^ THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY I9C6 49 



PEAT 



The application of peat to industrial uses has continued to attract 

 attention during 1906. As heretofore the main object in view has 

 been to utilize the material for fuel purposes. The enterprises in 

 New York State, however, have not been carried as yet beyond the 

 experimental stage, and there were no plants making- peat fuel on 

 a commercial scale. A new feature of the subject that has come 

 into prominence in the last year is the possibility of using peat 

 for paper manufacture, a development suggested by recent work 

 along this line that has been carried out in Europe. 



The latest, as well as, perhaps, the most important experiments 

 in the utilization of peat for fuel within the State has been started 

 at Heuvelton, St Lawrence co. They are based on different prin- 

 ciples than have heretofore been adopted for the purpose. The 

 plant is installed on a boat, 125 feet long and 30 feet wide, which 

 is self-propelling and carries all the machinery required for exca- 

 vating the peat and converting it into marketable fuel. It is planned 

 to operate on Black lake near Ogdensburg, where there are reported 

 to be peat deposits at no great depths. The dredging apparatus 

 consists of two conveyor chains that travel along inclined ways in- 

 dependently mounted and swinging so as to cover a width of 40 

 feet in front of the boat. The inclined ways can be raised or low- 

 ered as required, according to the depth from which it is necessary 

 to dredge the peat. The latter is carried by the bucket chains into 

 a hopper from which it is spouted to the first of the machines de- 

 signed for its treatment, where it is mashed and kneaded. This 

 machine breaks up the coarser material and at the same time expels 

 a portion of the absorbed water. In the next process the peat under- 

 goes a more thorough drying by heat. The drier resembles 

 somewhat a horizontal water tube boiler and is made up of a large 

 number of tubes arranged in tiers, the succeeding tubes of each 

 tier sloping slightly in opposite directions. Steam is admitted 

 around the tubes, while the peat is carried through them by special 

 conveyors until it has made the entire circuit. After drying the 

 peat is to be compressed into briquets or produced for use in gas 

 producers. All the machinerv is operated by electric power supplied 

 by a boiler and engine that have been installed on the boat. The 

 plant is built after the desig-ns of Mr Walter T. Griffin who has 

 also supervised its construction. It was not completed in time t© 

 be placed in opyeration before the close of the year. 



The manufacture of peat into the heavier grades of paper, such 

 as are employed in making cartons, boxes, etc., was commenced last 



