbi:

m O o o 0 0 o I 67207163 I Gar/25654 J /(Q /7 7 922 Patented Sept. 1, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES T. GARNSEY, OF JOLIET, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T JOLIET MACARONI 00., OF

JULIET, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAVFARE.

ART OF DRYING MACARON I.

.Appiication filed October 29, 1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES T. GARlflSEY, a citizen of the United States, residing in 4 the city of J oliet, county of Will, and State 5 of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Drying Macaroni, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements'in the art of drying macaroni, which term I employ in a generic sense as including not only ordinary. macaroni sold in the form of sticks or elbows, but also any analogous food stock-made from flour and water, for exam- 1 ple, noodles, spaghetti or vermicelli. The

particular details of the invention, however,

are of especial value in connection with the drying of ordinary macaroni and particularly that of the elbow type.

The object of the invention isto provide an improved sanitary process and apparatus for rapidly and economicallyefiectlng the drying of the goods subsequent to the formation thereof, while producing a superior 2 article which shall not be baked or chalky or have other undesirable characteristics.

In the drawings which illustrate in a somewhat diagrammatic manner one form ofisuch apparatus: as applied to the drying of elbow goods,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the progressive dryelr for effecting the initialdrying of the '00 s.

Fig. 2 is an enlargement of a portion of Fig. 1.

ig. 3 is a front elevation of a portion of one of the agitators, and,

.Fig. 1 is an elevation, partly broken out,

of one .of the cabinets for completing the 40 drying.

In making the better class of goods of this character, it has heretofore been customary to remove the majorit of the moisture to be removed, and to comp etc the drying, in cabinets provided with superposed trays with perforated bottoms in which the goods are contained, air being circulated through the cabinets inorder to remove the moisture.

- With this systemit has been customary, so

far as I am advised, to place the goods in the tra s in a practically wet or very soft conditlon, so that it was necessary to stir or agitate the goods ,in the trays at frequent inter- Serial No. 871,291.

vals, as often as hourly in order to prevent the goods from sticking together or caki'ng. In view of the fact that the cabinet stage of drying ordinarily required many hours, it will readily be understood that the expense of the ordinary process is quite considerable.

After making. exteqsive testsaand experiments, I have determined that agitation of the goods in the cabinet stage of the drying is not essential, provided that the cabinet drying is carried on at the proper rate and provided further that before the goods are placed in the cabinet a sufiicient percentage of the removable moisture has been eliminated in a preliminary drying stage;

I have also determined that in order to re move the required percentage of moisture from the freshly ressed goods in order to permit of the fina drying stage in the cabinets to be carried on without agitation, it is advisable, from the standpoint of economy to perform the preliminary drying step at a progressively descending rate. These various theories or discoveries have been applied by me in the development of apparatus for drying elbow macaroni, which will now be described.

Referring to the drawings, 10 re resents a continuous stream or shower of t e elbows:-

as they are delivered from the presses on which they are formed. From the sloping apron 11, or other suitable distributing device, the goods are deposited in a.substantially uniform layer on a constantly traveling belt 12. Preferably the thickness of such layer is such that if the goods were perfectly distributed, the layer would be one .stick in thickness. Said belt 12 may be four feet or more in width and is preferably made of the belt 12 there is a second belt 16 of simi-' 17 and furthermore are set slightly staggered relative to belts 12 and 17 respectively so that. the droppings from belt 12 are received by belt 16, the droppings from belt 16 are received by belt 17, and the droppings the conveyor belt 12 at relatively high speed for example 17 feet per minute, said shaft 19 driving belt 17 at about 4 feet a minute. while cross belts 22 and 23 drive the belts l6 and 18 in the reverse direction at approximately 8 and 2 feet per minute respectively. All of said belts are mounted in a chamber in which the atmosphere is ordinarily'maintained about 100 F. or possibly somewhat higher, under certain atmospheric conditions. The air'in'said chamber is constantly circulated by fans or other suitable devices.

It will be observed that the movement of the goods is progressively retarded as the drying continues until, when the goods are belng carried on belt 18 they are moving at approximately one-fourth of the speed of belt 12. All of said belts being of the same width, this results in a progressive piling up or thickening of the layer so that the layer of goods on belt 18 is four times as thick as the layer of goods on the first belt 12. This results in a progressive retarding of the rate of drying as the goods descend from one belt to the next for the reason that there is a relatively less percentage of the surface of the goods exposed to the air which is being circulated.

It will be observed that the goods are agitated or stirred up and fresh surfaces are exposed to the air whenever they are trans ferredby gravity from an upper belt to a lower belt 0 the series, and in the case of the relativel -thin layers of goods on the two upper belts, this is ordinarily all the agitation and stirring which is required in order to prevent the oods from marking or sticking together. owever, in the'case of the lower two belts of the series, where the layer of goods is of considerable thickness, and where because of the relatively slower travel, the goods would otherwise remain in one position on the belt for a considerable period before dropping therefrom, it is advisable to install additional or auxiliary stirrers or agitators, for instance as indicated at 24, 25 and 26. Each of said stirrers 24, 25 and 26 comprises a stout rod or shaft 27 having set therein in spiral osition a series of comb fingers or rake teet as at 28.

Preferablyeach of the rake shafts 27 is located immediately above one of the supporting rollers 29, the bracket supporting roller 29 being preferably mounted in such a manner as to be vertically adjustable.

The shafts 27 which carry the agitator 1,551,srs

teeth 28 are preferably driven in a direction contrary to that in which the belts travel, thereby securing a more eflicient agitation.

The goods upon dropping off the end of the final or lowest belt 18 are received in trays as indicated at 30, each of said trays having a Wire mesh bottom 31 and imperforate sides so that it will fit into a drying cabinet such as indicated in Fig.4. Said drying cabinet, in the present instance, comprises a rack of four tiers of trays, the portion of the cabinet beneath said trays being divided by a partition 32 having a circular aperture 33 for receiving the impeller of a reversible circulating fan 34. Suitable arrangements are provided for heating the air circulated by said fan 34, which is reversed every hour or so, in order to effect proper distribution of the drying air. It will be understood that suitable vents for the moist air and openings for the dry air may be provided in order to prevent air in said cabinet from becoming too saturated. This also applies to the air which is circulated around and between the belts for effecting the preliminary drying step. In the particular installation herein described, the preliminar belt drying requires a period of approxlto 15 hours. Agitation of the goods in the cabinets is not essential, when the preliminary drying has been properly efi'ected and when the final stage of drying is carried on at the proper rate.

My improvements and tests indicate that in order to eliminate the necessity of stirring the goods in the trays of the cabinets, it is advisable to remove not less than 25% of the total removable moisture. As to the rate of drying in the preliminary belt stage of the process, I find it advisable not to attempt to remove more than 50% of the removable moisture within the first hour. If dried rapidly, the goods are inclined to bake or become chalky. However, for the sake of economy, it is desirable to effect the drying at such a rate that. at least 25% of the removable moisture may be eliminated within two hours.

The described details of construction and operation being illustrative of one phase only ofmy invention, the scope of same should be determined by reference to the appended cl ims, said claims being construed as broadly state of'the art.

I claim as my invention:

1.- The improvement in the art of drying s possible, consistent with the freshly formed goods in a thin layer, efiectin movement of said layer in contact with a drying atmosphere while pro ressively reducing the rate of drying'an completin the drying by subjecting the partly drie material to the drying action of an atmosphere at alower temperature than that at which the first stage of the drying, was effected.

' 2. The improvement in the art of drying macaroni which consists in depositing the freshly formed goodsin a thinlayer, effecting movement of said layer in contact with a drying atmosphere while progressively reducing the rate of drying, agitating the goods during such movement and finally com leting the drying by subjecting the part y dried material to the drying action of an atmosphere at a lower temperature 1 than that at which the first stage of the dryin was efiected. I

3. The improvement in the art of drying macaroni which consists in depositing the freshly formed goods in a. thin layer, and efl'ecting .movement of said layer in contact with a warm drying atmosphere while -pro gressi'vely reducing the speed of travel of said la .er, thereb increasing the thicknessof sai layer an thus retarding the rateof dr ing.

4. The im rovement in the art of drying macaroni w ich consists in depositing the freshly formed goods in a thin layer, and effecting movement of said layer in contact with a warm drying atmosphere while progressively reducing the speed of travel of said layer, thereby increasin the thickness of said layer andthus retar ing the rate of drying while agitating the goods during said speedreductiom 5. The improvement in the art of drying macaroni w ich consists in depositing the freshlyformed goods in a thin layer, effecting movement of said layer in contact with a warm drying atmospher'e'while progressively reducing the speed of travel of said layer, thereby increasing the thickness of said layer and thus retarding'the rate of drying while agitating the goods during said speed reduction and completing the green goods for at least thirty minutes to a atmosphere at a temperature high to remove at least twenty-five percent of the removable moisture within two hours, agitating the goods during the said treatment and subsequently continuing the drying drying at such temperature .and under such conditions that the rate of evaporation is reduced to less than'one-half of the initial rate. a a a 7. The improvement in the art of drying macaroni which consists in exposing the green goods to a drying atmos here at a temperature at least high enoug to be capable of removing at least twenty-five percent of the removable moisture within two hours, and until at least twenty-five percent 'of the total removable moisture is extracted, agitating the said goods during the said treatment and subsequently contmuing the drying at a rate of less than one-third of the initial-rate.

8. The improvement in the art of drying macaroni which consists in depositing the freshly-formed goods in a thin layer, efi'ecting movement of said'g'oods in contact with a drying atmosphere at a temperature high enough to remove at least twenty-five percent of the total removable moisture within two hours and until at least twenty-five percent of the total removable moisture is removed, while progressively reducin the speed of travel of said layer and there y increasing the thickness of said layer and thus reducing the rate of drying, while agitatin thegoods during said speed reductlon an completing the drying b subjecting the preliminary dried materia to the drying action of an atmosphere at a lower t empera---

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