AN IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL FUEL
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Stone, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL FUEL”
Sealed the 28th February 1873, and dated the 20th September 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Stone at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th September 1872.
I, ROBERT STONE, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
ARTIFICIAL FUEL," to be as follows:-
My Invention for an improved artificial fuel consists in using a
mixture of sawdust, peat, or any other like fibrous material, amalgamated
with tar, benzoline, petroleum, or other liquid or substance of an inflam-
mable nature, and then set with a mixture of clay, cement, or other like
material of a sticky or adhesive nature so as to bind or keep hard the
whole body which is mixed with magnesium limestone, chalk stone,
or any stone of a hard or porous nature, coal cinders or coal dust.
Those stones may be compressed in broken pieces also surrounded by the

page_text: fibrous material, or the ground material may be used without any
fibrous material, or any or either of the foregoing materials can be used
with the inflammable substance. After mixing the before-mentioned
materials the mixture is pressed into shapes, square, round, or otherwiso
by hydraulic or other power similar to that described in my Patent
No. 1115, 1872. Slag, slate, stone, dust, refuse of chemical works,
or any other material that will make a hard body when compressed
may be used with the fibrous material and tar, clay, or amalgamating
material. It must mix through so that the heat generated by the
inflammable part of the mixture will consume the hard substance by
degrees.
In proportioning the beforegoing materials so as to form artificial
fuel sufficient tar, benzoline, or other inflammable liquid must be used
to mix or moisten the portion of sand, stone dust, or hard material, and
sufficient clay or fibrous material must be used to bind the whole
together. When those blocks are made they can be coated with a liquid
to prevent combustion while in transit.
The blocks when made are used as a substitute for ordinary coal
for all heat generating purposes. When used in an ordinary fire-place I
prefer that the fire-place should be fitted with a suitable guard or damper
placed over the fire, so that the draught may be regulated and too quick
combustion prevented, as by a slow combustion the blocks gradually
consume, entirely burning the stone dust, sand, or other hard material,
and give out proportionate heat. This damper will have a tendency to
help to consume the smoke and the heat revert to the fire.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Stone in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 19th March 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
STONE, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give

page_text: and grant unto me, the said Robert Stone, Her special licence
that I, the said Robert Stone, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Stone, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
ARTIFICIAL FUEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Robert Stone, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Stone, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
My Invention for an improved artificial fuel consists in using a
mixture of sawdust, peat, or any other like fibrous material, amalga-
mated with tar, benzolino, petroleum, or other liquid or substance of an
inflammable nature, and then set with a mixture of clay, cement, or
other like material of a stickey or adhesive nature, so as to bind or keep
hard the whole body, which is mixed with sand, limestone, chalk stone,
or any stone of a hard or porous nature, coal cinders or coal dust, breeze,
or ground coke. These may be compressed, or in broken pieces also
surrounded by the fibrous material, or the ground material may be used
without any fibrous material, or any or either of the beforegoing
materials can be used with the inflammable substance.
After mixing
the before-mentioned materials the mixture is pressed into shapes, square,
round, or otherwise, by hydraulic or other power. Slag, slate dust,
refuse of chemical works, or any other material that will make a hard
body when compressed, may be used with the fibrous material, and tar,
clay, or amalgamating material. It must mix through so that the heat
generated by the inflammable part of the mixture will consume the
hard substance by degrees.

page_text: In proportioning the beforegoing materials so as to form artificial fuel
sufficient tar, benzoline, or other inflammable liquid must be used to
mix or moisten the portion of sand, stone dust, or hard material, and
sufficient clay or fibrous material must be used to bind the whole
together. When the blocks are made they can be coated with a liquid
to prevent combustion while in transit.
The blocks when made are used as a substitute for ordinary coal for
all heat generating purposes. When used in an ordinary fire-place I
prefer that the firc-place should be fitted with a suitable guard or
damper placed over the fire so that the draught may be regulated and
too quick combustion prevented, as by a slow combustion the blocks
gradually consume, entirely burning the stone dust, sand, or other hard
material, and give out proportionate heat. This damper will have the
tendency to help to consume the smoke, and the heat revert to the fire.
The beforegoing being the nature, purposes, and object of my Inven-
tion I will now proceed to describe more definitely how the same may
be carried into practical effect. I first collect a suitable quantity of
sand, pulverized sandstone, or other pulverized stone of a porous or hard
nature. I then mix the same with a portion of sawdust, peat, or any
other like fibrous material. When the same are thoroughly intermingled
I amalgamate the whole with a suitable proportion of tar, benzoline,
petroleum, or other liquid of an inflammable nature. The compound
thus constituted is then placed in moulds of any suitable form or shape,
but by preference I use rectangular moulds. These moulds may be
placed on a boarding or plain surface side by side, and the compound
can be fed into and pressed into the moulds by the use of the combined
hopper and roller described in the Specification of Letters Patent,
No. 1115, granted to me on the 15th day of April, 1872, but any suitable
compressing machine may be used to mould the compound into shapes
of suitable size to be used for fuel.
Having now fully described the nature, object, and purposes of my
Invention for an improved artificial fuel, and how the same may be
manufactured and carried into practical use, I would have it understood
that I do not limit myself to the exact proportions of the ingredients
used, as the same will have to be considerably varied to suit contengen-
cies, but what I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent
as aforesaid is,―

page_text: Firstly. An artificial fuel, of which sand is one of the special bodies
used in the composition owing to the powerful heat it retains and gives
out, and being as a body far more lasting than coals; also pulverized
sand, chalk, or limestone, and other pulverized porous or hard stone;
the whole or any one of these bodies amalgamated into a consistency by
suitable proportions of tar, oil of tar, benzoline, petroleum, rosin, or
other liquids or substances of an inflammable and adhesive nature, the
object being to impregnate, surround, bind, and cement with the inflam-
mable liquids and stickey substances the before-mentioned body or
bodies, so as to excite them to a lasting and powerful heat during com-
bustion.
Secondly. An artificial fuel composed of a compound of sand,
pulverized sandstone, or other pulverized porous stone, mixed with saw-
dust, peat, or materials of a similar fibrous nature, the whole amalga-
mated into a consistency by a suitable proportion of tar, benzoline,
petroleum, rosin, or other liquid or substance of an inflammable nature.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Stone, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.