Improvements relating to the Utilization of Peat for Antiseptic and other Purposes.
Year: 1888

page_text: Improvements relating to the Utilization of Peat for Antiseptic and
other Purposes.
I, CASIMIR RUTTEN, of Grivegnée, in the Kingdom of Belgium, do "hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to the utilization of peat for antiseptic and other purposes.
For a long time the beneficial effects attending the use of peat as an antiseptic and
disinfectant and for bandaging wounds, the most serious of which are usually healed
by it with surprising quickness, have been well known.
The use of peat would be much more general if the form in which it has heretofore
been employed were less inconvenient. The only known mode of using it consists in
putting peat dust in a more or less large linen satchel or bag. Now it will be readily
understood that in this form the material cannot be applied to every part of the body,
and that, being by nature hard, it will cause pain to the patient without possessing
the absorbent qualities necessary for efficacious bandaging.
The object of the present invention is to obviate the above stated inconveniences by
the application, to surgical bandages, of peat in a soft, supple, and absorbent form,
that is to say in the form of extremely disinfecting peat wadding and it consists in the
employment of peat fibre for the manufacture of a wadding having the aforesaid
properties, and in the process of' manufacture which enables this result to be
obtained.
The treatment which peat must undergo in order to obtain a product of extreme
suppleness consists in subjecting it after desiccation to a careful heckling action for
the purpose of separating all the hard and knotty parts then causing it to be beaten
and afterwards carded; but before it is conveyed to the carding apparatus a small
quantity of cotton, hair, wool or other suitable material, the slender and long filaments
of which are designed to give more cohesion to the piece of wadding to be manu-
factured is mixed with the material. These three operations can be performed by
means of any suitable machines such as are used in the mauufacture of wool or the
like. After having passed through these three phases the material receives the

page_text: principal treatment which consists in subjecting it to a slow boiling operation effected
in boiling water. This operation serves to render the fibre absorbent and extremely
supple without depriving it of any of its antiseptic properties. The latter can be
augmented or strengthened by adding to the peat wadding other known antiseptics,
preferably corrosive sublimate. In lieu of boiling the material in water it can be
placed in a bath of oveheated water steam, and the antiseptics, like the sublimate,
may be added to the material by pulverisation, but it is preferable to boil the material
in water and steep it in the antiseptic. When after these operations the peat wool
thus prepared has been dried it is finally subjected to a carding action so as to obtain
a very uniform nap of wadding which has the above mentioned properties for surgical
bandages.
It is a matter of course that by reason of its antiparasitic properties, this pent
wadding or wool can advantageously replace ordinary wool, cotton, hair, wrack and
the like employed in the manufacture of bedding and for the stuffing of furniture,
carriages harness and the like if merely for hygienic purposes. In the latter
applications, a large quantity of foreign materials, such as wool, cotton, hair can he
mixed with the peat wool to increase the bulk. When the peat wadding is to serve
for these purposes, the boiling in water and the steeping in the antiseptic are not
necessary, so that the treatment by the said machines is sufficient.
Dated the 8th day of 1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.O.,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to the Utilization of Peat for Antiseptic and
other Purposes.
I, CASIMIR RUTTEN, of Grivegnée, in the Kingdom of Belgium, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to the utilization of peat for antiseptic and other purposes.
For a long time the beneficial effects attending the use of peat as an antiseptic and
disinfectant and for bandaging wounds, the most serious of which are usually healed
by it with surprising quickness have been well known.
The use of peat would be much more general if the form in which it has heretofore
been employed were less inconvenient. The only known mode of using it consists in
putting peat dust in a more or less large linen satchel or bag. Now it will be readily
understood that in this form the material cannot be applied to every part of the body
and that, being by nature hard, it will cause pain to the patient without possessing
the absorbent qualities necessary for efficacious bandaging.
The object of the present invention is to obviate the above stated inconveniences by
the application, to surgical bandages, of peat in a soft, supple and absorbent form,
that is to say, in the form of extremely disinfecting peat wadding, and it consists in
the employment of peat fibre for the manufacture of a wadding having the aforesaid
properties and in the process of manufacture which enables this result to be
obtained.
The treatment which peat must undergo in order to obtain a product of extreme
suppleness consists in subjecting it after desiccation to a careful heckling action for
the purpose of separating all the hard and knotty parts then causing it to be beaten
and afterwards carded; but before it is conveyed to the carding apparatus a small
quantity of cotton, hair, wool or other suitable material, the slender and long filaments
of which are designed to give more cohesion to the piece of wadding to be manu-
factured is mixed with the material. These three operations can be performed by
means of any suitable machines such as are used in the manufacture of wool or the
like. After having passed through these three phases the material receives the
principal treatment which consists in slowly boiling it in water. This operation
serves to render the fibre absorbent and extremely supple without depriving it of any
of its antiseptic properties. The latter can be augmented or strengthened by adding
to the peat wadding other known antiseptics, preferably corrosivé sublimate. In lieu
of boiling the material in water it can be placed in superheated steam, and the
antiseptics like the sublimate may be added to the material by pulverization, but it is
preferable to boil the material in water and steep it in the antiseptic. When after
these operations the peat wool thus prepared has been dried it is finally subjected to a
carding action so as to obtain a very uniform nap of wadding which has the above
mentioned properties for surgical bandages.

page_text: It is a matter of course that by reason of its antiparasitic properties, this peat
wadding or wool can advantageously replace ordinary wool, cotton, hair, wrack and
the like employed in the manufacture of bedding and for the stuffing of furniture,
carriages, harnesses and the like if merely for hygienic purposes. In the latter
applications, a large quantity of foreign materials such as wool, cotton hair, can be
mixed with the peat wool to increase the bulk. When the peat wadding is to serve
for these purposes the boiling in water and the steeping in the antiseptic are not
necessary, so that the treatment by the said machines is sufficient.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invon-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. The employment of peat in the form of soft, supple and antiseptic wadding
for surgical bandages, in the manufacture of bedding, and in the stuffing of furniture
and the like, as and for the purpose herein before described.
Second. In the manufacture of peat wadding mentioned in the first claiming clause
and designed for surgical bandages, the method of treatment consisting in heckling
the peat, then beating and afterwards carding it, next mixing therewith a small
quantity of long fibre, and rendering the whole absorbent by boiling it in water,
strengthening its antiseptic properties by adding thereto corrosive sublimate and after
drying, carding it again to obtain a nap of peat-wadding, substantially as above
described.
Third. In the manufacture of peat wadding mentioned in the first claiming clause
and serving for the manufacture of bedding and the stuffing of furniture, carriages,
harnesses and the like, the method of treatment consisting in heckling the dried peat,
beating and carding it, afterwards mixing therewith a suitable quantity of other fibres
of greater length, and carding this mixture again, in order to transform it into a
uniform nap.
ليمة
1000