IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION AND USE OF PEAT OR TURF, AND BITUMINOUS, RESINOUS, AND LIGNEOUS SUBSTANCES AS FUEL, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jacob Geoghegan Willans, of No. 9, Saint
Stephen's Crescent, in the Parish of Paddington, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION AND USE OF PEAT OR TURF, AND
BITUMINOUS, RESINOUS, AND LIGNEOUS SUBSTANCES AS FUEL, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 31st January 1871, and dated the 27th October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jacob Geoghegan
Willans at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 27th October 1870.
I, JACOB GEOGHEGAN WILLANS, of No. 9, Saint Stephen's Crescent, in
the Parish of Paddington, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION AND USE OF PEAT OR
TURF, AND BITUMINOUS, RESINOUS, AND LIGNEOUS SUBSTANCES AS FUEL, AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the preparation and
use of peat or turf, and bituminous, resinous, and ligneous substances as
fuel and for other purposes.

page_text: Peat is very advantageously used as fuel in the form of dust carried
into a chamber or furnace for combustion by air. It is difficult,
however, to prepare the peat in a finely divided state without first
reducing it to charcoal whereby it loses its hydrogenous or tarry
constituents.
My improvement is to roast or torrefy the peat above a temperature
of 212° Fahrenheit but below a red heat in order that its moisture be
expelled, and that the peat be brought into an easily friable condition
whilst it shall retain much of its gas producing or tarry parts for use
as fuel, I then grind the peat and pass it through a screen so as to
obtain a fine powder, and this powder I deliver in measured quantity
into the current of air which carries it into the combustion chamber or
furnace. In order to roast or torrefy the peat I place it (as taken from
the bog or after it has been subjected to drying) in a cylinder, vessel, or
chamber through which I pass air or steam heated above 212° Fahrenheit,
but below a red heat; I have the cylinder, vessel, or chamber charged by
means of a screw or other feeding apparatus, and I have the roasted peat
withdrawn by the same or similar apparatus so that the process may be
continuous without the necessity of opening either end. The air or
steam with its accompanying vapours I will draw near the place of
charging in like manner as gas is taken off from blast furnaces. The
roasted peat is afterwards subjected to grinding and sifting. The latter
may be done by a bolting machine, but I prefer to do it by a current of
air and I have the current of about the same speed at the point of contact
with the dust as the air current will be in the place wherein the peat is
to be consumed as fuel. Sawdust and other divisible ligneous matter
roasted or torrefied in any suitable manner may similarly be ground to a
fine powder and delivered in measured quantity into a current of air to be
carried into a combustion chamber. also prepare peat together with
bituminous or resinous substances for use as a non-conductor of heat or
for, the manufacture of pasteboard, papier mâche, or for covering roofs,
or for a substitute for cork, or wood, or for other such like purposes.
My improvement is to have the peat mixed up with pitchy or resinous
substances in a solid state (in contradistinction to a fluid or plastic
state) and so divided that the particles may be intermixed with the peat,
I subject the mixture to heat sufficient to soften or melt the pitch or
. resin, and I expose the compound to such pressure as will cause the
mass to adhere, the mixture may be first made into blocks from which

page_text: the desired shapes may be sawn-or cut or reduced by rolling, or the
desired forms may be constructed at the time of subjecting the peat
to the pressure.
In making pasteboard or papier mâche by pressure or rolling, I have
the material embossed, enveloped, or covered by paper, which latter
being compressed so as to adhere to the peat will form a more even
surface, add to its tenacity, and prevent the pitch or resin from adhering
to the press plate or rollers. In some cases I prepare sheets which may
be used as a substitute for millboard and for other purposes as above
stated by compounding ground or powdered peat with a semi-fluid
mixture of tar and lime. These materials are thoroughly mixed and
formed into blocks, the blocks are allowed to stand for a time to set, and
are then rolled into sheets. Or the powdered materials may be fed
between heated rollers, and so at once made into sheets or slabs. The
rollers may have paper passing over them as already stated to form
smooth surfaces to the sheets or slabs, sawdust or other ligneous matters
may be substituted for peat in any of the above-mentioned combinations.
The pitchy or resinous substances may be brought into a state of division.
in any convenient manner by grinding, by solvents, by precipitation,
or by agitation whilst fluid with a non-solvent such as water and
afterwards cooling. This latter method, I prefer, and it forms a part of
my Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,.
filed by the said Jacob Geoghegan Willans in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 27th April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JACOB
GEOGHEGAN WILLANS, of No. 9, Saint Stephen's Crescent, in the Parish
of Paddington, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the
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 Jacob Geoghegan Willans, Her
special license that I, the said Jacob Geoghegan Willans, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jacob
$

page_text: Geoghegan Willans, my executors, administrators, 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 THE PREPARATION AND USE OF PEAT OR TURF, AND
BITUMINOUS, RESINOUS, AND LIGNEOUS SUBSTANCES AS FUEL, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Jacob
Geoghegan Willans, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should 1
particularly 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jacob Geoghegan Willans, do 1
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object "improvements in the preparation and.
use of peat or turf and bituminous, resinous, and ligneous substances as 2
fuel, and for other purposes.
Peat is very advantageously used as fuel in the form of dust carried
into a chamber or furnace for combustion by air. It is difficult, how-
ever, to prepare the peat in a finely divided state without first reducing
it to charcoal, whereby it loses its hydrogenous or tarry constituents.
2
My improvement is to roast or torrefy the peat above a temperature
of 212° Fahrenheit, but below a red heat, in order that its moisture be
expelled and that the peat be brought into an easily friable condition,
whilst it shall retain much of its gas producing or tarry parts for use as
fuel. I then grind the peat and pass it through a screen so as to obtain 3
a fine powder, and this powder I deliver in measured quantity into the
current of air, which carries it into the combustion chamber or furnace,
In order to roast or torrefy the peat I place it (preferably after it has
been subjected to more or less air drying) in a cylinder, vessel, or chamber,
through which I pass air or steam heated above 212° Fahrenheit, but a
below a red heat. I have the cylinder, vessel, or chamber charged by
means of a screw or by other means, and I have the roasted peat with-
drawn by the same or similar apparatus, so that the process may be

page_text: continuous without the necessity of opening either end. The air or
steam with its accompanying vapours I withdraw or allow to escape
near the place of charging in like manner as gas is taken off from blast
furnaces. The roasted peat is afterwards subjected to grinding and
sifting; the latter may be done by a bolting machine, but I prefer to do
it by a current of air, and I have the current of about the same speed
at the point of contact with the dust as the air current will be in the
place wherein the peat is to be consumed as fuel. Sawdust and other
divisible ligneous matter roasted or torrefied in any suitable manner may
similarly be ground to a fine powder and delivered in measured quantity
into a current of air to be carried into a combustion chamber. In order
to roast or torrefy the peat, which should be of the dark colored kind
(preferably in picces not larger than hen's eggs), I prefer to use a
structure similar to a small iron blast furnace, and to employ heated air
admitted at the lower part, the peat being charged in at the upper part.
If the air be driven in under pressure the top may be open, but if an
exhaust be used the top must be closed, as in some blast furnaces. I
have the hearth below the entry of the air current about 8 feet deep to
allow the roasted or torrefied peat to remain some time at a high tem-
perature before its withdrawal, and I have a screw of sufficient sectional
area to take in the lumps of peat placed horizontally at the bottom, and
delivering through a pipe outside the structure. The screw may be
worked by hand or power either intermittently or continuously, but not
so quickly as to withdraw the peat before its sufficient preparation. An
air current of about same volume as that applied in an iron blast furnace
of the same size, with a temperature of about 350° Fahrenheit, will be
found suitable. The temperature may be increased, but not to a red
heat, so as not to deprive the peat of its gas producing or tarry parts. I
then crush or grind the roasted or torrefied peat and afterwards sift it,
but the sifting is not essential. I prefer to sift out the fine dust by
letting the material fall before an air current of about the same force as
will afterwards be used in floating it in the combustion chamber or
furnace in which it is consumed as fuel, and I have it carried by the air
into a large chamber wherein it will be deposited for collection. The
larger dust particles not so carried in may be reground to a finer state,
or used in the furnace with a stronger blast.
The fuel when thus pre-
pared may be burnt in furnaces such as are now employed to burn
powdered coal whilst held suspended in an air blast. Sawdust or other
ligneous matter, such as spent tanners' bark, wood waste, or heather,

page_text: may be roasted or torrefied at like temperature, so as to retain its gas-
producing or tarry parts, and used as fuel carried into the furnace or
combustion chamber by a current of air. The air current may be
obtained either by a blowing machine or by an exhaust. It may be
heated by passing it through an ordinary heater, as used at iron works.
Steam passed through a superheater may be applied instead of air. In
this case the size of the structure should not be so great overhead on
account of the condensation of the steam.
According to another part of my Invention I prepare peat together
with bituminous or resinous substances for use as a non-conductor of
heat, or for the manufacture of pasteboard or papier maché, or for
covering roofs, or for a substitute for cork or wood, or for other such
like purposes.
My improvement is to have the peat mixed up with
pitchy or resinous substances in a solid state (in contradistinction to a
fluid or plastic state), and so divided that the particles may be inter-
mixed with the peat. I subject the mixture to heat sufficient to soften
or melt the pitch or resin, and I expose the compound to such pressure
as will cause the mass to adhere. The mixture may be first made into
blocks from which the desired shapes may be sawn or cut, or reduced
by rolling, or the desired forms may be constructed at the time of
subjecting the peat to the pressure.
In the foregoing cases I prefer to use the light fibrous peat, and
should elasticity be desired I prefer to separate by maceration and
washing the greater part of the fine brown peat from the fibrous portion,
and to use the latter. This washing should be done when the peat is
in its original state as raised from the bogs. I mix with the peat such
pitchy or resinous substances as will soften and become adhesive when
heated; coal tar pitch will answer. I use the pitch in a granular form,
or in the state of powder, and not in a fluid or plastic state. The peat
may be either washed as above described or as it comes from the bog.
I subject the mixture in any convenient manner to such heat as will
soften the pitch, and I expose the compound to such pressure as will
cause the mess to adhere. The peat may be used in its original moist
state, have the pitch intermixed, then air dried, and afterwards the
mixture be subjected to heat; or the peat may be taken in a dried state
and torn or rasped so as to permit its mixture with the pitch. In all
cases the pressure should not be applied before the peat is so far dried
as to allow the pitch to adhere. The mixture may be made into blocks

page_text: from which the desired shapes may be sawn or cut, and if the latter be
done whilst the material is damp the shapes may be dried before being
heated and compressed, or the desired form may be obtained at the time
of subjecting the mixed material to heat and pressure.
The proportions in which the materials are mixed should be varied
according to the nature of the product it is desired to obtain. If an
clastic spongy substance is required only so much pitchy or resinous
matter should be employed as is found on trial to be necessary to hold
the mixture with sufficient firmness.
By employing torrefied peat, sawdust, or other similar ligneous
material in the manner above described an artificial wood very suitable
for use for fire-lights and fuel is obtained. From this point the quantity
of pitchy or resinous matter may be increased until a hard, waterproof,
tile-like product is obtained.
In making pasteboard or papier maché by pressure or rolling I have
the material embossed, enveloped, or covered by paper, which latter being
compressed so as to adhere to the peat mixture will form a more even
surface, add to its tenacity, and prevent the pitch or resin from adhering
to the press plate or rollers. If rollers are used continuous papers are.
led over the two rollers, and the material is fed between the rollers and
so compressed into a sheet, which is cut off to convenient lengths. Both
the material and the rollers should be heated. Or the mixture may very
conveniently for this purpose be moulded into blocks and air-dried, then
sawn into slices of suitable thickness, covered with paper, and pressed
between hot plates. Embossed and moulded articles having a surface
of paper may similarly be produced. In some cases I prepare sheets or
slabs in the nature of a coarse millboard, and useful for other purposes,
by tempering up dry or partially dried peat in a divided state with a
mixture of tar and lime. The materials are well intermixed, made into
blocks which are allowed to stand some days, and then rolled into sheets
or slabs. The tar and lime should be ground together so as to form a
compound which in a few days sets into a soap like compound, such as
is now used to varnish roofing felt. The tar and lime mixture may be
made in the proportion of one gallon of tar to one pound of slaked lime.
This compound is used in such quantity with the peat as will at the end
of a week produce a stiff plastic compound. In rolling the mixture one
or both of the rollers may have paper passing over them, with which

page_text: the tar and peat mixture will be covered. If necessary the sheets or
slabs may be dried to render them stiffer.
Sawdust or other ligneous matter, such as chaff, chopped straw, tow,
paper pulp, may be substituted for peat (in the foregoing combinations),
or additions of these or other materials may be added to and intermixed
with the peat.
Pitchy and resinous substances for the purposes above set forth may
be crushed and ground to a fine state of division, or the process which I
will proceed to describe may be resorted to.
A further part of my Invention relates to a method of bringing pitchy
or resinous substances (of which the melting point is not too high) to a
state of fine powder by violently agitating them when melted along with
another fluid, not a solvent. In this way an emulsion is formed, and
by cooling the emulsion the pitchy or resinous substance is obtained as
a fluid mud from which a powder is deposited on standing. I operate
in the following manner :-The emulsion is made with boiling water, and
is run off in small portions at a time with another vessel into which cold
water is also admitted. Brisk agitation is also kept up in this vessel,
and from thence the divided pitchy or resinous matter is along with the
water run into settling tanks. The pitchy or resinous matters may be
made more easily fusible by a previous combination with naptha or by
other analogous means.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I
claim,―
First. The use as fuel for the generation of heat of peat that has been
roasted or torrefied at a temperature between 212° and a red heat, so as
to dry it and bring it into an easily friable condition whilst retaining
much of its gas producing or tarry parts, such peat being carried into a
combustion chamber or furnace by means of air.
Second. The use as fuel for the generation of heat of sawdust or other
ligneous matter that has been roasted or torrefied at a temperature
between 212° and a red heat, such fuel being carried into a combustion
chamber or furnace by means of air.
Third. The manufacture of pasteboard, papier machè sheets for covering
roofs, or for use as a non-conductor of heat, and artificial wood and

page_text: cork, by combining pitchy or resinous substances in a solid and divided
state with peat or other ligneous material, and afterwards heating and
compressing the mixture so as to cause it to cohere.
Fourth. The combining tar and lime with peat and other ligneous
material, and forming the same into sheets or slabs.
Fifth. The combining peat or other ligneous material intermixed with
pitchy or resinous substances with paper so applied as to be compressed
on to and form a covering to the surface of the mixture.
Sixth. The manufacture of an artificial wood applicable for fire-lights
and fuel by combining pitchy or resinous substances with peat, sawdust,
or similar ligneous matter that has been roasted or torrefied at a tem-
perature between 212° and a red heat, and compressing the mixture so
as to cause it to cohere.
Seventh. The reducing pitchy or resinous substances to a state of fine
division by agitation with non-solvents whilst both are in a fluid state,
and the cooling the mixture so as to solidify the pitchy or resinous
substances.
In witness whereof; I, the said Jacob Geoghegan Willans, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of April,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
J. G. WILLANS. (L.S.)