AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING, DRYING, AND PREPARING PEAT TO BE USED AS FUEL, OR FOR OTHER PURPOSES FOR WHICH IT MAY BE USEFULLY EMPLOYED
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Clarke, of Norland Square, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF
AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING, DRYING, AND PREPARING PEAT TO BE USED AS
FUEL, OR FOR OTHER PURPOSES FOR WHICH IT MAY BE USEFULLY EMPLOYED."
Sealed the Sth September 1859, and dated the 11th March 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Clarke at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th March 1859.
I, FREDERICK CLARKE, of Norland Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING, DRYING, AND PREPARING PEAT
TO BE USED AS FUEL, OR FOR OTHER PURPOSES FOR WHICH IT MAY BE USEFULLY
EMPLOYED," to be as follows:-
My Invention of an improved mode of and apparatus for cutting, drying,
and preparing peat relates, in the first place, to a novel mode of cutting and
removing the peat from its native bog. Peat is usually dug.by a hand with a
slane or spade peculiarly adapted for the work, and the pieces or slices so cut

page_text: are usually placed by hand upon barrows or carriages of some kind, and con-
veyed away to be stacked and dried.
The digging of peat in this manner is of course a laborious and tedious opera-
tion, and the object of the first part of my Invention is to cut or detach the
peat from the bog with greater facility and less labor than heretofore. This I
effect by cutting large slices of about 3 feet wide, 12 inches thick, and from
15 to 20 feet long, by means of an apparatus which consists of a cutting tool
of suitable form and provided with a long handle or shaft. This cutting tool
is mounted in a frame, which is capable of being moved on the surface of the
bog as successive slices are cutaway, so as to present a fresh working surface
to the cutting tool, which is worked vertically, and by toothed or other suitable
gearing is forced down into the bog in such a manner as to cut away or detach
slices or pieces of the dimensions above mentioned. For the convenience of
working, three or more of the cutting apparatus may be used in combination,
but so arranged on the surface as to be working one in advance of the other.
A slice having been cut by forcing the cutter vertically, or nearly so, down into
the peat to the required depth, I adapt to the exposed face and side of the
slice a frame or trough made of boards, and by thrusting down a wedge or
.other suitable instrument, the former will be detached from the latter, and
may be lowered down by suitable gearing into a horizontal position and placed
on a carriage, whereby it will be conveyed away to be dried; previous to which
process, however, the slices or slabs of peat must be submitted to pressure in
order to condense them and express a portion of the water contained therein.
The slabs of peat are then put upon a travelling table or web made of metal,
and are passed into or slowly through long narrow drying chambers con-
structed of brick, stone, iron, or other suitable material. Four, five, or
more of these long narrow drying chambers are to be combined together, one
above the other in one structure, and heated by causing the flame or heated
gases from a furnace to pass through flues arranged under the floors of the
chambers, which are made hollow for the purpose. The slab of peat having
been placed on the metallic web of the first or topmost chamber, is slowly
-carried through the same, after which it is transferred to the metallic web of
the chamber immediately below, when it will be passed back in the opposite
direction through the second chamber, and so on until it issues from the last
or lowermost chamber, when it may be again submitted to pressure and cut
up into blocks of convenient size. It should be observed that provision should
be made for the escape of steam from the drying chambers into flues provided
for the purpose.

page_text: If it be desired to carbonize the peat or convert it into charcoal, the peat,
either in slices or in the form of blocks, is to be conveyed by means of metallic.
webs through hot chambers, somewhat similar to those used for drying the
peat, with the exception that flues are made at the sides of the chambers as
well as under the floors, so as to obtain a high degree of heat, and the
ends of the chambers are closed, so as to exclude as much as possible the
external air. The carbonized peat thus produced may be used as a deodorizer,
or for various agricultural or domestic purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Clarkė in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th September, 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL. COME, I, FREDERICK.
CLARKE, of Norland Square, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto.
me, the said Frederick Clarke, Her special license that I, the said Frederick
Clarke, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the.
said Frederick Clarke, my executors, administrators, or 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 "AN.
IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING, DRYING, AND PREPARING PEAT
TO BE USED AS FUEL, OR FOR OTHER PURPOSES FOR WHICH IT MAY BE USEFULLY
EMPLOYED," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederick
Clarke, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Clarke, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, 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 an improved mode of and apparatus forcutting,drying, and
preparing peat relates, in the first place, to a novel mode of cutting and
removing the peat from its native bog. Peat is usually dug by hand with a
slane or spade peculiarly adapted for the work, and the pieces or slices so cut
are usually placed by hand upon barrows or carriages of some kind, and con-
veyed away to be sfacked and dried.
.....
The digging of peat in this manner is of course a laborious and tedious
operation, and the object of the first part of my Invention is to cut or detach
the peat from the bog with greater facility and less labour than heretofore.
This I effect by cutting large slices of about three feet wide, from twelve to
eighteen inches thick, and from fifteen to twenty feet long, by means of an
apparatus which consists of a cutting tool of suitable form and provided with
a long handle or shaft. This cutting tool is mounted in a frame, which is
capable of being moved on the surface of the bog as successive slices are cut
away, so as to present a fresh working surface to the cutting tool, which is
worked vertically, and by toothed or other suitable gearing is forced down into
the bog.in such a manner as to cut away or detach slices or pieces of about
the dimensions above mentioned. For the convenience of working, three or
more of the cutting apparatus may be used in combination by mounting them
on a common frame, but these separate apparatus are so arranged on the
surface as to work one in advance of the other.
In Sheet I, of the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a plan view of one of
my improved cutting apparatus; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same; and
Fig. 3 is a back view or elevation. a, a, a, is a strong wooden or other
frame, which is placed upon the surface of the ground to support the cutting
apparatus. This frame may, if required, he mounted on wheels or rollers, as
at b, b, Fig. 2, for the convenience of moving it on the ground from time to
time as the work proceeds. It will be seen on referring to the plan view, that
the frame a, a, is constructed to receive three separate cutting apparatus, but
as these apparatus will be exactly similar in construction, I have, in order to
avoid complexity in the Drawing, only shewn one apparatus. In Fig. 1, c, c
is the frame of the cutting apparatus, which rests on the longitudinal ways of
the frame a, a, and is capable of being slidden thereon when required; d,d,are

page_text: uprights, which carry guides e, e, whereby the shaft fof the cutting tool or
slane is maintained in a vertical position. The slane or cutting tool g is
made the width of the entire cutting apparatus, but is about three feet, and
is provided with a return cutting edge g*, which, by cutting at right angles to
the slane g, will cut and separate a slice from the bank. Both sides of the
shaft f of the cutting tool are provided with teeth, into which gear the pinions
h, h, which receive their motion from any suitable and convenient motive:
power placed behind. The back ends of the shafts of these pinions carry
other pinions or wheels, whereby motion from the prime mover is transmitted
to them. In commencing work with my improved apparatus, it will be found
convenient in the first instance to dig a hole or trench of the required depth of
cut, and 'then bring the machine forward to this place, so that the cutting
apparatus may be brought over the part to be cut away. It will be seen on
referring to Fig. 2,that the frame c, c, of the cutting apparatus is capable of
being projected beyond the fixed frame a, a, so as to leave a portion of the
surface for the cutting apparatus to work upon. As the successive slices are
cut away from the face of the bank, the frame c, c, of the cutting apparatus is
drawn back to present a fresh place to the edge of the cutting tool; the frame
will in this manner be drawn back until the cutting tool g nearly reaches the
forward edge of the fixed framing, when the latter must be shifted back a
proper distance to admit of the cutting tool making another series of cuts..
It will now be understood that a slice will be cut by forcing the cutter verti-
cally, or nearly so,down into the peat to the required depth. This having
been done, the slice may be detached from the cutting tool, as shewn, in the
Drawing, for the convenience of the after processes of drying and stoving. I
adapt to the exposed face and side of the slice a frame or trough made of
boards,and by thrusting down a wedge or other suitable instrumentbetween the.
slice and the cutting instrument, the former will be detached from the latter,
and may be lowered down by suitable gearing into a horizontal position and,
placed on a carriage, whereby it will be conveyed away to be dried; previous to
which process, however, the slices or slabs of peat must be submitted to
pressure, in order to condense them and express a portion of the water con-
tained therein. The next part of the Invention relates to an improved mode,
of and apparatus for drying the peat. The slabs of peat having been properly
pressed and solidified, are put upon a travelling web made of metal, and.are
passed into or slowly through long narrow drying chambers constructed.of.
brick, stone, iron,or other suitable material. Four, five, or more of these long
narrow drying chambers.are to be combined together,one above. the other in

page_text: one structure, and heated by causing the flame or heated gases from a furnace
to pass through flues arranged under the floors of the chambers, which are
made hollow for the purpose. The mode of constructing and arranging the
drying apparatus will be best understood by referring to Sheet II. of the
Drawings, in which Fig. 4 represents a longitudinal vertical section, and
Fig. 5 a transverse vertical section of my improved drying appartus. i, i, i, i,
are the drying chambers, beneath which are constructed the flues jjjj; the
drying chambers are heated by causing the heated gases from the furnace k
to circulate in a serpentine direction through the flues j. j,as indicated by the
arrows; the drying chambers are provided with travelling endless metallic
webs or sheets 1, 2, which pass round the rollers m, m, at each end of the
drying chambers, a slow progressive motion being communicated to the
travelling endless web by causing the rollers m,m, to rotate slowly. The slab
of peat is delivered to the topmost drying chamber by a travelling belt n,
which transfers the slab to the metallic belt of the drying chamber, as seen
in Fig. 4. The slab of peat having been thus transferred to the metallic web
of the first or topmost chamber, is slowly carried through the same,and when
it reaches the end of this chamber,it is guided downwards by the small rollers
0,0,and is thereby transferred to the metallic web of the chamber immediately
below, when it will be passed back in the opposite direction through thesecond
chamber, to be again transferred by another set of guide rollers o, o, to a third
chamber, and so on until it issues from the last or lowermost chamber, when
it may be again submitted to pressure and cut up into blocks of convenient
size. It should be observed that provision should be made for the escape of
steam from the drying chambers into flues provided for the purpose.
If it be desired to carbonize the peat or convert it into charcoal, the peat,
either in slices or in the form of blocks, is to be conveyed by means of metallic
webs through hot chambers somewhat similar to those used for drying the
peat, with the exception that flues are made at the sides of the chambers as
well as under the floors,so as to obtain a high degree of heat, and the ends of
the chambers are closed,so as to exclude as much as possible the external air.
The carbonized peat thus produced may be used as a deodorizer, or for
various agricultural or domestic purposes.
Having now described my Invention of an improved mode of and apparatus
for cutting and preparing peat, and having explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I would observe that I do not mean or intend to confine
myself rigidly to the precise arrangement or construction of parts herein shewn
and described, as they may, perhaps, be varied without departing from the
nature and object of my Invention.

page_text: In conclusion, I claim the inode and apparatus herein described of cutting
slabs of peat,and also the drying and preparing of peat, by causing the slabs
to travel in continuous succession through a series of drying or heating
chambers as above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Clarke, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
0
Witness,
T. NOLAN,
66, Chancery Lane.
FRED. CLARKE. (L.S.)