IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF PEAT, RENDERING IT APPLICABLE TO SEVERAL USEFUL PURPOSES, PARTICULARLY POR FUEL
Year: 1844

page_text: COBBOLD'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
COBBOLD, of Melford, in the County of Suffolk, Master of Arts, Clerk, send
greeting.
"
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain; bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the seventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Edward Cobbold, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Edward Cobbold, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Edward Cobbold, my exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the terin of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick,
and the Isles of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all
Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention' of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF PEAT, RENDERING IT APPLICABLE TO
SEVERAL USEFUL PURPOSES, PARTICULARLY POR FUEL;" in which said Letters
Patent 'is contained a proviso that I, the said Edward Cobbold, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-

page_text: diately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edward Cobbold, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon;
that is to say-
Many attempts have been made so to treat peat as to render it compact
and dense for the purposes of fuel; and it has been usual heretofore when
preparing peat to proceed immediately to remove the water contained by
draining and drying in the open air, and various propositions have been made
for pressing out the water contained in peat by mechanical means and by the
pressure of the atmosphere into a vacuum, but none of these processes, I
believe, have come into general use, owing, so far as I am informed on the
subject, to the difficulty of separating water, which is usually contained in
peat (when first dug); and the processes resorted to for such purposes have
been expensive. Now the object of my Invention is to prepare peat with
water, and in such manner that the peat as dug up shall be beaten and broken
up in water so as to separate the fibrous and other particles of which the peat
is composed into minute division in the water, by which means I bave dis-
covered that the matters other than water of which peat. is composed will,
when permitted, subside, and sink to the bottom of the water, and the particles
of which peat is composed will be found not only readily to separate from the
water which is added in order to the process, but also from the water naturally
contained in the peat, and which has heretofore been found so difficult andl
costly to separate when attempted to be accomplished quickly. And in order
to give the best information in my power, I will proceed to describe the means
pursued by me..
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a section of the apparatus used by me for combining
peat with water, and beating and agitating it therein. Figure 2 shews a plan
of the apparatus. This apparatus is of a cylindrical form, constructed with
several uprights B, combined together at their upper ends by the circular
ring C. C: the lower part of the vessel is closed all round to the height of the

page_text: tbere being fine wire cloth affixed to the bars B, thus forming the upper
part of the vessel into what may be considered a cylindrical sieve. I is a pipe
for keeping up a constant supply of water to the vessel through the bottom
thereof, the bottom of the vessel in other respects being closed, as above
described. F, F, F, F, Fig 2 are four beaters attached to the frame F', F',
which frame is affixed to the axis D, as shewn in Figure 1. On the upper
part on the axis D is set a horizontal bevelled toothed wheel II, which receives
motion from the vertical bevelled toothed wheel J, affixed to the axis K, which
receives motion by manual labour by the crank handle L, or by other
power. G, G, are upright inclined beaters carried by the frame F¹, F¹; a
constant supply of peat is to be thrown into the vessel, taking care that the
supply is so regulated in respect to the supply of water that the combined
matters in the vessel will, as beaten up, pass for the most part freely through
the fine sieve cloth, of which the upper part of the vessel is composed, the
continued working of the beaters or agitators F, G, causing the peat thrown
into the vessel to be broken up and finally divided so as to mix with the water,.
and the finer particles in suspension to pass off' with it through the sieve cloth,
the accumulation of the grosser particles which will not pass through the sieve
being run off from time to time as described. These more fibrous matters
being collected compose a substance from which a lighter fuel may be made.
The fluid mass passing from the vessel through the sieve wire is caused to run
into shallow reservoirs formed in the earth, by which the water will be quickly
separated and absorbed by the earth, leaving the deposited portions of pent
which will quickly harden into a compact substance, which being cut out in
blocks, and piled and dried, will become close and hard, and may be turned or
cut or shaped into various useful articles, as among others such articles of
useful and ornamental character as have hitherto been made from jet, ebony.
or papier maché; but the great object of preparation of peat, as herein
described, is to render it more suitable as fuel, and I have found that the peat
thus prepared is of itself a very excellent fuel; and I have further found that
having beaten and agitated peat with water applied thereto in the manner
above described, the product thus obtained is an excellent material for
cementing small coal, so that small coal mixed and combined with peat pre-
pared as above may be moulded into blocks fit for the purposes of fuel.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best means I
am acquainted with for performing the same, I would remark that I do not
confine myself to the use of the apparatus shewn for carrying out my Invention
so long as peat is beaten or broken up in water, agitated therein, and its
grosser parts separated from the finer; and the apparatus for the performing

page_text: such process may be varied as regards its mechanical arrangement, so long as
such beating, agitating, and separating can be performed thereby.
And I would wish it to be understood that what I claim as of my Inven-
tion is the mode of treating peat as regards its application to several useful
purposes; particularly for fuel, as I have herein-before described it..
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Cobbold, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, "this Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.