Today in 1894, US Patent 513694 A was issued, an invention of James White, for his “Apparatus For Drying Barley, Malt, Etc.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
My invention has reference to apparatus for drying barley, malt, oats, wheat or other substances of a granular or pulverulent nature.
The invention mainly consists in the construction within a kiln or drying house of an inclined or vertical channel formed with foraminous sides and divided transversely at suitable intervals into chambers the bottoms of which contain cross passages, which passages When the barley or other material which is supplied to the upper end of said channel is allowed to run or flow from one chamber to that next below, transfer the material that was at and near the respective sides of the upper of the two chambers to the opposite sides of the lower chamber, whereby the material gets well mixed and turned over and is consequently more uniformly dried than if it were merely allowed to slide bodily from chamber to chamber.
The invention further consists in the combination with the said cross passages at bottom of each compartment of a central tongue or board projecting up from between said cross passages, and of a central tongue or board projecting down from between said cross passages, the said tongues serving as guides or dividers for the material as it respectively enters and leaves said passages. The lowest chamber does not require cross passages at bottom but has a slide or shutter at top and another slide or shutter at bottom.- When the apparatus is inoperative the bottom slide is normally kept closed and the upper one open, and the two slides are worked at intervals to allow the material in the several chambers to move down one stage, that is to say to the extent of one chamber. To effect this the upper slide is first closed and the bottom slide is then opened to allow the lowest chamber to empty itself into a chute or receptacle. The bottom slide is then closed and the top slide opened, when every chamber (except the lowest) will empty itself through the cross passages into the chamber next below and become filled from the chamber next above, the top chamber receiving its supply from a hopper or otherwise.
