Ix- PROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF PEAT
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fawcett, of Kirton-in-Lindsey, in the
County of Lincoln, Cake Manufacturer, for the Invention of "Ix-
PROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF PEAT."
Scaled the 22nd August 1873, and dated the 25th February 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fawcett at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th February 1873.
I, JOHN FAWOLTT, of Kirton-in-Lindsey, in the County of Lincoln,
Cake Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF PEAT," to be as follows :—
This Invention has for its object the preparing of peat, cither alone, or
in combination with other materials, for the manufacture of artificial
fuel or the manufacture of charcoal therefrom.
The first part of my process, after obtaining the poat from the bog, is
to free it from all excess of moisture, which is effected by submitting it
to the action of a hydro-extractor which may be driven by any convenient

page_text: mechanism and motive power. The effect of this operation will be to
bring the peat if required into a semi-dried condition.
The next operation will be to reduce the peat to a granulated state.
When the peat is in a fibrous state it is reduced to a granulated form by
a cutting process; but when the pcat is decomposed and is free from t
fibre it may be reduced by means of a wire rasping machine, or by a
machine constructed on the principle of a "Carr's disintegrator." By
cither of these methods the peat may be brought into a fine state of
division, so that it may be casily compressed into a solid state in the
shape of squares, balls, or any form required.
In order to compress the peat to the highest degree of density, tho
granulated material should be passed through steam-heated vessels in
which revolve stirrers, and at this stage of the process any substance or
liquid may be added thereto for the purpose of making a compound
artificial fuel. When sufficiently heated the mixture will be transferred 1
to the compressing apparatus.
If the peat is required to be converted into charcoal, a powerful press
(with frames for holding the heated peat) may be acted upon by
hydraulic pumps; but if it be required for artificial fuel the material
will be carried forward from the steam heated vessels by means of worms 2
through a cylinder, and conducted to receivers or moulds, or to rollers
provided with dies, to give the required form. The moulds are to be
acted upon by plungers driven by an excentric shaft, with an arrange-
ment for pressing and afterwards delivering the balls or other forms.
The plungers, stampers, or dies having formed the peat into solid masses 2
or lumps, the latter will be carried forward by travelling tables into
sheds, where the condensed peat will be dried off either by heated
desiccating chambers, or by rotating tables for atmospheric drying.
After a short time the peat will be in a fit state to be transported for
consumption.
In order to sonder the halls or blocks imnervious to wet I pronosa

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Fawcett in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 25th August 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, John
FAWCETT, of Kirton-in-Lindsey, in the County of Lincoln, Cake Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of our
Lord Ono thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Fawcett, Her special licenco that I, tho
said John Fawcett, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Fawcett, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from timo to
timo 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 TREATMENT OF PEAT,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Fawcett, 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 tho samo
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.
i
NOW KNOW YE, that I, tho said John Fawcett, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo
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 thercon (that is to
say) :-
:-
This Invention has for its object the preparing of peat, either alone, or
in combination with other substances, for the manufacture of artificial
fuel, or the manufacture of charcoal therefrom.
The first part of my process, after obtaining the peat from the bog, is
to free it from all excess of moisture, which is effected by submitting it

page_text: to the action of a hydro-extractor which may be driven by any convenient
mechanism and motive power. To this end I take the peat as it comes
from the bog (when it will be found largely saturated with moisture)
and place it loosely in wire cages made of flat wire of a gauge of four to
the inch. These cages may be mounted on trollies or they may be run on t
tramways laid from the peat bog to the works. When brought to the
'hydro-extractor the wire cages charged with peat are to be secured to a
revolving frame to which a very quick rotary motion may be com-
municated, so that the water that is mechanically mixed with the peat
may be driven off. These wire cages may be made of any convenient 1
shape and size, but a semicircular or circular form will be found most
convenient, as by the use of such a form no space will be lost.
The revolving frames are mounted on spindles, and are actuated by
under or over gearing, as shewn in the Drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a
sectional elevation of one of the revolving frames, and Fig. 2 is a plan 1
view, shewing the semicircular cages placed upon a trolly. These
revolving frames a, a, are so constructed as to allow of the woven wire
cages b, b, to be fixed thercon temporarily for rotation, and when the
peat is sufficiently deprived of its moisture the wire cages may be lifted
out and taken to the disintegrator, which performs the second operation 2
on the peat.
In the Drawing the wire cages are represented as of a semicircular
form, so that two of them will fit the revolving frame to which a very
rapid rotary motion is communicated in any convenient manner, so that
the water contained in the peat may be thrown off as in the ordinary 2
and well-known hydro-extractor.
Instead of extracting or driving off the water on the well known
principle of the hydro-extractor, as above mentioned, the wire cages
containing the peat may be placed in a cylindrical vessel and subjected
to the operation of an exhaust pump which, by creating a vacuum 3
beneath the peat, will cause tho superincumbent air to press on the
latter and cause the water to be expressed from the peat, and allowed to
flow into the vacuum at the bottom of the vessel, from which it will be
drawn by the action of a pump. The effect of either of these operations
will be to bring the peat, if required, into a semi-dried condition as is 3
usually the case with substances submitted to the action of the bydro-
extractor.

page_text: The next operation will be to reduce the semi-dried peat to a granu-
lated state. When tho peat is in a fibrous stato it is reduced to a
granulated form by a cutting process, but when the peat is decomposed
and is free from fibro, it may when in a partially dried state be reduced
by means of a wire rasping machine, or by a machine constructed on the
principle of a "Carr's disintegrator." In reference however to this latter
apparatus instead of mounting the working part of the disintegrator on
horizontal axles as is usually the case, I place the axles in a vertical
position, so that the rotating discs or wheels will revolve horizontally, and
therefore gravitation will not materially interfere with the contrifugal
action of the apparatus..
Fig. 3 is a vertical section of a disintegrator specially adapted for the
purposes of my Invention. The peat to be operated upon is placed in a
hopper c, and is fed forward regularly by a pair of spiked rollers c², c³.
These may if desired bo mado to rotate at different speeds, so as to tear
up the peat and deposit it upon a horizontal disc & keyed on to the upper
end of the vertical shaft e. On the shaft e immediately below the disc a
are keyed the horizontal arms fif, of the ring f. Vertical rods, pillars,
bars, or arms ġ, ġ, are fixed by their lower ends into the rings f¹, and at
their upper ends carry the wide ring h, h, which by means of the
vertical rods, pillars, or arms 9', carrics another ring f. The parts f
9, 9', and h, being all connected together and keyed on the vertical
axle e of courso revolve therewith. Another set of arms i' aro keyed on
to or form part of a sloove shaft e³, which is capable of rotating freely on
the shaft e, and may therefore be driven in the opposite direction to that
in which the shaft is driven. These arms carry a broad ring j³, in
which are fixed vertical rods or bars j, j. Any one acquainted with the
construction and operation of Carr's disintegrator will be aware that the
rods, bars, or arms g, g, and j, j, are the beaters whereby tho material to
be acted on is violently beaten and broken up, and that the bars j, j, are
rotated in the opposite direction to the bars 7. This is why the bars j
are counceted with the alcove shaft eª, which is driven independently by
means of a cross band passed round the pulleys c'. It is also known that
these rods or bars are arranged at short intervals all round the rings ƒ^, h,
› and j, so that as the material to be acted upon is thrown by centrifugal .
force from the disc d, it will come violently against the rapidly moving
bars g, g, and will be thrown violently back to another part of the
casing, where it will como in contact with some of the other rapidly.
'

page_text: moving rods, bars, or arms, and by thus being thrown from side to side
of the casing, the peat will in a short time be reduced to a comminuted
condition, and will fall down into the spout or trough %, whereby it will
be conducted out of the machino in a fine state of division, so that it
may be easily compressed into a solid stato in the shape of squares, balls,
or any form required.
Fig. 3 is a vertical section of another form of apparatus for reducing
the partially dried peat to a granulated form. In this instance a
grinding operation is employed to reduce the peat. A disc p made of
cast iron, hard wood, or other suitable material or combination of
materials, and having its surface grooved in a manner somewhat
analogous to an ordinary grindstone is mounted and keyed fast on the
vertical shaft q, to which rotary motion is communicated by means of
any suitable gearing. This shaft carries at its upper end a number of
horizontal arms or knives r, r, r, which work in the hopper 8, and act
like a pug mill. To the lower end or exit opening of the hopper s is
secured a concavo or dished disc t, which is grooved or roughened on its
under surface. This disc rests on a suitable seat, and is held down
thereon by means of three, four, or more springs u, u, which however
will admit of the disc having a limited amount of vertical motion. The
semi-dried peat is thrown into the hopper 8, and is forced down by tho
horizontal knives or arms r, r, through the eye of the concave disc & into
the space between the two discs p and t, where it will be ground up and
reduced by the action of the rotating disc p, and will be delivered at its
periphery in a comminuted condition.
In order to compress the peat to the highest degree of density, the
granulated material when reduced to a comminuted form by any of the
processes above described should be passed through steam-heated vessels
in which revolve stirrers; and at this stage of the process any substanco
or liquid may be added thereto for the purpose of making compound
artificial fuel. When sufficiently mixed and heated the mixture will
be transferred to the compressing apparatus, whero it will be subjected
to great pressure in order to condense it as much as possible. If the
peat be required to be converted into charcoal a powerful press (with
frames for holding the heated peat) may be acted upon by hydraulic 3
pumps.
The compressing apparatus which I prefer to use for the purposes of
my present. Invention is similar in principle to one for which I obtained

page_text: Letters Patent, dated Thirteenth August, One thousand cight.hundred
and sixty-seven, No. 2331, for extracting oil from oliagenous seeds.
-
.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 4 is a sectional clevation of a
compressing apparatus of this kind, but as the apparatus is shown in
detail, and is fully described in the Specification of my former Patont
above referred to, I havo not considered it necessary to give any detailed
description thereof here; I will therefore only say that the boxes may
bo subdivided if desired so as to form the compressed peat into blocks
or pieces of convenient size, and when the boxes are charged with tho
beated granulated peat and placed in the press, they are forced up by
the hydraulic cylinder against the fixed block or piston, and thereby
consolidated: ·
If tho peat bo required for artificial fuel the material will be carried
forward from the steam heated vessels by means of worms through a
cylinder, and conducted to reservoirs or moulds, or to rollers provided
with dics to givo the required form. The moulds aro to bo acted upon
by plungers driven by an excentric shaft, with an arrangement for
pressing, and afterwards delivering the balls or other forms. Tho
plungers, stampers, or dies having formed the peat into solid masses or
lumps, the latter will be carried forward by travelling tables into covered
sheds where the condensed peat will be dried off either by artificial heat
or by air drying, to which end a current of air may be conducted
through the sheds. In a short time the peat or artificial fuel will be in
a fit state to be transported anywhere for consumption or for conversion
into charcoal. In order to render the balls or blocks of peat or artificial
fucl impervious to moisture, they may be coated with any suitable
bituminous composition by immersing them therein while the same is in
a fluid state.
Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in the Treat-
ment of Peat," and having explained the manner of carrying the samo
into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Lotters Patent as
aforosaid,―

page_text: Third. I claim submitting the granulated peat to pressure (for the
purpose of consolidating the same) when in a heated state.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fawcett, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and soventy-
three.