IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF MOSS-PEAT
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frank Wirth at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 18th September 1883. A.communication
from Ludwig Starck, a person resident at Mainz in the Empire of Germany.
FRANK WIRTH, of the firm of Wirth and Company, Patent Solicitors, at
Frankfort on the Main, in the Empire of Germany. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
APPLICATION OF MOSS-PEAT [A communication from Ludwig Starck, a person
resident at Mainz in the Empire of Germany]
"
This invention relates to the application of peat for various purposes.
Light coloured peat the fibres of which are fine and loosely entangled, and which
is the result of the decomposition and carbonization of inferior and wild vegetations
of the same species as moss, has when in a dried state, and undressed, a specific
gravity of 0.09 and is capable of absorbing nine hundred per cent of its own weight
of liquid without losing to any material extent its fibrous and loose consistence.
When large quantities of compressed peat of this kind are stored in a moist state,
the same does not heat, and shews no signs of deterioration when kept in this state
for a considerable time. These properties of moss peat render it very valuable for
industrial chemical and agricultural purposes.
The industrial purpose for which the said peat is best suited is in the tanning
process. The defects attending the use of oak bark in tanning operations, together
with the high price of the said bark, have of late induced tanners to make use of
extracts of various kinds of vegetable matter which have proved of great value for
tanning.
The use of these various extracts however is difficult and is only applicable to
the process of tanning by means of hot and liquid tan in which process it is
requisite to subject the said liquid tan, and the skins which are steeped in it, to
constant agitation, first because the specific gravity of the tanning substances is
such as to cause the same to sink to the bottom when left alone, and secondly
because some parts of the skins adhere to one another and prevent the tan from
reaching them when the said skins are not agitated.
In the old and usual process of tanning with pounded or finely broken oak bark
the skins are stretched out upon one another in a tan pit and between every two
adjacent skins is spread a layer of the above tanning material. After the said
pit has been entirely filled up with alternate layers of skin and bark it is then
D...

page_text: covered with water or boiled tan water, when the skins therein contained rapidly
absorb the tan which gradually dissolves; the acids from the tan which are formed
in this kind of fermentation and are of great value in commerce being separated at
the same time from the cells of the skins.
In order to obtain the same efficacy from the above mentioned extracts of
vegetable matter as from oak bark in the treatinent of skins in tan pits, solutions
of the said extracts mixed in suitable proportion and the strength of which is
determined by means of a standard solution of fibrous matter, are mixed with
moss peat.
This moss peat can absorb concentrated solutions of tan in greater quantity than
any kind of bark known; whereas oak bark contains a quantity of tan varying
from five to eleven per cent, the said moss peat may be made to contain as much
as thirty per cent of tan, whereby a great economy is effected in the transport of
tanning material.
After the moss peat has been passed through a sieve it is impregnated with
extract of tan dried in a suitable place and is used in tanning.
Products of great value may be extracted from moss peat which are particularly
suitable for sanitary purposes.
When moss peat is subjected to suitable mechanical operations, fibrous parts
having the appearance of bark separate. These fibrous parts may be utilized for
the manufacture of wadding, felt or similar material, which, owing to the great
absorbing power of moss peat are particularly suited for drying purposes of all
descriptions and especially is this the case with felt which may be manufactured
in sheets and used in a similar manner to blotting paper. Wadding or felt
obtained as above. may be used for bandages or for articles of clothing. The
rougher portions of the prepared fibres may be used advantageously for insulating
purposes.
Moss peat may be used in the production of gas for lighting purposes. By
saturating the peat with liquid carburetted hydrogen I obtain firin fibrous pieces
which can be afterwards converted into gas in the ordinary manner. A quantity
of moss peat and liquid oil such as resin oil, oil of tar, and the like may be mixed
with coal or peat broken in small pieces and well dried and thus serve as a material
for the production of gas for lighting purposes which is purer than coal gas as
heretofore manufactured. Moss peat may also be used for the purification of gas
employed for lighting purposes in which case I mix the said moss peat with
protoxide of iron, hydrated protoxide of iron, or peroxide of iron whereby the gas
when passing through the above comes more intimately into contact with the said
purifying products. The loose and fibrous condition of the same moss peat serves
advantageously for a more rapid vivification of the said purifying products.
Moss peat is a most perfect absorbent of liquids and by its means the separation of
light volatile liquids from heavy liquids such as, for instance, the separation of
liquid carburetted hydrogen from crude petroleum, may be effected with the
greatest ease. When moss peat is used as an absorbent for liquids it enables
physical agents such as heat, steam or a vacuum, (which serves to annul the
cohesion between the molecules of liquids and thus effect the separation of their
component parts) to act with greater effect and also greater speed on account of the
minutely divided state in which liquids are when absorbed by the said moss peat.
In the preparation of ice by means of ammonia moss peat will also be found
valuable as it absorbs in its fibrous form the ammoniacal fluid very readily, the
said fluid being separated from it by means of a vacuum even more rapidly than it
has been absorbed.
In the manufacture of lamp black from carboniferous oils or pitch, moss peat
may be used to absorb the said oils or pitch the partial burning of which causes
the formation of lamp black.
Moss peat may be used instead of porous siliceous earth (gieselkahr) the price of
which is very high, in combination with nitro glycerine or gelatine in the
manufacture of explosive substances,

page_text: Moss peat is also applicable for agricultural purposes. Heretofore the said moss
peat has only been used in a similar manner to straw in stables or for cleaning
cesspools and removing fecal matters.
But moss peat may be much more usefully employed for the destruction of
injurious growths or insects upon plants of all description but especially upon vines
to which it serves to convey to the plants various remedies employed for the
said growths or insects. The effects of the said remedies are well known but it
has not been found yet possible to apply the same properly for the want of suitable
means whereby to convey the said remedies to the plants.
Whatever may be the remedies employed for combating the diseases of plants as
well as the phylloxera whether, sulphide of carbon, sulphuretted hydrogen,
carburetted hydrogen, naphthaline, sulphurous pitch water, salts of iron or hydrates
of iron are employed, the said remedies can only operate efficiently when applied
by means of moss peat and brought into the roots of the infected plants.
Manures such as cinders, salts of the alkalies, gypsum; phosphates and the like
may be mixed in the form of solutions with moss peat or pulverized with the same
and laid upon the land which it is required to manure. In the decomposition
which follows the moss peat acts as a manure. In the conversion of refuse from
various manufactures into manure such as the refuse in the manufacture of
beetroot, sugar, the manufacture of starch, tan yards, chemical factories and
slaughter houses, moss peat is the valuable substance which may convert all the
above mentioned refuse into manure in such a form as will be most convenient to
the farmer for incorporating the same into his land. Moss peat is also of great
value to keep plants which are placed in pots or cases moist. It may also be used
as a protection against the formation of mould in the wooden portions of a building
as well as for the destruction of vermin in places of habitation by using a layer of
the said moss peat previously impregnated with metallic salts or the like.