620 Implement Shoio at Bury St. Edmund's, 



time attempts have been made to invent a crood drying machine 

 for corn, which would prove a great boon, after such a harvest as 

 that of last year; hitherto these attempts have failed, chiefly on 

 the score of costliness or the impracticability of the various 

 schemes. James Paxman's invention, exhibited by Davey, 

 Paxman, and Davey, of Colchester, is a step in the right 

 direction, inasmuch as the drying apparatus is combined with, 

 and a part of an ordinary portable engine and thrashing machine, 

 so that damp corn may be thrashed and dried at one operation ; 

 after being thrashed and once winnowed the corn is passed into 

 a cylinder, surrounded by a steam jacket. The corn during its 

 passage through this cylinder is subjected to a double action, 

 namely that of the steam in the jacket and of a blast of hot dry 

 air generated in a small furnace on the opposite side of the 

 machine, and sucked up and circulated by a fan ; this current 

 meets and completely passes through the corn as it is travelling 

 along the cylinder. The steam is conveyed through a ^ in. 

 opening in the boiler by vulcanized tubing to the cylinder, the 

 waste steam partially condensed is collected at the other end and 

 is used to warm the water, and thus save fuel. The corn 

 remains exposed to this double agency for about IJ minutes, 

 that being the interval consumed in passing through the tube. 

 The wheat experimented on was first damped with 1 gallon of 

 water to the bushel, and was in a soft and very bad condition, 

 more lumpy than it would be after the Avorst harvest ; it came 

 out quite hot and in a sweat, it should then be laid on a floor 

 and turned, when it soon cools and hardens. The exhibitor, 

 over confident of his machine, told the judges that the corn 

 might be left in a sack, so it was left, heated a good deal, and 

 came out clammy and "nosey." This was not a fair test, as 

 there must be time for the moisture which is drawn out of the 

 corn to escape. Mr. James Amos made a rough experiment to 

 ascertain the loss of steam taken from the boiler, by ascertaining 

 the degree of heat communicated by the waste steam to a given 

 quantity of cold water during a fixed interval. As far as could, 

 be judged the loss was about f of a horse power. All barley 

 growers well know what a mess they are in with their crops after 

 a wet cold season, how unkind the corn, how difficult to sell to 

 the maltsters save under a guarantee. In such cases an expensive 

 process of sweating is necessary before germination can take 

 place, and it is a question of much importance how lar this 

 drying arrangement could be made use of in place of the kiln. 

 It would be necessary to exercise great caution as to the tempera- 

 ture, since too sudden or great a heat would destroy the 

 germinating powers of the corn. The idea is ingenious, the 



