US321135A - Fruit-drier - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1. L. W. PAR-SONS.

. FRUIT DRIER. No. 321,135.

atented June 30, 1885.

W '1 s 0 2m m WW I Z b o RN hmvmhognphv. Washington, D. c,

(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2..

L. W. PARSONS.

FRUIT DRIER.

N0. 3Z1,135.- Patented June 30, 1885.

WITNESSES 1.7V VEJVTOR fiww r l I Attorneyd" N. PETERS, Pholn-Lhhcgnpbu, walhinglon, D. C

NITE STATES LElVIS \VILLIAM PARSONS, fOF LOS GATOS, OALIFORJIA.

FRUIT-DRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 321,135, dated June 30, 1885.v

' Application filed January 12, 1885. (No model.) 7

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEWIS W. PARSONS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Gatos, in the county of Santa Clara and State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fruit-Driers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to fruit-driers; and it consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, as will be hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a vertical longitudinal section through the furnace and drying-chambers. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section through the furnace, the upper dryingchamber, and the exhaust-flue through which the current of hot air escapes; and Fig. 3 is a rear elevation showing the arrangement of the smoke-flue outside the drier.

Heretofore fruit-driers have been so constructed that when the fresh fruit has been placed in the drier said fresh fruit has occupied the hottest part first, and was afterward bathed in the moist air passing from the fresh fruit along in the same direction that the fruit is going, thus retarding the process; or in driers in which the fresh fruit has been introduced into the coolest and dampest part first it has not been scaled over properly, and has been therefore slow in drying, thereby causing it to lose much of its valuable flavor before becoming at all dry; and then when it did finally begin to dry as it neared the hottest part of the drier it has been very liable to burn; in other words, in the machines as heretofore generally constructed the hottest place has been the driest and the coolest place has been the dampest.

The object of my invention is to reverse this order of things and combine the one good point of either of the other two old methods into one drier, at the same time avoiding their faults, for in my drier the hottest part is the dampest and the coolest part is the driest.

Referring by letter to the accompanying drawings, A designates the heating apparatus or furnace, and B is an extension of the jacket of the furnace, which serves as a fire-proof reservoir for the accumulation and distribution of hot air.

where a space, H, for the passage of the cur- 7 rent of hot air from the lower flue up into the upper flue is left.

E designates the exhaust-flue through which the current of hot air escapes to the outer air.

F F F F is the smoke-stack, which conveys the products of combustion from the furnace along through the lower flue to and through the end of the drier to outdoors.

i i, 820., designate the fruit trays or screens in the upper and lower drying chambers. These fruit-trays are slid to place on side rails or ledges, K, in the drying-chambers.

L designates the door through which the fruit-trays are passed into the upper flue. N designates a door through which the fruitscreens are returned into the lower flue when removed at M.

At the dotted lines, 0 designates the location of a door in the side of the drier next to the hot-air reservoir for the final withdrawal of the fruit screens or trays.

To operate the drier all of the doors should be closed. The cold air from without passes through openings in the bottom of the jacket of the furnace at R R, and circulates, as indicated by the arrows, around the furnace and becomes thoroughly heated. The heated current passes up to the plate H, heating it, thence into the reservoir B, thence through openings in the partition P P, which are provided with valves P, controlled by rods leading outside of the chamber or reservoir B into the lower fine or drier containing the material to be dried.

It here circulates through the drying substance and also around the smoke-stack F within the drying-chamber, so that the air heated in B also receives the heat from F. The heated air passes along under the plate H H, heating it, until it reaches the back end of the drier, where it passes up into the upper flue, back through the screens to the front of the drier,

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where it is reheated by direct contatc with the top of the furnace, and, taking up the moisture of the new fruit just introduced into the drier, it rushes up directly out through the exhaust-flue E to the outer air, thus preventing the moisture of fresh damp fruit from coming in contact with and sweating that which has already been partly dried. The fruit on the screens is passed into the drier through the front door, L, and placed directly over the furnace for a few minutes, where there is the greatest heat, until it is sealed over. Then it is pushed along on the side rails or ledges beyond the furnace to where it is cooler and out of danger of scorching. It is gradually moved along to make room for fresh fruit, and continually meets drier and cooler air until it passes out through the back door, M, and is returned into the lower flue under the smokeslack, and finally removed through the side door, 0. The heat of the fire strikes the top of the furnace, which is H, giving direct heat to the fresh fruit above. The heat of the fire then passes through the smoke-stack F, which is oval in form in cross-section, to enable it to more readily radiate its heat to the surrounding air in the lower flue. The smoke and the remainder of the heat then pass outdoors. A damper, S, regulates the draft.

I am aware that it has been heretofore proposed to construct fruit-driers with a hot-air reservoir divided by a longitudinal plate into an upper and a lower flue, and this, broadly, I disclaim.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The combination, with the furnace A and reservoir B, of the plate H, extending over the reservoir and furnace, and the smoke-flue con- 40 nected to the furnace and extended through the lower flue, G, of the drier horizontally to the rear end of the drier, and the exhaust-flue E at the front of the upper flue, D, as set forth.

2. The combination, with the furnaceAand hot-air reservoir B, of the fruit-drier casing connected therewith, and the sheet-metal plate H, resting upon the furnace and hot-air reservoir, and extending rearwardly and dividing ghe tdrier into the upper and lower flues, as set Ort v 3. The combination, with the furnace. hotair reservoir, and smoke-flue and exit-flue, of

the sheet-metal division-plate resting on the furnace and hot-air reservoir, and extending over the smoke-flue to form the upper and lower drying-chambers, as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own Ihave hereto afiixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LEWIS WILLIAM PARSONS.

Witnesses:

A. R. REED, T. B. PROCTER.

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