REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST 1903 59 



pletecl briquet, the third die receives its coating of oil from the 

 oil swab. Power is transmitted through belting to a pulley on 

 the pinion shaft and thence by a 5 foot gear wheel operating the 

 eccentric shaft. The machine is steadied by a heavy fly wheel on 

 each of these two shafts and runs quietly and with little vibration, 

 notwithstanding the immense and sudden pressure exerted twice 

 every revolution. It makes 50 or 51 revolutions per minute, j^ro- 

 ducing 100 or 102 briquets." 



Peat coke and volatile products 



A plant^ recently installed in Oldenburg, Germany, seems to 

 solve the problem Of coking peat economically. This is the in- 

 vention of Martin Ziegler and is a modification of Lottmann's 

 process. The plant consists of five kilns, in w^hich from 10 to 

 12 tons of peat are coked in 21 hours, 3 tons of peat giving on an 

 average 1 ton of coke. All volatile matter is driven out, and' 

 the coke burns without flame. The gases from the peat are 

 utilized not only for heating the kilns but for supphing the 

 boiler of a steam plant with fuel. 



In coking the j^eat, oil and ammonia are driven off in addition 

 to the gas, which is used as fuel, and the^^ are saved and sold. 

 If such a coking plant were run in connection with a gas plant, 

 all the volatile matter could be used to advantage, and peat 

 coke could be made with greater economy. 



The following extract from Consular Report 1615^ contains a 

 description of the Ziegler method : 



Concisely stated, the Ziegler method consists in carbonizing 

 peat in closed ovens, heated by burning under them the gases 

 generated by the coking process itself. Such a plant is therefore 

 self-sustaining, the only fuel required being coal or wood suf- 

 ficient to heat the oven for the first charge, when the gases 

 generated by the coking process become available and enable the 

 operation to be repeated and continued indefinitely. Not only 

 this, but the offbeat from the retort furnaces passes on and 

 heats the drying chambers, in which the raw, wet peat is pre- 



'Dal, Adolf. Utilization of Peat Fuel in Europe. Eng. Mag. Nov. 1902. 



-U. S. Department of State. Consular Report 1G1.5. Ap. S. 1903. p. 6-7. 



