IMPROVEMENTS IN GETTING PEAT, AND IN MANUFACTURING PEAT WITH OTHER MATTERS INTO FUEL
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Maniere, of Bedford Row, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GETTING
PEAT, AND IN MANUFACTURING PEAT WITH OTHER MATTERS INTO FUEL."- A
communication.
Sealed the 3rd October 1854, and dated the 5th June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Maniere at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th June
1854.
I, EDWARD MANIERE, of Bedford Row, in the County of Middlesex, Gentle-
man, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN GETTING PEAT, AND IN MANUFACTURING PEAT WITH OTHER MATTERS INTO FULL,"
to be as follows:-
The objects of this Invention are to obtain peat for and apply peat in the
manufacture of fuel with greater advantages than have heretofore been
obtained. For this purpose, in place of digging the peat by hand labour, as
heretofore, an implement is employed, consisting of a screw and case, which,
being pressed into peat and caused to rotate, raises the peat into suitable
carriages. The peat is then subjected to pressure to extract part of the water;
it is next combined with nitrate of lead, with or without other matters, such as
spent bark, coke, and others. The peat combined with nitrate of lead, with
or without other matters, is then moulded into the forms desired, for which
purpose it is preferred to use rectangular moulds in presses, each such mould

page_text: consisting of a piston, moving between two fixed sides, with a perforated
bottom, and a moveable end, into which the peat is placed first, to get rid of
the water, and then when it has been combined with nitrate of lead, with or
without other matters, in order to form the compound into blocks. These
moulds are either placed around a common axis, and have their pistons
actuated in succession by a common excentric, or the moulds are used in pairs,
and their pistons worked alternately in and out by cams, or by racks and
pinions. The blocks or forms thus moulded and pressed are to be well dried
and then carbonized, and it is preferred that the carbonizing should be
performed in a retort or oven of the following construction -The blocks are
put into a basket or receiver of woven wire, which is introduced into an oven
or retort, which is heated externally by a fire below. The oven or retort is
fixed within a chamber with a fire below the retort; as the retort becomes
heated, the vapours and matters driven off from the fuel are conducted from
the retort or oven by a pipe or pipes to the fire, to assist combustion and
prevent nuisance. The products from the fire are allowed to pass to a chimney
from the chamber in which tho retort or oven is fixed. The fuel, having been
fully carbonized, is allowed to cool to some extent, when it is immersed into
and withdrawn from water; and if it be desired to give to the fuel any particular
perfume, vegetable or other perfuming matters are introduced into the water
so used, and such perfumes will be imparted to the fuel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Maniere in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th December 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
MANIERE, of Bedford Row, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Ier heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, tho
said Edward Maniere, Her special licence that I, the said Edward Maniere,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward Maniere, 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,

page_text: exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GETTING PEAT, AND IN MANUFACTURING PEAT WITH OTHER MATTERS INTO FUEL,"
(communicated to me from abroad,) upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Edward Maniere, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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 I, the said Edward Maniere, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner tho same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say):-
The objects of this Invention are to obtain peat for and apply peat in the
manufacture of fuel with greater advantages than have heretofore been
obtained. For this purpose, in place of digging the peat by hand labour, as
heretofore, an implement is employed, consisting of a screw and case, which,
being pressed into peat and caused to rotate, raises the peat into suitable
carriages. The peat is then subjected to pressure to extract part of the water;
it is next combined with nitrate of lead, with or without other matters, such as
spent bark, coke, and others. The peat, combined with nitrate of lead, with
or without other matters, is then moulded into the forms desired, for which
purpose it is preferred to use rectangular moulds in presses, each such mould
consisting of a piston, moving between two fixed sides, with a perforated bottom
and a moveable end, into which the peat is placed first to get rid of the water,
and then (when it has been combined with nitrate of lead, with or without other
matters), in order to form the compound into blocks. These moulds are either
placed around a common axis, and have their pistons actuated in succession by
a common excentric, or the moulds are used in pairs, and their pistons worked
alternately in and out by cams, or by racks and pinions. The blocks or fornis
thus moulded and pressed are to be well dried and then carbonized, and it is
preferred that the carbonizing should be performed in a retort or oven of the
following construction:-The blocks are put into a basket or receiver of woven
wire, which is introduced into an oven or retort, which is heated externally by a
fire below. The oven or retort is fixed within a chamber, with a fire below
the retort; as the retort becomes heated, the vapours and matters driven off
from the fuel are conducted from the retort or oven by a pipe or pipes to the
fire, to assist combustion and prevent nuisance. The products from the fire
are allowed to pass to a chimney from the chamber in which the retort or oven

page_text: is fixed. The fuel, having been fully carbonized, is allowed to cool to some
extent, when it is immersed into and withdrawn from water; and if it be
desired to give to the fuel any particular perfume, vegetable or other perfuming
matters are introduced into the water so used, and such perfumes will be
imparted to the fuel.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
In getting peat a screw is employed, which, being rotated and pressed into
the peat, causes the peat to be raised up and deposited in the carriage, by
which the screw apparatus is carried. For this purpose, where. the peat will
not bear carriages, a temporary road or way is laid on suitable bearers or
sleepers. The screw apparatus may consist either of a cylinder, having fixed
within it a screw, so that, by the whole revolving and being at the same time
pressed into the peat, the peat will be progressively raised into the carriage; or
the cylinder may have within it a revolving screw, in which case the cylinder
will only require to be pressed into the peat, and the interior screw revolved,
by which the peat will be brought up and deposited in the carriage.
The peat having been got, is next to be well broken up and separated from
its fibrous and heterogenous substances, then brushed through a sieve, and is
then to be subjected to pressure, to separate the water. For the purpose of
breaking up and stirring the peat, a cylinder is used, in a vertical, horizontal,
or other position, with fixed blades or projections similar to those of a pug
mill, within which cylinder a rotating axis with fixed projecting blades thereon
works; the peat is introduced at one end of the cylinder, and is allowed to
pass out through openings near the other end, which openings have slides, to
regulate the size of outlets or to stop them altogether. The peat, having been
thus broken and stirred, falls into a sieve wherein there are brushes, which by
their rotation cause the peat for the most part to be driven through the sieve,
the roots and refuse matters being. retained back, and such matters may be
used for lighting fires or otherwise. The peat which passes through the sieve
is then to be subjected to pressure to separate the water, which may be done in
any convenient machinery; but it is preferred to employ an endless apron to
receive it from the sieve, and, together with another endless apron on the top,
to conduct it through between several pairs of pressing rollers; or; in place of
such machinery, a cylinder or other form of vessel is used, perforated with
numerous small openings, into which the peat is placed, and is driven through
an opening or outlet at the end by a piston; and according to the size of the
opening or outlet at the end of the cylinder or vessel, so will be the resistance
to the
passage of the peat through the opening and through the vessel, and the

page_text: water will flow through the perforations in the cylinder or vessels; or the water
may be separated by centrifugal machinery, such as is now used for separating
fluid from other matters. To none of which machinery is any claim made, the
same being well known and in use for other purposes. The peat, being thus
prepared, is, when desired, next to be mixed with other materials, such as the
small of coke, spent bark, or others; but it is generally preferred to employ
peat with a small quantity of nitrate of lead, and of a paste prepared from
dextrine, without other combustible matters; but whether other combustible
matters be used with the peat or not, nitrate of lead should at all times be
employed, and it is preferred to be used at the rate of about four per cent. of
the peat, or of the peat and other matters. The nitrate of lead is dissolved in
water and mixed with the peat, and as much paste of dextrine is added as will
make the peat, or peat and other matters, into a very stiff plastic mass, which
is then to be moulded into convenient forms, and it is preferred to use moulds
such as are employed to make bricks; but where considerable pressure is
resorted to, it is desirable that some of the sides of the moulds should be per-
forated with fine holes, to admit of the passage away of water. The form of
inould preferred is rectangular, each mould consisting of a piston moving
between fixed sides, the bottom being perforated and the top moveable, to
receive the peat and then to be closed; the end is also moveable, to admit of
the brick of fuel being driven out when it has been compressed for a time
against such end. Such moulds may be set or fixed in a circle, and their
pistons acted on in succession by an excentric; or they may be set or fixed in
pairs, and their pistons alternately acted on by cams, or racks and pinions, or
otherwise. To such machinery, however, no claim is made, similar machinery
having been before used in making bricks and compressing fuel. The moulded
bricks or blocks of peat are then to be well dried and afterwards charred, and
such charring, it is preferred, should be performed in suitable ovens, made of
iron, and heated externally by a suitable fire; and it is preferred that the
moulded peat should be introduced into the oven in a basket or receiver of
wire work, so that a considerable quantity may be put in and taken out of the
oven at one time; and in order to prevent nuisance, this oven has pipes lead-
ing from the interior to the fire, so that the products coming over may be
burned, and the heat thus produced aid in charring the contents of the oven.
It should, however, be remarked, that it is not new thus to char moulded
blocks of peat, and consequently no claim is made thereto.
When the pcat
has been charred and allowed to cool down for a time in the oven, tho basket
or receiver with the peat may be taken out, and if not cold, may be placed in
water for a short time; and if it is desired to give to the fuel thus made any
•

page_text: particular perfume, the material offering such perfume is to be dissolved or
macerated in the water so used, and a perfume will be imparted to the fuel.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Maniere, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness;
GEO. PITT,
4, Old Square.
EDW. MANIERE. (L.S.)