IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MOULDING AND COMPRESSING PEAT, SMALL COAL, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES OR MATERIALS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Abraham Ripley, of Southwark, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR MOULDING AND COMPRESSING PEAT, SMALL COAL, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
OR MATERIALS."
Sealed the 24th January 1879, in pursuance of an Order of the Lord Chancellor,
and dated the 9th July 1878
.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Abraham Ripley at the
_Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th July 1878.
ABRAHAM RIPLEY, of Southwark, in the County of Surrey, Engineer. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MOULDING AND COMPRESSING PEAT,
SMALL COAL, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES OR MATERIALS."
According to my Invention I employ two rollers or discs of large diameter, say
twenty feet, placed vertically, working edge on edge in contact or nearly so, and
revolving slowly in opposite directions inwards or towards one another from the
top. These rollers have each cups let into the periphery, so that as the rollers
revolve the cups in the two are successively brought opposite one another on the
line of contact of the rollers, the two cups so opposed for the time forming a
complete figure and enclosing a space. The peat or other substance or material to
be moulded and more or less compressed is fed in between the peripheries of these.
rollers, and is forced by their action into the said cups, and on the line of contact of
the rollers receives its greater compression and a form corresponding with that of
the cups.
As the rollers, and so also the cups, separate below the line of contact.
the blocks moulded and compressed fall out into a suitable receptacle.
Various means may be adopted for feeding the rollers with the substance or.
material to be moulded. It may be fed into a deep hopper terminating at about
the line of contact of the rollers, and be left to feed and fill the cups by its own
weight, the hopper being formed by plates at the sides of the rollers, thus leaving
the space between their peripheries entirely free to be filled with the material which
Price AJI

page_text: would be gradually compressed towards the lower part. Or the said substance or
material may be forced on to the peripheries of the rollers or into the space between
them by smaller rollers or other suitable means.
A revolving brush may be employed at any convenient part of the circumference
of each of the rollers to clean same and the cups at each revolution of the rollers.
When peat or small coal is to be compressed and moulded it is first treated by
any of the well-known means at present employed to prepare such substances for
compression.
The said cups are of the size and form necessary to produce the blocks required.
For peat or small coal I prefer hemispherical cups so as to produce spherical
blocks.
The cups may also be provided internally with any number and form of pro-
jections, so as, when required, to perforate the blocks produced.
The cups, which for any great pressure I prefer to make of steal, are let flush
into recesses which they exactly fit in the periphery. They are each provided with
a shank at the back which enters a hole of corresponding size at the base of the
cup recess. Below this and radially a hand hole is formed in the wheel, and from
this a screw is passed up to hold the cup in position, a nut or cotter to tighten up
the screw bearing against a plate placed across the bottom of the hole leading
from the cup recess to the hand hole.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Abraham Ripley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
January 1879.
ABRAHAM RIPLEY, of Southwark, in the County of Surrey, Engineer. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MOULDING AND COMPRESSING PEAT,
SMALL COAL, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES OR MATERIALS."
According to my Invention I employ two rollers or discs of large diameter (say
twenty feet) placed vertically, working edge on edge in contact or nearly so, and
revolving slowly in opposite directions inwards or towards one another from the
top. These rollers each have cups formed in or let into the periphery, and
arranged so that as the rollers revolve both at the same pace the cups in the two
are successively brought opposite one another in pairs on the line of contact of the
rollers, the two cups so opposed for the time forming a complete figure and enclosing
a space. The peat or other substance or material to be moulded and more or less
compressed is fed in between the peripheries of these rollers, and falling into and
filling the space between same and the said cups is gradually carried down and
compressed into the cups by the revolution of the rollers, and on the line of
contact of the rollers receives its greatest compression and a form corresponding
with that of the cups. As the rollers, and so also the cups, separate below
the line of contact, the blocks moulded and compress fall out into a suitable
receptable.
The space between the rollers, into which the material to be moulded is fed, is
enclosed at the sides by plates of metal, between which the rollers revolve the
rubbing surfaces being faced.
Various means may be adopted for feeding the substance or material to be
moulded to the rollers. It may be simply fed into the space between the rollers
and be left to feed and fill the cups by its own weight, when it will be gradually
compressed into forin as described. Or the said substance or material may be forced
on to the peripheries of the rollers or into the space between them by smaller
rollers, or by eccentrics or cams, or other suitable means..
A revolving brush may be employed at any convenient part of the circumference
of each of the rollers to clean same and the cups at each revolution of the rollers.
When peat or small coal is to be compressed and moulded it is first treated by
any of the well-known means at present employed to prepare such substances for
compression; and I prefer that it be passed through a disintegrator. I prefer also
that the substance shall be in a heated state when operated upon, and also that the
rollers shall be heated. This is effected by making them hollow and pass in the
waste steam through them.
The said cups are of the size and form necessary to produce the blocks required.
For peat or small coal I prefer hemispherical cups so as to produce spherical
blocks.
The cups may also be provided internally with any number and form of pro-
jections, so as, when required, to perforate the blocks produced.
The cups, when not cast with the rollers, and especially when any great pressure
is employed, I prefer to make of steel. They are let flush into recesses which they
exactly fit in the periphery. They are each provided with a shank at the back
which enters a hole of corresponding size at the base of the cup recess.
Below this
and radially a hand hole is formed in the wheel, and from this a screw is passed
up to hold the cup in position, a nut or cotter to tighten up the screw bearing

page_text: against a plate placed across the bottom of the hole from the cup recess to the hand
hole.
In witness whereof, I, the said Abraham Ripley, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-nine.
A. RIPLEY. (L.S.)