CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE USE OF THE SAME
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PARSONS, of No. 2, Stones Row, Saint Pancras, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and forty-five, did give and grant unto me, the said John Parsons, my exors,
adiñiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said John Parsons, my exors, adñors, and assigns;
and such others as I, the said John Parsons, my exors, admors, and assigns;
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey;
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said, Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations, abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE USE OF THE SAME;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I, the said
John Parsons, shall particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument

page_text: in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in Her
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Parsons, 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):-
The nature of my improvements in the manufacture of artificial fuel, con-
sists in the methods employed for combining the materials into masses, and
protecting the masses of materials so combined, and thereby producing an
artificial fuel more convenient and efficient in its practical applications than
the artificial fuel as heretofore manufactured. The artificial fuel, manu-
factured according to my Invention, may be described generally as consisting
of a combination of materials in a comminuted state, made to cohere into a
mass by an inflammable cementing composition, such mass being coated over
or cased all round with an inflammable composition, protected by sawdust or
other substance. The fuel may be formed into cakes, or masses of any con-
venient size and shape, and stowed away in boxes or heaps, the coating of
sawdust or other substance preventing the masses from sticking together; the
fuel may be composed of any combustible materials usually employed, and
which can either be obtained in, or readily reduced into a comminuted state,
as small coal, sawdust, coke, culm, ashes, tan, bark, peat, and peat earths,
turf, dry leaves, furze, heath, fir, coves and coppice rakings, also of the husks
and refuse of all descriptions of grain and fruits, grains from malting infusions,.
boiled or damaged hops, and the refuse from the distillation of the schistose
slate or schale. These several materials may be employed either alone, or two
or more mixed together in combination with the inflammable composition in
the manufacture of artificial fuel, as herein-after described; the particular
material or materials employed will depend on the facility and cheapness with
which they can be procured in any particular locality, and on the purposes to
which the fuel is to be applied. When a strong maintaining fuel is required, I
employ small coal, with the addition of about one-fourth of clay or marl by
measure, except the coal employed in the anthracite; one part of small coal,
and two parts of sawdust, by measure, may be employed with great advantage
for several igniting purposes; but whatever materials are selected as the basis
of the artificial fuel, they must be reduced into a state of comminution, and
the small particles so reduced are to be cemented together into a mass by an
inflammable composition or cement. The composition or cement employed

page_text: for this purpose I prepare as follows:-To about twenty hundredweight or one
ton of either purified pitch, coal, tar, or resin, (but I prefer the latter) I add
about a bushel of plaster of Paris, or other of the argillaceous cements, about
two peeks of culinary salt, about two peeks of allum pounded, about two pecks
of soot or mineral black; instead of the plaster of Paris or other argillaceous
cement, a similar quantity of soda and potash, two pecks of each may be.
employed; (naptha, either crude or disinfected, the residuum of camphine, nitre,
and saltpetre, and the oil or fluid obtained by distillation from the schistose
slate or schale, either crude or disinfected, may be employed together with or
instead of a portion of the pitch, tar, or resin. I intermix these substances:
taken in the above proportions, and heat them gradually in a boiler, and the
heating is to be continued to boiling, or until the scoria or scum that is formed
during the early part of the operation has entirely subsided. The mixture is
then in a proper state to be applied to the material or mixture of materials
constituting the basis of the fuel; this material or mixture of materials is to
be put into a pan or trough, or on to a hearth heated by any convenient
means, and the material or mixture of materials is to be raised to the
temperature of about one hundred and fifty degrees of Fahrenheit, being
stirred occasionally during the heating, and to this is to be added the inflam-.
mable cementing composition, just described, in a boiling state, the whole
being stirred about while the hot cementing composition is being added, so as
to prevent the mass from burning. When small coal or small coal and sawdust
are the materials employed as the basis of the artificial fuel, I use about six
quarts of the hot cementing composition for a bushel of the coal or coal and
sawdust, and when the temperature of the whole mass is such that a perfect:
intermixture of all the substances has taken place, the mixture is fit to be
formed into cakes or masses by pressure, which is the next operation. For
this purpose, moulds or metal frames divided into several compartments, of
any convenient size and shape for moulding the above-mentioned mixture, are
provided; a little sawdust or other substance, as bran or pollard, is sifted over
the moulds or compartments for moulding, which are then filled with the
mixture, and a little sawdust or other substance being sifted over the top of
the mixture in the moulds, the whole is subjected to pressure by being passed
under rollers, or the table of a screw, or other press. The contents of each
mould or frame, being turned out, will be found to constitute a compact mass,
in which the particles of the materials constituting the bases of the fuel will
be cemented together by the setting of the inflammable cementing composition.
These compact masses, being allowed to cool, are then dipped in a melting
mixture of highly inflammable materials for the purpose of being coated all

page_text: round, or encased in such composition. The composition to be employed for
the coating may be the same as that already described as the inflammable
cementing mixture, or with the addition of two pounds of plaster of Paris to
every eight gallons of the inflammable cementing mixture. This composition
being kept at a boiling point, the compact masses or blocks of fuel, formed as
just described, are dipped into it by means of a culinder or frame of bars, and
being so dipped are withdrawn as quickly as possible and thrown upon a table or
inclined plane thickly strewed with sawdust, à screen or sieve above shedding
sawdust on these masses, so that they may become thoroughly coated on all sides
with the sawdust before the hot inflammable composition. has become set. By.
this process the fuel is surrounded by a stong water-tight casing. The saw-
dust adds to the strength of the 'casing of the inflammable composition, affords
protection to the fuel, and prevents adhesion in the stowage, and obviates the
wasting of the materials by the running of the resin or similar substance
during the combustion of the fuel. Instead of sawdust, bran, pollard, or fine
chaff may be employed for the purpose of the above-mentioned casing. It
will be evident that the materials employed for the purposes aforesaid and
their proportions may be very much varied, without departing from the
peculiar features of my Invention, and I would observe that the coal, coal and
sawdust, or other materials constituting the basis of the artificial fuel and the
component parts of the inflammable cementing composition, may be mixed
together cold and then heated to such a temperature as will insure the
thorough admixture of all the substances, and the coherence of the particles
of the coal, coal and sawdust, or other materials when formed into cakes after
pressure, as above described. I would also observe that it is only necessary to
use so much of the inflammable cementing composition as will occasion the
coherence of the particles of the coal, coal and sawdust, or other materials
constituting the basis of the artificial fuel. The quantity necessary for this
purpose will vary with the materials employed, as the basis of the fuel consists
of artificial fuel; and where no coal is employed I add a larger quantity of
the cementing composition, as about seven quarts instead of six to each
bushel of the material or mixture of materials constituting the basis of the
fuel. The artificial fuel herein-before described, particularly that containing
the largest quantity of resinous matter, is peculiarly applicable to the manu-
facture of gas, in addition to the various other purposes for which artificial
fuel may be so advantageously employed.
The casing of an inflammable cement, protected by sawdust or other sub-
stance, as above described, may also be applied with great advantage to pieces
of coal, coke, and wood,.as such fuel will thus be rendered waterproof, and

page_text: even after immersion in water may be ignited with perfect ease and will burn
without waste, from the resin or similar substance of the inflammable com-
position becoming melted and running to waste.
Having now described my improvements in the manufacture of artificial
fuel, and in what manner the same are to be carried out in practice, I wish it
to be understood that I lay no claim to the use of the substances herein-before
mentioned or referred to, except when the same are employed in and for the
manufacture of artificial fuel in the manner above described; but I do claim
as of my Invention the improvements in the manufacture of artificial fuel,
wherein the particles of the materials or mixture of materials constituting the
basis of the fuel are cemented together by an inflammable cement and formed
into cakes or masses, these masses being cased in a mixture of highly
inflammable materials, and protected by sawdust or other substance as above
described.
And I also claim the casing of coal, coke, and wood with an inflammablê
composition protected by sawdust, as above described.,
:
In witness whereof, I, the said John Parsons, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Tenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Tenth day of November, in
the year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid John Parsons came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Tenth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-five.

page_text: In the Matter of Letters Patent granted the Tenth day of May,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five, to John Parsons, of
Number 2, Stone's Row, Saint Pancras, in the County of Middlesex,
Machinist, for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL,
AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE USE OF THE SAME."
DISCLAIMER entered by the Assignee of the said Letters Patent.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
CORKE, of Tunbridge Wells, in the County of Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria did give and
grant unto the said John Parsons, his exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and forty-five, for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL, AND
IN APPARATUS FOR THE USE OF THE SAME: " And whereas the said Letters Patent
have been duly assigned to me, the said Richard Corke, by Indenture, bearing
date the First day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and forty-five: And whereas, since the grant of the said Letters
Patent, I have been advised that it is doubtful whether so much of the said
Invention as is expressed by the words "and in apparatus for the use of the
same" in the title of the said Letters Patent is of sufficient novelty and
utility to support Letters Patent for such part of the said Invention: And
whereas I am desirous, for the reasons aforesaid, to enter a Disclaimer of
such part of the said Invention, and have obtained leave of Her Majesty's
Attorney-General, certified by his fiat and signature, to enter such Disclaimer:
KNOW YE THEREFORE, that I, the said Richard Corke, for the reasons
aforesaid, do hereby disclaim in the title of the said Invention the words
and in apparatus for the use of the same," and I, the said Richard Corke,
do further declare that my reasons for the said Disclaimer are those above
stated, and that the said Disclaimer is not such Disclaimer as extends to the
exclusive right granted by the said Letters Patent.
"
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Corke, have hereunto set my
hand, this Tenth day of November, One thousand eight hundred and
RICH CORKE.

page_text: To the Clerk of the Patents of England.
This is to certify, that Richard Corke, of Tunbridge Wells, in the County
of Kent, Assignee of the Letters Patent of John Parsons, of Number 2,
Stone's Row, Saint Pancras, in the County of Middlesex, Machinist, has
applied to me to enter with you the above written Disclaimer of a certain
Invention, for which Letters Patent were duly granted to him, the said John
Parsons, under the Great Seal, bearing date the Tenth day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and forty-five, and of the Specification enrolled this
day. And having considered of the said application and no objection having
been made to the same, I have accordingly granted leave to the said Richard
Corke, Assignee of the said John Parsons as aforesaid, to file his said Dis-
claimer, pursuant to the Statute passed in the 5th & 6th years of the reign of
His said late Majesty King William the Fourth, entitled "An Act to amend
the Law touching Letters Patent for Inventions."