Im- PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR EXCAVATING AND PREPARING PEAT."
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Ludewig Hahn Danchell, of Horwich
in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of “Im-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR EXCAVATING AND PREPARING PEAT."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Ludewig
Hahn Danchell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 14th December 1870.
I, FREDERICK LUDEWIG HAHN DANCHELL, of Horwich, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR EXCAVATING AND PREPARING
PEAT," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in certain improved machinery for excavating
and collecting the peat from the bog, and for preparing the peat
so that it may be converted into charcoal, in the manner described in
the Provisional Specification of a Patent applied for by me on the 14th
day of October 1870, No. 2714, or for various other purposes.
My improved machinery for excavating peat is somewhat similar to
the dredging machines now employed for deepening rivers and ports,

page_text: and it consists of a flat-bottomed barge; this barge contains a steam
or other motive power engine for working an endless chain of buckets;
these buckets pass around two polygonal drums, the upper one of which
is driven by worm and wheel or other suitable gearing, in such wise that
the lower part of the chain of buckets may be moved in the arc of a
circle by guide chains actuated by a wheel and pinion or other
equivalent. The level of the lower end of the chain of buckets can be
varied by a hydraulic ram and guide chains or other equivalents; by
these means the width and depth of the channel cut in the bog can
be varied. The peat raised by the buckets is conveyed by spouts into
one or more macerators or machines for pulping and mixing the peat
into a homogeneous mass.
The macerator consists of two drums with
diagonal blades, working in contrary directions for cutting the fibres
of the peat, and moving the mass from the end at which it enters to the
opposite end of the machine. The peat discharged by the macerators
is delivered by an endless chain of buckets into trucks running on rails
placed parallel to the channel cut in the bog, and at right angles to
these rails are other rails or tramways which are raised about four inches
above the drying ground. The peat when discharged from the trucks
is spread on the drying ground by the attendants until it fills the space
between the lines of rails or tramways, and it is left there for a day or
two, or as long as may be found necessary for the moisture to be
partially extracted by evaporation and absorbtion. These layers of peat
are then cut into sods of the desired size by means of rollers with circular
cutters, and these sods are after a certain time turned over on their
edges and again left for further drying, and when the sods are sufficiently
dried they are piled crosswise and again left until they are ready for
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick Ludewig Hahn Danchell in the Great 30
Seal Patent Office on the 14th June 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
LUDEWIG HAHN DANCHELL, of Horwich, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Frederick Ludewig Hahn
Danchell, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick Ludewig Hahn
Danchell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Frederick Ludewig Hahn Danchell, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 MACHINERY
FOR EXCAVATING AND PREPARING PEAT," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Frederick Ludewig Hahn Danchell, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Frederick Ludewig Hahn Danchell,
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 Invention consists in certain improved machinery for excavating
and collecting the peat from the bog, and for preparing the peat so that
it may be converted into charcoal in the manner described in the
Specification of Letters Patent, granted to me on the Fourteenth day
of October One thousand eight hundred and seventy, Number 2714, or it
may be used for various other purposes.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters
marked thereon.
Fig. 1 is an elevation in section through the line A, B, on Fig. 2,
which is a ground plan; and Fig. 3 is a transverse section through the
line C, D, of my improved machinery for excavating and preparing peat.
This improved machinery for excavating peat is somewhat similar
to the dredging machines now employed for deepening rivers and ports;

page_text: in
and it consists of the flat-bottomed barge a, which floats on the water
in the channel formed by the buckets of the dredging machine; this
barge contains the steam or other motive power engine 6 for working
an endless chain of buckets, or by preference two endless chains, the
buckets of which are placed in alternate lines as shewn at c, c¹,
Fig. 2; these buckets pass around the hexagonal drums d, e, and f.
The drum d is connected to and driven by the steam engine 6 by the
shaft 61; to the end of which is keyed the worm 6ª, gearing in a wheel
on the same shaft as the toothed wheel d¹; which by means of an endless
chain d drives the shaft of the drum d; or other suitable gearing may
be employed to connect the motive power to the chains of buckets.
The two chains of buckets c, c³, in revolving cut a channel through the
bog of rather greater width than that of the barge a, and the barge
is gradually advanced in the channel by means of a hauling chain and
crab or other equivalent, the speed at which the barge is advanced being
determined according to the depth of the cut or to the nature of the
bog or otherwise. In some cases the chain of buckets may be of less
width than the channel; when such is the case the lower part of the
chain of buckets may be moved in the arc of a circle by guide chains
actuated by a wheel and pinion or other equivalent. The level of the
lower end of the chain of buckets can be varied by a hydraulic ram and
guide chains, or by the jib crane 7 and chain h¹, or other equivalents;
by these means the width and depth of the channel cut in the bog can
be varied. The peat raised by the buckets is conveyed by the spouts i
into the macerators j, j, or machines for pulping and mixing the peat
into a homogeneous mass. The macerators consist of two drums with
diagonal blades, working in contrary directions for cutting the fibres
of the peat, and moving the mass from the end at which it enters to the
opposite end of the machine. Any other description of machine may
be employed for the same purpose. The peat discharged by the
macerators is delivered by the shoots k to the endless chains of buckets
or scrapers 1, l, which work in the spouts m, m, shewn best in Fig. 3.
The macerators j and the chains of scrapers are driven from the
shaft 6; and this shaft may also be connected to the chains h¹ of the
jib cranes h for raising and lowering the chains of buckets c, c¹. The
scrapers collect the macerated peat from the bottom of the barge and
carry it
up
to the top of the spouts m, from which it drops into trucks,
one of which is shewn at n. In Fig. 3 these trucks run on rails, placed
parallel to the channel cut in the bog, and at right angles to these rails

page_text: are other rails or tramways which are raised about four inches above the
drying ground. The peat when discharged from the trucks is spread
on the drying ground by the attendants until it fills the space between
the lines of rails or tramways, and it is left there for a day or two or as
long as may be found necessary for the moisture to be partially extracted
by evaporation and absorbtion. These layers of peat are then cut into
sods of the desired size by means of rollers with circular cutters, which
are traversed over the drying ground by the attendants, and these sods
are after a certain time turned over on their edges, and again left for
further drying, and when the sods are sufficiently dried they are piled
crosswise and again left until they are ready for use.
My Invention may be modified by supporting the engine, the exca-
vators, and the macerators, on a travelling platform, mounted on wheels
instead of on a barge as described, the wheels running upon planks or
rails, supported on the bog itself, or on the ground from which the peat
has been removed.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the
manner of performing the same, I declare that I claim the general
combinations and arrangements of machinery for excavating and pre-
paring peat as shewn and as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Ludewig Hahn Danchell,
have hereto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of June,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
-
F. L. HAHN DANCHELL. (L.S.)