An Improved Process and Apparatus for the Preparation of Peat Fibre, to be Used for Making Sheets or Laps of Fibre, Threads, or Surgical Dressings.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 25th June, 1895
Complete Specification Left, 27th Apr., 1896-Accepted, 25th June, 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Process and Apparatus for the Preparation of Peat
Fibre, to be Used for Making Sheets or Laps of Fibre,
Threads, or Surgical Dressings.
I, GUSTAVE ADOLPHE CANNOT, of 20, Bucklersbury, in the City of London,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Up to the present time fibrous peat intended to be spun or converted into a
woolly material, has been cleaned by means of beaters and other machines in
which the fibres have been treated dry. This treatment has, however several
objections: the fibres are broken and consequently become shorter, whilst on the
other hand it has never been possible to clear them completely from the adhering
dirt before taking them to the finishing machines and consequently in the subsequent
treatment to which the fibres are subjected, the dirt becomes partly detached and
fills with dust, the work itself, and the resulting products, as well as the machines;
moreover it is necessary to pass these fibres through several machines and cards
without their even then becoming completely cleaned.
These serious and insurmountable difficulties are inherent to the treatment of
peat fibre in a dry state. To overcome them, by my present invention I clean the
fibres by means of apparatus operating in running water.
Such treatment of the peat fibre by washing presents the following
advantages:-
The fibres are entirely freed from substances adhering to them, so that an
absence of dust in the succeeding work and the resulting products, ensues:
The fibres are not broken but remain long, a great advantage for spinning and
making dressings ;
From the time they remain in the water and the absence of adhering dirt, the
fibres are rendered very supple, so that the wool formed from them is suitable
for surgical dressings; and for spinning after treatment in a small number of
machines;
The products are purer and the wool for dressings and for spinning, comes from
the bath quite free from dust.
The washing machine which I preferably employ is constructed as follows;
but the washing of the peat fibre may be accomplished in any kind of suitable
apparatus.
I take a rectangular vessel, having a false, perforated bottom, through which the
dirt detached from the fibres escapes with the water, which is admitted through a
supply pipe above and flows away through a pipe at the bottom, in which is a cock
or valve to regulate and stop the flowing away of the water.
At a short distance above the perforated bottom, I arrange a fixed grating or frame
upon which are fixed a sufficient number of rows of vertical rods or bars projecting
upward and above these is arranged a corresponding moveable grating or frame
carrying a corresponding number of rods or bars projecting downward, and this
frame has a backward and forward movement communicated to it by a crank and
connecting rod or other suitable means, so that the bars carried by it pass between
the fixed bars on the frame below; the fibres, agitated in the water in this way,
become rapidly clean.
An overflow pipe near the top allows any foreign matters floating on the water
to pass away.

page_text: The water introduced through the supply pipe is clean and can eventually flow
off, charged with dirt, simultaneously through the bottom pipe and the overflow
pipe, or through one of them only; when the water which passes away through
the cock or valve below, is clean, the fibres are completely cleaned. They
are then dried in any suitable manner, agitated and afterwards passed through
a single carding engine; an excellent wool for dressings is thus obtained, the
fineness of which may be increased by passing it through a second carding
engine.
The sheet of fibre, once carded by passing through a suitable machine, produces
an excellent and supple thread. The water which passes off through the cock or
valve may be filtered, and from it a peat powder very clean and antiseptic is
obtained.
When the water runs off bright and clean from the cock or valve the latter, as
well as the supply cock, is closed, and any suitable antiseptic may then be added
to the material in the vessel, such for instance as phenic acid, to make such a
.surgical dressing as may be desired.
My invention consists, therefore, of:-
A process for
preparing the fibres of peat by washing them in water, in which
they are agitated, and afterwards drying the fibres more or less completely, and
finally working them in one or more carding engines; the apparatus for washing
the fibre, consisting of a moveable frame carrying rods or bars or the like, arranged
.in a vessel provided with pipes for the inlet and outlet of water as well as with an
overflow, the bars on the moveable frame noving between similar bars or teeth on
a fixed frame.
Dated this 21st day of June 1895
EDWARDS & Co.,
65 and 66, Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicant.
An Improved Process and Apparatus for the Preparation of Peat
Fibre, to be Used for Making Sheets or Laps of Fibre,
Threads, or Surgical Dressings.
I, GUSTAVE ADOLPHE CANNOT, of 20, Bucklersbury, in the City of London,
'Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this 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 relates to an improved process and apparatus for the preparation
of peat fibre, to be used for making sheets or laps of fibre, threads, or surgical
dressings.
Up to the present time fibrous peat intended to be spun or converted into a
woolly material, has been cleaned by means of beaters and other machines iu
which the fibre have been treated dry. This treatment has, however several
objections: the fibres are broken and consequently become shorter, whilst on the
..other hand it has never been possible to clear them completely, from the adhering
dirt, before taking them to the finishing machines, and consequently in the subsequent
treatment to which the fibres are subjected, the dirt becomes partly detached and
fills with dust the work itself, and the resulting products, as well as the machines;
moreover it is necessary to pass these fibres through several machines.and.cards
without their even then becoming completely cleaned.
.These serious difficulties are inherent to the treatment of peat fibre in a dry
state. To overcome them by my present invention I clean the fibres by means of
apparatus operating in running water.

page_text: BUCH Creatinent UT
advantages:
:-
пого
Peav
The fibres are entirely freed from substances adhering to them, so that an
absence of dust in the succeeding work and the resulting products, ensues:-
The fibres are not broken but remain long, a great advantage for spinning and
making dressings ;
From the length of time during which they remain in the water, and the absence
of adhering dirt, the fibres are rendered very supple, so that the woolly fibre.
formed from them is suitable for surgical dressings; and for spinning after
treatment in a small number of machines;
The products are purer and the wool, for dressings and for spinning, comes from.
the bath quite free from dust..
The washing machine which I preferably employ is constructed as follows (as..
illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal, and
Figure 2 a transverse section); but the washing of the peat fibre may be
accomplished in any kind of suitable apparatus.
I take a rectangular vessel a, having a false, perforated bottom b, through which
the dirt detached from the fibres escapes with the water, which is admitted through
& supply pipe c above and flows away through a pipe d at the bottom, in which is.
a cock or valve to regulate and stop the flowing away of the water.
At a short distance above the perforated bottom b, I arrange a fixed grating or
frame upon which are fixed a sufficient number of rows of vertical rods or bars g
projecting upward. Above these is arranged a corresponding moveable grating or
frame carrying a corresponding number of rods or bars i projecting downward,
and this frame has a backward and forward movement communicated to it by a.
crank and connecting rod k or other suitable means, so that the bars i carried by
it pass between the fixed bars g on the frame below. The fibres, agitated in the
water in this way, become rapidly clean.
An overflow pipe / near the top allows any foreign matters floating on the water.
to pass away.
The water introduced through the supply pipe c is clean and can eventually flow
off, charged with dirt, simultaneously through the bottom pipe d and the overflow
pipe l, or through one of them only; when the water which passes away through.
the piped below, is clean, the fibres have become completely cleaned. They
are then dried in any suitable manner, agitated and afterwards passed through
a single carding engine; an excellent wool for dressings is thus obtained, the
fineness of which may be increased by passing it through a second carding
engine.
From the sheet of fibre, once carded by passing through a suitable machine,
can be produced an excellent and supple thread. The water which passes off
through the cock or valve e may be filtered, and from it a peat powder, very clean
and antiseptic, is obtained.
When the water runs off bright and clean from the cock or valve e, the latter as.
well as the supply cock c, is closed, and any suitable antiseptic may then be added
to the material in the vessel, such for instance as phenic acid, to make such a
surgical dressing as may be desired.
I do not confine myself to the precise details of the process and apparatus.
described, which may be varied more or less as may be found desirable.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The process for preparing the fibres of peat, by washing them in running.
water, in which they are agitated; and afterwards drying the fibres more or less
completely, and finally working them in one or more carding engines; substantially
as described.
2. The apparatus for washing the fibre, consisting of a moveable frame carrying

page_text: rods or bars or the like, arranged in a vessel provided with pipes for the inlet and
outlet of water as well as with an overflow, the bars on the moveable frame moving
between similar bars or teeth on a fixed frame, substantially as described.
Dated this 25th day of April 1896.
EDWARDS & Co.,
65 and 66, Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicant.