IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING PEAT IN BOGS AND OBTAINING IT THEREFROM, ALSO APPBLE
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Hodgson, of Portarlington, Queen's County,
Ireland, Esquire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS
FOR TREATING PEAT IN BOGS AND OBTAINING IT THEREFROM, ALSO APPLICABLE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Chailes Hodgson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd August 1865.
I, CHARLES HODGSON, of Portarlington, Queen's County, Ireland,
Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING PEAT IN BOGS AND OBTAINING IT
THEREFROM, ALSO APPLICABLE TO
follows:-
TILLING AND CULTIVATING LAND," to be as
My Invention consists in the application of steam or other power as bere-
after described to harrowing and scraping the surface of and ploughing or
cutting peat bogs.
For this purpose having prepared and, if required, drained the portion of
bog to be operated upon as described in the Specification of a former Patent

page_text: gianted to me 20th June, 1861, No. 1593, I proceed to lay down a railway
or tramway along the centre of such prepared ground, which should be com-
paratively narrow, and as long as may be required for the purpose or allowed
by the nature of the ground, I then provide a truck, waggon, or carriage
suited to run on this railway or tramway, and upon such carriage I construct
of wood, iron, or other material, a beam or gider of such form, proportions,
and strength as shall be capable of reaching across the entire width of the
piece of bog to be operated upon, and along the centre of which the railway or
tramway runs as before described. To this beam so stretching across the bog
I attach by ropes, chains, or otherwise, one or several barrows, and 1 then
give motion to the carriage or bearer by a locomotive or by an engine placed
on the carriage itself, or by animal or any other power, and thus drag the said
harrows over the ground, and thereby tear up, pulverize, and partially dry
I then proceed to turn in this pulverized portion towards the
ailway for subsequent removal by dragging, instead of the harrows, one
o several ploughs or scrapers, at such an angle as shall be found most
convenient for causing the peat mould already harrowed as described gradually
to approach the railway. Or for the same purpose I use any implement
capable of scraping the peat mould directly towards the railroad by hauling
the same with a rope or chain (moved by the steam or other power used)
towards the carriage on which the beam is placed or towards the locomotive,
the said rope passing round a wheel or pulley fixed at the end of the beam
or gider, or placed on any stand, vebicle, or carriage attached thereto.
My Invention is also applicable to moving and working implements employed
in tilling and cultivating land.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Hodgson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd February 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
HODGSON, of Portarlington, Queen's County, Ireland, Esquire, send 3
greeting.
WHEREAS He most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign did, for Herself, Iler heirs and successors, give and grant unto 3

page_text: .
me, the said Charles Hodgson, Her special licence that I, the said
Charles Hodgson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Charles Hodgson, 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 theroin 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 AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING PEAT IN BOGS
AND OBTAINING IT THEREFROM, ALSO APPLICABLE TO TILLING AND CULTIVATING
LAND," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles
Hodgson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Hodgson, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that
is to say:-
My Invention consists in the application of steam or other power, as here-
after described, to harrowing and scraping the surface of and ploughing or
cutting peat bogs.
For this purpose having prepared, and, if required, drained the portion of
bog to be operated on, as described in the Specification of a former Patent
granted to me 20th June, 1861, No. 1598, I proceed to lay down a railway
or tramway along the centre of such prepared ground, which should be com-
paratively narrow, and as long as may be required for the purpose or allowed
by the nature of the ground. I then provide a truck, waggon, or carnage
suited to run on this railway or tramway, and upon such carriage I construct
of wood, iron, or other material, a beam or girder of such form, proportions,
and strength as shall be capable of reaching across the entire width of the
piece of bog to be operated on, and along the centre of which the railway or
tramway runs as before described To this beam so stretching across the bog
I attach by ropes, chains, or otherwise, one or several barrows, and I then
give motion to the carriage or beam by a locomotive or by an engine placed
on the carriage itself, or by ammal or other power, and thus diag the said

page_text: harrows over the ground, and thereby tear up, pulverize, and partially dry
the same I then proceed to turn in this pulverized portion towards the rail-
way for subsequent removal by dragging, instead of the harrows, one or several
ploughs or scrapers, set at such an angle as shall be found most convenient
for causing the peat mould already harrowed as described gradually to
approach the railway Or for the same purpose I use any implement
capable of scraping the peat mould directly towards the railroad by hauling
the same with a rope or chain (moved by the steam or other power used)
towards the carriage on which the beam is placed or towards the loco-
motive.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is an elevation of an apparatus
constructed as before described for treating peat in bogs.
a, a, is a rail or tramway laid down along the centre of the prepared bog }
b is a truck or carriage, the wheels of which run on the railway a; c is a
lattice girder constructed and supported upon the carriage b; this girder is
stayed by chains_01 10pes d, d, connected to uprights e, e; f.f, are harrows
attached by chains or ropes g, g, to the guder o. On motion being com-
municated to the carriage and guder by a locomotive or by an engine on the
caniage, or by animal or other power, the harrows fare dragged over the
ground, and tear up and pulverize it. The manner of fitting ploughs or
scrapers to the girder c in place of the hairows for the purpose of turning in
the pulverized portion towards the railway requires no further explanation.
When I use an implement or scraper for scraping the peat mould directly
towards the railway by hauling the implement by a 1ope or chain towards
the railway I prefer to employ the implement represented in side view in
Figure 2, and in front view in Figure 3. a is a frame fitted with a wheel b,
and provided with horizontal handles c, and with other handles d, carried up in
a similar manner to the handles of a hand plough; e is a scraper held in the
frame b, is the rope which leads to the carnage on the railway. This
implement is first wheeled out by a man in a similar way to a wheel barrow
to the point from which the peat mould is to be scraped inwards; the man
while so wheeling takes hold of the lower handles c so as to raise the scraper e
clear of the ground; the implement is then hauled in towards the railway,
while the man presses down the upper handles & to cause the scraper to enter
the mould.
My Invention is also applicable to moving and working implements employed
in tilling and cultivating land
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim treating peat in
bogs, and obtaining it therefrom, also tilling and cultivating land substantially
in the manner and by apparatus arranged and acting as herein-before described
and represented in the accompanying Diawings.
In witness whercof, I, the said Charles Hodgson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six.
CHARLES HODGSON. (L.S.)