AN IMPROVED PREPARATION OF PEAT
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Buckland, of Maesteg Iron Works,
in the County of Glamorgan, Iron Master, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED PREPARATION OF PEAT."
Sealed the 20th January 1860, and dated the 26th July 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Buckland
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th July 1859.
I, WILLIAM HENRY BUCKLAND, of Maesteg Iron Works, in the County of
Glamorgan, Iron Master, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED PREPARATION OF PEAT," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to treat peat so as to prepare a material that
will be suitable for moulding into bricks or cakes to be used as fuel, or into a
variety of other articles, both useful and ornamental. To this end I take peat
fresh from the bog, and place it in a stirrer and add water thereto. By gentle
stirring I separate the fibrous or partially decomposed portions from the
thoroughly decomposed portions of the peat, and when this is effected I run
off the water through a strainer which keeps back the fibrous portions, but
allows the suspended decomposed portions to flow away with the water into a
receiver; after being allowed to remain a short time quiescent the fine par-
ticles of peat will be deposited, and the water may then be run off. The

page_text: deposit is now ready for moulding into any required forms. When the material
is moulded into bricks or other articles, I place the same in drying sheds
constructed so as to protect them from the sun and wind, and allow them to
dry slowly.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Henry Buckland in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th January 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY BUCKLAND, of Maesteg Iron Works, in the County of Glamorgan, Iron
Master, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Henry Buckland, Her special license that I, the said William
Henry Buckland, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Henry Buckland, 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 "AN IMPROVED PREPARATION OF PEAT," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Henry Buckland, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Henry Buckland, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be partienlarly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention of An improved Preparation of Peat" is to
treat peat in such a manner as to prepare therefrom a material that will be
suitable for fuel, or may be converted into charcoal, and which may be moulded
into the shape of bricks, cakes, or other forms convenient for burning, or may

page_text: be converted into a variety of other articles both useful and ornamental by
means of any of the ordinary processes of cutting, carving, pressing, moulding,
or embossing.
In carrying out my Invention, I take peat fresh from the bog, and place it
in an apparatus provided with a stirrer or agitator, and add water thereto. By
gently stirring the peat and water, the fibrous or partially decomposed portions
will become separated from the brown or black slimy part, which consists of
the thoroughly decomposed portions of the peat, and when this has been
effected, the watery mass is run off through a sieve or strainer which keeps
back the fibrous portions, but allows the suspended decomposed portions to flow
away with the water into a suitable vessel or receiver. After being allowed to
remain for some time quiescent, the fine particles of peat will be deposited at
the bottom of the vessel, and the water may then be run off. As soon as the
deposit, which will be a soft brown or black mass has obtained a sufficient degree
of solidity or consistency, it will be ready for moulding into any required forms.
When the material is so moulded, the articles so formed are placed in drying
sbeds constructed so as to protect them from the sun and wind, and they are
there allowed to dry slowly. If no particular form is desired the moulding
operation may be dispensed with, and the solid residuum or deposited peat, when
sufficiently hard, may be cut or broken into lumps or pieces of convenient size.
If desired, this drying or hardening process may be hastened by the application
of a moderate degree of artificial heat, or by causing a current of air, either
warm or cold to pass over the peat, when in the course of drying. When
thoroughly dry the material will be so hard as to admit of being turned in a
lathe, and when used as fuel, the prepared peat will burn with the freedom and
brilliancy of the best coal. It may also be converted into charcoal or used
for generating gas, and obtaining (by distillation) other useful and valuable
products.
I would here remark that in carrying out my Invention, I take the peat
fresh from the bog, and I am enabled to dispense with any preparatory air-
drying process, and in moulding the prepared peat into cakes, bricks, or other
forms to be used as fuel, I employ no more pressure than is sufficient to make
the prepared peat assume or retain the form in which it is desired to be
moulded.
Having now described my Invention of An Improved Preparation of Peat,"
and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the
Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, the mode herein set
forth of treating peat so as to separate the fibrous or undecomposed portions
of the peat from the thoroughly decomposed portion or portions, which latter

page_text: are subsequently hardened by evaporation, and when desired formed or moulded
into any required shape or form, according to the purpose for which the
material is intended to be employed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Buckland, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
W. H. BUCKLAND. (L.S.)
Witness,
T. W. DUNN,
of Woodchester, Gloucestershire, Gent.