IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF. PEAT COAL OR FUEL
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jonathan Wright Horsfall, of 40, Longwood Avenue,
Dublin, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF.
PEAT COAL OR FUEL."
Sealed the 18th November 1864, and dated the 11th July 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jonathan Wright Hors-
fall at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,.
on the 11th July 1864.
I, JONATHAN WRIGHT HORSFALL, of 40, Longwood Avenue, Dublin, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PEAT COAL OR FUEL," to be as follows:-
I take peat wet or dry and immerse it in gas tar, or American oil or
petroleum, or any bituminous matter, put in a proper vessel or still, and apply
heat by fire or steam of low temperature, and then superheated steam, until
the whole of the volatile matter is distilled off, & when no volatile matter
remains the operation is complete. The volatile matter is received into a
condenser, and is useful for many purposes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jonathan Wright Horsfall in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JONATHAN
WRIGHT HORSFALL, of 40, Longwood Avenue, Dublin, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Jonathan Wright Horsfall, Her special licence that I, the said Jonathan
Wright Horsfall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Jonathan Wright Horsfall, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PEAT COAL OR FUEL," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Jonathan Wright Horsfall, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jonathan Wright Horsfall, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, 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:
My said Invention consists of certain improvements in the treatment of
peat, whereby a valuable artificial fuel is economically obtained, as well as a
number of residual products resulting from the processes of treatment which
are adopted, such residual products in their crude state being capable of a
variety of useful applications, and especially to the preparation of the peat
for distillation in connection with this Invention, as herein-after mentioned.
In order to prepare the fuel which is the subject of my said Invention, I
use the turf as ordinarily sold, and which, as is well known, consists of peat
cut out of the bog in sods and dried in the sun and air, a considerable pro-
portion of moisture remaining however therein when in the state in which

page_text: the article is usually sold. I take the peat or sods in their usual marketable
state, or, if desired, after they have been still further dried, and immerse them
gradually in a cistern or reservoir about half full of gas tar, American rock
oil, petroleum, or any other analogous bituminous matter, the same having
been previously raised to a temperature of about 150° Fahrenheit. When
the peat or turf has become saturated, or nearly saturated with the tar or
other bituminous matter employed, it may be removed from the cistern or
reservoir, and, having been allowed to drain, is transferred to a boiler or
still, in which it is heated, first by fire cautiously applied under the boiler or
still, then by steam of low temperature, and lastly by superheated steam; or
these agents may be employed in any other sequence or succession or in
any combination, or singly and alone, the volatile products arising from the
process being carried by means of suitable tubes into condensing chambers or
receivers. The steam is of course supplied by an adjacent boiler, and passes
into the boiler or still under the peat or turf, a mode of applying steam which
is well known to persons acquainted with such matters. The continued appli-
cation of fire alone must be avoided, as the products of the distillation would
be charred or injured thereby. At the end of this operation there will be but
little left in the peat or turf besides the pitch resulting from the gas tar or
other bituminous matter employed, and if the process has been carried on
with caution no disagreeable effluvia will arise in the combustion of the sub-
stance left in the boiler or still, and which is the peat coal forming the subject
of my Invention. Instead of immersing the peat or turf in the gas tar or
other bituminous matter previous to distillation as before described, the whole
of the materials may be placed in the boiler or still, the several degrees of
heat applied as before mentioned until the peat is impregnated with the
bituminous matter (when the temperature should be raised), and the resulting
products distilled off. In this mode of procedure, however, the ebullition
produced is very troublesome, and very little time is saved. I therefore
prefer the first mentioned method of immersion. The volatile products of the
process of distillation are carried over, as before mentioned, into a con-
denser or receiver, and consist principally of crude naphtha and other crude
products of the hydrocarbon class, which may be applied to any of the pur-
poses for which such articles are required, but especially to provide the bitu-
minous bath for the treatment of the peat or turf as before described, by
means of gas tar pitch mixed with or dissolved by heat in such crude products
resulting from the process of distillation as before mentioned. This mode of
operation is found very advantageous and economical. If it be desired to
produce a highly carbonaceous fuel; uumixed with bituminous matter, the

page_text: heat of the fire in the first heating process should be raised, and superheated
steam applied at the same time, or superheated steam may be employed in
the first instance, and fire heat applied afterwards, the operation being con-
tinued until the whole of the hydrocarbon vapours or gases contained in or
combined with the peat or turf and bituminous matter are driven off by the
increased heat, a nearly pure carbonaceous fuel being left in the boiler or still.
For the purposes of commerce, the peat coal produced, as herein-before men-
tioned, may, if desired, be formed into blocks of any desired shape or size,
and submitted to the requisite degree of pressure by means of any of the
known machinery applicable to the purpose.
It is unnecessary for me to describe with particularity or minuteness either
the apparatus used for the distillation of the peat and condensation of the
resulting products, or the apparatus employed for obtaining and applying the
superheated steam, inasmuch as there is nothing special therein, and the
nature and construction of such apparatus are well understood by persons
conversant with mechanical arrangements and analogous operations.
Having thus fully declared and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,.
and also the manner in which it is to be performed, I would observe in
conclusion that I do not confine or restrict myself to the precise details herein-
before described and set forth, as variations may be made therefrom without
departing from the principles or main features of my said Invention, and that
what I consider novel and original, and therefore claim as constituting my said
Invention is, the manufacture of peat coal or fuel by the process of distilla-
tion, as herein-before substantially set forth and described, or any mere
modifications thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jonathan Wright Horsfall, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
JONATHAN WRIGHT HORSFALL. (L.S.)