IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE DISTILLATION OF COAL
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Puls, of Roxburgh Terrace, Haverstock
Hill, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE DISTILLATION OF COAL."
Sealed the 22nd February 1859, and dated the 23rd August 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Puls at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd August 1858.
I, FRANCIS PULS, of Roxburgh Terrace, Haverstock Hill, in the County of
Middlesex, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DISTILLATION OF COAL," to be as follows, that is to
say—
My Invention, which has reference to the distillation of coal, consists in
distilling coal of any description, with the addition of earthy, alkaline, or
metallic oxides, peroxides, suboxides or carbonates, sesquioxides or hydrates
of those substances, by which means gaseous products and tar are obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Puls in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd February 1859.
5 TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
PULS, of Roxburgh Terrace, Haverstock Hill, in the County of Middlesex,'
Chemist, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Francis Puls, Her special licence that I, the said
Francis Puls, ny executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Francis Puls, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE DISTILLATION OF COAL," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Francis Puls, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Francis Puls, 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 (that is to say):-
My Invention, which has reference to the distillation of coal,. consists of an
improved mode of distilling coal of any description, with the addition of earthy,
alkaline, or metallic oxides, peroxides, sesquioxides, or protoxides, or the
carbonato or hydrates of those substances, or a mixture of any two or more of
the substances above mentioned, for the purpose of obtaining gaseous products
and tar from the coal distilled.
"H
The mode of operating being the same whether lime or chalk (carbonate of
lime) or any other of the above-mentioned substances be mixed with the
coal, I will describe the manner of performing the Invention when lime or
chalk is used in performing it. I take small coal, or coal broken to pieces,
and place it in a retort, either in layers alternately or otherwise, well mixed,
surrounded and covered with about an equal bulk of slaked or hydrate of
lime or damp chalk, which I prefer to use in powder. I then subject the
whole to a low red beat until the coal ceases to evolve any condensible
vapours.
Those parts of the gaseous products which consist of condensible vapours
may be condensed by any of the known means, and the more volatile oils
contained in the product may be separated by distillation, and the heavier oils

page_text: may be separated from the solid by pressure, suction, or any of the known
processes. These oils will require very little purifying, owing to the purifying
properties of the substances with which the coal has been distilled. The gas
I collect in gasholders, of the ordinary description, connected with the con-
densing apparatus; and the gasholders may be so regulated as to act as a
suction apparatus, to remove the vapours more quickly from the retorts. The
gas evolved during the distillation may be purified and used for lighting or
heating purposes, as may be desired. The residuum remaining in the retorts
may be sifted, and the coke or brecze may be used as fuel for heating, and
the powder, which will contain the greater portion of the lime or other
substances originally mixed with the coal, may be used again, that is to say,
may be mixed with a fresh quantity of coal intended to be distilled as above
described.
But in order to deprive this powder of as much of its carbonaceous matters
as practicable before using it in this manner, I expose it to the open air
immediately after it has been withdrawn from the retort, and whilst still
glowing hot, so that the carbon may be burnt out of it.
When I distil coal mixed with any of the other oxides, carbonates, or
hydrates above mentioned, or any mixtures of them, the process is the same as
I have above described when using lime or chalk.
Having particularly ascertained and described the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I declare
that I claim as of my said Invention the distilling of coal when mixed with
any of the earthy, alkaline, or metallic oxides, carbonates, or hydrates above
mentioned, or any mixtures of them, for the purpose of obtaining the gaseous
products and tar arising from such distillation, in manner herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Puls, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-third day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
FRANCIS PULS. (L.S.)
Signed and sealed in the presence of
ALEXANDER FORSYTH,
10, Lombard Street, London,
Solicitor.