Peat Shoddy

Southland Times, Issue 13284, 10 August 1895, Page 1 (Supplement)

Peat Shoddy

Au industry that is likely to prove the means of greatly enriching that country is about to be introduced into Ireland by a body of financiers. After many years of experiments, conducted for the most part in Holland, where an experimental factory has been io operation with markedisuccess, a process of utilising peat and making it valuable for various commercial purposes has been discovered. Io tbe past peat has been used tnere'y as fuel, in wbioh form its commercial value has bmn at the very most only a few shillings a ton; and as moss litter, io which form it has earned large dividends for the shareholders. By the present -process, however, it assnmes great importance, and cannot fail to eSect a revolution in more than one branch of trade. Pest consists of two varieties—red peat, which ia that which lies uppermost, and black peat, that is found immediately underneath the red. The red is fibrous in nature, and by the process to which we refer that fibre is combed out until it resembles wool, and then woven into either cloth, which is half the cost of and far more durable than shoddy; or matting and rugs, it being possible to sell tbe latter at a good profit from a shilling retail. The remarkably good face tbe cloth possesses is shown in the fact that at tbe Itieh Industries Exhibition, held at the residence of Etrl Fitz william,the Duchess of York was soplessed with it that she bought enffioient for a dress,while tbe Duke ordered a shooting suit of it to be made for him. Not only is the fibre of commercial value when ( rrfined by combing, bnt tbe waste product, 'bleached by the patent process, is utilised as a peat pulp, at the same time being very much cheaper. Lastly, tbe duet produced in the course of tbe refining is possessed of valuable disinfecting qualities, and can be sold to advantage. The black peat, like tbe red,can also by the proceas be rendered a source of large revenue. It is reduced to a powder, and then by compression formed into solid blocks that are a perfect counterfeit of ebony, and can be used for all tbe purposes for which that wood is available. Further, unlike ebony, it is very bard end not brittle, and thus can be worked up in tbe form of pistol handles, panels, pulleys, etc., aod as it is a nonconductor, electrio appliances. Up to the

present the patents have been worked only experimentally at the factory in Holland, whither the peat has been exported ; but now that perfection has been arrived at, and a financial success ensured, tbe patentees intend erecting a factory in Ireland and commencing the manufacture of the pre du its on a commercial basis.—English Paper.