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tractor jack briquette press
pressing cylinder
base closeup
horizontal briquette ejection
briquettes

I was finally able to complete my tractor jack briquette press on a recent trip to Haiti. I started it in the spring, but had to load it into a shipping container in May before I could complete and test it. It uses a 3 1/2 ton (3.2 tonne) 48" (122cm) tractor jack. About 30" (76cm) pressing cylinder, 3" (76mm) diameter PVC . Two 3/4" (19mm) threaded rods for tensile members. 4' x 6" (10cm x 15cm) rectangular steel tubing base. Shouldered hole in bottom to hold cylinder base while allowing briquette ejection. 4" x 4" (10cm x 10cm) square steel tubing top. Wood frame. Removable steel plate covers ejection hole for pressing. The machine tips to horizontal for briquette ejection.
The long stroke allows for production of multiple briquettes at once with plastic disc spacers.
The current design produces pucks. Holey briquettes are possible with some modifications. We hand tore the paper and only soaked it briefly. The briquettes were quite dense and held together well.Nike Air Max 200

Ray Menke

My wife and I made a short video showing how we make Pita Bread using a version of this stove design. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOuoE2KAbQI

refering to the crizes on Haiti and the aftermath of the earthquake, we hereby like inform you about the You Tube video of former president and now UN Spescial envoy to Haiti, mr. Clinton and his speach about the possibilities to change focus from charcoal to briquettes or pellets produced out of any type of dry biomass as household energy in Haiti or elsewhere in the world:
See links:

Paper Fireballs #1
Jeff Davis

Below you will find five links to short videos of fireballs being produced:

#1 Starting to reduce paper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXDdROblGkA

Switchgrass and Paper Fireballs at Stoves Camp
Tom Miles, August 2006

Fireball Switchgrass
Fireball Switchgrass
Fireball Paper

Fireball Paper

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