IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING COAL FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND FUEL THEREFROM
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Bannehr, of Great Queen Street, in the
City of Westminster, and Henry Matthews, of Gower Street, in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING COAL FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND FUEL THEREFROM."
Scaled the 1st September 1871, and dated the 2nd March 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Bannelr and
Henry Matthews at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 2nd March 1871.
We, JAMES BANNEHR, of Great Queen Street, in the City of West-
minster, and HENRY MATTHEWS, of Gower Strect, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN TREATING COAL FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND FUEL THERE-
FROM," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the production of gas and fuel
practically free from sulphur and sulphur compounds, and from other
impurities.

page_text: We reduce coal into particles sufficiently small to produce separation
of the coal from the particles of mundic or iron pyrites and other heavy
impurities which occur naturally in coal, and then if the particles should
not be of an uniform size wo separate the particles of different sizes from
each other by sifting, or by other means, after which we winnow the
particles of coal from the particles of mundic or pyrites or other heavy in-
purities by subjecting within enclosed channels the disintegrated matters
to a current of air of sufficient force to carry the particles of coal beyond
the points at which the particles of mundic and other heavy substances
in consequence of their greater specific gravity will naturally fall.
]
With a view to more completely removing metallic impurities from
the coal we submit the pulverized coal to the action of electro or
permanent magnets, and we sometimes treat the pulverized coal so as
to magnetize any particles capable of being magnetized and arrest
such particles by the means before described or by means of soft iron 1
bars.
The mode in which we prefer to magnetize the metallic particles is
by passing them in a current of air through the interior of an electric
coil or coils.
In some cases in order to recover the whole of the finer particles of 2
coal from the current of air before it escapes into the outer atmosphere
we cause such current to pass through one or more thin water traps. Or
instead of using water traps for this purpose other suitable interceptors
may be employed.
Coal treated as above described may be supplied to the gas retorts 2
cither in the usual way or by mechanical means. Or in place of cither
of the above methods such coal may be mixed with an adhesive material,
such as tar or any other gas producing material, or with any muci-
lagenous or gummy matter not producing gas.
When it is desired to make a moulded fuel from the coko resulting 3
from the above process we treat it in the manner described in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to us dated the 10th day of
February 1870, No. 456, or other suitable means may be employed for
this purpose.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Bannehir and Henry Matthews in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
BANNEHR, of Great Queen Street, in the City of Westminster, and
HENRY MATTHEWS, of Gower Street, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said James Bannehr and Henry Matthews,
Her special licence that we, the said James Bannehr and Henry
Matthews, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said James Bannehr and Henry Matthews, our exccutors, admi-
nistrators, 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, usc, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING
COAL FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND FUEL THEREFRON," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said James Bannehr and Henry Matthews,
our exccutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,
or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said James Bannchr and Henry
Matthews, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manuer the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is.
to say:
-
This Invention has for its object the production of gas and fuel
practically free from sulphur and sulphur compounds, and from other
impurities.

page_text: We reduce coal into particles sufficiently small to produce separation
of the coal from the particles of mundic or iron pyrites and other heavy
impurities which occur naturally in coal, and then, if the particles should
not be of an uniform size, wo separate the particles of 'different sizes
from cach other by sifting or by other means, after which we winnow ỗ
the particles of coal from the particles of mundic or pyrites or other
heavy impurities by subjecting within enclosed channels, the disinte-
grated matters to a current of air of sufficient force to carry the particles
of coal beyond the points at which the particles of mundic and other
heavy substances in consequence of their greater specific gravity will 10
naturally fall.
In some cases in order to recover the whole of the finer particles of
coal from the current of air before it escapes into the outer atmosphere
we cause such current to pass through one or more thin water traps. Or
instead of using water traps for this purpose other suitable interceptors 1
may be employed.
Coal treated as above described may be supplied to the gas retorts
Or in place of either
either in the usual way or by mechanical means.
of the above methods such coal may be mixed with an adhesive material
such as tar or any other gas producing material or with any muci- 2
laginous or gummy matter not producing gas.
When it is desired to make a moulded fuel from the coke resulting
from the above process we treat it in the manner described in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to us dated the 16th day of
February 1870, No. 456, or other suitable means may be employed for 2
this purpose.
And in order that our Invention may be more clearly understood and
readily carried into effect we will proceed, aided by the accompanying
Drawing, more fully to describe tlie same.
DESCRIPTION OF TILE DRAWING,
which shows a vertical sectional elevation of apparatus such as we prefer
to employ in carrying our Invention into effect.
In order to separate the coal from the particles of mundic or iron
pyrites and other heavy impuritics which occur naturally in coal we
first crush the coal by passing it between a pair or more of rollers having
3

page_text: spikes or projections thereon, or other suitable apparatus such as
"stamps," may be employed for this purpose, and we prefer to crush
the coal into small particles or granules rather than into an impalpable
powder as the particles of coal are more readily separated from the
particles of mundic or iron pyrites when in the former condition than
when in the latter. The coal after being crushed as above is passed by a
suitable shoot or spout a into the first of a series of rotary screens b
such screens gradually increasing in coarseness of mesh to the lower-
most thereof. These screens b are fixed to a shaft or axis c mounted
in suitable bearings formed in or carried by the standards or frames d.
From each of these screens a spout or shoot e conveys the crushed
coal to one or other of the channels f, where it is acted upon by a blast
of air from a fan or other suitable supply passing by the channel g into
the chamber h, to which the various channels are connected. To
regulate the force of the blast in the channel f we arrange one or more
gauze screens as may be required for the various sized particles acted
upon by such blast in the several channels f. The channels ƒ it will
be seen by reference to the Drawing also communicate directly with
chambers i, the ends of such channels ƒ passing a short distance into
the chambers i, which arc fixed to shafts or axes i, carried in suitable
bearings and receive rotary motion by means of bevilled pinions fixed
on the inner ends of the shafts or axes and driven by the toothed
bevilled wheel j, fixed on the upright shaft or axis j.
axis j has also fixed thereon a bevilled toothed wheel
5 into and gives motion to a bevilled pinion k¹, fixed on
axis k of a mixer 1, which is constructed in a somewhat similar manner
to a pug mill, so as to thoroughly mix the coal with any suitable
binding material, such as tar or mucilage, and forces it out through
holes in the end of the chamber 1, in the shape of rods or bars which
0 may be received on to a suitable table and cut by any convenient means
into the lengths required. The shaft or axis c has mounted on the end
thereof a pulley c¹ which is driven by a band from a pulley m' on the
shaft or axis m, on which axis m is also mounted a drum or pulley m
which receives motion by a strap or band from a steam engine or other
5 suitable power, and such shaft m has fixed thereon a bevilled pinion m³
which takes into and gives motion to a bevilled wheel j fixed on the
shaft or axis j. The shaft or axis c has a to-and-fro endway movement
imparted thereto by a stud or projection carried by one of the frames
The shaft or
which takes
the shaft or

page_text: d, taking into the cam grooved wheel c³ fixed on the shaft or axis c.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-Coal in a properly divided
state is passed by the spout a into the first of the series of rotary
sieves or screens b, the finest particles pass through the meshes of this
screen whilst the coarser particles pass on to the next, where the finest
particles thereof are again separated from the coarser, and so on until the
lowermost of such sieves or screens b is reached, when those particles not
suitable to be acted upon by the blast of air are separated from the
coarsest of the particles capable of being so treated and pass out at
the end of such lowermost sieve or screen b, to be further crushed
before being again passed into the sieves or screens b. The particles
passing through the meshes of the sieves or screens 6 are conducted by
the spouts or shoots e into the channels where they are acted upon by
a blast of air, whereby the heavier particles, that is to say, the particles
of mundic or iron pyrites, will fall within the channels, from which
they will pass by channels or openings into any suitable receiver,
whilst the lighter particles, that is to say the particles of coal, will be
blow into the chambers i, where they will be deposited and be discharged
through the spouts or shoots into the mixing chamber 1.
In some cases in order to recover the whole of the finer particles of
coal from the current of air before it escapes into the outer atmosphere
we causo such current to pass through one or more thin water traps
situated at the outer cuds of the chambers i. Or instead of using water
traps for this purpose other suitable interceptors may be employed.
Tar or other suitable hinding material is supplied to the mixing chamber 2
Z through a pipe or tube . The coal and tar or other binding material
after being intimately mixed and consolidated as before stated may bo
used for gas making or as fuel instead of the natıyal coal.
Since filing our Provisional Specification we have discovered that
the employment of magnetism for assisting in separating the particles of 3
iron pyrites from the particles of coal does not possess such an amount
of utility as to render it desirable that we should retain it in our
Complete Specification, we therefore desire to disclaim and we do hereby
disclain such process.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and the mode B
which we prefer to employ in carrying the same into effect, we would
have it understood that we do not claim, nor do we confine ourselves
.

page_text: to the use of apparatus such as that herein shown and described but
what we do claim is, the mode of treating coal for the manufacture
of gas and fuel therefrom by separating the particles of mundic or iron
pyrites or other heavy impurities therefrom by the combined processes
of crushing, sifting, and winnowing, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Bannchr and Henry
Matthews, bave hereunto set our hands and scals, this Second
day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-one.
J. BANNEHR.
(L.S.)
HENRY MATTHEWS. (L.S.)