428 
ON TOUBITE AND ITS USES. 
movement turned over in order to expose fresh surfaces at regular intervals to the action 
to; proo® of “the torbite in close ovens, when M 
The whole of the Horwich system has been planned with a view to the utmost eco 
S power 6 in“d at one end! it issZVora f£ other in the form of charcoal 
within twenty-four hours after it is excavated from the bog,, and the manual laboui ex- 
pended is almost entirely limited to the first operation of digging, consequently the ac¬ 
tual ' outlay iniabour and fuel in the production of the charcoal does not exceed lorn Os 
tn ner ton- but in addition to the economy thus effected by charring, in close 
oven= a ^considerable quantity of valuable chemical products are yielded, as ammonia, 
acetic acid^pyroxylfc spirit, paraffin oils, the sale of which alone nearly cover the ex- 
penses ^ f t ty*'imater separated by distillation forms an excellent lubricating grease, the 
yield^fwhiclfaverages about 5 per cent, of the weight of charcoal produced; in its 
crude state it has been sold for £12 per ton at Horwich. i i- nf i • j. 
The charcoal made from torbite is extremely dense and pure ; its heating and resist 
ing powers have been amply and severely tested, and with the most satisfactory^snlts 
At the Horwich works pig-iron has been readily melted in a cupola. About eighty tons 
of superior iron have been made with it in a small blast furnace measuring only six feet 
in t£e boshes, and about twenty-six feet high The ore smelted waspartlyred hematite 
and partly Staffordshire, and the quantity of charcoal consumed was one ton eleven 
hundredweight to the ton of iron made ; but in a larger and better constructed furnace, 
considerably^less charcoal will be required It has also been tried m pud mg an air 
furnaces with equally good results, considerably improving the quality of the iron 
melted? For this purpose the fuel was only partially charred m order not todqpwit 
of its flame, which is considerably longer than that from coal, borne of t e pig-iron 
made at Horwich was then converted into bars, which were afterwards bent comp e e y 
double when cold without exhibiting a single flaw. Messrs. Brown and Lennox, in test¬ 
ing this iron for chain cables, have reported that its strength was proved to be consider¬ 
ably above the average strength of the best brands. , , , ,. 
In Germany, peat mixed with wood charcoal is very extensively used m the production 
of irom the peat as prepared there not being sufficiently solid to do the work alone; but 
it is found that the greater the proportion of peat that can be used, the bettei is t lo 
quality of the iron produced. The gas delivered from the high furnaces 
satisfactorily employed in the refining of iron and the puddling of steel. . I he va e of 
peat in the production of iron has long been established. Iron metallurgists are agreed 
in the opinion that iron so produced is of very superior quahty. Hr every stage o o 
manufacture, and in welding, peat charcoal is most valuable. At Messrs.Hick and Son s 
for^e in Bolton a large mass of iron, about ten inches square, was heated to a c ding 
heat with peat charcoal made at Horwich The time occupied was less than th.e opera¬ 
tion would have taken with coal; the whole mass was 
the slightest trace of burning on the outside, and in hammering out the mass as much 
was done with one heating as ordinarily required two heatings to effect. 
The importance of obtaining an abundant supply, at cheap rates, of peat charcoal can¬ 
not, therefore, be too highly estimated. . , , . , ,, . . •, , 
For the generation of steam the fuel made at Horwich has also been well tested and 
its superiority over coal practically demonstrated both in locomo ives an '. ^ 
gines. P On the Northern Counties Railway of Belaud a t™ 111 was driven with it from 
Belfast to Portrush, a distance of seventy miles. The result at the end of t e journey 
showed a saving, as regards weight consumed, of 2;_> to 30 per cen . over 8 
three months’ working with coal on the same journey. There was an excess Ox steam 
throughout the run, though the fire-door was constantly open and t e c amper own. 
At starting, the pressure was 100 lb, but during the trip and while ascending a st ep 
incline it rose to 110 lb, and afterwards to 120 lb. with the fire-door open. While run¬ 
ning there was no smoke, and very little when standing still. 
