IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF PEAT AND IN THE MACHINERY FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Morgan-Brown, of the Firm of Brandon
and Morgan-Brown, Engineers and Patent Agents, of 38, South-
ampton Buildings, London, and 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF PEAT AND IN THE
MACHINERY FOR THAT PURPOSE."-A communication from abroad by
Felix Réné Verdier, of 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, France, Engineer.
Sealed the 21st August 1875, and dated the 23rd February 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Morgan-Brown
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd February 1875.
I, WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN, of the Firm of Brandon and Morgan-
Brown, Engineers and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings,
London, and 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF PEAT AND IN
THE MACHINERY FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
Whatever system of manufactory is adopted the peat must be
extracted, fed into a condensor, condensed, carried to the drying sheds,

page_text: moulded, dried, stacked, and lastly, allowed to ferment, after which it is
ready for use; the only difference which may exist in these successive
operations consists in the manner of effecting the same.
My aim has been a combined series of means and apparatus for
obtaining a product of good quality, always identical, manufactured
rapidly and cheaply. To manufacture cheaply large quantities must be
produced with as little manual labour as possible and by means of low
priced apparatus. In order to have the requisite power I have adopted
steam for the purpose of obtaining identical products, I have created
continuous machinery where all the labour is mechanical, and which
accomodate themselves automatically to the varying qualities of the
raw material. To produce a good quality I have fixed by means of
experiments the extent to which the peat must be ground, the mode of
mixing, the process of drying, and lastly, in order to ensure rapidity not
only powerful machinery, but also a means of replacing the slow
desiccation of the peat, which usually requires from six to twelve weeks
by an economical mode of drying, effected in from eight to ten days in
the open air, for the process of drying under cover cannot be applied to a
manufacture producing large quantities.
The machinery I have invented for the above purposes is illustrated
in the three accompanying Drawings and consists,-
Firstly. In an extracting apparatus with its motor, Sheet 1, in which
Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevation of the same partly in section;
Figure 2, a similar view of the opposite side of the machine; and Figure
3, a front elevation.
Secondly. In a condensing and grinding apparatus with its motor and
boiler, Sheet 2, in which Figure 1 is a plan of the same; Figure 2, a
longitudinal elevation; and Figure 3, a front elevation partly in section.
Thirdly. In a carrier or barrow, Sheet 3, in which Figure 1 is a plan,
and Figure 2 a longitudinal elevation.
And, Fourthly. In a moulding apparatus, also illustrated in Sheet 3, of
which Figure 3 is a plan partly in section; Figure 4, a longitudinal
elevation, also partly in section; Figure 5 a rear elevation, also partly in
section; and Figures 6, 7, and 8, details.
Extracting Apparatus, Sheet 1, Figures 1, 2, and 3.-This machine is
erected on the same frame a as the condensing and and grinding mill; it

page_text: is mounted on wheels b, and impelled automatically on light iron rails c
bolted to sleepers d. The rails may be of the Vignolles shape, 4º. 50°
long, weighing about 5 kilos. 10 per metre. Each pair is bolted to 5
pinewood sleepers about 20 centimetres wide by 5 thick and 1 metre
long. The guage of these rails is 75 centimetres; they can carry 500
kilogrammes on each wheel. Each pair of rails thus united weigh
about 63 kilogrammes; two men can carry and place them end to end
easily. Fish joints are adapted at the extremities for the purpose of
connection. The extraction of the peat is effected by means of the me-
chanical trencher e, to which motion is imparted by the steam cylinder f,
supplied with steam from the boiler g, mounted on a rolling carriage 9¹,
shown at the back of the extractor carriage a, to which it is united.
The gearing of this machine will be easily understood from the Drawing.
This extractor cut and raises the peat from a seam eight metres deep;
at this depth it will make one hundred and eighty strokes a day; at six
metres it will make two hundred and twenty; at four metres, three
hundred. Its internal dimensions being thirty centimetres by forty, it
will extract in a day of twelve hours from ono hundred and forty to
one hundred and seventy cubic metres of raw peat. As it takes about
six metres cube of such material to produce two cubic metres or one
ton of condensed and dried peat ready for the market, the trencher or
dredging implement will extract sufficient raw peat to produce twenty to
twenty-four tons of marketable peat per day. On arriving at the surface
of the soil the block of peat raised by the trencher e strikes against an
inclined iron plate, which detaches it on to a travelling chain h, which
carries it to the top of the condensor. Motion is imparted to this chain
by a six-sided pulley h¹, which in its turn is rotated by the mechanism
actuating the extractor. The speed of the carrying chain / exceeds
slightly that of the trencher in order to compensate for the slipping of
the peat on the chain.
Condensing and Grinding Mill, Sheet 2, Figures 1, 2, and 3.-On its
falling in the mill the block of peat is immediately cut up by the
vertical knives i, fixed on the extremity of the central rotating shaft i¹;
the pieces thus produced are then subdivided by the horizontal blades 2³,
and undergo the usual operations which constitute condensation. In
this machine the operations are. performed especially in view of facili-
tating the ultimate desiccation. The water impregnating the peat at the
time of its extraction is of two different descriptions, viz., interposition

page_text: water surrounding the fibres, and constitution water contained within
the fibres themselves. The first can be eliminated in two or three days,
whilst the latter requires from one to three months. I have endeavoured
to convert all the constitution water into interposition water, id est, to
divide the fibres entirely by cutting them in the mill, by which the
required result is obtained, for it is immaterial how much interposed
' water exists in the peat so long as the whole forms a pasty mass of a
certain consistency, and the result is that such material reduced into
blocks of about three decimeters cube are desiccated in from six to
fifteen days, according to the weather.
The above-mentioned mill consists mainly in two series of blades,
which are set gradually close one to the other, some being fixed to the
internal surface k of the condensor, and the others,, by three in a
series are keyed to the central rotating shaft. When the peat by their
action has been cut up and ground into small pieces I inject in it water
drawn from the trench for the purpose of puddling the whole mass ener-
getically, and thereby rendering it homogeneous and plastic, by means
of spiral blades with a gradual increasing incline, the lower ones being
replaced by a screw 1, which drives all the peat reduced to a paste of an
average consistency through an aperture. P, 13, is a grating for the
purpose of intercepting foreign substances, such as stones, wood, &c.
Carriers or Barrows, Sheet 3, Fig. 1 & 2.—From the spout m the peat
falls in carriers or barrows consisting in cases n opened at the top and
mounted on a wheelbarrow frame n' supported on two wheels o. Each
carrier contains material for forming about 25 blocks of three decimeters
cube each. Directly one is filled a workman rolls it close up to a
moulding apparatus, and taking hold of the handle p under the case, by
raising it in the position indicated in the dotted lines, it tilts on the pin p'
and empties its contents into the hopper 9 of the moulding apparatus.
Moulding Apparatus, Sheet 3, Fig. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8.-This apparatus
moulds the peat into blocks and places them on the soil parallel with
the trench, both operations resulting from the motion imparted to the
apparatus by rolling it along on the soil, its cylinder » resting on the
soil and rotating on its axis „ª¹. The said cylinder is divided at its
circumference in eleven moulds, forming each a cube of three decimeters,
and the sides of which are made in wire gauze. These moulds get filled
successively during the rotation of the cylinder with the peat in the

page_text: hopper q, and lay the blocks thus formed successively on the soil. The
bottom of the moulds consists in an iron frame, bearing in relief a
trade mark if required. Each frames is fixed to the bottom of its
mould by means of four screws or hooks, see Figure 6. The workman
imparts a speed of about 50 centimeters a minute to the machine, and
as the circumference of the cylinder is equal to 1m. 50 it will make
twenty revolutions per minute, delivering two hundred and twenty
blocks a minute, or thirteen thousand two hundred blocks per hour,
and one hundred and fifty-eight thousand in a day of twelve hours,
deducting delays for charging the hopper. This figure would be reduced.
to about sixty thousand product of the labor of one man and one
machine, as against five to six thousand produced in the same time by
a hand moulder. One such machine can mould all the peat of the
extractor with the assistance of five or six carriers. The blocks thus
laid on the soil are exposed successively on all sides to the action of the
rain and the wind; if the weather is fine and dry, after two days exposure
children turn them over, two days afterwards they are stacked in tens,
and three days after they are stored for the purpose of fermenting.
The maximum time required during rainy weather for drying the
peat does not exceed twelve to fifteen days, this extraordinary rapidity
is due to the methods of condensation and moulding above described.
For the economical storing of the peat in the fermenting sheds I avail
myself of flat bottomed boats when the soil admits of water conveyance,
and on a dry soil of trucks running on moveable rails, as above described,
such rails converging all to a central set of rails leading into the sheds,
which consist in two parallel sheds about one meter apart, five meters
wide, five meters high, and as long as may be necessary, the sides are
formed of vertical laths in pine or poplar, about eight centimeters wide
by eight millimeter thick, nailed on horizontal laths at about sixty
centimeters one from the other. I place a single line of light rails
similar to those above specified in the space existing between the two
sheds near the roof, the trucks from without ascend to this upper line
of rails either by means of a gradient, if circumstances admit, or by
means of a hoist placed at the extremity of the sheds, and they are
discharged to the right or to the left by simply tilting the same.
When it is preferred I impart motion to the trucks by steam power,
for which purpose I make a friction clutch on the fly wheel of the steam

page_text: engine, which imparts rotary motion to an horizontal shaft having two
chains gearing in two wheels placed on the carrying shafts of the
said engine. The forward and backward motions are obtained by a
Stephenson link; the speed imparted to the trucks in considerably
diminished by means of appropriate gearing. When the peat has
sufficiently fermented, and is ready for sale, I place a moveable railway
successively on the soil in the sheds on which I load the trucks, which
are run out and the contents discharged in boats or railway waggons,
as the case may be.
The different industrial purposes for which blocks of pure peat treated
as above would be unfit I aggolomerate with the same common coal
dust or anthracite dust in proportions varying from 50 to 80% of the
former to about 20 to 50 of either of the latter by weight, according to
the purposes for which they are intended; to this end I place a cup
chain, which elevates the coal or anthracite dust from a wagon placed
on the rails of the above described machinery and tips it in the grinding
mill conjointly with the peat, as above explained, motion being imparted
to the said chain from the prime mover by any appropriate gearing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Morgan-Brown in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MORGAN-BROWN, of the Firm of Brandon & Morgan-Brown, Engineers
and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings, London, and 13, Rue
Gaillon, Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Morgan-Brown, Her special
license that I, the said William Morgan-Brown, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Morgan-
Brown, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter

page_text: 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 " Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF PEAT AND IN THE MACHINERY FOR THAT
PURPOSE," a communication to me from abroad by Felix Réné Verdier,
of 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, France, Engineer, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Morgan-Brown, 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 William Morgan-Brown, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
Whatever system of manufacture is adopted the peat must be extracted,
fed into a condenser, condensed, carried to the drying sheds, moulded,
dried, stacked, and lastly allowed to ferment, after which it is ready for
use; the only difference which may exist in these successive operations
consists in the manner of effecting the same.
My aim has been a combined series of means and apparatus for
obtaining a product of good quality, always identical, manufactured
rapidly and cheaply. To manufacture cheaply large quantities must be
produced with as little manual labor as possible, and by means of low
priced apparatus. In order to have the requisite power I have adopted
steam for the purpose of obtaining identical products. I have created
continuous machinery where all the labor is mechanical, and which
accommodate themselves automatically to the varying qualities of the
raw material. To produce a good quality I have fixed by means of
experiments the extent to which the peat must be ground, the mode of
mixing, the process of drying, and lastly, in order to ensure rapidity, not
only powerful machinery but also a means of replacing the slow dessi-
5 cation of the peat, which usually requires from 6 to 12 weeks, by an
economical mode of drying effected in from 8 to 10 days in the open air,
for the process of drying under cover cannot be applied to a manufacture
producing large quantities,

page_text: The machinery invented for the above purposes is illustrated in the
three accompanying Drawings, and consists,-
Firstly. In an extracting apparatus with its motor, Sheet 1, in which
Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevation of the same partly in section; Figure 2,
similar view of the opposite side of the machine; and Figure 3, a front
elevation.
Secondly. In a condensing and grinding apparatus with its motor and
boiler, Sheet 2, in which Figure 1 is a plan of the same; Figure 2, a
longitudinal elevation; and Figure 3, a front elevation partly in section.
Thirdly. In a carrier or barrow, Sheet 3, in which Figure 1 is a plan,
and Figure 2 a longitudinal elevation,
And, Fourthly. In a moulding apparatus also illustrated in Sheet 3,
of which Figure 3 is a plan partially in section; Figure 4, a longitudinal
elevation, also partly in section; Figure 5, a rear elevation, also partially
in section; and Figures 6, 7, and 8, details.
Extracting Apparatus, Sheet 1, Figures 1, 2, and 3.-This machine is
erected on the same frame a as the condensing and grinding mill; it is
mounted on wheels 6, and impelled automatically on light iron rails o
bolted to sleepers d; the rails may be of the Vignolles shape 4º. 50 long,
weighing about 5*. 10 per metre. Each pair is bolted to five pine wood
sleepers, about 20 centimetres wide by 5 thick, and 1 metre long;
the gauge of these rails is 75 centimetres; they can carry 500 kilo-
grammes on each wheel. Each pair of rails thus united weigh about
63 kilogrammes. Two men can carry and place them end to end
easily. Fish joints are adapted at the extremities for the purpose of con-
nection. The extraction of the peat is effected by means of the mechanical
trencher e, to which motion is imparted by the steam cylinder f,
supplied with steam from the boiler g, mounted on a rolling carriage g¹,
shewn at the back of the extractor carriage a, to which it is united; the
gearing of this machine will be easily understood from the Drawing.
This extractor cuts and raises the peat from a seam 8 metres deep. At
this depth it will make 180 strokes a day; at 6 metres it will make 220;
at 4 metres, 300. Its internal dimensions being 30 centimetres by 40 it
will extract in a day of 12 hours from 140 to 170 cubic metres of raw
peat. As it takes about 6 metres cube of such material to produce two
cubic metres or one ton of condensed and dried peat ready for the market

page_text: the trencher or dredging implement will extract sufficient raw peat to
produce 20 to 24 tons of marketable peat per day. On arriving at the
surface of the soil the block of peat raised by the trencher e strikes
against an inclined iron plate, which detaches it on to a travelling chain h,
which carries it to the top of the condenser. Motion is imparted to the
chain by a six-sided pulley h¹, which in its turn is rotated by the
mechanism actuating the extractor. The speed of the carrying chain h
exceeds slightly that of the trencher, in order to compensate for the
slipping of the peat on the chain.
Condensing and Grinding Mill, Sheet 2, Figures 1, 2, and 3.-On its
falling in the mill the block of peat is immediately cut up by the
vertical knives i fixed on the extremity of the central rotating shaft i¹;
the pieces thus produced are then subdivided by the horizontal blades ¿²
and undergo the usual operations which constitute condensation. In
this machine the operations are performed specially in view of facilitating
the ultimate dessication; the water impregnating the peat at the time of
its extraction is of two different descriptions, viz., interposition water
surrounding the fibres and constitution water contained within the fibres
themselves, the first can be eliminated in two or three days, whilst the
latter requires from one to three months, I have endeavoured to convert
all the constitution water into interposition water, id est, to divide the
fibres entirely by cutting them in the mill, by which the required result
is obtained, for it is unmaterial how much interposed water exists in the
peat so long as the whole forms a pasty mass of a certain consistency,
and the result is that such material reduced into blocks of about three
decimetres cube are dessicated in from 6 to 15 days, according to the
weather.
The above-mentioned mill consists mainly in two series of blades
which are set gradually closer one to the other, some being fixed to the
internal surface k of the condenser, and the others 2,2, by three in a
series are keyed to the central rotating shaft. When the peat by their
action has been cut up and ground into small pieces I inject in it water
drawn from the trench for the purpose of puddling the whole more
energetically, and thereby rendering it homogeneous and plastic by
means of spiral blades with a gradual increasing incline, the lower ones
being replaced by a screw A which drives out the peat reduced to a paste
of an average consistency through an aperture ; 3 is a grating for the
purpose of intercepting foreign substances, such as stones, wood, etc.

page_text: Carriers or Barrows, Sheet 3, Figures 1 and 2.—From the spout m the
peat falls in carriers or barrows consisting in cases n opened at the top
and mounted on a wheelbarrow frame n¹ supported on two wheels o.
Each carrier contains material for forming about 25 blocks of 3
decimetres cube each. Directly one is filled a workman rolls it close
up to a moulding apparatus, and taking hold of the handle p under the.
case, by raising it in the position indicated in the dotted lines, it tilts on.
the pin p¹ and empties its contents into the hopper q of the moulding.
apparatus.
Moulding Apparatus, Sheet 3, Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.-This
apparatus moulds the peat into blocks and places them on the soil
parallel with the trench, both operations resulting from the motion
imparted to the apparatus by rolling it along on the soil, its cylinder r
resting on the soil and rotating on its axis ¹. The said cylinder is
divided at its circumference in 11 moulds, forming each a cube of three
decimetres, and the sides of which are made in wire gauze; these moulds
get filled successively during the rotation of the cylinder with the peat
in the hopper q, and lay the blocks thus formed successively on the soil.
The bottoms 8 of the moulds consists in an iron frame bearing in relief a
trade mark if required. Each frames is fixed to the bottom of its
mould by means of four screws or hooks, see Figure 6. The workman
imparts a speed of about 50 centimetres a minute to the machine, and
as the circumference of the cylinder r is equal to 1. 50, it will make 20
revolutions per minute, delivering 220 blocks a minute or 13,200 blocks
per hour, and 158,000 in a day of 12 hours, deducting delays for
charging the hopper this Figure would be reduced to about 60,000,
produce of the labour of one man and one machine, as against 5 to 6000
produced in the same time by a hand moulder; one such machine can
mould all the peat of the extractor with the assistance of 5 or 6 carriers.
The blocks thus laid on the soil are exposed successively on all sides to
the action of the sun and the wind if the weather is fine and dry. After
two days exposure children turn them over, two days after they are
stacked in tens, and 3 days after they are stored for the purpose of

page_text: For the purpose of simply transporting the moulder and preventing
injury to the rotating frame r I provide two carrying wheels t, t, hung
on centres t', t, in a lever u pivotted on the main axis ¹; the other
extremities of these levers are united in front to a handle bar v. When
the moulder is operative these wheels and their accessory parts assume
the positions indicated in the Drawing, and, when the moulding apparatus
being inoperative the machine is required to be transported, the handle
bar is turned round upwards about half a revolution, whereby the wheels
t, t, are brought in contact with the soil and sustain the entire weight of
the machine, whilst the moulding frame is raised completely out of
contact with the soil. Appropriate catches are adapted to the machines
for maintaining the manipulating lever in either of these two positions.
For the economical storing of the peat in the fermenting sheds I avail
myself of flat bottomed boats when the soil admits of water conveyance
and on a dry soil of trucks running on moveable rails as above described,
such rails converging all to a central set of rails leading into the sheds,
which consist in two parallel sheds about one metre apart, five metres
wide, five metres high, and as long as may be necessary. The sides are
formed of vertical laths in pine or poplar, about 8 centimetres wide by
8 millimetres thick, nailed on horizontal laths at about 60 centimetres
one from the other. I place a single line of light rails similar to those
above specified in the space existing between the two sheds near the
roof. The trucks from without ascend to this upper line of rails either
by means of a gradient, if circumstances admit, or by means of a hoist
placed at the extremity of the sheds, and they are discharged to the right
or to the left by simply tilting the same.
When it is preferred I impart motion to the trucks by steam power,
for which purpose I make a friction clutch on the fly wheel of the
steam engine which imparts rotary motion to a horizontal shaft having
two chains gearing in two wheels placed on the carrying shafts of the
said engine. The forward and backward motions are obtained by a
Stephenson link. The speed imparted to the trucks is considerably
diminished by means of appropriate gearing.
When the peat has sufficiently fermented and is ready for sale I place
a moveable-railway successively on the soil in the sheds on which I load

page_text: the trucks, which are run out, and the contents discharged in boats or
railway waggons, as the case may be.
For different industrial purposes for which blocks of pure peat treated
as above would be unfit, I agglomerate with the same common coal dust
or anthracite dust, in proportions varying from 50 to 80 per cent. of the
former to about 20 to 50 of either of the latter by weight, according to
the purposes for which they are intended. To this end I place a cup
chain, which elevates the coal or anthracite dust from a wagon placed
on the rails of the above described machinery and tips it in the grinding
mill conjointly with the peat, as above explained, motion being imparted 1
to the said chain from the prime mover by any appropriate gearing.
One of the most important results to which my labors have given rise
is the ascertained fact and realization of the agglomerative qualities of
peat.
With ordinary machines on my system, the cost of which is insigni- 1
ficant with respect to the costly plant actually required for the
manufacture of artificial fuel, I can manufacture blocks of artificial
fuel made with ordinary coal or anthracite dust similar to those employed
for railways and other industrial purposes. The simple addition of a cup
chain taking the coal dust from a waggon placed on the rails of the 2
machine, elevating and feeding the same at the requisite rate conjointly
with the peat is sufficient for this manufactory. The chain is actuated
by a pair of bevil wheels driven by the engine. This simple application
of my machinery may thus give rise to important manufacturies, in
which refuse fuel comparatively useless may be turned to a profitable 2
account since neither tar nor expensive machinery are required. It
should further be notified that a maximum of 4 horse power, with the
assistance of one man and one boy, is sufficient to produce from 20 to
25 tons of artificial fuel per day.
Having thus described the nature of my improvements, as well as the 3
best means that I am acquainted with for putting the same into practice,
I claim as my Invention, the methods above described and the machinery
adapted for the purpose of extraction, transporting to the condensers the
mechanical grinding and condensation carriage of the ground materials
and mechanical moulding of the same, the methods of dessication and 8
fermentation in the sheds as well as the novel construction of these

page_text: Sz and votency of ՆԱՍ ԵԼԱՆԵս
material.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Morgan-Brown, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN. (L.s.)