US1606772A - Process and apparatus for dehydrating - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 16 1926. 1,606,772

w. s. MORTON PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR DEHYDRATING Filed March 21, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 16, 1926. 1,606,772

W. S. MORTON PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR DEHYDRATING Filed March 21, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 gvwemtoz 351 I141, Grimm un ov Nov. 16 1926.

' w. s. MORTON PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR DEHYDRATING 3 Sheets-Shut 5 Filed March 21, 1922 27 51 I, 29 H 56 v 19 37 35 if 9 v 551' ff Z5 X I 1 5440011 for,

fltto'cmu l Patented Nov. 16, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER S. MORTON, OF NEW YOB'IL N. Y., ASSIGNOR T0 CHESHIRE KITCHENS, INC., 01? NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

I PROCESS AND AIPIPARATUS FOR DEHYDRATING.

Application filed March 21, 1922. Serial No. 545,519.

My invention relates to devices for dehydrating various materials and to a process of dehydrating capable of being carried out by that device. -More particularly my invention relates to apparatus and process for effecting the dehydration of food products.

I have found from experiments that in dehydrating materials, particularly food products, the dehydration is carried out more efficiently when the material to be dehydrated exists in relatively small particles and is spread out in relatively thin layers.

I have also found that when the dehydrating medium, be it heated or cold air or other gas, is forced through the material to be dehydrated with sufficient rapidity and in such quantity that the particles of the material are agitated by the passage of the medium very desirable results will be obtained.

I have also found that when the dehydrating medium is successively .passed through a series of material supporting partitions which extend across a passage through which the medium is forced, the rate and-extent of dehydration are susceptible of complete control. A rotational rearrangement of the partitions through which the medium successively passes also assistsin the control of the dehydrating. This rotational rearrangement may consist in removing the partition with the material carried thereby through which the medium first passes and adding a partition containing nondehydrated material as the last partition through which the medium passes, or it may consist in removing the first partition through which the medium passes and placing it where the medium will pass through it last. I have also found that it is highly desirable to weigh the material which is being dehydrated without removing it from the dehydrator and that it is advantageous to continue the operation of the dehydrating device during the weighing of any given uantity of material being acted upon t ereby.

It is an object of my invention to provide apparatus and process for securing simultaneously or separately various advantages and benefits above enumerated.

Further objects and advantages will appear from the following description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawmgs forming part thereof and in which,

. Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a dehydrate embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a top plan new of the construc-.

tion shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 and Fig. 4 1s a detailed view.

Referring to the drawings which show by way of exemplification one embodiment of my invention it will appear that a power driven fan or blower 1 provides ,for the circulation of the dehydrating medium which may be heated or cooled by fluid passing through the coils 2. The medium is supplied to a conducting chamber 3 which iswire screening, over which is preferably extended a material 10 of relatively finer mesh which may be cheese cloth or scrim. Around each frame extends a strip of packing material 11, so that when the frames are placed one upon another and the series of frames is placed upon the chamber '3 over the opening 4 and in contact with the packing 5 a passage 6 is formed which is comparatlvely air tight except that it is open at its ends; and this passage has an air tightconnection with the chamber-3, by reason of the packing material 5.

40 hand sections of Fig. 1.

In carrying out my process the material to be dehydrated is reduced to small particles if it does not exist in that form and placed in thin layers upon the partitions 7 carried by the various frames 8. The frame is then weighed and takin into consideration the amount of tare the' nal weight after dehydration can be ascertained from data obtained by previous experiments. The ma- 1 terial isspread out in thin layers on the partitions and the frames are placed one upon the other. The dehydrating medium then passes successively through the partitions and the material thereon as it issues from the chamber 3 through the openings A. It is passed with such rapidity that the material is agitated and the medium acts upon allsurfaces of the particles. In order that the extent of dehydration may be ascertained I have provided doors 12. supported from a member 13 extending across each 0 ening 4. and swinging up lnto contact with t e packing 14 whic surrounds the opening 4 which is thus divided into two I parts. The said doors are closed when it is desired to ascertain the extent of dehydration. These doors will cut off the flow of the dehydrating medium and they are both closed from the front of the dehydrator by pulling upon the ropes 15 and 16. The rope 17 may be used for opening one of the doors after which the other will ordinarily open bygravity, when its retaining rope is unfastened, due to the fact that the force of the dehydrating medium finds an outlet through the door already open. The ropes 15 and 16 are fastened upon the cleats 18 when the doors are closed. These cleats are shown, respectively, in the left and right Vertical frame members 19 extend upwardly from the corners of each opening 4 and rods 20 slide upon them being guided by staples or eyes 21, the lower end of each rod 20 is provided with projection 22 and the upper end is provided with a similar projection 23 turned 45 from the projection 22. Links 24 connected respectively to the projections 23' are joined by a lever 25 secured to a rod 26 0 which passes from the front of each section of the hydrator to the back so that the rods 20 at both front and back will be simultaneously operated. It will be apparent that .when the projections 22 are brought to the proper level while they project outwardly 7 just below handles 8 of the frame next to the bottom and then the bottom of the lever 254is swung to the right to swing the projections 22 in under the handles 8' of the frame next to the bottom and the cord 31 is drawn down further to raise the frames which formerly rested upon the bottom frame. The bottom frame may be then removed for weighing to ascertain the degree of dehydration or it may be placed upon the top of the series of frames to carry out a rotational rearrangement of the frames. In order to avoid removing the bottom frame for weighing I provide rods 30 on each side of each passage 6 which are guided by vertical members 31 positioned intermediate the corner posts 19 andwhich have arms 32 projecting beneath the sides of the bottom frame. To the'top of rods 30 are connected c0rds 33 which are attached to the arms 34 which are pivoted upon the rod 35 and brought together at 36. A scale 37 is attached at the junction 36 and has attached to its movable member a cord 38. It will now be apparent that after the upper frames are lifted off a pull on the cord 38, extensive enough to lift the'bottom frame upon the arms 32, will indicate upon the scale 37 the weight of the bottom frame and its contents. From data previously ascertained the degree or completion of the dehydration of the material on that frame becomes known.

If the dehydration is complete the bottom frame is removed, the series of frames lowcred down over the opening 4 and the top frame which preferably contains no material but merely acts as a cover to keep the material from being blown out, is removed and a frame containing nondehydrated material is placed upon .the top of the. series after which the cover is replaced. It will be apparent from the foregoing that I have provided means for selectively lifting up different numbers of frames for the replacement or rotational rearrangement of those frames or for the weighing while in position on the dehydrator of one or more of the frames. After a series of frames has been rearranged and restored to position the doors 12 are opened and the dehydrating process continued. One section being rearranged at a time, it will be apparent thatthe operation of the dehydrator is continuous.

While I have described one embodiment of my invention in great detail, I do not means for providing an air-tight closure for said opening.

2. In a dehydrator, a conducting chamber for the dehydrating medium and provided withan opening, a series of frames arranged over sa1d opening which are provided with foraminated partitions for supporting thematerial to be dehydrated, and means for roviding an air-tight closure for said openmg, art of said means being operable from the out of the dehydrator.

3. In a dehydrator, aconducting chamber for the dehydrating medium and provided with an opening, a series of frames arranged over said opening which are provided with foraminated partitions for supporting the material to be dehydrated, and means for providing an air-tight closure for said open- 1ng, said means including a door which may be opened or closed by a rope projecting through the front of the dehydrator.

4. In a dehydrator, a conducting cham-' her for the dehydrating medium and provided with an opening, a series of frames arranged over said opening certain of which are provided with foraminated partitions for supporting the material to be dehydrated, each of said frames adapted to form sealed joints with its adjacent frames, and an air tight closure for said opening including a door which may be operated by a rope projecting through the front of the dehy drator.

5. In a dehydrator, a conducting chamber for the dehydrating medium and provided with an opening, a series of frames arranged over said opening certain of which are provided with foraminated partitions for supporting the material to be dehydrated and means whereby a frame and its contents may be weighed without removal from the dehydrator.

6. In a dehydrator, a conducting chamber frames arranged over said openings and provided with removable foraminated partitions for supporting the material to be dehydrated, each of said frames adapted to form sealed joints with its adjoining frames, and means for closing said openings separately to permit continuous operation.

8. In a dehydrator, a conducting chamber for the dehydrating medium and provided with a plurality of openings, a series of frames arranged over said openings and provided with removable foraminated partitions for supporting the material to be dehydrated, each of said frames adapted to form sealed joints with its adjoining frames, and means for closing said openings separately to permit rearrangement of the frames over either of said openings.

9. In a dehydrator, a conductin chamber for the dehydrating medium an provided with a plurality of openings, a series of frames arranged over said openings and provided with removable foraminated partitions for-supporting the material to be dehydrated, each of said frames adapted to form sealed joints with its adjoining frames, and means for providing air-tight closures for said openings, said means including doors which may be opened or closed from in front of the dehydrator.

10. In a dehydrator, a conductingchamher for the dehydrating medium and provided with an opening, foraminated partitions dividing said opening into a plurality of relatively broad and shallow compartments, and means for supplying a dehydrating medium to said opening and successive- 1y through said partitions with sufficient force and quantity to agitate small particles of material to be dehydrated supported upon said partitions, and doors for cutting off the supply of the dehydrating medium which are operated from in front of the dehydrator. Y

11. The process of dehydrating consisting in reducing the material to be dehydrated to small particles, arranging the material in a thin layer and forcing a dehydrating medium through said thin layer of material with suflicient rapidity to agitate said particles to expose them on all sides to said dehydrating medium.

-12. The process of dehydrating consisting in aranging in a plurality of thin layers material to be dehydrated in small particles, passing a dehydrating medium successively through said layers with suflicient force to agitate said particles and rearranging said layers in rotation.

13. The process of dehydrating consisting in arranging in a plurality .of thin layers material to be dehydrated in small particles, passing a dehydrating'medium successively through said layers with sufficient force to agitate said particles and adding layers of undehydrated material as the last layer to be acted upon by the medium as layers first acted upon by the medium are removed upon completion of dehydration. N

14. In a dehydrator, means for supplyin a dehydrating medium to a passage, said passage formed by means of ,a series of removable frames having foraminated partitions in said frames, single means to raise and hold a determinable number of said 10 frames, and means for weighing the remaining frame or frames.

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

WALTER S. MORTON.

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