IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PRODUCTS FROM PEAT
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Patrick, Moir Crane, of Athy, in the County of
Kildare, Manager of Works, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF PRODUCTS FROM PEAT."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Patrick Moir Crane at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd February 1855.
I, PATRICK MOIR CRANE, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN. THE MANUFACTURE OF PRODUCTS FROM PEAT" to be as;
follows:-
In the distillation of peat in furnaces when a blast of air is used (which is.
conducted at present in furnaces similar to those for smelting iron), the blast.
of air is blown through twyres upon the peat in the furnaces, which is entirely
consumed. Now, my. Invention is having a furnace adjacent or joined to the
present blast furnace at the lower part of it, in which I put fuel and blow into.
it, and create the gases which I send into the furnaces at present used; the
heat and gas so created is the means of carrying on the process of distillation,
and the charcoal, which is at present burned, I draw out of the furnace and
save by apertures made for that purpose...

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Patrick Moir Crane in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PATRICK
MOIR CRANE, of Athy, in the County of Kildare, Manager of Works, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent, Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, tho
said Patrick Moir Crane, Her especial license that I, the said Patrick Moir
Crane, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Patrick Moir Crane, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during tlie 'terin 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PRODUCTS FROM: PEAT," upon condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Patrick Moir Crane, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Patrick Moir Crane, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by. the following.
statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and forming part of this my 'Specification, on the Figures or Diagrams of which
similar letters of reference are placed, to denote similar parts .where such
parts appear
My Invention consists in the distillation of peat in furnaces where the gases
are driven through them by a blast of air, in economizing and saving of
charcoal therein, and in the means used for producing combustion and heat in
such furnaces. In the mode or modes now used, one of which is known as
Reece's Patent, a blast of air is driven through the peat in the same furnace.
as that in which combustion goes on and the charcoal is consumed. Now,
the nature of my improvements consist in having a seperate chamber or com-

page_text: 1/77
or
partment adjoining the furnace of combustion for distilling the peat and saving
the charcoal, and in the adaptation of the furnace of combustion for other
fuel besides peat, as now used. By, reference to Figure 1 on the Drawing,
it will be seen that, A, B, is a section of a, furnace for combustion,..the..same
or similar to the furnaces in ordinary use, at present, and is to be charged
filled with peat in the usual manner at the hopper.a; when the charge is
completed the valve is closed. The chamber or compartment C, D, is likewise
filled with peat at the hopper a; which is then also closed. The furnace, A, B,
being lighted, the blast is put on by the twyers C, C, at B, and is kept filled
as the peat descends. When the peat is distilled in C, D, the charcoal is
drawn out at the door E, the r
gas passes out from the furnace A, B, and con-
partment C, D, at the outlet pipes F, F, "into the usual condensors, scrubbers,
et cetra, that passing from A, B, being the means of distilling and charring
the peat in C, D. The compartment C, D, is kept filled by the hopper when
the charcoal is drawn out. In adapting the furnace of combustion for other
fuel besides peat, I construct a furnace, as shewn at A, B, in Figure 2 of the
Drawing, adjoining the chamber or compartment C, D, which is the same as
in Figure 1. This furnace A, B, is to be used in cases where it is desirable
to use other fuel for raising heat and gas than peat, and in it I put coke,
anthracite, coal, culm, or any combustible of like nature. The furnace being
lighted, blast is to be introduced at the Figures C, C, at B; the heated gases
passing through C, D, are the means of distilling the peat, which is to be put
in as before described, the charcoal being drawn in the same manner. Where
it is desirable to use inflammable gas, I make use of a furnace for combustion,
seen at A, B, in Figure 3 of the Drawing; the gas being admitted at a flue
G, a blast of air is thrown upon it from pipes communicating with a blast
pipe H; the gas being thus highly heated is carried by the pressure of the air
through the compartment C, D, which is the same, and used for the same
purposes as in the former arrangements. The gas for the above furnace may
be either produced incidentally to the manufacture, as is the case in the two
furnaces before described, and in blast furnaces generally, or may be prepared
by any of the ordinary known means.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be carried into practical effect, I would here observe that I do
not intend to restrict myself to the exact arrangements shewn in the Drawing
hereunto annexed; as the relative proportions and disposition of parts may be
varied or modified without in any way departing from the principle of my
Invention; and I would further say, that I lay no claim to the exclusive use
of any of the mechanical parts described or shewn taken as parts and not used

page_text: in combination or for the purposes of my Invention, which I declare to be,
and I claim,
Firstly, the introduction of a compartment to be filled with peat between
the furnace of combustion and the condensors; by which the heated gas is used
in its passage for distillation, and for saving the charcoal in cases where the
manufacture is carried on by means of a blast of air..
Secondly, I claim the means herein-before described by which other. fuel
than peat as at present used can be employed for the distillation of peat.
In witness whereof, I, the said Patrick Moir Crane, have hereunto
affixed my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
EDWARD SHARMAN,
Duke Street, Athy,
Ireland.
P. MOIR CRANE. (L.S.)