Vegetable Seed Drier

a machine for the preliminary curing and drying of the seeds of vegetables and other crops. The mobile vegetable seed drier used in the USSR has a firebox with a mixing chamber, a drying drum that is turned by an electric motor, a cooling chamber, and screens for the preliminary curing of the seed. The screens are located over a hood into which flows the heating agent (a mixture of hot gases and outside air, produced in the mixing chamber). The cured seed is loaded into an intake hopper, from which the seed is fed into the drum by an auger. The seed moves along a drum and is exposed to the heating agent. The dried seed accumulates in a cooling chamber and, after cooling, is sent down a chute into a container.

The drier can operate on any local fuel. It consumes 6.2–8.5 kg of fuel (coal) per hr. The machine dries 67–99 kg of beet seed per hr, up to 170 kg of radish seed per hr, up to 50 kg of cucumber seed per hr, and up to 150 kg of carrot seed per hr. It requires two persons to operate the machine.