The following letter from the inventor to the Tea Gazette gives further information:—
Allen’s Patent Drying Machine.
Dear Sir,—Some time back your valuable paper contained a description and rough drawing of my Patent Drying Machine. I now beg to say that the machine is in the market.
I will simply state here that it can dry one maund of Tea per hour, or about equivalent to four maunds of leaf.
It cannot burn the Tea as in other machines, yet it thoroughly dries it at one fill of the machine.
It takes half a maund of Tea at each fill, and every leaf of this is done in exactly the same time; no turning over, changing of trays, or further looking after the Tea, after the roll has been placed in the machine on the trays.
Temperature can be lowered from 300° to 100° in two or three seconds, and run up again in five to seven minutes.
It will burn any fuel. Fireplace 2½′ × 3′, when kept regularly three quarters full of firewood or coal about 6 to 8 inches thick, while machine is drying, will suffice (half a maund of fuel to a maund of Tea should be ample). The appearance and fine flavour of Tea dried in this machine by fan beats charcoal; no gloss is lost on the Tea from shaking up and turning over, and the Tea is black, with glossy appearance and good flavour.
The following are valuation and reports on this machine’s dried Tea, by Messrs. William Moran and Co., to whom some of bulk or rough Tea was sent.—Yours, &c.,
J. C. Allen.