Specification of Michael Linning : converting peat into fuel, and obtaining tar, gas, &c.

  • Linning, M. (Michael)
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of Michael Linning : converting peat into fuel, and obtaining tar, gas, &c. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Linning's Improved Method of Converting Peat into Fuel, <${c. to dry the manufactured article completely, as will be easily descernible, and which is obtained in a very hard and dense state, and may be used for the same purposes as pit coal, with the advantage that it is free, at least generally so, from sulphur; and besides, in the spring, summer, and autumnal months I 5 dry said fuel in sheds and tents, and in frames either of wood or iron wire, in the open air; said frames to have a tent or canopy roof so constructed, as completely to throw off the rain and protect the fuel in the shelves under¬ neath from the rain and from nocturnal dews and frosts; and for the better preservation of such frames I paint them with the tar extracted from the fuel in. 10 the process of coking. I moreover obtain residuary matters from furnaces,,, fireplaces, and stove flues in which the above fuel is burnt, which, after being grinded either in water or oil, and freed from all impurities, may advantageously be employed as colouring matters, and as substitutes for ivory black and for Roman ochre or English umber and similar pigments. I likewise prepare 15 coke from the same fuel, in coking kilns similar in construction to those used for coking coal, but in which the draft is smaller and the access of external air still more restricted, or in retorts. I also produce tar in making the coke, which may be used as a substitute for foreign tar in smearing sheep, for making pitch, and other purposes. By heating the fuel in a close vessel or 20 retort, or proper distillatory apparatus, such as is well known to chemists and persons conversant in these matters, gas, ammonia, oil, and materials of which candles may be made, and which may be used as a varnish, are produced, besides the coke and tar. Again, by the admixture of this fuel, either in a high dried state or in its coke, with its own tar, I also obtain a totally new 25 and different modification of it, which will be found a powerful and fertile- * generative of steam or gas, giving out an intense heat and bright flame. For the immediate and economical supply of my fires and furnaces for my stoves, kilns, and retorts, I either by an expeditiously and simply applied compression and evaporation, or both, or in ovens, or on hot hearths, reduce the substance SO directly as it comes either from the moss field or the mill into a fuel sufficiently adapted for the above temporary and subservient purposes, namely, of feeding my fires and furnaces. Having now described my said Invention in such a manner as to enable competent persons to practice the same, I will point out what I claim as my 35 said Invention. And whereas the different mechanical and other apparatus, such as mills and presses, kilns and stoves, which I have described or referred to in describing how to convert peat moss, peat turf, or bog into fuel, according to my improved method, as well as the different processes which I have- :