IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CHARRING OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL SUB- STANCES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Taylor, of Carlisle, in the County of
Cumberland, Engineer, Isaac Brown, of the same Place, Mer-
chant and Field Seedsman, and John Brown, of Oxford Street, in
the County of Middlesex, Silk Mercer, for the Invention of "IM-
Cumberland, Engineer, Isaac Brown, of the same Place, Mer-
chant and Field Seedsman, and John Brown, of Oxford Street, in
the County of Middlesex, Silk Mercer, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Taylor,
Isaac Brown, and John Brown, at the Office of the Commis-
sioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 7th February 1854.
We, JAMES TAYLOR, of Carlisle, in the County of Cumberland,
Engineer, ISAAC BROWN, of the same Place, Merchant and .Field
Seedsman, and JOHN BROWN, of Oxford Street, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Silk Mercer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CHARRING OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL SUB-
STANCES" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates as well to the anterior process of drying the
raw peat earth as to the treatment and carbonization of the same and
other vegetable and animal substances in a peculiar arrangement of
retort or charring apparatus. When the peat is cut it is placed upon
a traversing apparatus in the interior of a suitable drying chamber

page_text: heated by a stove or furnace flue or flues; the peat is thus dried as it
passes through the chamber. Such dried peat or other vegetable and
animal substances are then placed in a vertical retort, which is heated
by externally applied fire as well as by internal flues. As the material
is charred it is withdrawn from the bottom of the retort into close
receivers, capable of fitting at pleasure the discharging mouth at the
bottom of the retort. From the neck of the retort a pipe is passed into
a hydraulic main for carrying off the disengaged gases of distillation to
a condenser. The attendant may tell at any time the state of the
charge by examining the quantity and colour of the gases thrown off.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Taylor, Isaac Brown, and John Brown
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th May 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
JAMES TAYLOR, of Carlisle, in the County of Cumberland, Engineer,
ISAAC BROWN, of the same Place, Merchant and Field Seedsman, and
JOHN BROWN, of Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex, Silk
Mercer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of February in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto us, the said James Taylor, Isaac Brown,
and John Brown, Her special license that we, the said James Taylor,
Isaac Brown, and John Brown, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said James Taylor, Isaac Brown, and
John Brown, our executors, administrators, or 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CHARRING OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said

page_text: James Taylor, Isaac Brown, and John Brown, by an instrument in
writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one
of us, 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 we, the said James Taylor, Isaac Brown,
and John Brown, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say:-
Our said Invention relates to a mode of making what is usually
known as peat charcoal, and to the drying and charring of vegetable or
animal substances by a continuous and economical process. The peat
or other substance to be dryed is passed through a heated chamber of
any convenient length or form placed in any suitable position, the
material being carried through upon trays made of perforated iron
plates or a web of wire cloth attached to endless chains, and is moved
along in such a manner and at such a speed as will cause it to be dried
in its passage through the chamber. The dry peat or other material is
then put into a vertical retort enclosed in brickwork, or a casing of
segmental flags made of well burned fire clay and hooped with wrought
iron hoops, the heat being applied round and through the retort in any
convenient manner. When once in operation such a retort is never
permitted to cool down, but is kept constantly ready for action, and
when the charge of material is sufficiently charred it is withdrawn at
the bottom whilst it is hot, and received into an air-tight portable
vessel to be removed to a suitable place to cool. When one charge is
withdrawn another is at once put into the retort, the heat being thus
regularly kept up and the charring process going on. Figure 1 on our
Sheet of Drawings represents a longitudinal vertical section of the
drying chamber in which the peat or other material is first dryed.
Figure 2 is a corresponding horizontal section of the same; and
Figure 3 is a vertical section of the furnace and retort, shewing also

page_text: an end view into the interior of the drying chamber which is formed in
the same building. The drying chamber A is heated by the under
flue B, and contains an endless wire cloth C. This cloth carries the
new cut peat or other material to be dryed or partially carbonized. and
is supported by the series of rollers D being driven by the main end
drums E, to which motion may be communicated by any convenient
mechanical arrangement. The endless wire cloth is shewn more dis-
tinctly in plan at Figure 2, the blue lines representing the surface of
the material. The peat is traversed slowly through the drying chamber,
the speed of the endless cloth being of course regulated according to
the nature of the peat and the heat of the furnace. When properly
dried the material may be discharged either at the end or sides of the
chamber, whichever may be found most convenient. The subsequent
process to which it is subjected is that of carbonization, which is
effected by enclosing the peat previously dried or partially carbonized
in the vertical retort F, which is surrounded by the brickwork of the
furnace, a space being left all round for the heat and flame of the fur-
nace to circulate. The interior of the retort is fitted with a number of
vertical and horizontal tubular flues G, G, which open into the flue B,
and thence into the chimney H, which serves both for the retorts and
steam engine if one be employed. A curved pipe I, serves to carry off
the grases and vapours thrown off in the charring process. This pipe
dips into the hydraulic main J, which communicates with a condenser,
not shewn in the Drawing. The flooring K, which carries the hydraulic
main, serves also to carry an overhead railway for the facility of filling
the retorts, a series of which may be fitted side by side if the extent of
the works should render such an arrangement necessary. The bottom
of each retort is fitted with a sliding door L, which is actuated by a
screw spindle and lever handle M. When the retort is to be discharged
a wrought iron air-tight receiver N is brought beneath it on the lower
railway O. This receiver is fitted with an air-tight cover, which rests
in a recess P, formed upon the top of the receiver itself, such recess
being filled with water or well washed and baked sand. After filling
the retort the top cover Q is firmly secured and well luted. When the
material, after being properly charred or carbonized, is to be dis-
charged, the receiver N is brought into the recess beneath the retort,

page_text: and the cover being removed the sliding bottom of the retort is drawn
back, and the carbonized matter is allowed to fall into the receiver,
which when full is removed to convey the peat to the stores for
cooling. By examining the color and quantity of the vapour in the
condenser the attendant will easily perceive when the charge has been
sufficiently charred. The processes of filling and emptying are carried
on regularly without allowing the retort to cool, which is thus kept
constantly at work.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, we would observe, in conclusion, that we do not
confine or restrict ourselves to the precise details or arrangements
which we have had occasion to describe or refer to, as many variations
may be made therefrom without deviating from the principles or main
features of our said Invention; but what we consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the application and use of the drying chamber herein-before
described, whether the dryed material be delivered at the side or end of
such chamber.
Second, the application and use of retorts, with or without internal
flues, for effecting the continuous and economical carbonisation of
animal or vegetable substances.
Third, the application and use of an air-tight receiver or carriage in
conjunction with the retort, as herein-before described.
Fourth, the general arrangement and construction of drying cham-
bers and carbonising furnaces, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Brown, on behalf of myself
and of the said James Taylor and Isaac Brown, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-four.
JOHN BROWN. (L.S.)