IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL."
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Reeves Cox, of Fareham, in the County of
Hants, Coal Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL.""
Sealed the 8th February 1856, and dated the 1st November 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Reeves Cox at
the Office, of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st November 1855.
I, RICHARD REEVES Cox, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL" to be as
follows:-
I combine together coal dust or small coal, spent or rotten tan, and cow-
dung, with or without a small quantity of tar. I take about equal parts of
fine dry coal dust, damp rotten tan, and moist cow-dung, and I mix them
together, and add from about one to four per cent of gas tar. The mixturé
is then made into cakes or blocks and dried. The proportions may be some-
what varied, according to the quality of the materials employed and the
quality of the fuel to be produced. Thus various mixtures may be made
with from 32 to 47 parts of coal, 25 to 40 parts of tan, and 38 to 43 parts
of cow-dung, with a quantity of tar, varying from nothing to 4 parts.

page_text: The cow-dung and tan have the effect of binding the coal together, and the
small quantity of tar causes the fuel to burn with more flame than would
otherwise be the case. The tar is not required for binding the coal together,
and may be omitted, particularly when the coal employed is of a rich
bituminous quality.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance.of.the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard, Reeves Cox in the Great Seal .Patent Office on
the 23rd April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
REEVES Cox, of Fareham, in the County of Hants, Coal Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Iler Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and..successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Reeves Cox, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Reeves Cox, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as 1, the said Richard Reeves Cox, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Reeves Cox, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument 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.
リ
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Reeves, Cox, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:
I combine together coal dust or small coal,, spent. or rotten- tan, and cow-
dung, with or without a small quantity of tar. I take about equal parts of

page_text: fine dry coal dust, damp rotten tan, and moist cow-dung, and I mix them
together, and add from about one to four per cent..of gas tar. The mixture is
then made into cakes or blocks and dried. The proportions may be, some-
what varied, according to the quality of the materials employed and the quality
of the fuel to be produced. Thus various mixtures may be made with from
thirty-two to forty-seven parts of coal, twenty-five to forty parts of tan, and
thirty-eight to forty-three parts of cow-dung, with a quantity of tar varying
from nothing to four parts. The cow-dung and tan have the effect of binding
the coal together, and the small quantity of tar, causes the fuel to burn with
more flame than would otherwise be the case. The tar is not required for
binding the coal together, and may be omitted, particularly when the coal
employed is of a rich bituminous quality. For a rather dull-burning coal I
have found the following proportions to produce a good fuel, that is to say:-
Forty pounds weight of fine coal dust, thirty-four pounds of spent or rotten'
tan, thirty-six pounds of cow-dung, and two pounds or one pint and a quarter
of gas tar, all well mixed together.
The mixture may be made into cakes or blocks by means of a mould,
which is open at top and bottom like a brick mould. This mould, which
may be of cylindrical, rectangular, or other suitable form, is provided with a
plunger or plug which fits it. The mould is laid upon a table, and a portion
of the aforesaid mixture is placed in it. The plunger is then inserted in the
mould, and driven down by a few blows of a mallet. The mixture is thus
compressed and moulded into a cake or block, which is removed from the
mould and left to dry. Any other suitable apparatus or machinery may be
employed for moulding the fuel, such apparatus or machinery forming no part
of my Invention.
As already mentioned, the cow-dung and tan bind or cement the fuel
together, and no clay or other cementing material is required for that purpose
as in some other descriptions of artificial fuel. The improved fuel con-
sequently leaves a much smaller residue of incombustible ashes than those
fucls in which clay is employed as the cementing material. The proportions
of the materials will of course vary with their relative dryness as well as with
their quality, and if the tan or cow-dung is too dry, a smaller quantity may be
employed, and a portion of water or of very wet tan or cow-dung may be
added, if necessary, to bring the whole to a suitable consistence for mixing
and moulding into blocks.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I
claim is, the manufacture of artificial fuel, iu manner herein-before, described,

page_text: by the combination of coal, spent or rotten tan, and cow-dung, with or with-
out the addition of a small quantity of tar, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Reeves Cox, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of: April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six..
Witness,
ALFRED GRACE,
'West Street, Fareham.
RICHARD REEVES COX. (L.S.)