Patent GB-190221587-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Apparatus for Carbonizing Peat
Inventor: LEDERMUELLER THEODOR
Filed: 1902-10-03
Granted: 1903-07-23
Abstract: 21,587. Lederm³ller, T. Oct. 3. Carbon.-Relates to apparatus for carbonizing peat under pressure. The granulated or broken peat is contained in shallow mould boxes, which are placed in a pile, with interposed pressure plates or plungers, in the heating-chamber of a furnace above the table of a hydraulic press. The peat is compressed into briquettes while being carbonized by the heat of the furnace. Means for charging and discharging the mould boxes, and for introducing them into the furnace and withdrawing them therefrom, are also described. Fig. 1 is a vertical section through the furnace and press, showing the mould boxes in place, and Fig. 3 is a transverse section through the press. Two or more presses may be combined with one furnace. To prevent the heating of the press plunger 8, a hollow water-cooled block 12 is provided. The mould boxes, one of which is shown at 21 in Fig. 3, are fitted with wheels, and run on to frame plates a, b, c, d, which are suitably supported in the heating-chamber, and in which the pressure plates or plungers permanently rest, except during the actual pressing operation. The pressure plates are formed with transverse channels, which are traveised by the furnace gases. The press is provided with a small plunger 9, by which the mould boxes and pressure plates are hfted out of their supports and brought together, after which the main plunger 8 is brought into operation and the peat is compressed. The compression is maintained during the carbonizing process, but the pressure is momentarily relieved at intervals to allow the escape of gas. During the compression, the frame plates a, b, c, d are lifted off their supports by the mould boxes beneath them. The mould boxes are run in and withdrawn at either side of the furnace, the openings being fitted with sliding doors 159, 160, as shown in Fig. 3 ; or a series of small doors may be fitted, means being provided for simultaneously operating and securing them. They are pushed into place by hook-ended rods 166, with stop-pieces 167 to ensure correct adjustment. Before being inserted in the furnace, the mould boxes are filled with peat from hoppers 52, Fig. 7, with rotary measuring-drums 57, 58, being run, for that purpose, on tables 82, capable of rotation round a fixed column 54. The boxes are run out of the furnace on to the table of a screw or other form of lift, which raises them to the level of their respective tables. In a modified arrangement, the boxes are filled as they run on a track beneath a shoot 141, Fig. 8, the charge being levelled by a roller 87. After withdrawal from the furnace, they are discharged into railway wagons with hinged and counterbalanced lids, as shown in Fig. 10. These wagons are placed below gaps in a track traversed by the mould boxes, which are tilted about their running-wheels as shown in Fig. 11, as they run over the gap from right to left. At one end of each box is a wheel s, running on a central track, which is interrupted at the gap. The box is righted, as it proceeds, by rollers 109, 111. Arrangements of inclined return tracks, on which the mould boxes run by gravity from one side of the furnace to the other, are illustrated in the Specification, lifts being provided to raise them to the highest part of the track, and duplicate tracks for permitting the boxes to be run into the furnace from either side and withdrawn at the other.