US1554239A - Material drier - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 22, 1925.

E. W. SPRAGUE MATERIAL DRIER Filed Aug. 25, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet Sept. 22, 1925. 1,554,239

E. W. SPRAGUE MATERIAL DRIER Filed Aug. 25, 192.4 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 S14/nemici sept. 22, 1925. 1,554,239l

E. W. SPRAGUE MATERIAL DRIER Filed Aug. 25, 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Sept. 22, 1925.

EDWARD 'W. SPRGUE, OF ALLEN TOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

MATERIAL DRIER.

Application led August 25, 1924. Serial No. 733,865.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD W. SPRAGUE, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Allentown, Lehigh County, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Material Driers, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to material driers whereby various materials such as coal and e various other kinds of material in bulk containing water or other liquid to be removed therefrom, may be efliciently dried.

An object of the invention is the provision of an effective and comparatively simple form of apparatus vwhereby coal and other materials may be continuously dried in a thorough and efficient manner, the apparatus being reliable in operation andV comparatively simple in construction. According to lthe invention the material is forced to pass over one-.plate or platform after another, in aA descending series, the material' being turned over and exposed tothe air or heating gas during its passage. invention consists in the manner in which hot .gas or air is used in the drying process.

According to the preferred vform vof the invention, the gas is first caused to pass beneath the first plate of .the series on which the lmaterial containing the largest quantity of moisture is exposed. The hot gases then pass `successively beneath the remaining ylates `in descending order. The gases, whic have meanwhile lost a good deal .of their heat, ynow pass upwardly over the surfaces of the plates and through the material thereon in ascending order. By this means the 'dryi-ng heat is used most effectively and with the least danger of burning or otherwise injuring the material or the apparatus.

Also in the preferred form of the invention the material is'fed upon a stepped rotating plate. It travels about upon the upper and outermost step ofthe plate for a suitable interval until it encounters a stationary member which pushes it down onto the next lower plate and somewhat 4turns it over in so doing. The materialthus is fed radially inwards over the plate untilit reaches the central part thereof when it drops on toa lower plate, upon which it rotatesand on which it is fed radially outwards in the same .mannelg the material then dropping on to the outer edge of the next lower stepped e plate,- after which the operation described above is repeated.

A feature of the.

The invention consists in improved apparatus of the character referred to and the various combinations of elements and con structural forms thereof, as will appear more fully from the following specification and will be more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, attention is hereby directed to the accompanying drawings form.- ing apart of this application and illustrating one form of the invention. In the drawings,

Fig'. 1 is a vertical section through the ap- Y paratus taken on line 1 1 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 1s a top plan view of the apparatus and Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are'respectively horizontal sections taken on lines 3 3, 4 4 an'd 5-5 -of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings the material to 'be dried is placed in a bin or hopper 1 from the bottom of which it is to be moved or conveyed to the drier. A feeder or conveying device 2 is indicated in the drawings, which may be of any suitable character. As'shown this may be for example an endless pusher or conveyor belt, a roller of which is rotated by means of horizontal shaft 3 which is driven by bevelgears 4 and 5 from a vertical shaft 6. Shaft 6 is driven by bevel gears 7 and 8 from a horizontal shaft 9 at the bottom of the drier which shaft is rotated inany 'desired manner as by means ofthe motor 10, which may rotate shaft 9 at a re- (lluced' speed through reduction gears 11 and The drying apparatus is shown as enclosed within a suitable wall 13 which may vbe cylindrical in shape as illustrated, the vertical shaft 6 extending centrally through the same. The various rotating plates or platterial tobe handled. The plate. has a cir-v cular central opening therethrough bounded by the annular vertical flange 16 of the plate to which flange the arms of the supporting spider 15 may be secured. The flange `1 6 of plate14'rotates within an annular flange 17 of the stationary plate 18 which is supported next lower drying chamber.

in wall 13 of the drier beneath spider 15. rlhe upper and outermost step of plate 14 is preferably provided with a pair of annular upwardly extending flanges 19 which co-act with the downwardly extending flanges 20 of a cover plate 21 secure-dto the upper edge of wall 13, to form an edge seal for the rotating plate.

The material to be dried falls from conveyor or feeder 2 upon the outermost step of drier plate 14 and the material travels around upon this outermost step for a distance which maybe nearly a complete revolution, when it engages the outermost deflector 22 by which it is deflected downwardly on to the next lower step. The deflectors 22 may be carried by an arm 23 secured to the cover plate 21. Y

The deflectors 22 are preferably of what may be termed a plough shape, one of the same being provided to co-act witheach step ofthe plate over which the material is moved. These deflectors are so shaped and arranged that the material will travel around on each step of the plate for almost a complete revo lution before it encounters one of the s tationary defiectors, by which it is deflected radially onto the next lower and inner step. A suitable arrangement of the deflectors and the arm 23 therefor is indicated in Fig. 4. These ploughs or deflectors are each pro vided with a more or less spiral twist so that the material will be turned over to a considerable extent as it is fed inwardly from step to step, -so that fresh surfaces of the material will be exposed to the hot gases pass'- over the same and fresh surfaces will be brought in contact with the plate surfaces which as stated are heated from beneath.

The material is deflected bythe innermost deflector through the central opening of plate 14 through which it falls upon a rotating plate 24, which may be a` plane circular horizontal plate secured to the shaft 6 in the The material travels around upon plate 24 and is fed radially outwardsV over the same by deflectors 25 which extend downwardly from a supporting arm 26 secured to the lower surface of the fixed plate 18. These deflectors operate in the same manner asdeflectors 22 except that they feed the material radially outwards instead of inwards, the material finally dropping over the outer edge of plate 24 onto the outermost step of the next lower stepped plate 27.

Plate 27 is similar to plate 14 and is supported from rotating shaft 6 by a spider 15 in the same manner. The material is fed inwardly, down the steps of plate 27 by means of deflectors 22 in exactly the same .manner as has been described in connection with the movement of the material over plate 14, deflectors 22 being carried by an arm 23 which may be secured at its` upper and outer end to fixed plate 18 and at its lower and inner end to a bearing 28 surrounding Shaft 6.

The material then falls through a central opening in plate 27 and a corresponding opening in the fixed plate 30 beneath the same, plate 30 having an upstanding annular fiange 29 within which rotates the bottom annular flange of plate 27 in the same manner as has been described in connection with plate 14. The material then falls upon rotating horizontal plate 24in the next, or lowest, drying chamber. The material is fed outwards over this horizontal plate by means of deflectors 25 in the same manner as has been described in connection with the second drying chamber. The material falls .from the outer edge of this plate on to the lowermost step of the stepped plate 31 which is secured to shaft 6 and operates in the same manner as the upper stepped plates. The material is fed inwardly over the stepped plates by the deflectors 222 in the same manner as has been described and falls through the central opening in the lowermost fixed plate 32, After following through this opening it is received upon the horizontal rotating plate 33 and is moved outwardly thereover by deflectors 252 into the chute 34 by which it is delivered at a desired point.

The ploughs or deflectors 22, 22 and 222 and also 25, 25 etc. Yare so arranged that the entire surfaces of plates 14, 24, 27 ,24, and 31 are kept uniformly covered with the material which is being dried. A three chamber l drier is illustrated but it will, of course, be understood that the number of chambers and drying and material-feeding plates may be varied to suit material conditions.

The fiow of the hot drying gases will now be described. The hot gases are generated within or are brought into chamber 35 which may be formed in an extension 13 of the wall of the drier. The heat may be generated for example by the combustion of pulverized fuel which falls into chamber 35 from a hopper 36.

The hot gases are drawn from the uppermost portion of chamber 35 into the u )permost heating chamber 37, under and in irect contact with the uppermost revolving plate 14. The gases are carried almost completely around circular chamber 37 until they are deflected by means of a baffle wall 38 and pass into the vertical by-pass chamber 39 from which they pass into circular chamber 40 underneath the second revolving stepped plate 27. The hot gases pass almost entirely around chamber 40' under and in direct contact with the bottom ofr revolving plate 27 until they are deflected by baflie wall 41 and pass'through by-pass 42 into the chamber 43 beneath the bottom stepped rotating plate 31.

-'The gasesI pass almost entirely around chamber l3-beneath and in direct contacty with plate 31 until they encounter baffle wall 44 and are drawn through opening 45 in plate 32 into chamber 46, the gases at this time having greatly reduced temperatures.

In chamber 46 the gases for the first time come into direct contact with the material being dried, this being the material which is about to be delivered from the drier. The hot gases in chamber 46 are then drawn upwardly through the central opening 47 in plate 32, between the arms of the spider 152 of stepped plate 31. The hot gases pass upwardly through the material which is descending through this opening and through and over the material which is rotating upon plate 31. The gases are deflected by the bottom surface of horizontal plate l24', which they will heat in passing. They pass around plate 24 and thence up through the openings between spider arms 1,5. The gases then pass through and over the material on stepped plate 27, and are deflected by p-late 24, pass around the same and through the central opening in stepped plate 14 and through and over the material on plate 14. The gases are then drawn through a conduit 48 which extends up from cover plate 21 of the drier to an exhaust fan 49 which may be operated by a motor 50. This fan supplies the induced draft to draw the gases from the furnace or heat chamber successively through the various chambers and passageways as described. From the exhaust fan 49 the gases may be forced into the cyclone 51 which may be used for recovery of particles of material drawn from the drier.

The gases are then forced from this cyclone or settling chamber into a Washer 52 and thence through pipe 53 to the atmosphere.

The hot gases preferably pass around through the various chambers 37, and 43 in reversed directions. That is to say the gases may' pass around chamber 37 in a clockwise direction as indicated in Fig. 3 and then aroundfchamber 40 in a counterclockwise direction as 'shown in Fig. 4 and y then around through chamber 43 again in a clockwise direction 'as shown in Fig. 5. By the heat circulation system described, it will be noted, the heat is first applied indirectly to the material, through the drying plates r 14, 2.7v and 31, the amount 'of heat supplied 4decreasing correspondingly as the moisture content of the material decreases from one plate to the next. The heat of reduced temperature is then caused to act directly upon and through the material bein dried as it is caused to pass through and a ut the material itself in the manner described. Accordingly the heat is used in an exceedingly efficient manner to dry the material most effectively and Without danger or injury.

It should be understood that the invention is not limited strictly t0 the exact details which have been described, but the same is as broad as is indicated by the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. In a drier, the combination of a plurality of superposed plates, means for revolving the same, means for moving material over each of said Iplates in succession, from top to bottom, and conduit and bafile means for causing hot gas to pass under said plates in'succession, from top to'bottom, andv then to pass over said plates and over and through the material thereon, from bottom to top.

2. In a drier, the combination of a series of drying chambers, means for progressing material through thek same in order, and conduit and baffle means for causing hotl gas to pass in contact with walls of said chambers in the same order in which material passes through the same.

3. In a drier, the combination of a series of plates, means for feeding material over the same, `:in order, and conduit and baffle ineans'for causing hot gas to pass successively in contact with the lower surfaces of said plates, in the same order in which. ma-

terial'passes over the same.

4. In a drier, the combination of a series of chambers, means for progressing material through the' same successively, means affording passages adjacent to said chambers for causingl hot gas to first heat said chambers through Walls thereof, successively, and means comprising passages connecting said chambers adapted to then pass the gas through the chambers in direct contact with thel material therein.

5. In a drier, the combination of a seriesl of plates, in descending order, means for feeding material over the same successively,`

in descending order, and means affording passages for causing hot gas to pass under the plates successively, from the upper to the lowermost.

6. In a drier, the combination of a series` of plates, in descending order, means for feeding material over the same successively, in descending order, means comprising chambers with connecting passages for causing hot gas to pass under the pilates successively, from the upper to the lowermost, and means affording passages. to then pass the gas above the plates, in contact with the material thereon, in ascending order.

7. In a drier, the combination of a rotating vertical shaft, a plate of generallyconical shape thereon, formed of annular horizontal steps, said plate having a delivery opening at the center, means for feeding material on to the outermost step, and fixed means for transferring the material from each higher to the next lower step after a period of rotationfthereon. d

8. In a drier, the combination of a vertical `sha-ft, a plate formedof annular steps of descending height secured thereon, means for feeding material on to the upper step, and means operative each revolution to transfer the material successively from each step to the next lower step. I

9. In a drier, the combination of a rotating vertical shaft, a series of plates secured thereon, at intervals, 'one above another, alternate plates having central openings therethrough, means for feeding material onto the uppermost plate, and fixed deflectors arranged to transfer the material inwardly, step by step, after rotation on annular portions of each of said plates having central openings, and to similarly transfer the material outwardly on the other plates,said latter plates being arranged to deliver the material over the edges thereof on to the plates below.

10. In a drier, the combination of a vertical shaft, superposed drying plates thereon, transfer devices between each two plates, means for feeding material over each of said plates to deliver it to the transfer device below, said transfer devices delivering the Inaterial to the plates bel-ow, meansaffording passages extending under the plates for causing hot gas to pass under each of said plates and guiding means for causing the gas thereafter to pass adjacent to each of said transfer devices.

11. In a drier, the combination of two series of superposed plates, the members of one being alternated with those of the other, the plates of one series having delivery openings therethrough, means for feeding material over all of said plates successively, and through said openings, from top to bottom, and means comprising guiding surfaces for circulating hot gas under the plates of one series and then through said openings, above said plates and around said plates of the other series.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

.EDWARD w. SPRAGUE.

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