Year: 1888

page_text: A communication to me from abroad by GEORGES HENRI BÉRAUD, of Maestricht, in
the Kingdom of Holland, Manufacturer.
1, GUSTAVE ADOLPHE CANNOT, of Bucklersbury in the City of London, Merchant,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to fibres of peat which is found in many parts of Europe,
and it has for its object improvements in the methods of and apparatus for preparing
and utilizing such peat fibre, by manufacturing from it material which can be spun
into threads alone or in combination with wool, cotton, or other fibrous material and
converted into textile or other fabrics which can be used for an infinite variety of
purposes, such for instance as cloth of different qualities and textures for clothing or
other purposes, coverings for waterclosets or other purposes where its deodorizing and
disinfecting properties are of value, wrappers or coverings for cheese, meat, fish, or
other articles of food, which are preserved from decay or deterioration by its antiseptic
and preservative properties; socks or soles for shoes or boots; the purification of air
by passing it through wire gauze or other devices in which it is caused to come in
contact with or traverse the improved fibrous material, which absorbs or decomposes
offensive or deleterious gases or other substances which may be present in the air,
covers or linings for refrigerators or safes containing meat, fruit, or vegetables, or for
coffins; linings or stands for flower pots, arranged in such manner that water is
absorbed by it in very large proportion and is yielded up gradually and uniformly to
the plants; frames for pictures and other articles of the like kind; dress preservers in
the form of suitably shaped pads or pieces under the arms or in other parts where the
absorption of perspiration or moisture is desired; protectors against cold for the chest,

page_text: and other hygienic purposes; caps or hats of all descriptions, with or without the
addition of antiseptic or other chemical preparations, for men, women, or children,
either in the form of woven or knitted fabrics, or of felt, sewn or not; childrens bibs
and clothes, hoods, muffs, knee-caps, slippers, screens and curtains, and an infinite
number of other purposes of the like kind which it would be impossible to
enumerate.
It relates more especially to the invention for which Letters Patent No. 15,877
A.D. 1884 were granted to William Phillips Thompson (a communication to him from
abroad by Georges Henri Béraud, of Weert, in the Kingdoin of Holland).
The fibrous peat to which the present invention relates consists of a more or less
fibrous material, which is found in two forms, in the first the fibrous material being
at the surface of the soil and the part between the soil and a certain depth of water
with which it is always covered being alone adapted for the purposes of the present
invention, the green part above the surface of the water having to be removed as
well as the roots, the intermediate part occupying a depth of about 10 centimêtres
being alone of use.
In the other form the fibrous peat is nearly always found at a depth of about one
mêtre and in a layer of from 5 to 10 or 15 centimêtres thick, between a lower bed of
black and an upper one of yellow peat.
Whichever form is made use of, the material should be extracted with a fork, but
where (as is sometimes the case) the latter form is found upon the surface of the soil
it can be removed by means of a harrow having teeth twenty to thirty centimêtres
long by which the fibre is collected, and left upon the ground for a day or two.
It is then taken in its half wet state and placed in a heap, spaces being left for air
pipes or channels by which all fermentation is prevented.
When partly dried it is transferred to a beating Engine. This Engine consists of
a chamber or vat provided with one, two, three, or four heaters, or a shaft revolving
in bearings and having firmly fixed to a number of transverse arins or bars, having
a length of 40 centimêtres or more. The lower part of the chamber is provided with
a screen or sieve through which the dust falls, the fibres being separated in a com-
paratively clean state by the action of the heating arms which should revolve at a
speed of from 1000 to 2000 revolutions per minute. An exhausting fan, or device of
a similar kind, is preferably connected with an opening in the apparatus through
which any dust remaining in the fibre is drawn away and removed, leaving the latter
clean.
Instead of the improved machine described any other form of the scutching or
beating machines ordinarily employed for wool or cotton may be used, but with a
much less satisfactory result, the work being better and much more quickly accom-
plished in the improved machine, the fibres being more thoroughly opened and
separated and less liable to become shortened.
The cleaning of the fibre having been effected in the manner and with the apparatus
described, it is removed to a breaking machine, having a revolving cylinder or drum
about one mêtre in length, and from 0.80 to 1 mêtre in diameter. In order to obtain
fine results, the cylinder should be provided with pointed steel teeth about 0.02 centi-
mêtres apart, their length being about 3 centimêtres, and the speed of revolution of
the cylinder from 1500 to 2000 revolutions per minute.
The fibrous material is supplied to this engine, through a suitable opening provided
with a pair of rollers between which it is fed preferably from an endless travelling
band or table of sufficient width upon which the material is laid and carried
forward.
The rollers are pressed together with sufficient force as they revolve, so that they
hold the material firmly as is fed forward to the teeth of the revolving drum, which
seize and tear it away, their speed being two, three, or four times as quick as that of
the rollers.
A grating is preferably arranged under the cylinder, so that any dust or refuse
falls through and only the clean fibre is thrown forward by the great speed at which
the cylinder revolves

page_text: In the tow like condition to which the fibre has now been reduced it is capable of
being made without admixture of other fibres into threads of 4000 mêtres to the
kilogramme, or if mixed with twenty five per cent. of wool or other fibre, or with
such fibrous material as waste or shoddy, 5000 to 6000 mêtres to the kilogramine.
In order now to further reduce the purified fibre to a still finer state resembling
cotton, after having undergone the processes above described it is passed into another
machine having a revolving cylinder or drum not more than one mêtre in diameter,
and having a length of about 0-60. The axle of this cylinder revolves on bearings in
the machine, and the cylinder is provided upon its surface with rounded teeth
resembling those of a saw, inclined forward at an angle of about 45 degrees, their
length being about 2 centimêtres and their distance apart about 1 centimêtres.
These teeth are rivetted in a groove in the cylinder which is preferably of iron. Its
speed should be at least 2000 to 2500 revolutions per minute, and the fibre is supplied
to it in the same manner as in the breaking Engine last described.
The machine is fixed upon a cast iron foundation plate of suitable shape, and
under the cylinder hetween the two side frames of the machine is fixed a dividing
plate in such a position that the dust and refuse from the fibre falls behind this plate,
and only the clean fibre itself in front.
An opening is made in the dividing plate just described into which the delivery
pipe from a fan leads.
The fan is placed in such a position that the current of air is delivered from it
above the foundation plate of the machine and is of such force as to carry with it
the cleaned fibres to a distance of about 15 mêtres from the machine into a space
forming a chamber about 10 mêtres long which is divided at about half its height by
a plato extending nearly to the end so as to give a course of about 20 mêtres to the
air blast which carries the fibres with it, the operation being assisted if desired by an
exhausting fan or equivalent device.
As the fibres deposit themselves they become classified according to their relative
fiveness, those at the greatest distance resembling fine "down," those in the middle
cotton, and those nearest to the machine being the coarsest but fit for spinning thread
of 4000 mêtres to the kilogramme without mixture.
Instead of the processes above described by which the fibres of the peat are
separated and rendered fit for manufacturing purposes, such processes of separation
and treatment being used when the material is dry, a modified process may be
used in which the material is chemically treated and prepared for manufacture whilst
wet.
For this purpose the fibrous peat obtained and preliminarily prepared in the way
first described, instead of being placed in the beating machine, is placed in a solution
of caustic soda, in the proportion of 100 parts of the fibre to about 2 parts by weight
of soda, or 5 parts of potash, or 10 parts of soda crystals. The fibre is soaked and
treated for about eight hours, by any of the ordinary well known systems.
If it is desired to hasten the process, the fibre instead of merely soaking may be
boiled for about two hours in the solution.
Or the boiling may be effected in a closed vessel under pressure, in which case about
one hour will suffice.
Whichever process is adopted, the fibre is afterwards thoroughly washed in slightly
warmed water.
By treatment with acids it is rendered more capable of being reduced to the desired
fineness. For this purpose it is sufficient to leave it in a vessel containing 5 parts by
measurement of sulphuric or hydrochloric acid to 100 parts of water, the fibre being
allowed to float in the liquid, in which it should remain at least 12 hours if it is not
worked and agitated by power. If so worked, 6 hours will suffice.
On coming from the acid bath, the fibres should be well washed in several successive
waters.
Whether simply soaked or boiled or treated with acid, the fibre is afterwards treated
in the same way and by the same machines as have been already described where
beating machines are used.

page_text: When treated with acid, the fibre may be bleached by chlorine or bleaching liquid,
remaining for about 12 hours in a bath containing a solution of such strength that the
fibre floats, and stirring or agitating devices being preferably used.
On leaving the chlorine bath the fibre passes to a bath of 2 to 5 kilogrammes of
hydrochloric acid to 100 litres of water, where it remains for about one hour, on
leaving which it is thoroughly washed, care being taken that it is not exposed to the
air in passing from the acid bath to the washing vessels.
A similar bleaching may be effected by subjecting it to sulphurous acid in a closed
chamber, or other known methods of bleaching may be used.
After bleaching and washing the fibre is in a state to be used in ordinary fibro
working machines.
By means of the novel processes and apparatus described, the fibre becomes fit to
be used for all the purposes for which other animal or vegetable fibres are ordinarily
used, and it can be worked in the ordinary spinning and other machinery used for
wool, cotton, flax, jute, or hemp.
It should be pointed out that the peat fibre being absorbent in a very high degree,
when used in place of such ordinary fibres for spinning should only be submitted to
the action of steam, instead of to greasing by oleine as is ordinarily done but which
would render it too heavy and unmanageable and liable to injury.
If however oleine or other grease is used, its weight should not exceed fifteen per cent.
of that of the fibre, which should he prepared with it 24 hours in advance.
The rollers between which the thread is drawn should be covered with india rubber,
or if pairs of ordinary leather rollers are used they should be two to three centimètres
apart.
The carding engine too, must have two cleaning cylinders.
In the method of treating the peat fibre and utilizing it for many purposes, some of
which have been pointed out, the processes described and the novel machinery and
apparatus used may be modified and varied more or less accor·ling to the character of
the peat to be treated and the particular purposes to which the fibre is to be applied.
Dated this 14th day of June 1888.
EDWARDS & Co.,
35, Southampton Buildings, London,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in Methods of and Apparatus for Utilizing
Peat Fibre.
A communication to me from abroad by GEORGES HENRI BERAUD, of Maestricht, in
the Kingdom of Holland.
I, GUSTAVE ADOLPHE CANNOT, of Bucklersbury in the City of London, 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, and accompanying drawings, that is to say :-
This invention relates to the fibrous peat which is found in many parts of the world,
and it has for its objects improvements in the methods of and apparatus for preparing
and utilizing the fibre of such peat, by manufacturing from it material which can be
spun into threads, alone or in combination with wool cotton or other fibrous material,
and converted into textile or other fabrics which can be used for an infinite variety
of purposes, such for instance as cloth of different qualities and textures for clothing
or other purposes, coverings for waterclosets or other purposes where its deodorizing
and disinfecting properties are of value, wrappers or coverings for cheese, meat, fish,
or other articles of food, which are preserved from decay or deterioration by its
antiseptic and preservative properties; socks or soles for shoes or boots; the purifi-
cation of air by passing it through wire gauze or other devices in which it is caused
to come in contact with or traverse the improved fibrous material, which absorbs or
decomposes offensive or deleterious gases or other substances which may be present
in the air; covers or linings for refrigerators or safes containing meat, fruit, or
vegetables, or for coffins; linings or stands for flower pots, arranged in such manner
that water is absorbed by it in very large proportion and is yielded up gradually and
uniformly to the plants; frames for pictures and other articles of the like kind; dress
preservers in the form of suitably shaped pads or pieces under the arms or in other
parts where the absorption of perspiration or moisture is desired; protectors against
cold for the chest, and other hygienic purposes; caps or hats of all descriptions, with
or without the addition of antiseptic or other chemical preparations, for men, women,
or children, either in the form of woven or knitted fabrics, or of felt, sewn or not;
childrens bibs and clothes, hoods, muffs, knee-caps, slippers, screens and curtains, and
an infinite number of other purposes of the like kind which it would be impossible
to enumerate.
It relates more especially to the invention for which Letters Patent No. 15877
A.D. 1884 were granted to William Phillips Thompson (a communication to him
from abroad by Georges Henri Béraud, of Weert, in the Kingdom of Holland).
I am aware that it has already heretofore been proposed to utilize the fibre of peat
in the manner described, but all attempts to so utilize it have failed on account of
the impossibility of successfully treating and manufacturing the peat fibre by means
of the machinery and apparatus ordinarily used in the preparation and manufacture
of wool, and other fibrous materials ordinarily used.

page_text: By my improved process and mechanism and appliances herein described, I have
succeeded in overcoming the difficulties hitherto found insurmountable, and in
manufacturing cheaply, effectively, and quickly articles such as those already
enumerated as well as many others of the same or analogous kind, from the fibre of
ordinary peat.
The accompanying drawings are in illustration of the invention.
The fibrous peat to which my present invention relates consists of a more or less
fibrous material, which is found in two forms, in the first the fibrous material being
at the surface of the soil and the part between the soil and a certain depth of water
with which it is always covered being alone adapted for the purposes of the present
invention, the green part above the surface of the water having to be removed as
well as the roots, the intermediate part occupying a depth of about 10 centimêtres
being alone of use.
In the other form the fibrous peat is nearly always found at a depth of about
one mêtre, and in a layer of from five to ten or fifteen centimêtres thick, between a
lower bed of black and an upper one of yellow peat. It is also found upon the
surface to a depth of about one mêtre.
Whichever form is made use of, the material should be extracted with a fork, but
where (as is sometimes the case) the latter form is found upon the surface of the
soil it can be removed by means of a harrow having teeth twenty to thirty centimêtres
long by which the fibre is collected, and left upon the ground for a day or two.
If the still green fibre is used it is then taken in its half wet state and placed in
a heap, spaces being left for air pipes or channels by which all fermentation is
prevented.
The material already completely converted into fibrous peat requires only to be
dried by any ordinary means, since it is incapable of fermentation.
When partly
dried the material is transferred to the beating Engine, illustrated in figures 1 and 9.
This Engine, as shown in figure 1 consists of a strong chamber a, of suitable size
and material, provided with one, two, three, four, or more sets of beaters at the saine
or different levels, each set consisting of a shaft revolving in bearings b, and having
fixed to it a number of arms or bars c, preferably of iron or steel, and having a length
of about 40 centimêtres or more. a¹ is a hopper or opening through which the fibrous
material is supplied to the machine, and a² is an opening through which it is delivered.
The lower part of the chamber below.each set of arms is provided with a moveable
screen or sieved through which the dust and dirt fall into receptacles or drawers e
from which they can be removed when necessary.
The fibre is separated in a comparatively clean state by the action of the beating
arms c which should be made to revolve, by any convenient power, at a speed of
from 1000 to 2000 revolutions per minute. fis an opening, fitted with a moveable
screen of wire gauze, and connected by a pipe or passage with an exhausting fan or
device of a similar kind, by which any dust remaining in the fibre is drawn away
and removed leaving the fibre clean.
In figure 9 a similar machine is shewn somewhat modified, three sets of beating
arms c and moveable screens or sieves d being shewn.
A set of revolving arms c¹ is also shewn by which the material is fed into the
machine, and a corresponding set of revolving arms c² is shewn by which the cleaned
fibre is delivered from the machine.
A separate screen or sieve f is shewn arranged
above each set of beating arms c, in the opening which communicates with the
exhausting fan.
The revolving feeding arms c¹ may be connected by gear of any suitable kind with
the delivering arms c², so that the opening to one is closed when that to the other
is open, and vice versu as desired.
.
Instead of the improved machine described any other form of the scutching or
beating machines ordinarily employed for wool or cotton may be used, but with a
much less satisfactory result, the work being better and much more quickly accom-
plished in the improved machine, the fibres being more thoroughly opened and
separated and less liable to become shortened.

page_text: The cleaning of the fibre having been effected in the manner and with the apparatus
described it is then removed to the breaking machine, illustrated in figures 2 and 7;
figure 2 being a longitudinal section and figure 7 a side view. This machine has a
revolving cylinder or drum g about one mêtre in length and from 0.80 to 1 mêtre in
diameter. In order to obtain a good result, this cylinder should be provided on its
circumference with pointed ste: teeth, about 0.02 centimêtres apart, their length
being about 3 centimêtres, and the speed of revolution of the cylinder from 1500 to
2000 revolutions per minute. The fibrous material is supplied to this machine
through an opening provided with a pair of rollers i, ¹, between which it is fed,
preferably from an endless travelling apron or table h of sufficient width upon which
the material is laid and carried forward.
The rollers i,, are pressed together with sufficient force as they revolve, by springs
or weighted levers k (figure 7) so that they hold the material firmly as it is fed
forward to the teeth of the revolving drum which seize and tear it away, their
speed being two, three, or four times as quick as that of the rollers i, . The lower
roller i has adjusted in front of it (as shewn on a larger scale in figure 3) a plate
or knife edge h¹ over which the fibres are torn down by the revolving teeth on the
drum 9, and are drawn out from the rollers i, . A perforated grating or wiregauze
is arranged at 7 under the cylinder g, so that any dust or refuse falls through and
only the clean fibre is thrown forward by the great speed at which the cylinder
revolves, aided if necessary by a current of air from a fan (shewn in dotted lines at m
in figure 7) directed through a channel m (figure 2).
A moveable perforated plate or wiregauze is arranged at o above the cylinder g,
in an opening communicating through a pipe or channel n with an exhausting fan
or equivalent device, by which any dust is removed and carried away.
In the towlike condition to which the fibre has now been reduced it is capable of
being made, without admixture of other fibres, into threads of 4000 mêtres to the
kilogramme, or if mixed with twenty five per cent. of wool or other fibrous materials
such as shoddy 5000 to 6000 mêtres to the kilogramme, or even with fine fibre and
wool up to 8000 metres to the kilogramme.
In order now to further reduce the purified peat fibre to a still finer state
resembling cotton (or peat wool) after it has undergone the processes above described,
it is passed into another machine, illustrated in figures 8 and 15 consisting of a
revolving cylinder or drum r, not more than one mêtre in diameter, and having a
length of about 0-60 mètres. The axle of this cylinder revolves in bearings in the
machine, and the cylinder is provided upon its surface with rounded teeth resembling
those of a saw, as illustrated in figure 13, inclined forward at an angle of about
45 degrees, their length being about two centimetres and their distance apart about
one and a half centimêtres. Ŏr the teeth may be radial, as also illustrated in figure 13.
These teeth are rivetted in grooves on the cylinder which is preferably of iron.
The speed should be at least 2000 to 2500 revolutions per minute, and the fibre to be
treated is supplied to it between feeding rollers in the same manner as in the machines
shewn in figures 2 and 7 already described.
The machine is fixed upon a foundation plate, preferably of cast iron of suitable
shape, and under the cylinder between the two side frames of the machine is fixed
a dividing plate s perforated above in such a position that any dust or refuse from
the fibre falls behind this plate and the clean fibre itself in front of it.
An opening is made in the dividing plates into which the delivery pipet leads
from a blowing fan t¹, shewn in dotted lines in figure 8. The current of air from the
fant is delivered above the foundation of the machine and is of such force as to carry
with it the cleaned fibres to a sufficient distance, from the machine, into a space
forming a chamber about 1 mêtres long which is divided at about half its height
by a plate or plates extending nearly to the end, so as to give a course of about
20 metres to the current of air which carries the fibres with it, the operation being
assisted if desired by an exhausting fan or equivalent device w.
Ata is shewn an opening or manhole by which access can be had to the space in
the chamber in order to clean it and remove the fibre deposited in it. y, is a

page_text: revolving beater or set of arms by which the fibre delivered from the machine is
thrown forward into the chamber i. In figure 10 the arrangement of this apparatus
is shewn somewhat modified, the revolving arms or beater y being arranged at a
lower level, and the passage t from the fan t being carried under it and discharging
the current of air into the chamber u in front of the beater y. The latter is shown
with a moveable grating or wiregauze under it through which dust drops into a
drawer or receptacle beneath as in the machines first described.
The interior of the chamber u is preferably lined with polished metal.
As the fibres carried by the current of air deposit themselves in the different parts
of the chamber u, they become classified according to their relative degrees of
fineness, those at the greatest distance from the revolving arms resembling fine
down, those at the middle cotton, and those nearest to the machine being the coarsest
but fit for spinning thread of 4000 mêtres to the kilogramme without mixture.
Instead of the processes above described by which the fibres of the peat are
separated and rendered fit for manufacturing purposes, such processes of separation
and treatment being used when the material is dry, a modified process may be used
in which the material is chemically treated and prepared for manufacture whilst wet.
For this purpose the fibrous peat obtained and preliminarily prepared in the way
first described, instead of being placed in the beating machine, is placed in a solution
of caustic soda, in the proportion of 100 parts of the fibre to about 2 parts by weight
of soda, or 5 parts of potash, or 10 parts of soda crystals with sufficient water.
The fibre is soaked and treated for about eight hours, by any of the well known
systems.
If it is desired to hasten the process, the fibre instead of merely soaking may be
boiled for about two hours in the solution.
Or the boiling may be effected in a closed vessel under pressure, in which case
about one hour will suffice.
Whatever process is adopted, the fibre is afterwards thoroughly washed in slightly
warm water.
By treatment with acids it is rendered more capable of being reduced to the
desired fineness. For this purpose it is sufficient to leave it in a vessel containing
5 parts by measurement of sulphuric or hydrochloric acid to 100 parts of water,
the fibre being allowed to float in the liquid, in which it should remain at least
12 hours if it is not worked and agitated by power. If so worked, 6 hours will
suffice.
On coming from the acid bath, the fibre should be well washed in several successive
waters.
Whether simply soaked or boiled or treated with acid, the fibre is afterwards
treated in the same way and by the same machines as have been already described
where beating machines are used.
When treated with acid, the fibre may be bleached, by chlorine or bleaching
liquid, remaining for about 12 hours in a bath containing a solution of such
strength that the fibre floats, and stirring or agitating devices being preferably used.
On leaving the chlorine bath the fibre passes to a bath of 2 to 5 kilogrammes
of hydrochloric acid to 100 litres of water, where it remains for about one hour,
on leaving which it is thoroughly washed, care being taken that it is not exposed to
the air in passing from the acid bath to the washing vessels.
A similar bleaching may be effected by subjecting it to sulphurous acid in a closed
chamber, or other known, methods of bleaching may be used.
Figures 14 and 15 illustrate the improved machine, for washing and bleaching the
fibre. 1 is a tank or vessel of suitable size and material containing the liquid which
is to be used. 2 is a shaft passing through the tank 1 and revolving in bearings.
Upon this shaft turns a drum 6, of perforated metal or wire gauze in which the fibre
to be treated is placed through a suitable opening. This drum has an internal
toothed wheel at one end gearing with a toothed pinion 7 which is driven from the
main shaft 2 by the pulleys 3, 4, and belt 5. An internal cylinder or drum 8 of
perforated metal or wire gauze is also arranged in the drum 6 and the shaft 2

page_text: carries a sufficient number of agitating plates 3, by which the water or other quia is
kept agitated. 10 is a driving pulley by which the shaft 2 is made to revolve by
any convenient power. 11 is a pipe through which steam can be admitted into the
tank 1, and 12 are openings provided with doors by which the liquid and waste can
be drawn off from the tank. 13 is a cover fitting sufficiently tightly to prevent the
escape of steam. A sufficient number of metal or other arms are fixed inside the
outer drum 6 and serve to agitate and stir the fibre in the latter. Pipes are
arranged near the upper part of the chamber 1 for the supply of water or other
liquid.
After bleaching and washing, the fibre is in a state to be used in ordinary fibre
working machines.
By means of the novel processes and apparatus described, the fibre becomes fit to
be used for all the purposes for which other animal or vegetable fibres are ordinarily
used, and it can be worked in the ordinary spinning and other machinery used for
wool, cotton, flax, jute, or hemp.
In order to render effective for the purpose the carding machines by which the
fibre is carded previous to spinning, I adopt the following improved methods of
construction and arrangement. The first carding machine, is illustrated in figure 4,
in which A is the frame, B the principal carding cylinder, and C a doffing cylinder,
from which the film of carded fibre is removed in the usual way by the rapidly
oscillating doffing comb E. The roller D raises the fibre from the teeth of the
cylinder B, previous to its being taken off by the doffing cylinder C, and is provided
with a grating or wire gauze round its circumference at P', through which any dust
is carried by an exhausting fan which draws it through the passage P.
From the doffing comb E the film of fibre is directed by a guiding and supporting
plate under the revolving drum F between the latter and an endless band or apron G
which is carried by rollers H, H, which revolve freely in bearings. In this way the
film is prevented from breaking by its own weight until properly consolidated and
brought to the desired thickness.
I is a smaller roller revolving freely above the drum F upon which it rests by its
own weight.
A sufficient fixed quantity of the prepared fibre is fed automatically or otherwise.
to the carding machine, and when delivered to the cylinder F forms an endless
band of the desired thickness and weight round the latter, where it is consolidated
and pressed by the apron G and the roller I. It is then cut transversely across and
removed from the cylinder F, one or both of the rollers H being made moveable
to facilitate the removal, and it is then taken to the finishing card illustrated in
figures 5 and 6. In this machine there are two doffing cylinders K, K' which remove
the film from the principal carding cylinder J. The cylinders k, k¹, are provided
with doffing combs L, L', and each of the cylinders is provided with strips of card
teeth round its circumference, those upon one cylinder corresponding with the blank
spaces upon the other, as shewn in figure 6. The film is therefore removed in a series
of parallel strips, of which those from the upper cylinder & pass between the rubbing
rollers M, and those from the lower cylinder between the rubbing cylinders M¹.
The rollers M, M¹, not only revolve but one or both of each pair oscillates backward
and forward in the direction of their length, so that the strips of fibro are rolled
together into the form of loose ropes which pass through guides N, N' and thence to
the cylinders o, o', round which they are wound. The strips of fibre are conducted to
the rollers M, M¹, either upon guiding plates or through guiding tubes, as indicated in
figures 11 and 12.
The rollers M, M¹ are preferably covered with india rubber or gelatine, or in some
cases they may be covered in the ordinary way with leather.
In the carding engines shewn in figures 4 and 5, the feeding devices and the
supplementary rollers and cylinders are not shewn, as they may be of the ordinary
well known kinds used in carding Engines.
The loose cords or slivers of fibres are worked in spinning machinery of any suitable
kind, or are otherwise utilized as already described.
C

page_text: It should be pointed out that the pear more bein
when used in place of such ordinary fibres for spinning should only be submitted to
the action of steam, instead of to greasing by oleine as is ordinarily done but which
would render it too heavy and unmanageable and liable to injury.
If however oleine or other grease is used, its weight should not exceed fifteen
per cent. of that of the fibre which should be prepared with it twenty four hours in
advance.
°
In the method of treating the peat fibre and utilizing it for many purposes, some of
which have been pointed out, the processes described and the novel machinery and
apparatus used may be modified and varied more or less according to the character of
the peat to be treated and the particular purposes to which the fibre is to be applied.
I have already pointed out that attempts have been made to utilize the fibre of peat,
but such attempts have been unsuccessful from the unsuitability for the purpose, of
the ordinary machinery used in the preparation of wool and similar fibrous materials,
and I do not claim generally such use, but I claim in the treatment and manufacture
of peat fibre.
1. In the beating Engine, the combination of two or more sets of beating arms, at
the same or different levels.
2. The combination with the sets of beating arms, of one or more exhausting fans
or equivalent devices.
3. In combination with the sets of beating arms and the exhausting fans or
equivalent devices, the perforated plates, or wire or other gauze or net, between the
chambers in which the beating arms revolve and the passage to the exhausting fan or
equivalent device.
4. In combination with the sets of beating arms, the moveable perforated plates or
wire or other gauze or net, in the lower part of the chamber in which the beating
arms revolve.
5. The revolving arms and plates by which the peat fibre to be treated is fed into
the beating Engine.
6. The revolving arms and plates by which the peat fibre is delivered from the
Engine after having been treated.
7. The method of combining the revolving arms and plates by which the peat fibre
is fed into the beating Engine with the revolving arms and plates by which it is
delivered from the Engine.
8. The process of treating the peat fibre with alkaline or caustic salts, substantially
as and for the purpose described.
9. The apparatus for so treating and for washing the peat fibre, consisting of an
external drum of perforated plate or wire gauze provided with internal projecting
arms, and revolving in a tank or vessel, in combination with internal arms or
plates revolving independently and separated from the outer drum by an inner
cylinder of perforated plate or wire gauze, and with suitable openings for the
admission and discharge of the water or solutions used, and of steam.
10. The process of bleaching the peat fibre in the apparatus described in claim 9,
by means of chloride of lime or other bleaching agent.
11. In the breaking machine the combination of the rollers by which the peat fibre
is fed to the machine, with the knife shaped plate over the edge of which the fibres are
drawn by the revolving toothed cylinder.
12. In the breaking machine, the combination with the revolving toothed cylinder,
of perforated plate or wire gauze below the cylinder, the passages from a blowing fan
or equivalent device for delivering the cleaned fibre, and the perforated plate or wire
gauze above the cylinder communicating with an exhausting fan or equivalent device
above the cylinder.
13. In the machine for finishing and classifying the peat fibre, the combination with
the revolving drum or cylinder having radial or saw shaped teeth and rollers for
feeding in the fibre, of the dividing plates, the fan t¹ delivering a current of air at the
back of the machine through the passage t below the machine or through the dividing

page_text: plates, the revolving beaters or plates y the chamber u divided by plates and having
a manhole e, and the exhausting fan or equivalent device wo, all arranged and operating
substantially as described and illustrated in figures 8 and 10.
14. In the improved carding Engine for carding the peat fibre prepared as described,
the metal plate supporting the film of fibre as it is delivered by the doffing comb aud
conducting it to the compressing cylinder.
15. In combination with the revolving compressing cylinder F, the rising and
falling roller 1, the endless band or apron G and the adjustable rollers H, arranged
and operating substantially in the manner and for the purpose described and illustrated
in figure 4.
16. In combination with the drum B of the carding Engine, the revolving cleaning
cylinder D, the grating or wire gauze P' and the channel P communicating with au
exhausting fan or equivalent device, substantially as described and illustrated in
figure 4.
17. In the finishing carding Engine illustrated in figures 5 and 6, the combination
with the card cylinder J of the two doffing cylinders K, K', doffing combs L, L',
compressing and rubbing rollers M, M', guides N, N', and winding cylinders 0, 0¹.
18. In the finishing carding Engine, the guiding plate S, or tube S¹ for conducting
the carded fibre to the rollers M, M', as illustrated in figures 11 and 12.
19. In the finishing carding Engine the combination of the card cylinder J, with
the two doffing cylinders K, K¹, having alternate strips of carding teeth round their
circumference, the doffing combs or strips L, L, and the sets of rollers M, M' of
india rubber or gelatine, one or both rollers in each set moving backward and
forward longitudinally whilst it revolves, substantially as for the purpose described
and illustrated in figures 5 and 6.
Dated thi 1411 1
1. 1900
EDWARDS & Co.,
35, Southampton Buildings, London,
Agents for the Patentee.