IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TUT
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Dudgeon; of 22, Great George Street,
Westminster, London, S.W., and of 163, Great Brunswick Street, .
Dublin, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TUT
Sealed the 23rd June 1874, and dated the 2nd January 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Dudgeon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd January 1874.
I, ARTHUR DUDGEON, of 22, Great George Street, Westminster,
London, S.W., and of 163, Great Brunswick Street, Dublin, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PEAT FOR FUEL," to be as follows:-
:
I drain the bog down to the clay underlying the bog by cutting drains
through the bog and into the clay. The depth of the drains into the
clay may vary according to circumstances. If there is no natural
outlet obtainable for the main drains, or in the event of there being a
natural outlet, if the cost of cutting the main drain to said natural

page_text: *
outlet would involve a large expenditure I sink a shaft or shafts in con-
venient positions, and in the said shaft or shafts I place any convenient
form of pumping apparatus. I conduct the main drains into the said
shaft or shafts, and lift the water to a sufficient height to command the
level necessary to convey away the water to the nearest drains that may
exist at the higher or overflow level.
In cutting the bog for treatment I do so in such a manner that longi-
tudinal and transverse ditches, cuttings, or openings, are made of a
sufficient width to allow of the tram wagons to work therein, and in this
manner I leave large cubical masses of the bog standing, having all
their four sides exposed in order that the said cubical detached masses
may drain from all their sides and bottoms and become consolidated and
dry to a considerable extent before treatment.
I lay down a portable tramway or railway, the longitudinal sleepers
being bolted to transverse sleepers in convenient lengths, so that the
two lines of rails with their transverse sleepers may be lifted and set back
in sections to the working face of the bog as the excavation proceeds.
I also lay a permament tramroad with a slight incline from the
workings to a point at some convenient distance from the factory, and
from that point I form in continuation a second incline up to a platform
in the factory, the said incline being fitted with pullies over which I
cause to work an endless pitch chain which may be thrown in and out
of gear by a clutch in the factory. To this pitch chain I attach the
loaded wagons at foot of the incline and the endless chain being set in
motion the wagon is brought up to the level of a platform in the factory
commanding the machinery which treats the peat. So soon as the
wagon is emptied I cause the wagon to continue its course through the
factory down a short incline and past a set of points; the wagon is then
stopped and returned down a second inclined tramroad which conveys it
by its own impetus to the face of the workings where it is refilled and
the operation repeated.
The wagons I use are side tipping wagons of a special form, size, and
construction.
I cause the peat to be tipped into a hopper communicating with a
machine of novel design. It consists of a cylinder of wood or metal
closed at one end and partially open at the other.
A shaft passes
through the same, one end thereof being carried in bearings fitted into

page_text: the delivery end of the cylinder, and the other end of the shaft is carried
out a convenient distance to obtain sufficient bearings and space for
pullies, &c., to drive the same. I mount on this shaft a number of
knives fitted at various pitches and at varying distances on the shaft,
but set so as to tear and break up into small pieces the peat, so that the
peat is delivered continually and regularly in pieces of a convenient
size at the delivery end of the cylinder. I drive this shaft with a pair
of speed cones so that I can regulate the amount of peat issuing from
the cylinder into the machine herein-after described.
The peat as it issues from the delivery end of the aforesaid cylinder
drops into a disintegrator or mill known as Carr's disintegrator. This
disintegrator I cause to be of large diameter and to travel at a high rate
of speed. It is so constructed that access to it may be easily obtained
and I prefer that the cages be mounted on a polished steel shaft of large
diameter, and that it be driven with fast and loose pullies from a counter-
shaft.
Into the centre of the aforesaid disintegrator I introduce a steam pipe
so that I can blow steam at a high pressure into the cages of the machine,
the jet of steam being forced into the disintegrator at right angles with
the axis thereof. I thus have the facility of moistening in a most
effectual manner the peat whenever it may be necessary to do so, and I
have thus also at command a ready means of cleaning the machine in a
most effectual manner. I also introduce in a like manner a water pipe
so that a jet or jets of water may be forced into the machine for a similar
purpose..
I convey the disintegrated peat from the bottom of the machine by
means of a creeping belt or other similar contrivance to an elevated
position commanding a hopper leading into a moulding machine or
machines; or when the conditions of the site enable me to do so I place
the moulding machine immediately under the disintegrator..
The moulding machine is a machine of novel design. It consists of a
rectangular box of wood or metal having its upper side partly open to
receive the peat. In this box I cause to work a ram, and the said ram
and box may be made so that it will deliver at one or both ends of the
box. At the end of the box I place a die fitted with steel knives, and
the peat is delivered in a width (although divided by the steel knives)
sufficient to fill a large moveable tray which receives the peat as it issues

page_text: from the die plate. The stroke of the ram is so regulated that it may
fill one tray at one stroke, the lengths being cut into blocks transversely
by wires after the peat is cut off at the mouth of the die plate or at the
same time..
The trays I use are strongly made of a convenient size having runners.
or sides of hard wood, the runners are about 14 inches wide and 12 inches
high; and the ends of the trays are formed of fir or other wood, these
ends are also about 1 inches wide and 14 inches high, the tops of same.
being kept inch above the tops of the runners. The space between the
two end pieces is filled in with laths of fir or other wood, the ends nailed
to the hard wood runners..
The trays above described are taken from the roller way or delivery
table and placed into a wagon of novel construction, the said wagon
being of iron on wheels and having 10 sets of runners one above the
other, each runner having 3 rollers mounted therein so that the wagon:
when loaded contains 10 trays.
The wagons when loaded at the mouth or mouths of the moulding
machine are run into a shed constructed in the following manner :-)
―The
sheds for drying the peat I construct of one, two, or more stories in
height, three stories being a convenient number. They may vary in
length and breadth but they have a number of passage ways with racks
on each side thereof to receive the trays from the wagons; I lay down
in the passage ways two rows of tramway, each line being partly within
the other line in order to economize the width of the passage ways, and
thereby also the cost of the sheds. On each side of the passage ways I :
construct a row of racks and each division of the racks I cause to
correspond in width, height, and number of runners with the wagons.
At the ends of each runner fixed in the rack aforesaid I place a hard
wood roller. on an iron spindle, so that when the wagons loaded with the
trays are placed opposite to the rack, a person standing at the opposite
side of the wagon pushes the trays from the roller ways of the wagons
on to the rollers and runners of the racks where the aforesaid trays of
peat are left undisturbed until dry.
I heat the sheds in an entirely novel manner with a view to reduce
the cost and hasten the drying; I erect furnaces or ovens for carbonizing a
the peat, and I combine therewith a steam boiler or boilers, or where
convenient I erect a lime kiln or kilns, and combine therewith a steam

page_text: boiler or boilers in any of the manners described in Provisional Specifi-
cation Number 20, and dated 2nd January 1874.
I prefer to combine the above named steam boilers with charcoal
ovens or with lime or other kilns. The steam so obtained may be first
used to propel the machinery and the exhaust steam may then be used
for the drying, or the steam may be put in under pressure for the purpose
of increasing the temperature of the sheds.
I do not bind myself to use steam from the aforesaid boilers altho' I
prefer to do so, but the hot water may be taken from the boilers and the
pipes for heating the sheds may be heated with hot water instead of
steam.
I claim as new the entire combination of machinery and arrangements
as herein-before described either wholly or in part; and I claim as being
entirely novel the thorough draining of the bog before treatment, the
arrangement of shafts for effecting the drainage where there is no
natural outlet from the level of the main drains in the clay; the
arrangement of the inclined tramways for bringing the peat from the
bog to the factory and returning the empty wagons; the cylinder with-
shaft mounted with knives for conveying the peat to Carr's disintegrator,
and in its passage breaking the peat up into convenient sizes for
disintegration; also the arrangement for regulating the speed at which
the shaft is driven, and thereby regulating the amount of peat passed
through the disintegrator; the combination of the Carr's disintegrator of
special form of construction with the last mentioned cylinder, and the
introduction. of steam and water pipes into the centre thereof; the
moulding machine as herein-before described; the special form of trays
for receiving the peat as it issues from the mouth-piece of the moulding
machine; the tray wagons having 10 sets of runners one above the
other; the construction of the sheds with passage ways, racks, and
tramways as herein-before described; and the heating the sheds without
any or with little cost for fuel by steam pipes or water pipes taken from
steam boilers combined with furnaces, ovens, or lime kilns.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Arthur Dudgeon in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd July 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
DUDGEON, of 22, Great George Street, Westminster, London, S.W., and
of 163, Great Brunswick Street, Dublin, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Arthur Dudgeon, Her
special license that I, the said Arthur Dudgeon, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Arthur Dudgeon,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PEAT FOR FUEL," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Arthur Dudgeon, 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 Arthur Dudgeon, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof:-
This Invention relates to an improved system of peat fuel manufacture,
from the draining of the bog to the drying of the peat, and to the con-
struction and combination of machinery and works for that purpose.
The nature of the operations to be conducted in order to carry out the
system of manufacture set forth in this Specification will necessarily

page_text: vary according to the conditions of the site and the character of the
material to be operated upon, but for the purpose of illustration it will
be assumed that the bog is similar in its characteristics to those found
on the lime stone plains of Ireland.
In all cases where the deposit of peat is already drained and con-
solidated or where it can be drained with facility at small cost, the
manufacture would be conducted under very favorable circumstances.
In those cases where the peat requires to be excavated and lifted from
under water as happens in some of the low lying plains in the north of
Europe, the material should be brought in boats to the factory instead
of in the manner herein-after described. Assuming then that the bog
has a clay and gravel subsoil, I drain the bog or that portion of it which
it is proposed to work by cutting drains through the whole depth of the
bog down and into the clay. If no natural outlet be obtainable for the
main drains or in the event of there being a natural outlet, if the cost.
of cutting the main drain to said natural outlet would involve a large
expenditure, I sink a shaft in a convenient position and I place therein
any suitable pumping apparatus. I conduct the main drain into the
said shaft and lift the water to a sufficient height to command the level
necessary to convey away the water to the nearest drains or watercourses
that may exist at the higher or overflow level.
The expense of pumping is but trivial, as I find that once the water that
may have accumulated in ditches and crevices is removed, the amount
oozing from the bog is inconsiderable, and no cost is incurred in making.
the drains because the stuff removed is at once taken to the factory and.
there manufactured into fuel.
In forming these drains and in cutting the bog for treatment, the
work is performed in such a manner that longitudinal and transverse
ditches, cuttings, or openings are made of sufficient width to allow of:
tram wagons being worked therein for the removal of the stuff and in
this manner large cubical masses of the bog are left-standing having all
their four sides exposed in order that the said cubical detached masses:
may drain from all their sides and bottoms, and become consolidated and
dry to a considerable extent before treatment by the machinery.
T
It is necessary now to observe that in such a bog as this one which is
selected for illustration water exists in three forms:-1, that which is
held between the fibres by.capillary attraction as a sponge holds water.

page_text: 2, that which is held within the cells of the mosses; 3, that which exists
in combination with the organic matter of the peat. The first can be
got rid of most easily and effectually by drainage in the manner herein.
before described. The second only by first thoroughly destroying the
fibres or cells of the mosses so as to liberate the imprisoned water, and
the third to a certain extent by evaporation. Peat in its natural wet
state contains so large an amount of moisture that 5 lbs. of wet peat will
produce but 1 pound of dry, and when apparently dry and fit for use it
will still contain from 15 to 20 per cent. It is absolutely necessary
therefore to recognize the importance of getting rid of as much of the
water as possible by drainage before treatment by the machinery, as
otherwise a large additional expense is incurred in manufacturing a
quantity of water which must be subsequently evaporated.
Along the face of the workings and in the cuttings herein-before
described I lay down a portable tramway the longitudinal sleepers being
bolted to transverse sleepers in convenient lengths, and fastened by pins.
at their junctions so that the two lines of rails with their transverse
sleepers may be lifted and set back in sections to the working face as the
excavations progress.
I also lay a permanent tramroad from the bog to the factory. This
will vary according to the conditions of the site, but where it is level I
construct it with a slight incline from the workings to a point at some
convenient distance from the factory, and from that point in con-
tinuation of the incline I form a second incline up to a platform in the
factory, said second incline being fitted with pullies over which I cause
to work an endless pitch chain, which may be thrown in and out of gear
by a clutch in the factory. To this pitch chain I attach the loaded
wagons at foot of the incline, and the endless chain being set in
motion the wagon is brought up to the level of a platform in the factory
commanding the machinery which treats the peat. So soon as the
wagon is emptied it continues its course through the factory down a
short incline and past a set of points, it is then stopped and returned
down another independent line of tramway with a fall to the workings,
where it arrives by its own impetus, is then refilled, and the operation
repeated.

page_text: incline and wagons, but it will be found that the simplest and most
economical arrangement is that specified above.
The wagons I use are side tipping wagons with bodies 6' 0" x 4′ 6″,
and 2 feet deep to hold 2 cubic yards. The wagons having arrived on
the platform in the factory I cause the contents thereof to be tipped
into a hopper sufficiently large to hold rather more than the contents of
the wagon. It will have been observed that the peat being removed.in
the manner herein-before described in the excavations the whole of the
bog stuff from top to bottom is mixed together, and the contents of the
wagon are not taken from any one portion, but the peat is a mixture of
the whole. The hopper communicates with a machine of novel design.
It consists of a horizontal cylinder of boiler plate, which may vary in
diameter from 18 inches to 3 feet. It may also vary in length, but 8 or
10 feet is a convenient size. This cylinder may for precaution against
accidents be fitted with a stone trap at bottom, although I find in
practice such a precaution to be almost unnecessary, as small stones and
large pieces of decayed wood pass through the machinery without
causing any damage, being instantaneously reduced to powder. Large
stones are but seldom met with, and are of course thrown out when the
excavation is being made.
The aforesaid cylinder is closed at one end and is partially open at the
other. . A shaft, which may vary in diameter from 2 to 4 inches, passes
through the same, one end thereof being carried in bearings fitted into
the end of the cylinder, which is partially open, namely, the delivery
end, and the other end of the shaft is carried out through the cylinder
a convenient distance to obtain sufficient bearings and space for pullies,
&c., to, drive the same. Within the cylinder I mount on this shaft a
number of knives fitted into the said shaft at various angles or pitches
and at varying distances one from another, but set so as to tear up the
sods of peat into small pieces and deliver the same in a continuous and
regular manner into the machine, to be hereafter described. .I.drive
this shaft with a pair of speed cones in order to regulate when necessary
the amount of material passing through the machine.
$
The peat as it issues from the delivery end of the aforesaid cylinder
drops into the centre of a disintegrator or mill, known as Carr's disinte-
grator. This I cause to be made of large diameter and with 4 or 6
cages, according to the character of the material to be operated upon.

page_text: I prefer that form of construction wherein the cages are mounted on an
independent shaft of large diameter and of polished steel. The machine
should be driven with fast and loose pullies from a countershaft.
Into the centre of this disintegrator I introduce a steam and water
pipe so that steam or water under pressure can be forced into the a
machine, and thus the facility is given of cleansing the disintegrator in
a most effectual manner without stopping the machinery.
The two machines herein-before described tear up the peat, mix it
together, and thoroughly destroy the fibre, so that it is delivered in a
state resembling that of oil putty. The water contained within the cells
is liberated, and the result is that it can now be entirely evaporated or
otherwise dealt with, the cells no longer holding it, and the particles are
so fine that they are in a condition to form as dense and hard a fuel as
can be made from peat.
.
The peat disintegrated as above described is delivered direct into a
moulding machine or machines placed under the disintegrator, or where
the circumstances of the site do not permit of this arrangement it is.
delivered on to a creeping endless belt which may be made of leather, or
of iron working over grooved pullies. This creeping belt or other
similar contrivance conveys the disintegrated peat to an elevated :
position commanding a hopper leading into a moulding machine or
machines of novel design, it consists of a rectangular box of wood, iron,
or other metal, having its upper side partly open to receive the peat. In
this box I cause to work a ram and the said ram and box may be made
to deliver at one or both ends. At the end of the box I place a mouth-
piece fitted with knives or wires so that the peat is moulded and delivered
in a width although divided by the knives or wires at the mouth-piece
sufficient to fill a large moveable tray which receives the peat as it issues
from the mouth-piece. The stroke of the ram is so regulated that it
may fill one tray at each stroke, the lengths being cut into blocks
transversely by wires after the peat is cut off at the mouth-piece or at
the same time.
The trays to receive the peat are about 3 feet by 2 feet 8 inches,
having runners of hard wood, and the ends and laths of fir or other soft
wood, or they may be made in two thicknesses of wood or metal or
wood covered with zinc or other metal having flannel, sacking, or other
woven material for compression as herein-after described.

page_text: The said trays are taken from the roller ways or delivery table and
placed in a wagon, said wagon being of iron on wheels and having a
number of runners one above the other, each runner having three rollers
mounted therein on which the trays are placed.
The said wagons when loaded at the delivery table are run into a
shed constructed as herein-after described or conveyed to the com-
pressing machinery according to the description of the fuel required:
The sheds for drying the peat I construct of one, two, or more stories in
height, but three stories is a convenient number, they may vary in length
and breadth, but they have passage ways with racks on each side to
receive the trays from the wagons. I lay down in the passage ways two
rows of tramway, each line being partly within the other in order to
economize the width and thereby also the cost of the sheds. On each
side of the passage ways I construct a row of racks and each division of
the racks correspond in width, height, and number of runners with the
wagons. At the end of each runner fixed in the rack a hard wood roller is
placed on an iron spindle so that when the wagons loaded with the trays:
are placed opposite to the rack a person standing at the other side of the
wagon pushes the trays from the roller ways of the wagons on to the
rollers and runners of the racks where the trays of peat are left till dry.
If to be compressed the peat is placed on the trays herein-before
described as being in two thicknesses and then conveyed to compressing
machinery and thence to the sheds, or after being compressed the peat
may be stacked without trays with air spaces between the blocks in
open covered sheds of simple construction.
In any case the sheds should have a passage way round the outside,
with roof projecting over said passage way, and the sheds should be
capable of being enclosed with canvas or shutters, or doors to exclude
frost and rain. Provision should also be made to heat the sheds to a
moderate extent to prevent injury to the peat, when in its wet state,
from frost.
When the peat is in a state fit to handle and it is desired to complete
the drying by artificial means or when it is desired to dry it for
metallurgical operations I heat the sheds or drying houses in an entirely
novel manner :-I erect furnaces or ovens for carbonizing the peat and
combine therewith a steam boiler or boilers, or where it is not desirable
to carbonize the peat I erect a lime kiln or kins and combine therewith

page_text: a steam boiler or boilers in any of the manners described in Specification
No. 20, 1874. The steam so obtained may be first used to propel the
machinery and the exhaust may be used for the drying, or the steam
may be put in and maintained under pressure for the purpose of
increasing the temperature as much as possible.
If lime kilns be used instead of a steam boiler a hot water boiler and
apparatus may be substituted, or a chamber may be constructed over
the kilns having a perforated floor and louvred or cowled roof, so that
the waste heat may pass through the chamber and in its passage dry
the peat which is stored in same on racks.
.
The object held in view has been also to conduct the manufacture on
a large scale, and a single set of machinery as herein described is
sufficient to treat from 2 to 2½ hundred tons of wet peat per day of
10 hours, equal to from 40 to 50 tons of dry fuel per day, or from 240 to
300 tons of dry fuel per week, and during the summer months, when
the operations should be carried on day and night, the output should be
at least 500 tons per week.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and the
manner of performing the same, I claim,—
1. The combination of arrangements and machinery as herein-before 2
described as a whole and in part, or any mere modification thereof.
2. The system of draining the peat before treatment by leaving the
cubical detached masses with cuttings round all their four sides.
3. The arrangement of tramways and inclines for bringing the peat
from the bog to the factory and for returning the empty wagons to 2
the workings.
4. The cylinder with shaft mounted with knives in the manner described
for conveying the peat to the disintegrator and in its passage breaking
down the structure of the sods of peat, also the arrangement of regulating
the speed of the said shaft and thereby regulating the amount of peat 3
passed through the disintegrator.
5. The combination of the aforesaid cylinder with the disintegrator for
breaking down the structure of the peat and causing it to be delivered
in a continuous manner into the disintegrator.
6. The introduction of steam and water pipes into the centre of the 3
disintegrator for cleaning the machine when necessary.

page_text: 7. The moulding machines by each of which from 4 to 8 cwt. of peat
can be produced each minute cut into any number of bricks and of any
size that may be desired.
8. The combination of compressing machinery with the foregoing
disintegrating machinery and the special form of trays as herein-before
described for the purpose.
9. The special form of construction of the drying sheds with passages,
tramroads, and racks as herein-before described, and the wagons for the
trays constructed and fitted in such a manner that each wagon load of
trays fills a compartment of the racks.
10. The heating of the drying houses by steam pipes taken from
steam boilers combined with furnaces, ovens, or lime kilns, in order to
obtain the heat without cost.
11. The raising of steam from steam boilers combined with charcoal
ovens or retorts, when the manufacture includes the conversion of the
peat into charcoal.
12. I claim the whole of the above as a complete system of peat fuel
manufacture from the draining of the bog to the drying of the peat, and
I do not bind myself to the mere details but I claim the whole or any
mere modification thereof; and I also claim the use of any part or
parts of the system together or separately in combination with any
other process of manufacture.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Dudgeon, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
Witness,
JOSEPH COLLINS.
ARTHUR DUDGEON. (L.S.)