IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURES FROM PEAT
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Hodgson, of Ballyreine, Co. Wicklow, and
Merlin Park, Co. Galway, Ireland, and Patrick Moir Crane, of the
Irish Peat Works, Athy, Ireland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MANUFACTURES FROM PEAT."
Sealed the 27th July 1860, and dated the 30th January 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Hodgson and
Patrick Moir Crane at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,.
with their Petition, on the 30th January 1860.
We, HENRY HODGSON, of Ballyreine, Co. Wicklow, and Merlin Park, Co..
Galway, Ireland, and PATRICK MOIR CRANE, of the Irish Peat Works, Athy, .
Ireland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MANUFACTURES FROM PEAT," to be as follows:-
Our improvements in manufactures from peat consist in cutting pieces of
peat or turf from the bog direct, and expressing the water from them by
presses suitably arranged, thereby solidifying them. These pieces after proper
drying and pressing again can be made useful for various purposes, such as
in roofing in buildings and other.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Hodgson and Patrick Moir Crane in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 27th July 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
HODGSON, of Ballyreine, County Wicklow, and Merlin Park, County Galway,
Ireland, and PATRICK MOIR CRANE of the Irish Peat Works, Atby, Ireland,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said Henry Hodgson and Patrick Moir Crane,
Her special licence that we, the said Henry Hodgson and Patrick Moir
Crane, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Henry Hodgson and Patrick Moir Crane, our 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 MANUFACTURES PROM PEAT,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Henry Hodgson
and Patrick Moir Crane, our executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
'tion, 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 we, the said Henry Hodgson and Patrick
Moir Crane, do, hereby, declare the, nature of our said. Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following, statement :-
Our Invention. consists in preparing from, peat in its natural state, blocks,
slabs, or pieces of any size, form, or thickness;, which blocks, slabs, or pieces
are, when so prepared, found to, be useful and economical in the construction of
parts of buildings and for various other useful purposes. We cut the peat as it
is found in the bog in pieces suitable to the dimensions we require to be
produced, preferring for our purposes to use the light surface or flow peat.

page_text: We place these blocks between cloths of woven or textile fabric, woollen,
hemp fibre, or other suitable material, made sufficiently open to allow the free
egress of the water (contained in the peat when taken from the bog). When
the peat is so enveloped it is placed between shelves and is submitted to the
action of an upright hydraulic or other press. When sufficient pressure has
been applied the water is entirely forced out. and the peat solidified and ready for
drying, which is effected either by exposure to the atmosphere or in a room
heated artificially, or by any process by which the remaining moisture
may be entirely exhaled. After the water is evaporated from the pieces and
they are thoroughly dry, they are to be put again between the plates of a
hydraulic or other press, and extreme pressure put on them. If the product
of our Invention be required for use for inside work in building, such as
partitions, linings, inside roofing, or for other work as a non-conducting
substance, they do not require other further preparation than shaping, provided
they are not to be exposed to wet. But the slabs or pieces we use for
roofing (instead of slates, tiles, or other things of that nature) we prepare to
resist the wet or action of the atmosphere by steeping them in, or saturating
or coating them with, some substance which will fill the pores such as a
solution of glue and alum, oil, tar, or the same mixed with sand or finely
screened gravel, or other similar gritty or stony substance, and afterwards
drying them. It is also desirable (where gritty substances are ot used in
the preparation) either to coat such as are to be used instead of slates for
roofing with coal tar pitch (in the way well understood by those who
construct roofs of felt or wood) or paint them with oil paint. By the above-
described operations a material is produced which is advantageously used as
regards lightness, durability, and economy, not only for roofing and building
as aforesaid, but for covering steam boilers, steam pipes, flues, and other
articles or places where heat is to be retained and not conducted or allowed
to escape, or outward cold to be resisted.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention and the means by
which we carry it into practical effect, and alluded to some of the advantages
secured by the use of our manufactures or products from peat, we desire it to
be distinctly understood that we do not restrict ourselves to the mode of
pressure herein described, as pressure may be obtained in other convenient
ways, which will suggest themselves to the practical man; nor do we confine
ourselves to the precise mode of placing the peat for pressure, as this may be
varied to suit the means of pressure; and we lay no claim to the exclusive use
of the mechanism or articles used in forming our products, as they form no part

page_text: or portion of our Invention, which we declare to be and we claim the
exclusive manufacture from peat of blocks, slabs, or pieces to be used for
building, roofing, and other purposes, treated, prepared, or manufactured as
herein-before directed or described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Patrick Moir Crane, on behalf of myself
and of the said Henry Hodgson, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
JAMES THOMSON,
Duke St., Athy,
Kildare, Ireland.
P. MOIR CRANE. (L.S.)