US34992A - Improvement in floating grain elevators and driers - Google Patents

Description

J. w. SYKES.

, Grain Drier. No. 34,992. Patented April 15, 1862.

UNITED ST TES PATENT OFFICE;

JAMES IV. SYKES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN FLOATING GRAIN ELEVATORS AND'DRIERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 34,992, dated April 15, 1862.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JAMES WILLIAM SYKEs, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofv Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Floating Grain Elevators and Driers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 represents a perspective view of the apparatus arranged on a scow. Fig. 2 represents a vertical longitudinal section taken centrally through the same.

I am aware that grain-elevators have heretofore been arranged on a scow so that they might be moved from place to place, as might be required. This of course I do not lay any claim to.

Most, if not all, of the grain that is to be shipped or stored is found to be too damp to lie in bulk, and is, or ought to be, dried before it is so shipped or stored. The drying has heretofore been done separately from the elevating, if done at all, requiring a separate apparatus and separate handling, and of course an increased expense, and often, from the inconvenience of drying, it is not done at al and thousands of bushels of grain are thus destroyed or damaged. I propose to combine the elevating and drying in one operation in a floating apparatus, and thus save the expense of a separate drying operation and the conveyance of the grain thereto, and secure the grain in all cases, whether shipped or stored, against injury or damage by moisture; and my invention consists in combining with an elevating apparatus arranged upon a scow or other floating vessel an interposed drying apparatus, so that the grain while in trcmsitu from one vessel to another or from a vessel to a storehouse, or vice versa, may be dried at one and the same operation with the elevating or transshipm ent.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

be used alongside of the vessel to be discharged or the store-house where the grain is to be deposited, or from which it is to be taken.

13 is a trough or trunk containing an elevator a, of any of the usual kinds. This trunk or troughB is pivoted by arms I) b to the pillowblock 0, so that it may be raised or lowered to suit the height or depth of the grain to be raised.

The elevator a is driven byan endless band 0, passing over the pulleys d 6, respectively placed on the main driving-shaftD and upon the upper shaft supporting the elevator a. The grain carried up by the elevator a is conducted by a hinged spout f into a hopper g, which may be connected with a weighing apparatus 71, for weighing the grain as it passes to the drying apparatus 1'. This drying apparatus may be of any of the known kinds, and the grain is passed over or through it, being in the operation or passage dried so as to remove from it all moisture of an injurious character. I prefer to use the drier patented October 23, A. D. 1860, by J. B. \Vheeler, though I can use in its place any drier which will efiectually drive the moisture from the grain to be dried and elevated. The grain, having passed over or through the drying apparatus, falls into a receptacle 7a, whence it is taken up by an elevator Z, arrangedin a trough or trunk E, and by means of proper conveying spouts or troughs the grain from this elevator may be carried to the vessel wherein it is to be shipped or the store-house where it is to be stored. If, however, it is desirable, as in manycases it is, that the dried grain should be weighed to ascertain its exact quantity, then the grain from the elevator I may be carried by a spout m to a hopper 12, arranged in a weighing apparatus 0, where it is weighed, and may fall into the receptacle 1'), whence it is taken by the elevator q to the place of deposit, wherever that may be. By such an apparatus grain may not only be dried and elevated, but its weight may be also ascertained, both before drying it and after it is dried, and thus the weight of the moisture driven off in its transit may also be known. The moisture from the grain, driven from itby the drying opera tion, should be allowed freely to escape, so as not to impede that which follows it. The passage of heat-ed air through the grain and pulleys r 8 2f. steam or any other power.

he handling of the grain will carry oit dust and light impurities, thus improving the grain in another essential point.

It is obvious that one or both of. the weighing apparatus may be dispensed with, and

' when the one 7t is dispensed with the grain may pass directly from the elevator B over the drier t' to the elevator E.

If the weighing apparatus 0 be dispensed with, then the elevator q may also be dispensed with, and the grain may go from the elevator E directly to the place of deposit.

The elevators E and q may both be driven from the main shaft D through the belts and The shaft D may be driven by Having thus fully described the nature and object of my invention, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

V Combining with an elevating apparatus ar ranged upon a scow or other floating vessel an interposed drying apparatus, (Wheelers patent of October 23, A. D. 1860, or any other,) the Whole forming a floating grain drier and elevator capable of transferring grain from one vessel to another or from a vessel to a store-house, or vice versa, and of drying the grain while in the process of being transferred, and the whole apparatus capable of being easily floated from one locality to another, as may be required, for the purpose of elevating and drying the grain.

J. sYKEs.

Vitnesses:

S. S. WILLIAMSON, WM. N. UPHAM.

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