Specification of Jasper Wheeler Rogers : preparing peat for fuel, and using the same in combination with other substances as manure.

  • Rogers, Jasper W.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of Jasper Wheeler Rogers : preparing peat for fuel, and using the same in combination with other substances as manure. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Rogers Improved Methods for the Preparation of Peat, <fyc. first of about two feet, and this I continue to remove alternately the peat from the trenches longitudinally, and from the intermediate part of the bog trans- versly, cutting each about two feet deep, by which means I prevent the bog from falling in by lateral pressure, and effect the drainage of the whole by the 5 terraces or steps which are thus formed by degrees in the bog, and which pro¬ vide for the drainage of the water from the general mass. After this process has been carried into effect over the whole surface of the peat, moss, or bog to be reclaimed, then the surface or crust which has been left uncut between the trenches is cut away over the whole extent of the bog under reclamation, com- 10 mencing at the points nearest to the natural outfall. When the surface or crust has been removed, the second step or terrace is removed in the same way, then the third and fourth, until the entire is taken away, and the substratum can be then made fit for cultivation. Having explained the mode which I prefer in cutting the peat from the bog, I will now proceed to describe the 15 means employed for drying and preparing the peat. In Sheet II. of the Drawings, Figures 1 and 2 represent a portable shed, to be made of wood or wickerwork as most convenient, open at the ends and sides, but having a waterproof covering at top of any convenient flexible material, and which hangs over the side. This shed is intended to receive the blocks of 20 peat soon after they are cut from the bog, in order that they may be partially dried by the action of the wind. The blocks are placed, immediately upon being cut from the bog, on trays a, a, which may be made of wood or wire or wickerwork, as most convenient, similar to that shewn at Figure 3, and the trays are piled one above the other in the portable shed h, b, to the sides of 25 which handles c, c, are attached, for carrying the shed from one place to another, or its bottom framing may be furnished with wheels if thought necessary. The sheds are placed in exposed positions, so that the air may circulate around and through them, and thereby drive off the moisture from the peat. When the peat has been thus exposed for a few days, according 30 to the season and state of the weather, the shed, with its load, is removed to the drying station, where it is unpacked, and the peat is piled up in clamps to receive an artificial drying in the manner following, now to be explained. In Sheet III. one of the kilns or frames in which the peat is piled up to receive the artificial drying is shewn in several views. Fig. 1 is a longitudinal 35 elevation, partly in section, the better to shew the interior arrangement; Fig. 2 is an end view; Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1 ; and Fig. 4 is a plan view with a portion of the outer casing removed. This kiln or drying shed is erected over an excavation made in the ground, and forming a continuous ashpit from one end to the other of the shed. The sides of the pit
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