Peat-ma-chine′.
A machine by which peat, either alone or in combination with other inflammable materials, as coal-dust, is prepared for fuel. |
| Boat peat-machine. |
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| Bank peat-machine. |
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| Peat-molding machine. |
A large number of these machines has of late years been patented in the United States. These are more hopper, where it is fed into the pulping-trough and separator E F. This is separated into communicating compartments, and has a shaft provided with radial arms by which the peat is comminuted, afterward passing into the pulping and distributing or less complicated, according to their special function, some being merely designed to cut the peat or to cut and break it, while others perform the whole series of operations by which it is delivered in the form of a densely pressed cake ready for drying and burning.
A few representative examples are shown.
Most of the peat-machines are merely grinders and pressers, which deliver the comparatively homogeneous and dry material in blocks. These machines are so like brick-machines that it would appear like duplication to repeat them here. See brick-machine.
In Fig. 3592, the peat is cut by the screw-excavator B and delivered on to the endless belt C, by which it is carried to a trough, which also contains a rotating shaft with radial arms, by which it is farther pulped, and deposited through an aperture at bottom, on an endless band, which conveys it to the peat-bed, where it is rolled and drained.
Fig. 3593 is for operation on land. The conveyor-frame is made in three sections, the upper one resting upon the top of the framework, the others being hinged so as to be raised or lowered to bring the buckets into the proper position to dig the peat from the bank. The buckets are carried by an endless band from the peat-bed to the top of the machine, where their contents are discharged into a disintegrating mill, from whence the peat passes between pressure-rollers, and falls into a trough, which carries it forward and distributes it upon the ground to be dried.
In Fig. 3594, the peat is fed into a hopper, passing through the tube h to a series of molds on an endless belt between the rollers D E, by which it is compressed into cakes; these are delivered from the molds at the rear end of the machine.
