IMPROVEMENTS IN. THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL FROM PEAT
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Patrick Moir Crane, of the Irish Peat Company's
Works, Athy, Ireland, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN.
THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL FROM PEAT."
Sealed the 10th December 1858, and dated the 26th June 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Patrick Moir Crane
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th June 1858.
I, PATRICK MOIR CRANE, of the Irish Peat Company's Works, Athy,
Ireland, Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL FROM PEAT," to be as follows:-
In its natural moist state I take the peat from the bog and cover the
portion I intend to solidify with a woven or textile fabric, such as strong hair-
cloth, cocoa-nut fibre, matting, or other suitable fabric; I then take the
2 portions so envelopped and submit them to pressure between sets of iron plates.
by the bydraulic press or otherwise, by which process the moisture is rapidly.
expressed, and after further drying by the atmosphere or caloric; the product.
becomes a good and economical fuel.
5
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed.
by the said Patrick Moir Crane in the Great Seal Patent Office.on.the
24th December 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PATRICK,
MOIR CRANE, of the Irish Peat Company's Works, Athy, Ireland, Manager,
send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Patrick Moir Crane, Her special licence that I, the said
Patrick Moir Crane, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Patrick Moir Crane, 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 FUEL FROM PEAT," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Patrick Moir Crane, 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 Patrick Moir Crane, 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 (that is to say):-
My Invention consists in so treating peat as found in its natural state, that
by a ready, quick, and economical operation, excellent fuel is produced. The
nature of my improvement is as follows:-Having cut the peat (as it is
found in the bog) in suitable pieces or sods, I take these pieces and cover or.
envelope them with cloths of a proper size of woven textile fabric, such as
strong hair cloth, cocoa-nut fibre, woollen or hemp fibre, or fit material of the
same nature, made sufficiently open to admit of the free egress of the water
from the sods of peat upon pressure being put upon them, without the peat
itself being pressed out. I then place these pieces or sods of peat so covered
between the strong iron plates of a hydraulic or other press.
When the press
is filled (cloths with peat being laid between each of the layers of plates) I
apply the pressure at first slowly, until a considerable portion of the water has
been expressed, after which it can be applied faster, and then put on to the
extreme power of the press, which I prefer to be at least two hundred tons.
In order to facilitate and hasten the process, ranges or sets of plates may be
prepared ready to put into the press as soon as the pressing of one set is

page_text: finished. The pieces of peat, after being removed from their coverings, are
either put (if the season admits of it) in the open air or on suitable erections
for drying so arranged that wet cannot fall upon them, or placed in a drying
house heated in any suitable way by fire, taking care in both instances that the
pieces are not placed too close to each other so as to prevent the air circulating.
By the above mode a good and economical fuel from peat is readily made,
possessing the following advantages over the system of manual labour and
open air drying only, which has been in use for many years:-
First, that peat fuel can be produced at any season in a few days.
Second, that when produced by my process it contains much less moisture
than by the old method.
Third, that the compression lessens its bulk and makes it much more
portable.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, the manner in which the
same is to be performed or carried into practical effect, and the advantages
thereof, I would here observe that I do not restrict myself to the mode
of pressure here described, as pressure may be obtained in other convenient
ways which may suggest themselves to the practical man; nor do I confine
myself to the exact mode of placing the peat herein mentioned, as this may be
varied to suit the means of pressure; and I would further say that I lay no
claim to the exclusive use of the mechanical means described as employed
apart from my Invention, which I declare to be and I claim the exclusive
manufacture of fuel from peat by taking it wet from the bog, surrounding,
enveloping, or covering it on all sides with a fabric of a strong texture, so as
to protect the peat, and admit of the water being freely expressed from the
peat by pressure being brought to bear upon the mass until it is solidified and
compressed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Patrick Moir Crane, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. T. STOKES,
103, Mid Abbey St.
PATRICK MOIR CRANE. (L.S.)