IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Gilbert Richard Redgreave at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th October 1878.
GILBERT RICHARD REDGREAVE, of Muswell Hill, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL."
My Invention relates to an improved method of treating peat for fuel; whereby
considerable economy is effected in the cost of the process and the value of the
fuel is greatly increased.
$
In carrying out my Invention I first prepare charcoal from air-dried peat in any
of the modes usually practised. Such peat need not have been subjected to any
previous process of preparation, but may be used in the form of the dry cakes of
the size as commonly dug from the bog. The calcination of the peat is effected on
the bog itself in the ordinary heap or weiler," by preference, but kilns or retorts
or any of the well-known processes for making peat charcoal may be employed.
The gases, tar, and other matters may be preserved or not as may be found most
convenient. The peat cake or peat charcoal so prepared is allowed to become cold
or to cool so far that there will be no danger of combustion when it is exposed
to the air.
In carrying out my Invention I take from 40 to 45 parts by weight of such
peat charcoal recently prepared and intimately mix it with from 55 to 60 parts by
weight of " green or freshly dug peat which has been previously well drained but
still contains a high per-centage of moisture.
"
The peat charcoal is first ground by itself into a fine powder, and the green peat
is then added, and a thorough mixture of the two is effected by the further grinding.
The moisture will then be found to be almost wholly absorbed by the charcoal, and
a friable sundry mass is obtained. This compound can, by means of a slight
amount of pressure, be moulded into any desired form for "patent" fuel, either by
hand in any ordinary screw or lever press, or in any briquette machine of the
"semi-dry" type, the wet peat serving to consolidate and bind together the
charcoal.
The blocks so prepared will dry rapidly and in so doing will lose from 45 to 50

page_text: per cent. of their weight, yielding very tough and compact briquettes admirably
adapted for all purposes where a pure carbonaceous fuel is of value.
I may here state that the density of such fuel is greatly increased if the peat
used for making the charcoal and that employed for subsequent mixture with such
charcoal is prepared by any of the well-known methods of maceration, whereby the
fibre of the peat is broken up and destroyed. Such processes, however, of course
add to the cost of the raw material, and I consider that the improved results
thereby obtained scarcely compensate for this expenditure. I prefer the mode first
indicated for preparing the fuel for most circumstances, though in certain cases it
may be found advisable to condense the peat before mixing it with the charcoal,
It may also be advisable for some cases to employ more complex machinery than
a simple edge runner for grinding. It is of course obvious that the charcoal may
be pulverized in a suitable machine and added in measured quantities to green peat
prepared in a pug mill or mixing machine of similar construction, or the mode of
effecting the process may be varied in many ways, but I wish it to be understood
that my object is to unite the friable and dusty peat charcoal by means of peat
itself as a binding material, and thereby to avail myself also at the same time of
the great desiccating powers of the charcoal. The subsequent formation of the
compound into blocks can be effected by any of the numerous machines usually
employed for such purposes.