The Alaska citizen., 1910-09-12
AN INDUSTRY FOR ALASKA
PEAT olc

stacks. the tops of which should be covered with turf or other cover
 ing that will shed water. as the
 bricks are very absorbent The
 only tools needed for making fuel
 by this method are sharp. strong
 spades, or strong. long-bladed knives
 Coarse and poorly decomposed peat
 Is never very satisfactory fuel when
 prepared in this way In Europe the
 1iggers are paid by the thousand
 pieces cut and laid out. and in the
 same way for turning and drying
 The cost per ton for the production
 of air-dried bricks varies from as
 low as 53 cents 10 $1.75. according
 10 the kind of peat cut. the wages
 paid. and the efficiency of the men.
 Anothr form of peat for fuel is
 machine peat. also known as press ed or condensed peat. Coarse, tib-
 rous peat makes better fuel when it is reduced to d pulp by grinding il with the addition of water, and after
 ward shaping it into bricks and dry ing it as for cut peat The grinding may be done by throwing the peat into hole in the bog, mixing with
 water, and tramping it until the mass is reduced to a thick porridge In
 stead of the hole. box or trough of wood or metal may be used, and
 the tramping may be done by a horse. Sometimes a shaft armed with knives,
 curved serew-fashion. is placed Iengthwise in the box and by means
 of simple mechanical gearing is turned by horsepower The peat
 must be made very wet to be sue cesstully ground in this form of ma
 chine and the trough must be at least
 l5 feet in length.
 After the peat is reduced to a
 thin, fine pulp il is removed in bar
 rows and spread out on the cleared and smoothed surface of the peat bed,
 in a layer C 10 < inches thick. and marked off into bricks of the desired size with a knife or by hand, The bricks soon become dry enough to handle, shrinking apart as drying goes on, and may then be treated in the same way as the cut bricks.
 A more modern way of making this product is with peat machine, which
 is. in effect. an iron cylinder, with a
 hopper for receiving the peat at one end and a square nozzle for shaping the peat into prismatic strand as il is pressed at the other. Inside the cylinder is a revolving. knife-armed shaft, with the knives curved to
 form screw. as in blacksmith's pug mill or ill some of the meat grinders so commonly used. The bricks are formed as the wet peat is forced from the nozzle Such ma chimes are made in all sizes, from one requiring a single horse for motive power and turning out from to ! tons of peat fuel day (air-dry weight to those run by powerful steam engines and making 5O,O0O or more bricks a day.
 Machine peat in whatever way it is prepared, is more compact and
 more easily handled, breaks up less readily. and dries more quickly and thoroughly than cut peat and is nearly waterproof after the outside is once dry. The cost Of making t in Eur , varies from %5 cents l."
 $2 ton, but generally about $' ton.
 The other processes mentioned for preparing peat for fuel are probably not adapted to conditions existing in Alaska. although peat might be used
 as q source of producer gas in many localities where electric or other pow CT is required as in mining opera tions. For use in the gas producer,
 the peat should be machined and at least partly dried.
 | The amount of fuel in a peat de
 posit may be roughly estimated by finding the area in acres and average depth in feet, and multiplying the
 product of the two by 200, the num-
 Der of tons of air-dry fuel which can
 be made from an acre of peat l foot
 in depth.
 | The proper time to make peat fuel | } in the early part of the spring and summer, the season running from the middle or last of April until
 early September. If frozen while
 wet, the bricks are very spongy and fall to pieces readily.
 | If peat is to make good fuel, it
 must be dried clear through to the
 air-dry state; when it is in this con
 dition it burns with a clear. bright, long, and nearly smOkeless flame and gives out a strong and lasting heat; | if it shoulders and requires much
 draft to keep it afire, it has not been properly dried, for dry peat burns in | a common stove with but very | slight draft, and a fire once started | in it will not go out until the last | bit of fuel is gone, even if the draft
 is cut off entirely. Early cutting,
 thorough drying, and some protection