IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY POR TEMPERING AND PREPARING PEAT FOR FUEL.
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough
-
Park, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY POR TEMPERING AND PREPARING PEAT FOR FUEL.".
A communication from abroad by Nathaniel Frothingham Potter, of
Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, United States of America.
Sealed the 5th December 1865, and dated the 26th September 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson
Bousfield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 26th September 1865.
I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the
5. County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR TEMPERING AND PREPARING PEAT FOR FUEL,"
to be as follows:-
1
The importance of peat as an article of fuel has attracted much attention.
.Peat in its crude state has long been used extensively in many parts, but in
order to make it an article of commercial value it is necessary to free the rich
vegetable mould from the undecomposed vegetable fibre with which it
abounds, as well as to compress it into a compact mass and free it by pressure
and by evaporation from the water with which it is saturated."
The purpose of the first part of the Invention is to provide a means for
removing all undecomposed vegetable fibre while the mass is undergoing the

page_text: process of tempering or being rendered homogenous preparatory to the
operation of forcing it into cakes for drying.
The machinery specially adapted for performing this latter operation is the
subject of the second part of the Invention.
The machinery for tempering the peat and for separating the undecomposed
fibres consists in a circular trough, and there is a sweep or arm radiating
from a central shaft, and of a sufficient height above the plane of the bottom
of the bed of the trough to accommodate the tempering wheel, which turns
upon the sweep or arm as an axle. This tempering wheel as the sweep or
arm is turned is made to gradually approach the central shaft of the mill, and
then as gradually by the shifting of the gearing return toward the rim of the
mill, and thus during its spiral path of travel the wheel will cut up and render
homogeneous, or "temper," as it is termed, the mass of peat upon which it
acts, in like manner to that in which similar machinery tempers clay; but in
order to remove the fibrous material which pervades the peat, I have added
the following mechanism to such tempering mill :-I extend the hub or nave
of the tempering wheel, enlarging it beyond what would otherwise be
necessary, so as to form a drum. This drum I furnish with teeth, which
should be sufficiently unyielding to be forced through the mass of peat in the
trough, and may be flattened so as to present a blunt cutting edge to diminish
the effect of the resistance. In front of the sweep or arm, and parallel with
it, and so arranged that it shall travel with the sweep or arm by being con-
nected at the further and at the hither ends therewith by supporting braces I
arrange a straight trough which has a collar at the further end, within which
is fitted the axle of a supporting wheel which runs upon a flanch or track
upon the top of the rim of the circular trough. This straight trough has
throughout its entire length an archimedean screw, the axes of which are
mounted in bearings at the ends of the trough. A portion of the straight
trough nearest the centre of the mill is provided with a delivery spout or lip,
so that the material carried along by the screw will be allowed to be delivered
into a waste tub.or reservoir formed in the centre of the circular trough.
Upon the side of the straight trough nearest to the tempering wheel I place
a series of teeth, which extend from the outer end of the trough to the waste-
tub end as far as the tempering wheel travels to and fro on the sweep or arm.
Midway between this row of comb teeth and the sweep or arm, but raised
above both, is placed a revolving brush mounted in suitable bearings. This
brush may be provided with bristles, or with flexible wires, or other brush-
making materials, and can be made to revolve by means of a driving belt
passing over the drum of the tempering wheel. The bristles or their equi-

page_text: valents of which the brush is composed should be of sufficient length to pass
as the brush revolves between the teeth upon the drum on the tempering
wheel, and also the teeth of: the comb upon the straight trough. The
operation of the machine is as follows:-As the: sweep or arm turns around
the central axis of the mill [the tempering wheel will act upon the peat in the
circular trough, and the teeth on the drum will at the same time be forced
through every part of the mass, and will take up the undecomposed fibres or
vegetable material which may be in their path. All such material will be borne
upward by the teeth, between which it will be more or less entangled, until
the bristles or their equivalents of the rotating brush which revolves in the
same direction with the drum of the tempering wheel wipe the same out from
the teeth and deposit it in the straight trough, the teeth acting in combination
with the revolving brush to strip the brush clear from all fibre and refuse
material. The refuse matter having been deposited in the straight trough it
is carried along by the archimedean screw, which by the friction of the sup-
porting wheel upon its track is made constantly to revolve. In this way not
only will all roots, vegetable fibre, and waste matter be removed from the
peat, but at the same time the mass will be tempered in readiness for
moulding into cakes; the teeth on the drum of the tempering wheel, in
addition to their office as extractors of the woody fibre, greatly assisting the
tempering wheel in the performance of, its office by breaking up and inter-
mixing the particles of the peat..
The second part of my Invention relates to a means for conveniently pre-
paring and moulding peat for fuel which has been already tempered and
deprived, by the machinery described in the first part of the Invention, of the
greater portion of the undecomposed vegetable fibre, which in its natural
state is found to exist in large quantities in it. A tub or vessel capable of
holding about two tons of peat, and similar in form to an ordinary pug mill
for working clay is used. Through the central axis of this tub is arranged a
shaft, which has a journal bearing in a suitable framework across the top of
the tub at the upper end, and is supported by a shoulder near the lower end.
The shaft extends through the bottom of the tub, and has attached to its
extremity a toothed bevil wheel. From the shaft interior of the tub radiate
blades or cutters, the office of which is to break up and temper the mass of
peat in the tub. There is also upon this shaft, and near to the bottom a
cutter arranged upon the principle of the propeller blade, and which as the
shaft turns in one direction will give an upheaval tendency to the mass of peat
in the tub, and with the knives act to temper it; but when turned in the
opposite direction will force the peat through the delivery duct preparatory to

page_text: being deposited in layers for drying, as herein-after to be explained. The whole
apparatus is mounted upon a wheel carriage, and is so arranged that the
central shaft can be made to revolve in either direction as the carriage travels
for the purpose of tempering the peat or of delivering it, as may be desired.
This is effected by means of a horizontal shaft located directly beneath the
hinder axletree of the carriage. This horizontal shaft carries a bevil gear
wheel, which engages with the bevil gear wheel on the shaft of the mill. On
the horizontal shaft are also two loose pinions, the teeth of one engaging with
the teeth of the wheel on the nave of one of the hinder wheels of the carriage,
and the teeth of the other pinion gears with the interior teeth of a wheel
fixed on such hind wheel of the carriage. A clutch operated by a lever will,
at the pleasure of the operator, hold either of the pinions fast upon the hori-
zontal shaft, when as a necessary result motion will be communicated to the
shaft of the mill, and in the one direction or in the other according to which
of the two pinions is for the time held fast by the clutch; and by difference in
the relative sizes of these pinions and gear wheels the shaft may be made to
revolve in one direction faster than in the other. Thus when the peat is being
tempered the shaft may only make one half of a revolution for one revolution
of the axle of the carriage; while when the peat is being delivered it may
make five revolutions for one of the axle. If the clutch is placed midway
between the two pinions the carriage can be moved without putting the shaft
of the mill in motion. Various other arrangements for communicating
motion to the shaft of the mill and for reversing its motion can be readily
made, but the one which I have described answers the purpose effectually..
Another feature of my Invention is the means for delivering the peat for
drying. I accomplish this by means of the action of the propeller blades
when made to move in the right direction in forcing the peat through the
delivery spout upon one or more endless aprons in a continuous sheet or
sheets, in combination with a cylinder whose surface is provided with cells of
a convenient size to cut the sheets into the form of cakes of the desired
dimensions. This cylinder turns in bearings directly over the endless apron,
and is driven by a belt passing from a pulley on the axle of the carriage over
a pulley upon the shaft of the cylinder, and as it revolves its weight causes.
the partitions which form the cells to be forced into the sheet of peat, and
cause it to be shoved along the endless apron and delivered upon the floor of
the drying yard. It would be practicable to cause these partitions to cut
clean through the sheet of peat, and thus form the same into blocks of the
shape of bricks; but it will practically be found to be more convenient to use
"this cylinder for the purpose of marking to a depth of one-half of its thickness

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th March 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, Her special licence that I, the said
George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 TEMPERING AND
PREPARING PEAT FOR FUEL," a communication to me from abroad by Nathaniel
Frothingham Potter, of Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, United
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, do 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:
Sheet I., Figure 1 is a top view of a well-known machine for working clay
for bricks with the improvement attached, adapting the same to the pre-
paration of peat; the Drawing, however, for the sake of convenience exhibiting

page_text: only a quadrant of the circular mill employed; Figure 2 is a front elevation
of the working parts of the mill with the improvement attached.
Sheet II., Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine which is intended to
receive the peat after it has been partially prepared by the apparatus shown
in Figures 1 and 2, Sheet I.; Figure 2 is a plan; Figure, 3 is a front view,
partly in section, and partly in perspective.
The importance of peat as an article of fuel has recently attracted much
attention in consequence of the high price which anthracite coals and other
fuels command. Peat in its crude state has long been used extensively by
the peasantry of Ireland and Scotland, but in order to make it an article of
much commercial value, it is necessary to free the rich vegetable mould from
the undecomposed vegetable fibre with which it abounds, as well as to
compress it into a compact mass, and free it by pressure and by evaporation
from the water with which it is saturated.
The purpose of the first part of the Invention is to provide a means for
removing all undecomposed vegetable fibre while the mass is undergoing the
process of tempering or being rendered homogeneous, preparatory to the
operation of forcing it into cakes for drying. The machinery specially
adapted for performing this latter operation is the subject of the second part
of the Invention.
The accompanying Drawing (Sheet I., A, Figure 1,) represents a quadrant
of a machine such as has heretofore been used for tempering clay for bricks.
The machine consists of a circular bed A surrounded by a rim B (Figure 2);
C is a sweep, radiating from a central shaft D (Figure 2), and of a sufficient
height above the plane of the bottom of the bed to accommodate the tem-
pering wheel E, which turns upon the sweep as an axle. This tempering
wheel as the sweep is turned is made to gradually approach a central shaft,
and then as gradually by the shifting of the gearing return toward the rim
of the mill, and thus during its spiral path of travel cut up and render
homogeneous, or "temper" as it is termed, the mass of clay upon which it
acts. I adapt this machine for the purpose of performing the same operation
upon the peat, and operate it to accomplish the tempering process in all
respects as in the instance of working clay preparatory to moulding the same
into bricks. To remove, however, the fibrous material which pervades the
peat, I have added the following devices and combinations:-1 extend the
hub F of the wheel E, enlarging it beyond what would otherwise be
necessary, so as to form a drum. This drum I furnish with comb teeth
a, a, a, which should be sufficiently unyielding to be forced through the mass
of peat, and may be flattened so as to present a blunt cutting edge to

page_text: diminish the effect of resistance. In front of the sweep C, parallel with it,.
and so arranged that it shall travel as the sweep travels, by being connected
at the farther and at the hither end therewith by supporting braces b, b, as
shown, I arrange a trough G (Figure 1), which has a collar at the farther
end, within which is fitted the axle of the supporting wheel H which runs
upon a flanch I upon the top of the rini B. This trough has throughout its
entire length the archimedian screw K, which is mounted upon a bearing at
the hither end of the trough, and is at the outer end attached to the hub of
the wheel H. A portion of the trough nearest the centre of the mill is pro-
vided with a delivery spout or lip, as shown at L, so that the material carried
along by the screw will be allowed to be delivered into the waste tub or
reservoir M formed by the partition c around the axis of the mill. Upon the
side of the trough G nearest to the wheel E, I place a series of comb teeth N
(Figure 2), which extend from the outer end of the trough toward the hither.
end as far as the tempering wheel E travels. Midway between this row of
comb teeth and the sweeps C, but raised above both, as shown in Figure 2,.
is placed the revolving brush O mounted in suitable bearings. This brush
may be provided with bristles, or with flexible wires, and can be made to
revolve as the sweep C turns by means of a driving belt passing over the
drum F of the tempering wheel E. The bristles or their equivalents of
which the brush is composed should be of sufficient length to pass as the
brush revolves between the teeth a, a, a, upon the drum F, and also the teeth
of the comb N upon the trougb.
The operation of the machine is as follows: As the sweep turns around
the axis D, the tempering wheel E will commence its work upon the peat,
and the comb teeth a, a, a, will at the same time be forced through, every
part of the mass, and will take up all the undecomposed fibres or vegetable
material which may be in their path. All such material will be borne
upward by the comb teeth, between which it will be more or less entangled
until the bristles or their equivalents of the brush O, which it will be
observed revolves in the same direction with the drum F, wipe the
same out from the teeth, and deposit it in the trough G; the teeth of the
comb N acting in combination with the revolving brush to strip the bristles
clear from all fibre and refuse material. The refuse matter having been'
deposited as described in the trough G, it is carried along by the archimedian
screw K, which by the friction of the wheel H upon its track I is made con-
stantly to revolve as the sweep C is turned, until it is brought to the point
at L, where it is discharged into the waste reservoir M. In this way not
only will all roots, vegetable fibre, and waste matter be removed from the

page_text: peat, but at the same time the mass will be tempered in readiness for
moulding into cakes, the comb teeth, in addition to their office as extractors of
the woody fibre, greatly assisting the tempering wheel E in the performance
of its office by breaking up and intermixing the particles of the peat.
The second part of the Invention relates to a means for conveniently
preparing and moulding peat for fuel which has been already tempered and
deprived, by the machinery described in the first part of the Invention, of the
greater portion of the undecomposed vegetable fibre which in its natural state
is found to exist in large quantities in it.
In the accompanying Drawings (Sheet II.) A, Figure 1 represents a tub
capable of holding about two tons of peat, and similar in form to the ordinary
pug mill for working clay for bricks. Through the central axis of this tub is
arranged a shaft B (Figure 3), which has a journal bearing in a suitable
framework a across the top of the tub at the upper end, and is supported by
a shoulder 6 near the lower end. The shaft extends through the bottom of
the tub, and has attached to its extremity a toothed bevil wheel C, as shown.
From the shaft B radiate blades or cutters c, c, c, the office of which is to break
up and temper the mass of peat in the tub, and may be of any preferred
shape. There is also upon this shaft and near to the bottom a cover D
arranged upon the principle of the propeller blade, and which, as the shaft B
turns in one direction, will give an upheaval tendency to the mass of peat in
the tub, and with the knives c, c, act to temper it; but when turned in the
opposite direction will force the peat through the delivery duct K preparatory
to being deposited in layers for drying, as herein-after to be explained. The
whole apparatus is mounted upon a wheel carriage, as shown, and is so
arranged that the central shaft B can be made to revolve in either direction
as the carriage travels, for the purpose of tempering the peat or of delivering
it, as may be desired. This is effected in the present instance by means of the
shaft E located directly beneath the hinder axletree of the carriage, which
carries a bevil gear wheel E¹ which engages with the bevil gear wheel C.;
F and F are loose pinions upon this shaft, the teeth of the former engaging
with the teeth of the wheel G, and the teeth of the latter with the gear Gl
(shown in dotted lines, Figure 1) upon the wheel of the carriage. A clutch H
operated by the lever H¹ will, at the pleasure of the operator, hold either the
pinions For F fast upon the shaft E, when, as a necessary result, motion will
be communicated to the shaft B, and in the one direction or in the other,
according to which of the two pinions is held fast by the clutch. It is obvious,
from the relative sizes of these pinions and gear wheels shown, that the
shaft B will be made to revolve in one direction much faster than in the

page_text: other. Thus when the peat is being tempered the shaft B will only make
one half of a revolution for one revolution of the axle of the carriage, while
when the peat is being delivered it will make five revolutions for one of the
axle. If the clutch is placed midway between the two pinions F and F the
carriage can be moved on the surface of the ground without putting the
shaft B in motion. Various other arrangements for communicating motion
to the shaft B and for reversing its motion can be easily made, but the one
which I have exhibited answers the purpose effectually, though I think that
it will be found preferable to obtain the power from both carriage wheels
instead, as in the instance shown, from one only.
I have represented at Figures 1 and 2 an upright shaft I passing through
the platform of the carriage with a toothed wheel upon its lower end which
engages with the teeth of the toothed segment J upon the fore axle. The
object of this is to enable the operator to give the proper direction to the
machine when it is propelled by power derived from the engine through a
drag rope bitched to a staple d. The tongue e can be used and a pair of horses
employed to work the machine when it is to be moved from place to place or
when tempering the peat, especially as I design that the gears for operating
the shaft B to perform the tempering shall not in practice be connected
except when the machine is placed where a train or any suitable road bed,
when the mere friction arising from the weight of the load will be greatly
diminished. But in delivering the peat in layers for drying it is necessary
that the carriage should be moved at a very slow rate of speed, but with great
uniformity, and as this is impracticable without the aid of mechanical power
capable of regulation, I have described both modes which I intend for the
purposes named to employ.
Another feature of the Invention is the means for delivering the peat for
drying. I accomplish this by means of the action of the propeller blades when
made to move in the right direction in forcing the peat through the delivery
spout K (Figure 1) upon one. or more endless aprons L, L, in a continuous
sheet or sheets, in combination with a cylinder M whose surface is provided
with cells of a convenient size to cut the sheets into the form of cakes of the
desired dimensions. This cylinder is hung in bearings directly over the end-
less apron L, and is driven by a belt passing from a pulley on the axle of the
carriage over a pulley upon the shaft of the cylinder, and as it revolves its
weight causes the partitions which form the cells to be forced into the sheet of
peat, and cause it to be shoved along the endless apron and delivered upon
the floor of the drying yard. It would be practicable to cause these partitions

page_text: to cut clean through the sheet of. peat, and thus form the same into blocks
of the shape of bricks, but it will practically be found to be inore convenient
to use this cylinder for the purpose of marking to a depth of one half of its
thickness the sheet of peat, and it can afterwards easily be broken upon these
lines into the suitable size for fuel.
The method which I employ, or its equivalent, for delivering the peat
mechanically, I consider of great importance, as affecting the economy of the
article, for the reason that before peat is fit to be used for fuel it must be
deprived of the water with which it is completely saturated, and as no means
is so effectual for this purpose as that of atmospheric evaporation, it is.
necessary to spread it upon a floor, and the contents of a single tub like that
shown in the Drawing having a capacity of two tons will cover a space of ten
by one hundred and twenty feet.
The Invention is not limited to the particular construction or arrangement
of the several parts of the improvement, but includes all mere formal variations
of structure and arrangement performing in combination the same mode of
operation by equivalent means.
What is claimed as the Invention of the said Nathaniel Frothingham Potter,
and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is,-
First, the use of a series of combing teeth a, a, a, (Sheet I.), or their
equivalents, operating upon the mass of pent to remove the undecomposed
vegetable fibre, in the manner and on the principle substantially as
described.
Second, the combination of a brush or a series of brushes O or clearers
with the combing teeth a, a, a, (Sheet I.), substantially as described for the
purposes specified.
Third, the employment of a series of comb teeth N (Sheet I.), arranged
substantially as shown in combination with the brush or series of brushes O,
for the purposes described.
Fourth, the method, substantially as described, of separating the vegetable
fibre from a mass of crude peat, and transferring the same to a place where
it can be removed by the combination of a moveable set of comb teeth a, a, a,
(Sheet I.), the stationary set of comb teeth N, and the clearing and delivering
brushes O, as herein set forth.
Fifth, the use of a receiving trough G (Sheet I.), or its equivalent, provided
with the archimedian screw K, arranged and operating to receive the refuse
vegetable material extracted from the peat, and to deliver the same to a
suitable receptacle, as described.

page_text: Sixth, the combination of such receiving and delivering apparatus with the
apparatus for extracting and transferring the refuse vegetable material to the
same, as herein described.
Seventh, the combination of a mill for tempering peat, as described, with a
moveable carriage, for the purposes specified.
Eighth, the combination of the clutch H (Sheet II.), with the pinions
F, F, and the toothed gears G, G', for the purpose of imparting motion to
the shaft B in either direction as desired, for the purpose specified.
Ninth, the combination of the endless apron L (Sheet II.), with a cylinder
whose surface is provided with cells or its equivalent, substantially as described
for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (L.S.)