Untitled record

Application filed August 13,1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, James M. Teasdale, of Howell, in the county of Livingston and State of Michigan, have invented new and use5 fill Improvements in Fruit-Driers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is intended for family use, to be set on a stove to dry fruits, vegetables, &c., by evaporation ; and this invention consists in id its general construction, but more particularly in the arrangement of the steam-flues, a dividing-partition in its under chamber, the perforations in the back of the case, and corresponding perforations in the front of the fruit15 drawer, (to get a draft through,) by which the evaporations of the fruits are carried off, all as hereinafter fully explained.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section through the entire device, the drawers 20. removed, and showing the flues and perforated back; Fig. 2, a perspective of a drawer enlarged in size, also showing the perforations in the front.

A represents the outer case of metal, having 25 two, three, or more horizontal openings, B' B²B³, therein, in which slide drawers G, for holding the fruit, &c. Usually two of these drawers are set in each opening B, one on top of the other, the upper one setting on the side slides, 30 c c. In the back of the drier is a series of perforations or air-holes, a a a, and in the front of the drawers C are corresponding holes orperforations a' a' a' a'. These are to produce a draft through each compartment and through the 35 fruit, and thus carry off at the sides, without any other means or mechanical appliances, the evaporation from the fruit. These drawers or trays fill up the spaces B B. They are made with a wire or a perforated bottom, which allows 40 a proper circulation of hot air vertically, and the holes a a and a' a' carrying off horizontally the vapor arising from the fruit in process of drying.

The bottom of the case is a closed space, d, 45 and receives the water through the tunnel or side opening, e. This acts as a boiler. About the center of this is set a vertical partitionplate, / and with a space, g, at the bottom under it for the water to get into the side d'. 50 This space d d' heats the bottom of the opening B', and is closed except by a vertical flue.

7i, clear across one end of the drier, and which leads into a horizontal flue, i', above the opening B' and under opening B², and leads into a vertical flue, h', at the opposite end from flue 55 h. This leads into horizontal fine i², between chamber B² and B³, and opens into vertical side flue, h², and finally into top horizontal flue, i³.

The plate/ before spoken of, divides the bot- 60 tom into two parts, the object being to get an equal division of the steam and heat through the parts of the device and opposite to the end flues, h and h². For this purpose I make an opening in the upper corner of the bottom 65 d', and attach a pipe, lc, leading therefrom outside the case A to the second steam-space above i².

The operation of this is as follows: The steam generated in the bottom d follows the 70 course of the arrows up through flue h into first steam-space i', then up flue h' into space i². By the time it gets to flue h' and space i² it has lost a large proportion of its heat. Therefore the drying of the fruit on this end of the 75 device would not be so quickly or thoroughly accomplished as at the other end. To obviate this I place the division-plate/in the bottom, and the steam generated in space d! goes up through the pipe lc into the space i². This is 80 fresh steam, and reheats what is there and also equalizes the heat throughout the whole » device.

I am acquainted with a patent which has a series of slanting zigzag flues having a gener- 85 ating-chamber at the bottom, but no auxiliary steam-pipe to heat the back or ends, like mine; neither have I any pipes or other mechanical devices for carrying off the vapor, but only by my perforations, which induce a current of air 90 through.

By my division-plate/and pipe lc the steam does not have so great a distance to travel, and therefore exhaust itself before its discharge at the top at pipe m. 95

Steam may be supplied in any suitablemanner; but it is intended to set the device on a stove, and by boiling water to produce the steam. All the spaces V, i², and i² and flues h, h', and h² are closed from the outside and 100 run the entire width of the device. The bottom d d' heats the first space, B', and the

233,613 space i' heats the top of the space B' and bottom of Β², and so on to the top, as many flues and chambers being added as may be required.