The account that has been given of them will serve to illustrate what mechanism has accomplished hitherto in the manufacture of peat-fuel, and may save the talent of the American inventor from wasting itself on what is already in use, or having been tried, has been found wanting. At present, very considerable attention is devoted to the subject. Scarcely a week passes without placing one or more Peat-mill patents on record. In this treatise our business is with what has been before the public in a more or less practical way, and it would, therefore, be useless to copy the specifications of new, and for the most part untried patents, which can be found in the files of our mechanical Journals.
As we have seen, air-dry peat contains 20 to 30 and may easily contain 50 _per cent._ of water, and the best hot-made machine peat contains 15 _per cent._ When peat is used as fuel in ordinary furnaces, this water must be evaporated, and in this process a large amount of heat is consumed, as is well understood. It is calculated, that the temperature which can be produced in perfectly burning full-dried peat, compares with that developed in the combustion of peat containing water, as follows:--
Pyrometric effect of perfectly dry peat 4000° F. " " peat with 30 _per cent._ of water 3240° " " " " 50 " " 2848° "
But, furthermore, moist or air-dried peat does not burn in ordinary furnaces, except with considerable waste, as is evident from the smokiness of its flame. When air-dried peat is distilled in a retort, a heavy yellow vapor escapes for some time after the distillation begins, which, obviously, contains much inflammable matter, but which is so mixed and diluted with steam that it will not burn at all, or but imperfectly. It is obvious then, that when a high temperature is to be attained, anhydrous or full-dried peat is vastly superior to that which has simply been cured in the open air.
Notice has already been made of Weber's drying-house, the use of which is an essential part of his system of producing peat-fuel. Various other arrangements have been proposed from time to time, for accomplishing the same object. It appears, however, that in most cases the anticipations regarding their economy have not been fully realized. It is hardly probable, that artificially dried peat can be employed to advantage except where waste heat is utilized in the operation.