IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING PEAT, AND IN MANUFACTURING FUEL AND OTHER PRODUCTS THEREFROM
Year: 1852

page_text: Sealed the 23d March 1853, and dated the 1st October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION, left by the said Thomas Dickason
Rotch at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
petition, on the 1st October 1852.
I, Thomas Dickason Rotch, of Furnival's Inn, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING PEAT, AND IN MANUFACTURING FUEL AND
OTHER PRODUCTS THEREFROM," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of dissolving peat in a bath prepared, consisting
of water charged with fuller's earth or alkali, or similar acting chemicals,
by which all the decomposed portion separates from the fibres, or may
be separated therefrom by seives. The decomposed parts are received
into moulds, and when dry are suitable for fuel and other purposes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Thomas Dickason Rotch, in the Great Seal
Patent Office, on the 1st April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
THOMAS DICKASON ROTCH, of Furnival's Inn, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of October in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth year
of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Thomas Dickason Rotch, Her special licence that I,
the said Thomas Dickason Rotch, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Dickason Rotch,
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 TREATING PEAT, AND IN MANUFACTURING FUEL AND
OTHER PRODUCTS THEREFROM," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Thomas Dickason Rotch, 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 Thomas Dickason Rotch, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
My Invention consists in procuring fresh peat, and separating or
tearing it apart, whilst immersed in a bath of water and other matters
herein-after described, in such manier as to separate the roots and fibrous
portions of the peat from the other portions, which form a sediment, to

page_text: which I have given the name of "peat paste," and which I collect,
mould, dry, and, in certain cases, carbonise, and thus obtain a highly
condensed, hard, and inflammable substance, adapted for fuel and other
purposes.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, represents one form of apparatus (there are many which
would accomplish the same object), which I consider particularly simple
and efficient for preparing the peat to form the paste before named. A,
is a wooden case or vat, rounded at the four corners, and in which are
placed a series of four vertical shafts b, b, b, b, driven by the horizontal
shaft and spur gear B', and carrying fans or arms c, c, c, c, working be-
tween other arms p, p, p, p, fixed to the side of the case or vat, in the
nature of an ordinary pug mill. This vat being half filled with water,
and fresh peat being introduced by means of the hopper B, the vertical
shafts b, b, b, b, are put in motion, and the process of separation effected.
The wooden vat has a false bottom R, of wire gauze of medium fineness,
from one end of which the pipe E, furnished with a sluice S, leads into
the wire gauze cylinder D, which is placed at an inclination immediately
below it, and when the peat has been well broken up, the sluice S, may
be opened, and the charge allowed to run into the cylinder D, through
which the shaft D', runs, carrying the brushes d, d, d, d, placed at an angle
as here shown, in order to brush out through the spout p', the fibrous
and other matter which was unable to pass through the wire gauze
cylinder D. Æ, is a spout to carry away the water from the vat from
time to time. As the shaft D', revolves, the residuum, which I shall hence-
forth call "the paste," falls into the tank Q, below, where it is collected
and removed to the moulding machine. If, however, when removed,
the paste should be in too liquid a state to be conveniently moulded, it
must be pressed between two cloths passed through squeezing rollers, or
s shown at Figure 6, which is a simple perforated
wooden tank, lined with wire gauze, in which the wet paste is acted upon
by a piston from above. In Figure 1, the action of the machine, it will
be seen, is derived from a strap passing over the pullies, a and P, which
strap may, of course, be driven by any adequate power.
it
may
be put
in a
press
With reference to the other matters used in the water bath alluded to in

page_text: the beginning of this specification, it will be proper here to state, that if
the peat is of a dry character, I add a small quantity of marl, clay, or
fuller's earth to the water in the bath, according to the quality of the
peat, rich or fatty peat requiring less than the dry sorts. I have also
used various other substances, such as gums, glutens, and the like, to
mix in the water constituting the bath.
I will now proceed to describe the moulding apparatus, which is repre-
sented by Figure 3. A, is the framework of the machine, carrying tho
strong cross bar B, B, which supports the round metal disc or table C,
having a shallow border or rim all round it; an octangular metal frame
D, supported on the friction rollers c, and revolves upon this disc. This
octangular frame is keyed on to the vertical shaft E, by means of the arms
F, and driven round by the pullies g, g. In each octagon of the frame, D,
is placed a half mould I, having a piston J, fitted to act in it, containing
the other half of the mould, and the two parts are brought together
when required by the action of the fixed eccentric cam O, with which
it comes in contact by the revolving of the octangular frame, so that
when the paste to be moulded is introduced by the hopper U, into the
mould, the piston J, acted upon by the cam O, gives it the necessary
pressure as it passes round, and as the octagon frame continues its
revolution, and the piston is released from the cam, the spring u,
withdraws the piston, and, the piece of paste P, which has thus been
moulded, falls through the opening M, into the trough N. There is no
doubt this would be a very rapid mode of moulding the paste; but
it ought also to be stated that other and known modes of moulding may
be applied to this paste.
The paste having been moulded, may further be subjected to the
process which I call carbonisation, when it is required to be used in a
particularly pure state, for which purpose I employ the furnace shown
at Figure 5, which represents an iron vessel Y, with a cupola top intro-
duced into a furnace a, a; into this iron vessel is introduced the pieces of
moulded paste, a layer of sand having first been spread over the bottom
of the vessel to prevent their coming in immediate contact with it. The
fire being lighted, the operation should be continued for about two hours,
when the absence of smoke will indicate that it is completed.

page_text: The top of the cupola is furnished with a valvez, which can be opened or
shut at pleasure, and there are two pipes b,b, from which elastic tubes may
be brought, to convey the escaping gases into the furnace, entering from
below and helping the combustion. If the iron vessel be made with a
double bottom or a jacket, the sand may be dispensed with.
Having now described the nature of tho said Invention, and the man-
ner in which the same is to be performed, I hereby declare, that I do
not claim as the said Invention the particular machinery, or any part
thereof, herein-before described, as used to carry the same into operation;
but what I do claim is simply,-
First, the beating to pieces or separating of the various particles of
matter contained in what is ordinarily called peat in a menstruum of water,
or other suitable fluid, so that I am enabled to remove the rooty and
coarse fibrous matter therefrom; and,
Secondly, I claim the sediment obtained thereby, which may be col-
lected, dried into a paste, pressed into moulds, and finally made into a
highly condensed, hard, and inflammable substance, adapted for fuel and
other purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Dickason Rotch, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this First day of April in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and fifty-three.
THO D. ROTCH. (L.S.)
Witness, FRED HARRIS.