IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PEAT CHARCOAL
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Baptiste Passedoit and Louis Antoine
Ritterbandt, both of 10, Eastbourne Terrace, Hyde Park, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
Scaled the 6th September 1870, and dated the 29th March 1870.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Jean Baptiste Passedoit
and Louis Antoine Ritterbandt at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition and Declaration, on the 29th March
1870, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent Law Amendment
Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JEAN
BAPTISTE PASSEDOIT and LOUIS ANTOINE RITTERBANDT, both of 40,
Eastbourne Terrace, Hyde Park, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF PEAT CHARCOAL," 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) :-
Abortive attempts have heretofore been made to manufacture peat
charcoal which during combustion should not evolve smoke, smell, or
noxious or unpleasant vapours.

page_text: By our Invention we propose by extracting its impurities so to manu-
facture this material that no smoke, smell, or noxious vapours shall be
evolved during combustion.
We proceed in the following manner:-We first carbonise the peat
and then pulverize it by grinding in a mill or otherwise. In this state
it is subjected to our purifying process, which will be best understood
by reference to the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1 being a view
in plan, and Figure 2 in longitudinal sectional elevation of the
apparatus used. In a basin (or basins), trough, or receptacle B we lay a
certain quantity of this powdered material and cover it with water.
The contents are then stirred so that the water becomes well incorpo-
rated with the powdered material and has penetrated every part
thereof. It is then allowed to rest, and the impurities, such as com-
pounds of sulphur and of other insoluble substances contained in the
powdered material and which were not removed during the process of
carbonisation are skimmed off. C is an aperture whereby the water is
run off from the basin or basins B, the charcoal being retained by a
grating or wire gauze.
During the foregoing process the water dissolves all the substances
capable of being dissolved which are contained in the carbonized peat,
and more especially those salts which are found in peat from bogs near
the sea, these passing off with the water.
After repeating the washing operation before described several times
during the 21 hours the carbonized peat thus washed is put into troughs
or gutters D and again covered with water for about the same time, but
without being stirred; the water then filters through the mass, and passing
slowly through a fine sieve bencath carries with it all the dissolved salts
that may be still left after the previous washings. This washing is
continued until the whole of the salts are removed and the carbonised
peat freed from salts; this may be ascertained by the taste of the water.
When prepared in the manner before described the carbonized peat is
purified and all compounds of sulphur and of other substances being
removed it is ready to be utilized according to our Invention.
We then mix the carbonised peat, washed and purified in the manner
above described, with pitch or tar, mould or shape it into any suitable
form and bake it in furnaces similar to those used in the manufacture of
fuel, known in France as "charbon de Paris" or "agglomerés."

page_text: Peat charcoal when prepared in the manner above described burns
without evolving smoke, smell, or noxious vapours. E is the tank for
supplying the water. Neither has it hitherto, to our knowledge, been
attempted to mix carbonised peat in its impure or crude state by itself
and without the admixture of other substances with pitch or tar for
producing what is known in France as "charbon de Paris" or
"agglomerés," and used for culinary purposes.
Now this last part of our Invention consists in mixing pulverised
carbonised peat with pitch or tar for producing the above-named material
known in commerce as "agglomerés or "charbon de Paris."
وو
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim as our Invention is,-
Firstly. The extracting, dissolving, or otherwise getting rid of or
destroying those substances in peat, which during combustion evolve
smoke and noxious or deleterious vapours in the manner substantially as
described.
Secondly. The manufacture of charcoal from carbonised peat which
has been washed and purified in the manner substantially as described.
And, thirdly. The employment of peat alone as the basis for the
manufacture of an artificial fuel, known in France as 'agglomerés'
or "charbon de Paris."
65
"
In witness whereof, we, the said Jean Baptiste Passedoit and
Louis Antoine Ritterbandt, have hereunto set our hands and
scals, this Twenty-ninth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and seventy.
B. PASSEDOIT.
(L.S.)
Witness,
EDWP. GRIFFITH BREWER,
Patent Agent,
S9, Chancery Lane,
W.C.
L. A. RITTERBANDT. (L.S.)