IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARA
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Smith, formerly of Philadelphia, in
the United States of America, but now of London, in the County of
Middlesex, M.D., for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARA-
on Dram
Sealed the 14th February 1862, and dated the 19th August 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Smith
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th August 1861.
I, WILLIAM HENRY SMITH, formerly of Philadelphia, in the United States
of America, but now of London, in the County of Middlesex, M.D., do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRE-
PARATION, APPLICATION, AND MANUFACTURE OF PEAT," to be as follows:-
Firstly, my Invention relates to the preparation of peat by a process which
I term vulcanization, and which is effected by the boiling and roasting of peat
either alone or in combination with various acids, alkalies, salts, resinous,
calcareous, and other mineral substances, by which process I am enabled
to alter the colour and properties of peat, increase its density, render it
homogeneous and expedite the drying and hardening thereof.
Secondly, my Invention relates to the application of vulcanized peat to the
following uses (viz.), ordinary fuel coke and kindling fuel, prepared peat coke
for sanitary purposes, deodorizing pastiles, peat black,peat leather, blacking.
Price 8d3

page_text: water pipes, tobacco pipes, or ornamental articles, to take the place of
wood and papier maché, and a material to be used for grinding and polish-
ing other substances.
Thirdly, my Invention relates to the subsequent treatment of peat in
accordance with the several modes herein-after described.
I make ordinary fuel by heating the peat in a pan or suitable vessel to a
moderate extent, admixing it with quick lime (and other substances required,
if it is desired to add small coal, alum shale, or sawdust therewith, to adapt it
to special uses). I then spread the peat, while warm, over a floor to set, occa-
sionally passing a roller over it; after it has set, and while soft, I cut it into
blocks of suitable size, and then slack it in sheds to dry; or, I spread it on a
traversing bed, such as is ordinarily used in the manufacture of bricks, on
which it is cut or pressed into shape; or, I mould it by hand as soon as it has
cooled from the heating process into suitable shapes. In addition to solid fuel
I make hollow or perforated and star-shaped blocks, and more particularly
rough-edged or many-pointed surface blocks, the obvious utility of which is
to insure speedy kindling, and prevent smoke. The fuel thus prepared may
be charred in close or open ovens for conversion into peat coke.
I make kindling fuel by adding to the peat, either before or after vulcaniza-
tion, resin, oil, or fatty matter, and moulding it into shapes specially adapted
for quick kindling.
I make sanitary peat coke by reducing the coke to powder and afterwards
admixing therewith lime or muriate of lime, or, if intended for the filtering
of water it is admixed with sand.
For pastiles (deodorizing and disinfecting), I use a mixture of peat, nitre,
gums, and spices.
I make peat black by roasting peat in shallow vessels and grinding or
reducing it to powder or a liquid, either alone or in combination with soda,
and use the above preparation as a basis for liquid and paste blacking for
leather.
I make peat leather for water pipes by admixing the peat in a heated and
fluid or pasty state with gutta percha or other suitable material, preferring for
certain purposes a mixture of shale and asphalte or bitumen, and afterwards
spreading or rolling the same on any suitable textile fabric or paper, (causing
the peat mixture to adhere thereto by pressure, if necessary,) and drying
the same for use.
I make ornamental articles out of vulcanized peat that has been heated in
combination with soda, gum or oil, or water of linseed, by moulding the same
into suitable shape.

page_text: The grinding and polishing peat blocks are prepared by mixing with peat
while in a plastic state, emery, glass, corundrum, or other hard substance, and
pressing the same into solid or hollow blocks or segments.
In the foregoing manufactures I prefer for use the compact lignite-looking
peat of a dense consistency and containing but little fibre, to the fibrous peat
of recent formation; but when the latter is used for any purpose except the
cheaper kinds of fuel, it is rendered non-fibrous, homogeneous, and pulpy, by
being stirred while in the heating pan with a pronged or forked instrument.
which gathers up the larger fibres therein for removal, or the vulcanized peat
while warm is triturated and pressed through perforated iron plates in the well-
known method applied for many years to raw peat.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Henry Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th February 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY SMITH, formerly of Philadelphia, in the United States of America, but
now of London, in the County of Middlesex, M.D., send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reiga, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Henry Smith, Her special licence that I, the said William
Henry Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Henry Smith, 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 PREPARATION, APPLICATION, AND MANUFACTURE OF
PEAT," upon the condition (amongst others), that I, the said William Henry
Smith, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Henry Smith, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
Firstly. My invention relates to the preparation of peat by a process which I
term vulcanization, and which is effected by the heating, boiling, and roasting of
peat, either alone or in combination with various acids, alkalies, salts, resinous,
calcareous, and other mineral substances, by which process I am enabled to
alter the color and properties of peat, increase its density, render it homo-
geneous, and expedite the drying and hardening thereof.
Secondly. My Invention relates to the application of vulcanized peat to the
following uses, videlicet, ordinary fuel coke and kindling fuel, prepared peat
coke for sanitary purposes, deodorizing pastiles, peat black, peat leather,
blacking, water pipes, tobacco pipes, or ornamental articles to take the place
of wood and papier maché, and a material to be used for grinding and
polishing other substances.
Thirdly. My Invention relates to the subsequent treatinent of peat in accord-
ance with the several modes herein-after described.
In making ordinary fuel, I commence by heating the peat in a suitable
vessel said vessel consists in either a cylinder placed horizontally or perpen-
dicularly, against the interior surface of which the peat is pressed by springs,
varying in number (from ten to one hundred springs) actuated by a central
revolving shaft, while the peat is continuously passed or worked through said
cylinder from end to end thereof by the revolution of the said shaft and
springs. The heat thus chemically produced, acts as a solvent, and aids the
trituration (induced by the rapid movement of the springs in and through the
peat), in reducing the peat to a homogeneous pulpy mass, which possesses pecu-
liar tendencies towards rapid consolidation or condensation in the subsequent
process of drying; or if used in working fluid, pulpy or muddy peat, such
as is found most frequently at considerable depth in most soils, 1 dispense
with chemical heat induced by mechanical friction, and simply beat the
peat in tanks or iron vessels by means of steam or ordinary fuel.
Special varieties of fuel for the reduction of ores and so forth, are made by
admixing with the peat either before or after it is subjected to the above
heating process, quicklime, mineral fluxes, metallic ores, clay, coal, alum,
soda and so forth, thus forming chemically admixed compounds of ore, flux,
and fuel, for smelting purposes, or of peat and coal for fuel, or of peat and
alkalies, earth, and so forth, for various ornamental or useful purposes.
After having thus, by means of heat as a solvent, whether accompanied or

page_text: unaccompanied by mechanical friction, reduced the peat to a homogeneous
pulp, I cause the same to be spread over a floor so that it I may set, occasionally
passing a roller over it. After it has set, I cut it into blocks of suitable size,
and then stack it in sheds to dry, or I spread it on a traversing bed, such as is
ordinarily used in the manufacture of bricks, on which it is cut or pressed into
shape, or I mould it by hand as soon it has cooled from the heating process
into suitable shapes. In addition to solid fuel, I make hollow or perforated,
and star-shaped blocks, and more particularly rough-edged or many pointed
surface blocks, the obvious utility of which is to insure speedy kindling, and
prevent smoke. The fuel thus prepared, may be charred in close or open ovens
for conversion into peat coke.
The preparation of ore, flux, and peat, may be roasted or otherwise treated
in the same manner as ordinary ores, so as to drive off the sulphur, oxydise
the compound, or improve its properties for smelting purposes.
In stacking peat it is necessary to economize space, and ensure a circulation
of natural or artificially heated air around the peat. This is accomplished by
stringing together numerous blocks of peat on a cord, wire, or other support,
and suspending said cord from a lofty hook or beam within the drying shed.
The wire may be so arranged as to revolve or move like a pendulum, or the
peat may, after being cut or pressed in suitable blocks be piled up, resting on
the floor of the shed as a base.
In either case blocks of wood, clay, or other suitable material are placed
alternately between the separate blocks of peat, so as to absorb the moisture
of the peat, expedite the drying thereof, and preserve the shape of the blocks.
I make kindling fuel, by adding to the peat either before or after vulcani-
zation, resin, oil, or fatty matter in any proportions desired, according to the
quality and cheapness of the fuel, and moulding it into shapes specially adapted
for quick kindling.
I make sanitary peat coke, by reducing the coke to powder, and afterwards
admixing therewith lime, or muriate of lime, or if intended for the filtering of
water,
it is admixed with sand.
For pastiles (deodorizing and disinfecting), I use a mixture of peat,
nitre, gums, and spices.
I find peat admirably adapted for burning as an incense, or in scented
sticks, or in the form of pastiles, since it not only unites and combines inti-
mately with the chemical ingredients mixed therewith, but forms an excellent
basis for compounds intended for gradual combustion.
I make peat black by roasting pent in shallow vessels, and grinding or
reducing it to powder or a liquid, either alone, or in combination with soda, or

page_text: sulphate of iron, and use the above preparation as a basis for liquid and paste
blacking for leather.
I make peat leather for water pipes, by admixing the peat in a heated and
fluid or pasty state with gutta percha or other suitable material, preferring
for certain purposes, a mixture of shale and asphalte, or bitumen, and after.
wards spreading or rolling the same on any suitable textile fabric or paper,
causing the peat mixture to adhere thereto by pressure if necessary, and drying
the same for use.
I make ornamental articles out of vulcanized peat that has been heated in
combination with soda, gum, or oil, or water of linseed, by moulding the same
into suitable shape.
The grinding and polishing peat blocks are prepared by mixing with peat,
while in a plastic state, emery, glass, corundum, or other hard substance, and
pressing the same into solid or hollow blocks, or segments. When dry, the
compound acquires a far greater degree of hardness than if mastic was used
instead of peat, as is generally the case in the preparation of corundum
blocks.
In the foregoing manufactures I prefer for use the compact lignite-looking
peat of a dense consistency, and containing but little fibre, to the fibrous peat
of recent formation, but when the latter is used for any purposes except the
cheaper kinds of fuel, it is rendered non-fibrous, homogeneous, and pulpy, by
being stirred while in the heating pan with a pronged or forked instrument,
which gathers up the larger fibres therein for removal, or the vulcanized
peat, while warm, is triturated and pressed through perforated iron plates in
the well known method applied for many years to raw peat.
Having now described the nature of my said improvements in the pre-
paration, application, and manufacture of peat, I observe in conclusion that I
do not restrict myself to the precise details herein described, as many variations
may be made therefrom without deviating from the main features or prin-
ciples of my Invention; but what I consider to be novel and useful and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the vulcanization of raw peat or its reduction to a homogeneous pulpy
mass by means of heat as a solvent, said heat being engendered by the direct
application of steam or ordinary fuel, or induced chemically by friction accom-
panied by trituration, substantially in the manner herein-before described.
Secondly, I claim the vulcanization of mixed peat or peat in combination or
admixture with various acids, alkalies, ores, earths, and so forth, for the
purpose of altering the colour and texture of said peat, rendering it more or less

page_text: hard, dense, compact, plastic, combustible, and so forth, either by heat alone,
or heat induced by and accompanied with mechanical trituration.
Thirdly, I claim the application of vulcanized peat to the various useful
and ornamental purposes herein-before described.
Fourthly, I claim the application to vulcanized peat of the process of
trituration through perforated metallic plates, said process, although in
common use for many years, having never been applied to peat prepared in
accordance with the within specified process of vulcanization.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Smith, have hereunto
set iny hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of February, in the of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
year
Witness,
J. PLEDGE.
WILLIAM H. SMITH. (L.S.)