IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING PEAT FOR FUEL
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jasper Wheeler Rogers, of Peat House, Roberts
Town, in the County of Kildare, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING PEAT FOR
FUEL."
Sealed the 9th April 1861, and dated the 12th October 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jasper Wheeler Rogers
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 12th October 1860.
I, JASPER WHEELER ROGERS, of Peat House, Roberts Town, in the County
of Kildare, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING PEAT FOR
FUEL," to be as follows:-
My Invention of improvements in the mode of and apparatus for preparing
peat for fuel, relates in the first place to the draining of the moss so as to pre-
pare it to be cut into blocks for fuel, the object being to allow the peat to
solidify to a certain extent in situ. To this end the tract of peat or bog land
intended to be operated upon must first be drained, somewhat on the principle
of the system described in the Specification of my Patent dated 1st June 1848
(No. 12,169) with the addition, that the whole space it is proposed to operate
upon at one time must be isolated and cut off from all other parts of the bog

page_text: 50 that no moisture from the surrounding peat can reach that part of the area
that is intended to be drained. After the area intended to be operated upon
in the first instance has been isolated from the rest of the bog by cutting
a deep trench or drain all round, the branch drains are cut in terraces or steps
descending from the surface to one or two feet below the surface of the substra-
tum or solid ground at the bottom of the mass.
The drains are arranged at
such distances from each other as the nature and depths of the bog may
require.
Ir cutting the drains care must be taken to begin with sufficient width at
top to admit of narrowing the drain by steps or terraces as the depth of the
drain increases. By this means the atmospheric pressure will act upon the
whole horizontal surface, and free egress being provided for the escape of
water which trickles down the steps or terraces throughout the whole, it is carried
away by the main drain or outfall. The escape of the water from the upper
part allows this latter to consolidate. The drain may then be deepened by
cutting out another step and allowing more water to run away. Thus the
mass will in time become firmly compressed, and will if permitted by time
expel the whole moisture and become as hard as coal.
To avoid delay, however, when the pressure has arrived at that point that
the fibres or particles of the peat are sufficiently condensed the peat is cut out
in sods of about twelve inches by three inches square, by means of a peculiarly
shaped spade or implement with wings which forms the sod into the size
required. Or the peat is cut out in sods irrespective of size and moulded to
uniform blocks in any suitable moulding machine constructed after the manner
of brick-making machinery. These sods are next arranged by children on
wicker trays or frames of any convenient size and are carried to a frame
prepared to receive them by sliding the loaded trays in like the action of a
drawer. These frames form part of a rotatory drying machine having a
circular frame in which they are suspended. This circular frame rotates in a
vertical plane, or it may rotate in a horizontal plane, in which case the frames
carrying the trays will be supported by vertical trunnions having their bearings
in the circular frame. On motion being communicated to the machine the
circular frame will rotate and carry the sods contained in the suspended frames
rapidly through the air. When the circular frame rotates in a horizontal
plane a tendency will be given to the sod frames to turn on their trunnions
in an opposite direction to that of the circular frame, thus increasing the
action of the atmosphere upon the sods from which the moisture will be
quickly driven out. To facilitate the drying, space is left between each tray
and sod for the air to circulate, thus the effect of a cold blast will be secured

page_text: which has been found to contract and draw together the fibres, whilst the
action of heat has a tendency to expand or open them.
In this manner the sods may be dried and made as hard as coal or hard
wood in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours. The peat having been dried
and hardened by the above described operation each sod is to be cut into cakes
or blocks of uniforın size or nearly so by means of a simple arrangement of
circular saws of twelve inches diameter mounted on a horizontal shaft. The
sods are conducted to the blades by an inclined plane and fall from thence as
they are cut on to a travelling band. They are by this means carried off to be
piled when they are fit for use. The sawdust produced by the cutting opera-
tion will be found to be a most valuable manure. Thus the whole operation
is productive of profit, the cutting of the drains being without cost, as the peat
taken out may be converted into peat charcoal for sanitary and agricultural
uses, and when the bog is sufficiently drained, the whole operation of cutting
and drying it for market may be accomplished within a fortnight or less if
necessary, whilst the removal of the peat and drainage makes the land
valuable for cultivation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Jasper Wheeler Rogers, in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th April 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JASPER
WHEELER ROGERS, of Peat House, Roberts Town, in the County of Kildare,
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Jasper Wheeler Rogers, Her special license that I, the said Jasper
Wheeler Rogers, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Jasper Wheeler Rogers, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING
PEAT FOR FUEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Jasper

page_text: Wheeler Rogers, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Jasper Wheeler Rogers, 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 reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :—
My Invention of "Improvements in the Mode of and Apparatus for Pre-
paring Peat for Fuel," relates in the first place to the draining of the moss so
as to prepare it to be cut into blocks for fuel, the object being to allow the peat
to solidify to a certain extent in situ.
My Invention relates, secondly, to improved apparatus for drying peat.
The tract of peat or bog land intended to be operated upon, must first be
drained somewhat on the principle of the system described in the Specification
of my Patent dated First June, One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight,
(No. 12,169), with the addition that the whole space it is proposed to operate
upon at one time, must be isolated and cut off from all other parts of the bog,
so that no water from the surrounding peat can reach that part of the area
that is intended to be drained. After the area intended to be operated upon,
in the first instance, has been isolated from the rest of the bog by cutting a
deep trench or drain all round, the branch drains are cut in terraces or steps
descending from the surface to one or two feet below the surface of the
substratum or solid ground at the bottom of the moss.
The trenches or drains are by preference cut in parallel lines, some extending
longitudinally and others transversely across the moss, so as to subdivide the
isolated area into squares or oblongs of convenient size. These drains are
arranged at such distances from each other as the nature and depth of the
bog may require. In cutting the drains care must be taken to begin with
sufficient width at top to admit of narrowing the trenches by steps or terraces
as the depth of the drain increases. By this means the atmospheric pressure
and the superincumbent weight of the whole horizontal surface will act upon
the mass above the level of the trenches, and will squeeze out the water, and
free egress being provided for the escape of this water, it will trickle down
the steps or terraces, and run into the main drain or outfall.
In the accompanying Drawing, I have shewn a diagram of the plan I
propose to adopt in carrying out my method of draining peat mosses or bogs.

page_text: Fig. 1 represents the section of a moss. a, a, are trenches cut, say,
two feet deep, and twenty, thirty, or forty feet wide according to the
depth of the bog. A narrow ditch b, about four or five feet deep is cut
along the middle of the trench a to receive the water that oozes out from the
untouched part c of the moss, and runs into the trench a, from whence it falls
into the central ditch b. The surface of the trench a having an inclination
towards the ditch so as to facilitate the escape of the water. The centre
ditch must of course have an outfall at one or both ends, and when water
ceases to run freely from the surface c into the trenches, another trench d
about two feet deep must be dug in the trench a, and the central ditch 6 must
be carried deeper as at Fig. 2. This operation of cutting trenches one after
the other in steps, may be carried on as shewn in Fig. 3 at a, d, e, f, the
central ditch b always being carried four or five feet below the surface of the
lowest trench. By adopting this mode of trenching the surface in steps or
terraces, the surface of the mass will be deprived of its water, and will
gradually sink and become solidified, and in time will be compressed and
become nearly as hard as coal. When the trenching process has been carried
down sufficiently deep to perfectly drain the upper part c, the latter may be
cut away, and all the trenches widened as indicated by dots in Fig. 3, and this
process may be repeated until all the peat is removed from the moss.
To avoid the delay required for the natural consolidation of the moss as
above mentioned, I propose (when the pressure has arrived at that point that
the fibres or particles of the peat are sufficiently condensed), to cut the surface
peat out in sods of about twelve inches by three inches square, by means of a
long spade or implement provided with side cutting edges or wings, which
will form the sod into the size required. Or, the peat may be cut out in
sods irrespective of size, and moulded to uniform blocks in any suitable
moulding machine constructed in the manner of brick-making machinery.
The sods are next arranged by children on wicker trays or frames of any
convenient size, and are carried to a frame prepared to receive them by sliding
the loaded trays in like the action of a drawer. These frames form part of a
rotatory drying machine having a circular motion, and in which they are
suspended. This circular frame rotates in a vertical plane, or it may rotate
in a horizontal plane, in which case the frames carrying the trays will be
supported by vertical trunnions having their bearings in the circular frame.
Fig. 4 in the Drawings represents in side elevation one arrangement of my
improved machine for drying peat. g, g, is the fixed framework of the
machine, which is firmly secured upon strong sleepers h, h, so as to keep it
steady. A strong circular iron framing i, i, is mounted on a shaft j, which

page_text: turns in the bearings fixed on the framework of the machine. Any convenient
number of openwork frames k, k, made of iron, and shewn detached in front
and end elevation at Figures 5 and 6, are mounted on trunnions or pins fixed
to the framing i, i, so that, they may always bang in a vertical position as
shewn in the Drawing. The wicker, trays containing the sods or bricks of
peat are placed in these frames & as before mentioned, and rotatory motion is
communicated to the frame i, i, by means of the gearing 1, l, which is driven
by steam, wind, water, or other power. On the machine being set in motion,
the circular frame will rotate and carry the sods contained in the suspended
frames rapidly through the air, by which means they will be quickly
dried and hardened. When the circular frame i, i, is made to rotate in a
horizontal plane, a tendency will be given to the sod frames to turn on their
trunnions in an opposite direction to that of the circular frame, thus increasing
the action of the atmosphere upon the sods, from which the moisture will be
quickly driven out.. In order to enable the frames k, k, to take this rotary
motion, these frames are mounted on vertical axes, and in order to facilitate
the drying operation space is left between each tray, and between each sod so as
to allow the air to circulate. By this means the effect of a cold blast will be
secured, which has been found to contract and draw together the fibres, whilst
the action of heat has a tendency to expand or open them.
In this manner the sods may be dried and made as hard as coal or hard
wood in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours.
The peat having been dried and hardened by the above-described operation,
each sod is to be cut into cakes or blocks of uniform size or nearly so, by
means of a simple arrangement of circular saws of twelve inches diameter,
mounted on a horizontal shaft. The sods are conducted to the blades by an
inclined plane, and fall from thence as they are cut on to a travelling band.
They are by this means carried off to be piled when they are fit for use. The
sawdust produced by the cutting operation will be found to be a most valuable
manure. Thus, the whole operation is productive of profit, the cutting of
the drains being without cost, as the peat taken out may be converted into
peat charcoal for sanitary and agricultural purposes, and when the bog is
sufficiently drained, the whole operation of cutting and drying for market may
be accomplished within a fortnight or less if necessary, whilst the removal of
the peat, and the drainage makes the land valuable for cultivation.
It will be obvious that the above mode of and apparatus for drying or
hardening peat may be advantageously applied for drying peat cut in the
ordinary way. I do not therefore mean to limit myself to using this mode of
drying, peat in combination with my improved mode of draining mosses, and

page_text: cutting the peat therefrom. I would also observe that my improved mode of
draining mosses and cutting the peat therefrom may be also used alone when
time is not an object, and even when peat is to be air-dried in the ordinary
way, it will be found more convenient to cut it in the way above mentioned
than in the ordinary manner.
Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in the Mode of and
Apparatus for Preparing Peat for Fuel," and having explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by
Letters Patent as aforesaid, the mode herein set forth of draining peat mosses
or bogs, so as to enable the peat to consolidate to a certain extent in situ.
I also claim the mode and apparatus herein set forth for drying or
hardening peat when cut from bog.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jasper Wheeler Rogers, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Ninth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.