TOBACCO BULK CURING CONTAINER SECTIONS AND COMPOSITE BARN CONSTRUCTION FORMED THEREBY

摘要

TOBACCO BULK CURING CONTAINER SECTIONS AND COMPOSITE BARNCONSTRUCTION FORMED THEREBYABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREA tobacco bulk curing barn construction including afurnace section and a plurality of portable barn sections eachhaving imperforate side walls and top wall that form substan-tially complete exterior walls and roof of an integral transversesection of a composite curing part of the barn construction.Flanges and sealing gaskets are provided along edges of eachsection to provide sealing engagement of adjacent sections ina series row formation. A screen is secured across one end ofthe barn section to define with the side walls a full sectionopen curing space for receiving tobacco filled in bulk thereinwhen the section is disposed flat on the screened end. A pair ofopen frames is mounted between the side walls for movement fromopen positions after an initial amount of tobacco has been filledinto position on top of the leaves to limit the amount of com-pression which can subsequently be applied to the initial tobaccoby virtue of the subsequent full loading of leaves into the curingspace. A pair of cross frames is pivoted to the side walls atthe end opposite the screen for pivoting from open positionsduring tobacco loading into closed tobacco retaining positionsacross the end of the section. U-shaped tines each having a pairof legs and a connecting base are inserted into the bulk tobaccoand are supported in tobacco supporting position by the tip endsof the tines projecting into the screen and the base ends ofthe tines being supported on the cross frames. The screen, crossframes, and tines combine to support tobacco in the full section- 1 -of the full width of the barn and the full height except forair circulation voids at the top and bottom when the sectionis joined with other sections to form a composite barn.