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1C53] 



IRISH INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION. 



265 



CiinHitian SiiimniL 



TORONTO, JULY, 1853. 



Iri.'h Indnstiial Exhibition. 



In the Juno iminbor of the Journnl we introJuceil a descrip- 

 tion of the Inauguration of Ireland's first Great Exhibition of the 

 productions of her own and other nations' Industiy. We now 

 give a series of extracts from the London Ilhmiraied Kews, 

 descriptive of the most important Irish natural and artificial 

 productions. 



RAW MATERIALS. 1. TURF OB PEAT. 



Among tlie many raw materials that conduce to the happi- 

 ness of the human familj', fuel fills, perhaps, the most important 

 place. Turf is generally considered as particularly characteristic 

 of Ireland, where it occupies the same position in social economy 

 that coal fills with us. But, even independently of the various 

 uses to which it can be applied, the large area it occupies is alone 

 sufficient to claim more than ordinary attention. The entire 

 surface covered by bog is estimated at 2,830,000 acres, which is 

 nearly one-seventh of the whole of Ireland. Of this quantit}', 

 1,576,000 acres are flat bog, spread over the central portions of 

 the great limestone plain ; and the remaining 1,254,000 acres 

 are mountain bog, chiefly scattered over the hilly portions of the 

 country near the coast. As compared to the other mineral sub- 

 stances, (among which turf may be classed), it is of a compara- 

 ti\'ely modern date. All bogs also abound in timber- — principally 

 oak, yew, pine and birch. The oak is generally as black and 

 hard as ebony, whilst the colour of the yew is but slightly 

 changed, to a rich brown or chocolate coloi-. Both the oak and 

 yew are found nearer the bottom of the bog than the pine and 

 birch, and mostly in a position to show that the tree had been 

 upright, even after the formation of the bog had made some 

 firogress. 



As the bogs vary in depth, position, and appearance, so, too, 

 the turf differs in its characteristics. Some turf is almost as black 

 and hard as coal ; whilst in bogs almost in the same locality the 

 turf is soft, and formed of fibrous substances scarcely half decayed. 

 But the chemical constituents differ still more widely, and often, 

 too, in the same bog. Of this an example is given in the " Indus- 

 trial Resources of Ireland." A section of the bog of Timahoe, 

 forty feet deep, was tested, and the amount of ash it contained 

 was found to vary. The portions near the surface contained 1^- 

 per cent of ashes ; the central portions 3:^ per cent ; whilst the 

 lowest ten feet contained 19 per cent of ashes. Further experi- 

 ments show that the turf which is found at a depth of forty feet 

 or more, and consequently subjected to a very great pi'essuve, ap- 

 proximates very closel}' to coal in its composition, as well as 

 density and color; and, accordingly, we are justified in concluding 

 that turf might be artificially made to undergo this change. 



The first difficulty which must be surmounted, before turf can 

 become as useful as coal, is to decrease its bulk; but there is 

 another great difficulty to be overcome. Turf, fVom its porous 

 nature, retains a large quantity of water. Ordinary turf retains a 

 fourth of its weight; and turf, carefully dried under cover, still 

 retains a tenth ; and this is a serious disadvan'iage, not onl}' be- 

 cause it adds to the weight and bulk of the turf by the addition 

 of a useless ingredient, but because the presence of water robs the 

 Vol.. 1, No. 12, Jl-lv, 1853. 



furnace of an amount of heat (in order to expel it in the form of 

 vapor) which would otherwise have been profitably employed. 



The most natural method of condensing turf, was the applica- 

 tion of great jjressure by means of a powerful hydraulic engine. 

 By this means turf was not only compressed into a smaller bulk, 

 but the water it contained was forcibly expelled. Two difficulties, 

 however, were soon found to exist — both arising from the elasti- 

 city of the fibres in the tuif — ^an immense power was required, 

 and the fibres gradually expanding, attracted damp from the 

 atmosphere. 



To get rid of the difficulties that arose from the elasticity of the 

 fibres, it was proposed to place the turf mould, as raised from the 

 bog, in large tanks, and to have it trodden by cattle, or kept in 

 agitation by machinery, whilst a stream of water flowed through. 

 By this process, the light and fibrous portions were easily separa- 

 ted from the denser, and the latter being permitted to fall to the 

 bottom of the tank in a sediment, was easily dried when the 

 water was shut off. The artificial coal made by this process is 

 hard and heavy, and possesses almost all the valuable qualities of 

 coal. 



Nor are the fibrous portions of the turf mere waste. They are 

 at present extensively used at the paper-mills, in the manufacture 

 of the coarser sorts of card-board, known as mill-board, and of 

 which the covers of books, &e., are made, and generally in the 

 manufacture of all the coarser articles made of papier mache. 

 Many specimens of these will be found in the Exhibition. 



THE DESTRUCTIVE DISTILLATION OF PEAT. 



Turf occupies an intermediate position between wood and coal, 

 the different varieties of turf approaching more or less near to 

 each ; and, as both coal and wood have long been used in vari- 

 ous processes, it is not surprising that many similar experiments 

 should have been made with turf. The destructive distillation of 

 wood is carried on upon an extensive scale in many localities, 

 both in England and Ireland, and forms an important branch of 

 industry. Its principal products are wood-vinegar, pyroligneous 

 acid, creosote, naphtha, and charcoal. Our readers are still more 

 familiar with the distillation of coal, which is principally conduc- 

 ted upon a large scale for obtaining gas for illumination, but the 

 manufacture of which has incidentally led to the production of 

 several other substances, including coal-naphtha, sal-ammoniac, 

 lamp-black, &c. As both these manufactures have long existed 

 as important branches of industr}', it is surprising that more 

 enterprising efibrts were not made long since with peat, which 

 occuj)ied the intermediate place between the two. As it would 

 be impossible to review the various processes, we shall rest satisfied 

 with a glance at the experiments made by Mr. Reece, at New- 

 town Crommelin. 



In the year 1849, Mr. Reece having brought his experiments 

 to a satisfactory conclusion, obtained a patent for his invention of 

 the process of distilling peat in an air blast, and thereby obtain- 

 ing certain products. As the matter was one of considerable 

 interest, and of vast importance to Ireland, his process was made the 

 subject of scientific inquiry at the Museum of Irish Industr}-, and 

 an elaborate report upon it was published. Mr. Reece proposed, 

 instead of putting the turf into a closed vessel or i-etort, and dis- 

 tilling it as coal is distilled, by the application of external beat, 

 to make the heat generated by its own combustion the an-ent in 

 its distillation. The turf being placed in an iron cylinder, and 

 the lower portion ignited, the heat so produced acts as the heat of 

 an external fire would have done upon the peat lying immediate- 

 ly above. Thus in the upper part of the furnace, there is a 

 simple distillation and a coking of the peat ; whilst, in the lower 

 portion, the com.bust!on of the peat charcoal, as it descends, is 



