Today in 1883, US Patent 285246 A was issued, an invention of James L. Filkins, for his “Hop Drier.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:
I have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Driers for Hops and other Substances, of which the following is a complete description.
The invention consists in certain novelties in the construction and arrangement of the parts of which the apparatus is composed, as will hereinafter more fully appear.