IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR EXCAVATING AND TREATING SUBSTANCES EXCAVATED, ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE FOR THE CONVERSION OF BOG MOSS OR FEN INTO PEAT FOR FUEL
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Love, of Bedford, in the County of
Bedford, Agricultural Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR EXCAVATING AND TREATING SUBSTANCES EXCAVATED,
ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE FOR THE CONVERSION OF BOG MOSS OR FEN INTO PEAT
FOR FUEL."
Sealed the 27th May 1873, and dated the 13th December 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Love at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th December 1872.
I, PETER LOVE, of Bedford, in the County of Bedford, Agricultural
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iμ-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR EXCAVATING AND TREATING SUBSTANCES EXCAVATED,
ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE FOR THE CONVERSION OF BOG MOSS OR FEN INTO PEAT FOR
FUEL," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in constructing for the purposes aforesaid
a machine substantially of the following kind:-To a proper framing
for a travelling machine I secure at each end travelling and pressing

page_text: rollers and cylinders provided with circular cutters working eccentric
to the cylinders, and immediately behind these rollers and cylinders I
provide cases or boxes for the reception of substances excavated, and for
the better excavation of substances I have in front of these boxes or
cases a number of shares or horizontal cutters. The material such as
earth bog or moss having been excavated by means of the said cutters or
shares when the machine is drawn forwards by the action of engine
power or other suitable prime mover, the said material is drawn into the
boxes or cases by screw cutters which work therein at a sufficiently
high speed to reduce the material to pulp and the same is discharged
from the other end by the operation of the machine being laid down
level, pressed and cut into squares, and so left spread out to dry.
The same machine may be used for pulverizing earth or other material
in a dry state instead of pulping moist material as above referred to.
To given motion to the machinery aforesaid I attach wheel gear to the
upper part of the machine frame, which wheel gear receives motion by
means of a rigger, round which a wire rope or other communicator from
the engine or power acts, and by this means (or by any equivalent
thereof) not only is the machinery put in action but the whole machine
is caused to travel onwards and accomplish its work.
For some purposes the cutters might be dispensed with as un-
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Love in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
LOVE, of Bedford, in the County of Bedford, Agricultural Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Peter Love, Her special licence that
I, the said Peter Love, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or

page_text: such others as I, the said Peter Love, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
EXCAVATING AND TREATING SUBSTANCES EXCAVATED, ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE FOR
THE CONVERSION OF BOG Moss OR FEN INTO PEAT FOR FUEL," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Love, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to
be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Love, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
These improvements consist in constructing for the purposes aforesaid
a machine substantially of the following kind :-To a proper framing
suitable for a travelling machine I secure at each end travelling sledges
for soft and rollers for firm bog, and pressing rollers and cylinders pro-
vided with circular cutters working excentric to the pulper cylinders,
and immediately behind these rollers and cylinders I provide cases or
boxes for the reception of substances excavated, and for the better
excavation of substances I have in front of these boxes or cases a
number of shares or horizontal cutters. The material such as earth
bog or moss having been excavated by means of the said cutters or
shares when the machine is drawn forward by the action of engine
powers or other suitable prime mover, the said material is drawn into the
boxes or cases by a succession of wedge-shaped beaters or pulpers work-
ing through gratings arranged also as a succession of wedges which
work therein at a sufficiently high speed to reduce the material to pulp,
and the same is compressed and rammed into a compact sheet, and dis-
charged from the other end by the operation of the machine being laid
down level, pressed, and cut into squares by other dies at the other end,
and so left spread out to dry.

page_text: The same machine may be used for pulverizing earth or other material
in a dry state instead of pulping moist materials as above referred to.
To give motion to the machinery I use wheel gear attached to the
upper part of the machine frame, which wheel gear receives motion by
means of a rigger, round which a wire rope or other communicator
from the engine or power acts, and by this means (or by any equivalent
thercof) not only is the machinery put in action, but the whole machine
is caused to travel onwards and accomplish its work.
The same machine may be used for pulverizing earth or other material
in a dry state instead of pulping moist materials as above referred to.
To give motion to the machinery I use wheel gear attached to the
upper part of the machine frame, which wheel gear receives motion by
meaus of a rigger, round which a wire rope or other communicator
from the engine or power acts, and by this means (or by any equivalent
thercof) not only is the machinery put in action, but the whole machine
is caused to travel onwards and accomplish its work.
For some purposes the cutter, pulpers, and pressers are dispensed with
as unnecessary, especially when used to cut the black and solid bog into
peats, and laying them on edge to dry.
DESCRIPTION OF
THE DRAWINGS AND OF THE DETAILS ADOPTED IN
CARRYING OUT THE SAID INVENTION.
Fig. 1, plan of my machine; Fig. 2, side view of same; Fig. 3, end
view; Fig. 4, front view, shewing the knives that cut up the bog and
deliver it to the pulpers; Fig. 5, cross section of the ground shewing
the corrugated surface produced by the action of the apparatus with
pulped material laid thereon, and cut into peat by the machine to dry;
Fig. 6, detail view of beater.
In the said Drawings A. denotes the slide or sledge that regulates the
thickness of the slide of bog to be operated upon; B, the disc that cuts
vertically the said slide from the bog; C, the steel shares that cut hori-
zontally the said slice from the bog; D, the corrugator that leaves the
surface corrugated to receive the peat and let the air circulate under it
- while drying; E, the press rollers, betwixt which the slice has the free
water pressed out to pass into the drain; F, the rotary steel knives
that cut the slice into short lengths which they deliver to the pulpers;
G, the pulping arrangements consisting of rotary beaters G, A, which
crush the bog stuff through iron gratings G, B, squeezing and rubbing
it into pulp; H, two levers with one end hung in the same centre or
line of centre of the crank H, A, that drives the rammer H, B, which
with the roller H, C, are hung upon the said lever, allowing them to
rise or fall according to the varied thickness of pulp to be discharged,
and be compressed into a solid cake upon the revolving platform H, D;
I, the rotary discs or knives that cut longitudinally the compressed cake
of pulped bog stuff or naturally dense bog into peats; K, the knife that

page_text: cuts the peats into the required lengths; L, the breasts, or other means
that turn the strips of either pulped or cut peat on edge in the better
position for drying, but this is only practicable where the cake of pulp is
stiff, or where the bog is sufficiently dense to cut into peats without
pulping, this setting on edge L, A, greatly facilitates drying, exposing
three sides to the air, and little horizontal surface to the rain; M, the
strong hauling rope which has one end fast to the engine or windlass,
and is passed round the large driving pulley M, A, which gives double
hauling power to the engine, and also motion to all the machinery;
N, the front steerage handle which operates the winding drum N, A,
which as it winds up the rope N, B, draws in this end of the guide
bar N, C, with friction pulleys N, D, fastened thereon with the hauling
rope running between them; while the rope N, E, is unwound, allow-
ing the other end of the guide bar N, C, with the friction pulleys N, F,
fastened thereon, and the other end of the haulage rope running between
them to be forced out, or vice versa, thus altering the line of haulage
either to the right or left while the ropes N, G, and N, H, make the
quadrant end of the lever N, I, follow the guide bar N, C, the other
end of said lever moving the slide bar N, K, to the opposite side, taking
with it the frame with the disc of both the drainer and peat maker
attached to each end, thus the cutting discs B and B, A, act in unison
with the direction given to haulage; O, the wheels that carry and guide
the back end of the machine when hauled back into the bog; P, the
levers that raise the back end of the machine upon the wheels (O);
Q, the steerage that guides the machine when running back; R, the
light rope for hauling back the machine into the bog; S, the guides that
hold the drainer in position while at work, also when raised out of the
ground; T, the lever by which the attendant forces the drainer into
work, and gets the holdfast and T, A, locked%; U, the handle that
operates the winding drums U, A, which acting on the ropes U, B, and
U, C, raise and lower the drainer into and out of work; V, the pulleys
and band that convey motion to the drainer excavator V, A.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed or put in practice, I hereby declare that I claim the said
Invention of improvements in machinery for excavating and treating
substances excavated, especially applicable for the conversion of bog
moss or fen or vegetable earth into peat for fuel as herein-before

page_text: described, in which said Invention I wish it to be understood the
following are novel and peculiar features, that is to say, the parts marked
in the accompanying Drawings C, D, E, F, H, I, K, L, and also as far
as regards the adaptation thereof to the purposes of peat manufacture
and bog cultivation, the parts marked M.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Love, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
PETER LOVE. (L.S.)
Witness,
THOMAS MORGAN,
Secretary Inventors' Patent Right Ass", Limited,
21, Cockspur Street,
S.W.