IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRE- PARATION OF PEAT AND PEAT COKE OF CHARCOAL, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1857

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John King at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd July 1857.—A
communication.
I, JOHN KING, of Cannon Street, in the City of London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRE-
PARATION OF PEAT AND PEAT COKE OF CHARCOAL, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
The lumps of peat or turf as taken from the bog are thrown into a hopper
which conducts them to a series of rollers provided with blades or saws, and
arranged in pairs or otherwise. These rollers are partially immersed in a vessel
of water. The peat is torn to pieces by the rollers and blades, and diffused in
the water, and conducted under or in contact with an agitator which mixes it
thoroughly with the water, and which also carries arms with oblique blades
which crush any lumps which may have escaped the rollers and saws. The
pulp or mixture passes from the agitating compartment or vessel into a
deeper vessel or well, from whence it is raised by a wheel or elevator. The
earthy matters or impurities fall to the bottom of the well, and are removed
from time to time or continuously. The water may be conveyed back to the
hopper by means of a pump, or fresh water may be introduced into the hopper.
The pulp thus purified is delivered by the wheel or elevator to a draining
machine or filter, which consists of a vessel with a false bottom of wire gauzo
properly supported. A number of vertical perforated tubes stand on the false

page_text: bottom at regular intervals apart. This vessel is filled with the pulp, and the
water is allowed to drain away through the perforations in the tubes and in
the false bottom. The peat remains in the form of a jelly or paste, and is then
fit for moulding or comprossing. The machines for this purpose are varied
according to the purposes for which the peat is to be used, and the degree of
compression required. Thus, when little or no compression is required, the
pasto is moulded by delivering it into a hopper, from which it is forced by a
vertical helix or screw of varying pitch, into a compartment where it is seized
by two rollers with notches or moulds in their peripheries, which mould it into
separate blocks or pieces. When a greater degree of compression is required,
a conical helix or screw is employed and made to work in a vessel of similar
form with deep grooves or blades for preventing the rotation of the material.
The paste is received by a series of coupled rollers, which progressively reduco
and compress it until thoy deliver it into moulds, which are removed by the
machine and submitted to the action of a piston or set of pistons of corresponding
form. A still greater compression is obtained by means of a hydraulic press
with a piston or pistons made to work with little or no friction and of large area.
The moulds are made of a large sizo, and with wire gauze or perforated sides
properly supported so as to allow of the escape of the water; they are con-
ducted by small railways to and from the hydraulic press. The peat may
be left under compression for several minutes, or a longer or shorter time,
according to the degree of dryness required. Another machine is employed
for compressing and moulding the paste at the same time. A series of pistons of
gradually diminishing size are put in motion in conjunction with an apparatus
carrying a series of moulds in a circular direction, and with a horizontal or
vertical axis. At each movement of the series of moulds the paste or material
becomes more and more compressed until it is driven out as a hard compressed
block or cake by the last piston. This apparatus may be varied by constructing
it with a steam hammer to produce the compression. In all these machines
the moulds or vessels containing the peaty paste may be heated by steam.
The water is to a great extent removed from the peat by the compression, and
the blocks or cakes are then desiccated by placing them in wagons or carriages
in a stove or chamber heated by the waste heat of the coking furnaces, or
otherwise; or, the blocks or cakes of peat may be dried without the applica-
tion of artificial heat by passing over and among them a current of air which
has been dried by passing it in contact with quicklime or other substanco
capable of removing the moisture from it. The dried peat is coked in retorts,
being contained in iron boxes or cases of the same form as the interior of tho
retort. When coked, the boxes are drawn out-and slid into close vessels or

page_text: extinguishers, where the peat, coke, or charcoal is allowed to cool without the
access of air; other boxes filled with peat are introduced into the retorts, and
so on. The gases which are given off, and any waste portions of peat or peat
coke, are employed to heat the retorts. The tar and oils and other products of
the distillation are collected. In some cases the retorts are arranged so as to
receive a current of steam at a high temperature to effect or facilitate the
carbonization.
By this Invention a very pure peat fuel is obtained, and by coking the peat
a very pure peat coke or charcoal is obtained. These fuels are well adapted
for the manufacture of "charcoal iron," and superior qualities of iron and
steel, and for other cases in which a pure fuel is desired, as well as for the
general purposes of fuel.