A New or Improved Process for the Manufacture of Chemically Prepared Peat Fibres, applicable to Various Useful Purposes.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Oct., 1895-Accepted, 22nd Feb., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Process for the Manufacture of Chemically
Prepared Peat Fibres, applicable to Various Useful Purposes.
I, CARL GEIGE of 113 Grafenberger-Chaussee, Düsseldorf, Germany, Merchant,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
My invention relates to a new or improved process as hereafter described for the
manufacture of chemically prepared pure peat fibres, that is to say, of such as are
freed from all substances that injuriously affect their capacity for absorption.
This new or improved process is as follows:
The peat when cut is placed into a weak alkaline bath which is continuously
agitated for several hours. A suitable strength for the first alkaline bath is 0-5
to 1%. By this means the humic acid is removed from the peat. The peat is
then dried, and disintegrated (reduced to fibres) by means of opening machines
generally employed in the cotton spinning industry for picking, scutching, or
tearing apart the matted masses.
The peat fibres thus produced are now placed into a warm bath which contains
substances or acids that are capable of decomposing the starch and vegetable
albumen present in the fibres; for this purpose it is preferred to employ yeast and
acid, although yeast ferment alone will also answer the purpose, but an addition of
acid, say sulphuric acid diluted to 1 to 2%, accelerates the decomposition of the
starch aud vegetable albumen. If acid alone is to be used, the strength 1:30
to 1: 60 according to the quality of the fibre and to the temperatures. The time
occupied for this part of the treatment is generally from 2 to 3 days, or more.
The peat fibres prepared as above described are then washed in clean water so
as to remove the decomposed products. After this treatment, the peat fibres are
subjected to the action of hot ether, benzine, ligroin, or other fat-removing agent
or solvent, under pressure in closed vessels, the fat-removing agent being kept in
constant circulation, until a sample shows that the resins, oils, and fats, present in
the fibres have been sufficiently dissolved. Then as soon as the contents of the
vessels have become cool, the fat-removing agent or solvent is drawn off charged
with the fatty constituents of the peat. The fat-removing agent or solvent is
separated by distillation in the usual manner from the fatty substances which it
has taken up. These fatty substances can be further treated to produce lubricant,
soap, &c.
The peat fibres, now free from fat, are removed from the vessels and thoroughly
washed in clean water, then boiled with dilute acids or alkalies whereby the last
traces of tannic acid are removed. A suitable strength for the acids or alkalies
used after removing the resins &c. is a solution of 1 to 3% according to the quality
of the fibres and with regard to the quantity of matters to be removed out of the
fibres. Sulphuric acid, sulphurous acid in solution, potash, carbonate of soda,
caustic soda or caustic potash may be used according to the circumstances. The
time usually occupied for this part of the treatment is from five to seven hours.
The baths are to be applied (according to the circumstances) scalding hot (boiling
point) or nearly so, except the ferment baths, the temperature of which must
be 15 to 20° C., therefore about lukewarm. The fibres are then again washed,
and if desired are bleached in the usual manner.

page_text: Peat fibres after treatment according to the process hereinbefore described are
chemically pure, completely neutral, soft, pliable, and flexible, and can be spun
into the finest yarn.
Wadding manufactured from these chemically pure neutral fibres makes an
excellent wadding or lint for surgical purposes, and when thrown upon water, sinks
at once, thereby proving that it has been freed from all substances that would
interfere with its capacity of absorption. When placed upon the skin of the
human body, especially in the case of invalids suffering from gout and rheumatism,
this wadding exerts such an intense suction that it becomes in a short time not
merely moist but wet.
Yarn or threads made froin this wadding, and textile or woven fabrics produced
from said yaru or threads, possess an enormous capacity for absorption, and have
further the property of readily giving up again the moisture and gases they have
taken up.
The wadding may also be mixed with wool, flax, &c., and may also be
impregnated with antiseptic materials and medicinal substances of all kinds.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :
The new or improved process for the manufacture of chemically prepared pure
peat fibres applicable to various useful purposes consisting in lixiviating raw peat
with alkalies, then drying and disintegrating the same, then placing the fibres into
a warm bath containing ferments or acids capable of decomposing the starch and
vegetable albumen contained in the fibres, and then after washing the fibres,
treating the same with a fat-removing agent or solvent, and then again washing
the fibres, then boiling them with dilute acids or alkalies, again washing the same,
and, if desired, also bleaching the fibres and substantially as and for the purposes
herein before described.
Dated this 30th day of October 1895.
BREWER & SON,
33 Chancery Lane, London, and 30 East Parade, Leeds,
Agents for the Applicant.