IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUELS."
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Christopher Kingsford, of Fulham, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUELS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Christopher Kingsford
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st April 1875.
I, CHRISTOPHER KINGSFORD, of Fulham, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUELS," to be as follows :-
The nature of my Invention consists in consolidating small coal or
slack or other similar substances by the addition of certain materials to
be herein-after enumerated, and in the processes adopted in the manu-
facture of the said fuel. The small coal or other similar substance is
either suitably screened or ground.
The composition I employ for consolidating the coal or other similar
materials I manufacture as follows:-To a solution of silicate of soda or
potash I add a small quantity of pitch or other suitable bituminous or

page_text: resinous substance or substances, and in order to make the pitch
combine with the solution of silicate of soda I heat the silicate with a
small quantity of flour or other farinaceous substance or other paste,
making materials so as to convert it into a paste, and while hot I add
the required quantity of hot pitch or other suitable bituminous
substance, or a mixture of such suitable substances; or I sift into the
hot silicate paste the pitch or resin in a finely divided state, stirring the
mixture while hot until the whole is thoroughly combined, or sometimes
in such cases, in which thic substances admit of the treatment, the flour
or similar material may be made into a stiff paste with water and heated
with the pitch or other like substance, when the bituminous matter will
mix intimately with the paste, and this compound will then mix with a
hot solution of silicate of soda or potash.
Having thus described the method of making the composition of
silicate and bituminous matter, my process for consolidating the coal or
other similar substance is to add to it a given quantity, according to the
nature of the coal under treatment or of the fuel to be manufactured of
the composition herein-before described while hot, and as quickly as
possible submit the coal thus treated to pressure (by the aid of any
suitable machinery); by this means a smaller quantity of pitch or bitu-
minous matter can be mixed intimately with the coal than has hitherto
been accomplished by any other process.
The coal may be ground and mixed with clay, cither crude or burnt,
or with lime, or with clay and lime, by preference the blue lias or
hydraulic limes, or what is equivalent any of the hydraulic coments or
other similar and suitable substances which react upon the silicates in
the composition and hasten the solidification of the fuel; or the fuel
when pressed may be dipped in a reagent in order to produce a similar
effect.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 30
filed by the said Christopher Kingsford in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st October 1875.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Christopher Kingsford, Her special licence
that I, the said Christopher Kingsford, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Christopher Kingsford, 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, usc, excrcise,
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 MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUELS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Christopher Kingsford, 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 dato
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Christopher Kingsford, 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 relates to the manufacture of blocks of artificial fuel
by the consolidation of small coal, coke, slack, or other carbonaceous
substances in a finely divided form. For this purpose I mix the car-
bonaceous materials with a composition consisting of alkaline silicato
with bituminous and farinaceous matter, which composition I prepare in
the following manner :-I heat a solution of alkaline silicate, preferably
silicate of soda, on account of its cheapness, and while it is hot I add to
it the farinaceous and bituminous matter, either separately or together.
For example, I add first a small quantity of flour, and after it is mixed
with the silicate solution I add a quantity of pitch, tar, resin, asphalte,
or other similar bituminous or resinous substance which will mingle with
the silicate after the flour has been added. Or according to another
method I make up the farinaceous materials into a stiff paste with water,
and mix this paste with the hot bituminous materials, and then add

page_text: this mixture to the heated solution of the silicate. Or again, while the
silicate solution is heated with the flour mixed with it, the bituminous
materials may be added in powder, as pulverized pitch, resin, asphalte,
and the like.
The proportions which I find suitable for a composition to operate on
a ton of small coal consists of from 60 to 70 lbs. of silicate of soda in
solution, having a specific gravity about 1.375; from 5 to 7 lbs. of flour;
and from 100 to 120 pounds of pitch, mixed with a little tar, or other
suitable liquid hydrocarbon to render it more fluid when heated. This
composition, prepared as above described, I mix intimately with the coal
by means of any known pugging or mixing apparatus, and I then mould
the compound into bricks or blocks under considerable pressure,
employing for that purpose any known suitable compressing and
moulding machine.
I prefer to effect the mixing and moulding while the carbonaceous
matter as well as the composition is in a heated condition, and for the
purpose of heating I blow superheated steam through the mass.
The coal or other carbonaceous matter to be operated upon may in
the first place be mixed with a proportion of clay, either crude or burnt,
or with lime, by preference of the blue lias or hydraulic kind, or with?
cements, or generally with calcareous or aluminous substances that react
with the alkaline silicate, the effect of adding such substances being to
promote and accelerate the solidification of the fuel blocks.
It may be readily understood that the proportions of the ingredients
used in manufacturing fuel blocks, as above described, admit of con-
siderable variation, according to the character and qualities of the car-
bonaceous matter operated on. For richly bituminous coal, for example,
the quantity of the bituminous or resinous ingredients may be lessened,
whilst for the harder coals, coke dust, and the like, the bituminous
ingredient should be added in larger quantity.
23
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I make no general
claim to the manufacture of fuel blocks from carbonaceous matter com-
pounded with alkaline silicates, or with farinaceous or bituminous
materials, or with alkaline silicates and calcareous or aluminous a
ingredients, or with these along with bituminous matter, as described in

page_text: the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me on the 20th June 1874,
No. 2124; but I claim,-
First. The manufacture of fuel blocks by intimately mixing small
coal, slack, or other carbonaceous matter in a finely divided condition,
with a composition consisting of alkaline silicate, farinaceous and bitu-
minous or resinous matter, and moulding the mixture under pressure,
substantially as herein described.
Second. The manufacture of fuel blocks by intimately mixing small
coal, slack, or other carbonaceous matter along with aluminous or
calcareous matter, or both, in a finely divided condition with a composition
consisting of alkaline, silicate, farinaceous, and bituminous or resinous
matter, and moulding the mixture under pressure, substantially as herein
described.
In witness whercof, I, the said Christopher Kingsford, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenticth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
15
CHRISTOPHER KINGSFORD. (L.S.)
Witness,
T. MORGAN,
Secretary,
Inventors' Patent Right Association, Limited,
21, Cockspur Street,
Charing Cross,
London.
S.W.