AN IMPROVED COMBUSTIBLE COMPOUND OF CARBONACEOUS AND OTHER MATERIALS AND METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR ENSURING THE COMBUSTION " OF CARBONACEOUS FUEL
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake of the firm of Haseltine Lake
and Co Patent Agents Southampton Buildings London for an Invention of
"AN IMPROVED COMBUSTIBLE COMPOUND OF CARBONACEOUS AND OTHER
MATERIALS AND METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR ENSURING THE COMBUSTION
"
OF CARBONACEOUS FUEL Communicated to him from abroad by Joseph
Concklen Cooper, of Brooklyn, New York, United States of America,
Metallurgist
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th February 1883.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, "AN IMPROVED COMBUSTIBLE COMPOUND OF
CARBONACEOUS AND OTHER MATERIALS AND METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR ENSURING
"
THE COMBUSTION OF CARBONACEOUS FUEL [A communication to him from
abroad by Joseph Concklen Cooper, of Brooklyn, New York, United States of
America, Metallurgist]
It is well known that by all the ordinary methods of combustion in furnaces a
very large proportion of the beat escapes and fails to be utilized owing to the
practical impossibility of bringing the oxygen of the atmosphere into sufficiently
intimate contact with the fuel to ensure the complete combustion thereof; only a
relatively small portion of the fuel being converted into carbon-dioxide while a
larger portion escapes in the form of carbon-protoxide or carbonic-oxide, so called,
there being, moreover a further waste, in practice, from the combustion which
occurs at the rear portion of the furnace, and thence expands into the uptake or
smoke-stack and passes off with the gaseous products of combustion; there being
also a further waste of heat from the fact that not only the large volume of
unconsumed oxygen caused to pass through the fuel but also the volume of nitrogen
mingled therewith, is heated to a high degree and carries away a proportionate
quantity of heat in passing from the furnace.

page_text: Various mechanical appliances have been used to compel the closer contact,
so to speak, of atmospheric oxygen with the fuel, such as blowers and similar
apparatus, but with none of these has any material economy been effected.
The object of the present invention is to provide for the more perfect combustion
of fuel, by providing substances that when subjected to heat, give off oxygen,
which oxygen being in substantially immediate contact with the fuel, and so
disposed with reference thereto, as to unite with the carbon at the high heat of the
furnace, ensures the complete conversion of the carbon into carbon-dioxide or
carbonic oxide thereby ensuring complete combustion and the production of a
maximum amount of heat within the furnace itself, and practically without any
considerable loss from the causes which, as hereinbefore explained, are inherent in
the combustion of fuel by the aid of atmospheric air alone.
I am aware that a fire kindling compound has been proposed, consisting of
chloride of sodium, sulphate of iron, and nitrate of potash; but this, while it
would doubtless accelerate the ignition of fuels would not properly utilize the
heat-producing properties thereof. I am also aware that it has been proposed to
combine starch, sulphate of aluminium, and nitrate of soda, with carbonaceous
matter to produce an artificial fuel; but this while capable of cementing the
particles of culum or waste coal, and perhaps promoting in some slight degree the
combustion thereof, is not capable of practical application to the coal of commerce.
I am also aware that a solution of salt, sulphate of soda, and muriate of ammonia
in water has been applied to fuel to promote the combustion thereof; but this was
difficult to handle, bulky to transport, and liable to be rendered valueless by
contact with an alkali, such as potash, which may be to some extent expected as
the result of combustion of most fuels. I am also aware that other nitrate
compounds have been proposed; but these have been costly in their effects and
incapable of producing a maximum of heat.
My invention differs from all these in the character of the materials employed,
and in the nature, and especially in the extent of the results produced.
In the practice of my invention I use, in combination with the fuel, a compound
hereinafter more fully set forth, which, when decomposed in the fire, renders up
the equivalent of oxygen required to convert the carbonic oxide or carbon-
protoxide produced by the fuel, into carbon dioxide or carbonic acid, thereby
obviating the necessity for the superior volume of air which would be required to
produce such conversion of the one carbon oxide into the other; said volume of air
being as hereinbefore explained, practically unattainable in ordinary methods of,
or apparatus for, combustion.
In the practice of my invention, I take aluminum, as the same is contained in
alums or in the well-known aluminous cake or in aluminous earths. I also take
chloride of sodium or common salt. I also take sulphate of soda. These are used
in connection with each other in variable proportions; that is to say, the proportions
may vary within wide limits; but in practice I prefer to take, say, one part by
weight of the aluminous cake or aluminous earth or alum material, two parts by
weight of the sulphate of soda, and four parts by weight of the chloride of sodium
or common salt. These I mix together and sprinkle the compound thus formed on
the carbonaceous fuel, in the proportions of, say, from twenty-four to thirty-six
ounces, more or less, to each ton of two thousand pounds of fuel, or, in lieu of this,
I dissolve the said compound in water, as, for example, from twenty-four to
thirty-six ounces, more or less, of said compound in from four to eight quarts, more
or less of water, and sprinkle or otherwise apply this as uniformly as possible to
the fuel. The application of the compound either in its dry or in its liquid
condition may be made either immediately before burning or at any suitable
time previously; as, for example, a month, more or less, as convenience may
dictate.
When the fuel, treated or supplied with the said compound, is ignited, a fire
much quicker, brighter, and complete than occurs with fuel supplied only with
atmospheric air, is obtained; the gases evolved from the fuel by this primary

page_text: combustion or conversion into carbonic oxide being quickly consumed and
converted into carbonic acid, while the sulphurous gases and the like are
themselves also consumed; this combustion of the sulphur itself adding to the
heating power of the fuels. This action is continued until the fuels are entirely
consumed, leaving fine light ashes comparatively free from " clinker" as the
product of the combustion due, as hereinbefore explained, in the first instance, to
the access of atmospheric air, which converts the carbon into carbonic oxide, and
secondarily to the oxygen supplied by the compound which converts said carbonic
oxide into carbonic acid, so that by the improved combustion thereby obtained a
given quantity of fuel affords practically all the heat theoretically available
therefrom; it generates steam faster in boilers than is done by fuel as ordinarily used
in furnaces, and when the said method of combustion is employed in smelting or
similar operations of metallurgy, the quality of the metal produced is greatly
improved, inasmuch as the sulphur is destroyed before it is afforded an opportunity
of combining with the metal.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st August
1883.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London,
" AN
IMPROVED COMBUSTIBLE COMPOUND OF
CARBONACEOUS AND OTHER MATERIALS AND METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR ENSURING
THE COMBUSTION OF CARBONACEOUS FUEL."-A communication to me from abroad
by Joseph Concklen Cooper, of Brooklyn, New York, United States of America,
Metallurgist,
This invention relates to a combustible compound of carbonaceous and other
materials and to a method of, and means for, ensuring the combustion of car-
bonaceous fuel.
It is well-known that by all the ordinary methods of combustion in furnaces a
very large proportion of the heat escapes and fails to be utilized owing to the
practical inpossibility of bringing the oxygen of the atmosphere into sufficiently
intimate contact with the fuel to ensure the complete combustion thereof; only a
relatively small portion of the fuel being converted into carbon-dioxide, while a
larger portion escapes in the form of carbon-protoxide, or carbonic-oxide, so called ;
there being, moreover, a further waste, in practice, from the production of heat at
the rear portion of the furnace, which heat enters the uptake or smoke-stack and
passes off with the gaseous products of combustion; there being also a further
waste of heat from the fact, that, not only the large volume of unconsumed oxygen
caused to pass through the fuel, but also the volume of nitrogen mingled therewith,
is heated to a high degree and carries away a proportionate quantity of heat in
passing from the furnace.
Various mechanical appliances have been used to compel the closer contact, so
as to speak, of atmospheric oxygen with the fuel, such as blowers and similar
apparatus, but with none of these has any material economy been effected.
The object of the present invention is to provide for the more perfect combustion
of fuel by providing substances which when subjected to heat, give off oxygen,
which oxygen, being in substantially immediate contact with the fuel, and so
disposed with reference thereto, as to unite with the carbon at the high heat of
the furnace, ensures the complete conversion of the carbon into carbon-dioxide or
carbonic oxide, thereby ensuring complete combustion and the production of a
maximum amount of heat within the furnace itself, and practically without any
considerable loss from the causes which, as herein before explained, are inherent in
the combustion of fuel by the aid of atmospheric air alone.
I am aware that a fire kindling compound has been proposed, consisting of
chloride of sodium, sulphate of iron, and nitrate of potash; but this, while it
would doubtless accelerate the ignition of fuels, would not properly utilize the
heat-producing properties thereof. I am also aware that it has been proposed to
combine starch, sulphate of alumina, and nitrate of soda, with carbonaceous matter
to produce an artificial fuel; but this, while capable of cementing the particles of
culm or waste coal, and perhaps promoting in some slight degree, the combustion
thereof, is not capable of practical application to the coal of commerce, I am also
aware that a solution of salt, sulphate of soda, and muriate of ammonia in water
has been applied to fuel to promote the combustion thereof; but this was difficult
to handle, bulky to transport, and liable to be rendered valueless by contact with
an alkali, such as potash, which may be to some extent expected as the result of

page_text: combustion of most fuels. I am also aware that other nitrate compounds have
been proposed; but these have been costly and incapable of producing a maximum
of heat.
This invention differs from all those in the character of the materials employed,
and in the nature, and especially in the extent, of the results produced.
According to this invention I use, in combination with the fuel, a compound
hereinafter more fully set forth, which, when decomposed in the fire, renders the
equivalent of oxygen required to convert the carbonic oxide or carbon-protoxide
produced by the fuel, into carbon dioxide or carbonic acid, thereby obviating the
necessity for the superior volume of air which would be required to produce such
conversion of the one carbon oxide into the other; the said volume of air being,
as herein before explained, practically unattainable in ordinary methods of, or
apparatus for, causing combustion.
In carrying the said invention into practice I take alumina (as the same is
contained in alums or in the well-known aluminous cake or in aluminous earths),
chloride of sodium or common salt, and sulphate of soda. These are used in
connection with each other in variable proportions, that is to say, the proportions
may vary within wide limits; but in practice I prefer to take, say, one part by
weight of the aluminous cake or aluminous earth or alum material, two parts by
weight of the sulphate of soda, and four parts by weight of the chloride of sodium
or common salt. These I mix together and sprinkle the compound thus fe ned on
the carbonaceous fuel, in the proportions of, say, from twenty-four to thirty-six
ounces, more or less, to each two thousand pounds of fuel; or, in lieu of this, I
dissolve the said compound in water, as, for example, from twenty-four to thirty-
six ounces, more or less, of the said compound in from four to eight quarts, more
or less, of water, and sprinkle, or otherwise apply, this as uniformly as possible to
the fuel. The application of the compound either in its dry or in its liquid
condition, may be made either immediately before burning or at any suitable time
previously; as, for example, a month, more or less, as convenience may dictate.
When the fuel, treated or supplied with the said compound, is ignited, a fire
much quicker, brighter, and complete than occurs with fuel supplied only with
atmospheric air, is obtained; the gases evolved from the fuel by the primary
combustion or conversion into carbonic oxide being quickly consumed and converted
into carbonic acid, while the sulphurous gases and the like are themselves also
consumed; this combustion of the sulphur itself adding to the heating power of
the fuels; This action is continued until the fuels are entirely consumed, leaving
fine light ashes comparatively free from "clinker" as the product of the combustion
due, as herein before explained, in the first instance to the access of atmospheric
air which converts the carbon into carbonic oxide, and secondarily to the oxygen
supplied by the compound which converts the said carbonic oxide into carbonic
acid, so that by the improved combustion thereby obtained a given quantity of
fuel affords practically all the heat theoretically available therefrom, it generates
steam faster in boilers than is done by fuel as ordinarily used in furnaces, and
when the said method of combustion is employed in smelting or similar operations
of metallurgy, the quality of the metal produced is greatly improved, inasmuch as
the sulphur is destroyed before it is afforded an opportunity of combining with the
metal.
Having thus fully described the said invention as communicated to me by my
foreign Correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim.
First. The herein described method of ensuring the practically complete com-
bustion of carbonaceous fuel by burning the same in connection with a compound
composed of alumina (as the same is contained in alum, aluminous cake or
aluminous earths) common salt or chloride of sodium, and sulphate of soda, all
substantially as, and for the purpose, herein set forth
Second. The improved combustible compound composed of carbonaceous fuel

page_text: alumina (as the same is contained in alums, aluminous cake or aluminous earths)
chloride of sodium or common salt, and sulphate of soda, all substantially as, and
for the purpose, herein set forth.
In Witness, whereof I the said William Robert Lake have hereunto set my hand
and seal this First day of August in the year of Our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and eighty three