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US 4,038,021 AGranted
Continuous grain drier and method
OwnerJohn O. Bensoninventor
Life of this patent
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OwnerJohn O. Bensoninventor
Estimating the term…
My continuous drier comprises an inclined tubular casing having a feed tube concentrically disposed therein via which the product, such as grain or seed, to be dried is delivered to the lower end of the casing. Circumscribed about the feed tube and in a fixed relation thereto is an auger having its peripheral edge secured to the interior of the tubular casing. Most of the flights of the auger are perforated, the holes being of a size sufficiently small so that the granular product will not pass therethrough, yet large enough to allow a heat conductive media, such as salt particles, to sift downwardly as the drier is rotated about its inclined axis. Whereas most of the auger is perforated, two flights adjacent the closed lower end of the casing are imperforate. A discharge opening is provided in that portion of the feed tube encircled by the imperforate flights, thereby enabling the granular product to be delivered into a region adjacent the lower end of the tubular casing which is devoid of any heat conductive particles. Heat is directed to the outside of the tubular casing, passing through the casing wall directly into the granular product and also to the product through the agency of the various heat conductive particles.
A continuous drier including a tubular casing mounted at an inclined axis for containing both a granular product to be dried and a heat transfer media in the form of heat conductive particles, a feed tube having the major longitudinal portion thereof concentrically disposed within said casing for feeding said product through the upper end of said casing into the casing adjacent the lower end thereof, a helical auger rotatable about said inclined axis having its outer edge engaging the interior of said casing and its inner edge engaging said feed tube, at least a portion of said auger having perforations therein of a size generally smaller than the grains constituting said product and generally larger than said particles constituting said heat transfer media so that said heat transfer media can sift downwardly as said product is advanced upwardly, and means for directing heat against the outside of said casing so that at least some of the heat transmitted through said casing is conducted to said product via said heat transfer media.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.