US44520A - Improved process for solidifying peat - Google Patents

Description

PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS ELSBERG, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVED PROCESS FOR SOLIDIFYING PEAT.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 44.520, dated October 4, 1864.

To all whom 'it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LOUIS ELSBERG, of the city, county,-and State of New York, have invented anew and useful Process for Solidifylug-Peat; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of my said invention.

' Peat in its natural state is saturated with water, which it is necessary to remove 'in order to enable it to'be conveyed to distant ma'rkets andtov render it suitable for fuel. The peculiar porous structure of the peat opposes the removal of the water by direct pressure, while the removal of it by drying is not only a tedious process,but generally leaves the article with a loose open structure, which untits it for conveyance to distant markets.

The object of my invention is to enable the peat to be solidified rapidly at a low cost and it consists of a process composed essentially of three operations, which are, first, the beating of the peat; second, the grinding of it to a pulp, and, third, the separation of the water from it by pressure. In fact, I have discovered byexperiment that when pea-t is subjected to a heat of about the boiling-point of water-say 212a change'takes place in the character of the vegetable fibers contained in. it, their elasticity appearing to be destroyed, and the change is such that the mass is read ily reducible by grinding to a pulp, from which thesvater can be readily expressed, leaving the material in a hard solid cake, of a density approaching that of coaL' My invention is not confined to the use of particular machinery, and it may be practiced with machines now used for other purposes.

'lhe.best mode with which I am acquainted of applying the heat to thepeatis bysubjectin'g it in a vat to the action of steam produced in a. high-pressure steam-boiler and introduced ,by a perforated pipe into the bottom of the vat. The best machinery with which I am acquainted for the purpose of grinding it to a pulp is the ordinary pulping-engine used for the manufacture of paper. The best machinery with which I am acquainted for the purpose of expressing the water is the hydraulic pressure used for pressing the stearine in the manufacture of stearine candles and for simi lar purposes. In order to practice my invention with such machinery, I introduce a perforated steam-pipe directly into the bottom of the vat of the pulping-engine and connect this perforated pipe with the steam-boiler by a pipe'fitted with a valve or stop-cock to regu-.

latethe passage of ste'am, so that the peat can be heated and ground simultaneously. Icharge the vatof the engine with crude peat and water in such proportions that the mixture is sufficiently thin to be acted upon by the engine,

the quantity of water added depending upon wheel covered with fine wire-gauze. The heating, grinding, and washing are continued until the massis reduced to a uniform pulp and the water is colorless, the effect of the Wash-, ing being the removal of any soluble matters with which the peat is mixed. ,The operation is then stopped,and the mass of pulpisdraiued of water as thoroughly as possible, first, by the operation of the scoop-wheel, and then by discharging it-from the mill and permitting it to lie upon a wire-gauze floor, after which it is subjected to pressure. For this purpose it may be first pressed lightly in perforated iron cases lined with wire-gauze, the tops and bottoms of the cases being formed by the platens of the press. The cakes produced by the first pressure should then be pressed a second time with the utmost pressure to which the material is to be subjected, and the pressing operation should be performed in a press heated-- by steam, like those employed for hot-pressing cakes of stcarine in the candle manufacture, the effect of which is to solidify the cakes, so that they approximate coal inhardness and weight. The solidified peat in this form may be transported to market as coal is and used for fuel in the same manner.

Having thus described the best mode with which I am acquainted of practicing my invention, I declare that I do not claim to be the insecure by Letters Patent, is-- ventor of the operation of grinding peat, nor In testimony whereof I have hereunto set of discharging the water from it by pressure, my hand. aim of the machinery I have described for prae- .ticing my invention; but LOUIS ELSBERGF \Vhut I claim as my invention, and desire to Witnesses:

WILLIAM ELM'ER,

LEOPOLD JAROSLAW'SKI.

The process of solidifying pent by the operations of heating, grinding, and pressure, substantially as set forth.