Improvements in the Manufacture of Oil and Peat Fuel, and in Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 7th May, 1898
Complete Specification Left, 1st Mar., 1899-Accepted, 8th Apr., 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Oil and Peat Fuel, and in
Apparatus therefor.
I, PAUL RAOUL DE FAUCHEUX D'HUMY, of 142, Princes-Road, Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineer; do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows: -
This invention has for its object a method of making artificial fuel from peat
applicable for use on steamers and other like places.
Hitherto all attempts to use peat for this purpose have I believe failed owing to
the fact that ordinary peat cannot be compressed; it acts like a spring, on the
pressure being released it immediately expands again and in the uncompressed
state it has too much freedom to stand the wear and tear of its use in the blast
furnace or in the steamer.
Now I have discovered that if peat be treated with oil and heat and pressed in
the hot state it remains a hard block, and I have designed a plant to accomplish
this purpose of which the following is a description. A tank containing any re-
quired hydrocarbonaceous matter in the liquid state such as refuse petroleum,
waste oil, resin oil, peat oil, or the like is arranged at a higher level than at any
rate the bottom of a fuel mixer. The pipe from this is brought down to the bottom
of the fuel mixer and a steam device injects this fuel into the mixer. It is regu-
lated preferably by means of a valve or two valves in its course regulated so that
it shall go in gushes or drops instead of in an even flow. Near the bottom the
pipe enters a larger pipe and at the entrance is a steam chamber supplied with
steam. This
high pressure and preferably superheated
steam injects
the oil into the mixer. The mixer is also surrounded by a steam jacket.
This mixer 1S a vertical chamber and is supplied with a rotating.
band passing round pulleys at top and bottom. This band is supplied with
transverse rods or paddles, and as this band is caused to rotate rapidly it stirs the
material up in the mixer and mixes it thoroughly with the oil and steam, the
waste steam escaping at the top. The mixer is of course filled with comminuted
peat. From the mixer the material is passed at intervals to a retort below. This
retort also passes its vapours to the mixer above or else to a condenser from whence
they are passed and afterwards mixed with peat. This retort is heated to a high
degree by fire heat. From this retort the hot material is passed into hoppers over
a horizontal press or pugmill. A plunger at the bottom of each hopper con-
tinually presses the stuff forward towards the end of a closed box the plungers
being worked by a screw alternately in opposite directions by means of a shifting
pinion alternately engaging the forward and the backward movement. The
regulation of this can be done either by hand or automatically by the pressure on
the plungers themselves, a mechanism worked by the pressure on the cross-head
shifting the belt and thus causing the screw to work backwards till it has passed
the hopper when the belt strap is again automatically shifted by the cross head
carrying the plungers coming against a lever. Automatic scrapers keep the

page_text: plungers clean, and clamped sight holes in the plunger boxes enable the inside
to be got at when required. When the plunger box is full, either by hand or
automatically periodically the ends of the plunger boxes which slide in grooves
are raised up and at the next stroke of the plunger the cake of oily semi-carbonized
peat is driven out as a hard mass. This is cooled, dried and is ready for market.
A row of the retorts can be connected with one or more of the mixers and two
retorts can be united by a common valve with the mixer so arranged that either of
the two retorts can be put in action with the mixer.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of G, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Oil and Peat Fuel, and in
Apparatus therefor.
I, PAUL RAOUL DE FAUCHEUX D'HUMY, of 142, Princes Road, Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineer, 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:-
This invention has for its object a method of making hard rough fuel from
ordinary peat, and it consists essentially in treating the peat with steam and oil
at a high temperature and pressing in the heated state into moulds. By this pro-
cess the peat is altered in character and converted into a hard very inflammable
material resembling very tough and fatty lignite but much superior to any natural
fuel. The invention also consists in the apparatus for doing this.
Reterring to the drawings,
Figure 1 is an elevation of a mixer and still for distilling oil combined;
Figure 2, a vertical section of a mixer arranged to be fed with oil from a tank:
Figure 3, an elevation of another form of still sometimes used, with plan of
valve above; and
Figure 4, detail of valve.
Referring first to Figure 2. A is a chamber, generally rectangular and expanding
a little at the top, B a steam jacket surrounding said chamber, having an entrance
for steam b near the bottom and an exit for steam at the top. C is a shaft
and D a belt or chain arranged so as not to slip on its pulley and passing over a
pulley on this shaft and one or two pulleys fixed near the bottom of chamber A.
On this band D) a series of stout iron rods d are fixed. E is a tank for containing
any kind of oil or grease in a liquid state. e is a pipe leading therefrom having a
valve e' attached thereto. This valve is caused to continually rotate by means of a
belt c¹ from shaft C. Each time it rotates a small gush of oil passes through the
valve and through the pipe e into the reservoir, f. The stem of this reservoir
Falve and through the into the reserved by shafte g and belts from shaft, C
as shown. G is a chamber into which a steam pipe enters and through which the
pipe passes. G¹ is the entrance into chamber A. The pipe F enters this entrance
a little and is small enough to allow of the steam passing in round it from
chamber G. The steam thus injects the oil into the bottom of chamber A and
enters this chamber itself. This chamber is filled with peat.
The mode of action of this part of my apparatus is as follows:-
Chamber A being filled with wet peat, the stirring device and the oil feed are

page_text: put in action by rotating the shaft C. Oil in periodic gushes together with steam
enters the chamber A and thoroughly mixes with the peat, the waste steam escap-
ing at top. When sufficient oil has been mixed with the peat and the peat is
heated by the superheated steam of chamber G and of the superheater to a tem-
perature of about 400° it is emptied out into moulds of convenient size and allowed
to harden.
As however it is desirable in many instances to make one's own oil on the peat
field, in place of the apparatus shown in Figure 2, that shown in Figure 1 is
frequently used. In this A is the mixer exactly as set forth in Figure 2, but the
pipe instead of coming from a tank proceeds from a retort H. This retort
is filled with peat which is heated to about 1100° F, until the peat is converted
into charcoal. The mixed steam and gas or vapour and afterwards, when all the
steam has been driven out, the vapour alone aided by the superheated steam of
chamber G enters the mixer and unites with the peat. The peat is then emptied
into suitable moulds.
Where very even clean and uniform briquettes are required as in yachts, my
fuel in the heated state is passed through a briquette machine and stamped to
uniform size and shape, but I find in practice that the heat, stirring and oil com-
bined bring it into such a uniform soft plastic state while hot that if poured in this
condition into moulds, slightly pressed or trimmed by hand and allowed to harden,
briquettes neat and tough enough for all ordinary purposes are obtained without
the expense of the briquette machine.
In describing my invention I do not confine myself to the mixing machine
shown, as ordinary mixers with revolving archimedean stirrers receiving the
materials at one end and delivering them mixed at the other with suitable heating
devices would do nearly as well.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of any said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim
is:-
1. The process of making fuel which consists in mechanically disintegrating
and highly heating peat and at the same time mixing it with oil, petroleum, or
other hydro-carbonacous matter, and when sufficiently homogeneous pouring it
into moulds.
2. In the process of manufacturing peat fuel, passing the oily vapours or oil
obtained from the destructive distillation of one mass of peat into another mass
of peat while it is being heated and stirred.
3. The apparatus for carrying on the process of making peat fuel consisting
in a steam jacketted stirring machine and means for injecting into the same petro-
leum or other oil or oily vapours.