IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMPRESSING VARIOUS SUBSTANCES, ESPECIALLY AP- PROAL APPLICABLE TO THE COMPRESSION OF SMALL COAL AND SUCH LIKE MATERIALS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Christopher Kingsford, of Fulham, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR COMPRESSING VARIOUS SUBSTANCES, ESPECIALLY AP-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Christopher Kingsford
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 28th October 1874.
I, CHRISTOPHER KINGSFORD, of Fulham, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMPRESSING VARIOUS SUBSTANCES,
ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO THE COMPRESSION OF SMALL COAL AND SUCH LIKE
MATERIALS," to be as follows :-
The nature of my Invention consists in improvements in that class of
machinery for consolidating small coal and other substances by means
of a ram or piston, having a reciprocating motion, in a tube or mould,

page_text: the tube being of such a length that the friction of the material in the
tube is sufficient to cause the desired pressure on said materials.
My said Invention consists in moulds either square, rectangular,
round, or any other desired form that it is required that the material
under treatment should assumc.
The moulds consist' of tube or barrel bored out slightly taper, and
having a hopper attached for the introduction of the materials to be
compressed; within this barrel place four or more plates or liners,
fitted accurately at their angles or edges to cach other, and placed
together so as to enclose a space within them of the desired shape of
the article to be moulded and solidified. The backs or outside surfaces
of said liners when placed as above described are turned so as to fit the
taper barrel of the mould, and are thus held firmly in position and can
easily be withdrawn and replaced by new ones when worn. These
liners are made longer than the mould, the protruding ends being free
to expand and thus relieve the pressure of the material which is com-
pressed within them, and at the same time they hold and release it
gradually as it advances towards the end of the tube, just giving
sufficient pressure to compensate for any inequalities in the nature of the
materials.
I also construct encircling straps bound around the protruding liners
of the moulds, which may be fixed on any part and tightened to any
degree, thus lengthening at will the frictional surfaces within, according
to the nature of the materials and the amount of pressure it is desired
to produce.
The moulds are fixed to a bed plate or framing, and are furnished
with rams or pistons carrying friction rollers and working in guides.
These rams have a reciprocating motion imparted to them by means of
cams of the required form necessary to produce the greatest pressure at
the time that the coal or other material is entering into a compact form,
this usually takes place at the moment when the mass begins to move
along the tube or mould; the form of the cams further causes the the
materials to advance, expelling at the same time an equivalent bulk of
fuel or other matter from the end of the mould.
At the end of the mould is fixed an apparatus for detaching the
moulded and compressed substances in any desired lengths; the materials
in passing out of the mould meet and raise a wheel or other catch arrange-

page_text: ment which releases the plate supporting the substance, and allowing it
to descend breaks it off at any given length, according to the distance
that the wheel or catch is placed from the end of tube.
up
the cam
The ram or piston as the cam revolves is made to follow
and allow a fresh supply of small coal or other materials to enter the
mould.
A,hand lever is attached to each mould or convenient part of the
machine having a catch at one end, whereby the ram is held in position
and prevented from following up the cam and thereby closing the com-
munication between the mould and the supply from the hopper.
The body or barrel of each mould is directly connected with the cam
shaft by means of two or more press bars, so that the whole of the
force exerted by the cams is sustained by said bars and all lateral strains
arc thus avoided.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Christopher Kingsford in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th April 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHRISTOPHER
KINGSFORD, of Fulham, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand-eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, 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 there-
after 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMPRESSING VARIOUS SUBSTANCES,
ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO THE COMPRESSION OF SMALL COAL," upon the

page_text: 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 imme-
diately after the date 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 improvements in that class of machinery for
consolidating small coal or other substances by means of a ranı or piston
having a reciprocating motion in a tube or mould, the tube being of
such a length that the friction of the material in the tube is sufficient
to cause the desired pressure on said material.
My said Invention consists in moulds cither square, rectangular,
round, or any other shape that it is desired that the material under
treatment should assume.
The moulds consist of a tube or barrel bored out slightly taper, and
having a hopper attached for the introduction of the materials to be
compressed. Within this barrel I place four or more plates or liners
fitted accurately at their angles or edges to each other and placed
together so as to enclose a space between them of the desired shape of
the article to be moulded and solidified. The backs or outside surfaces 2
of said liners when placed as above described are turned so as to fit the
taper barrel of the mould, and are thus held firmly in position and can
be easily withdrawn and replaced with new ones when worn. These
liners are made longer than the mould, the protruding ends being free
to expand and thus relieve the pressure of the material which is com- {
pressed within them, and at the same time they hold and release it
gradually as it advances towards the end of the tube, just giving
sufficient pressure to compensate for any inequalities in the nature of
the materials.
I also construct encircling straps, bound round the protruding liners a
of the moulds, which may be fixed on any part and tightened to any
degree, thus lengthening at will the frictional surfaces within, according

page_text: machine, of which any convenient number may be arranged so as to
work from the same shaft.
a
is the mould or body of the machine; bis the hopper for the intro-
duction of the materials to the mould of the press; c, c, c, c, represent
four or more plates or liners, which when fitted together at their angles
or edges, as shown, form between them the desired shape of the article
to be moulded, a square form being that shown in the Drawings, but
being equally applicable to a rectangular or polygonal shape. The
backs or outside surfaces of these plates are turned and fitted into the
barrel of the mould. These liners are with the object and intention
herein-before mentioned made longer than the barrel of the mould and
the protruding ends free to expand; d, d, are encircling straps bound
round the protruding liners, which may be fixed on any part and
tightened to any degree by means of screws or other convenient modes
of adjustment. c¹, c¹, c', c¹, Figures VI. and VII., shew these plates
constructed to form a square or polygonal block of fuel or other material,
which instead of being united together at their angles are made and
fitted together so that when they are confined by the straps d', d', which
act upon the studs c, e, e, e, simultaneously slide upon each other,
thereby reducing the capacity of the mould, the clasticity in the
encircling straps, which may be made of steel, being sufficient to com-
pensato for any irregularities in the materials which may be in the
mould.
Figure VIII., shews a cross section of a mould in which the form
required is circular, the liners c¹¹, c", c, c", in this case being portions
of a cylinder divided longitudinally into six or more plates. f is the
bed plate or framing of the machine; g, the ram or piston; h, the
friction roller attached to the piston, having a reciprocating motion
imparted to it by means of a cam i and a spring or weight; or other
suitable mechanical contrivance.
The cam (i) I construct of the required form necessary to produce
the greatest pressure at the time that the coal or other material is
entering into a compact form. I make the cam therefore between the
portions,, Figure II., nearly concentric, thus effecting the greatest
pressure on the piston just as the mass is consolidated and begins to
move forward along the tube or mould, the further portion of the cam
from to causes the materials in the mould to advance, and expels
at the same time an equivalent bulk of fuel or other material from the

page_text: end of the mould. The fuel thus pressed may be broken off in lengths as
it passes out from the mould, or if thought desirable it may be divided
in the mould by means of some parting material interposed between
each length. The former method I perform by means of an apparatus
fixed on the end of the mould 1, Figure 2, being a plate hinged to
the end of the bottom liner plate of the mould, and balanced by a
weight o or spring or other contrivance; p is the catch which holds the
plate n in a horizontal position until the lever q, carrying an adjustable
wheel is lifted by the material as it projects from the mould. The
latter method I perform by means of a strip of paper or other suitable
material wound round a reel (not shown in the Drawings) and
placed in a convenient position above the piston, and passing through a
slot below the hopper of the machine. The piston in this case is con-
structed with a knife edge on the upper portion of its face, which at
each stroke draws in a given length of paper and presses it against the
substance in the mould, when, by means of a break on the paper reel
the strip is stopped from entering further, and the portion held between
the piston and the fuel is cut off and advances with the block; as the
piston returns, the weight of the coal or other substance in the hopper
pressed down the loose end of the paper against the face of the piston,
and the same operation is repeated.
A hand lever h, k, is attached to the mould or other convenient part
of the machine, and is constructed with a catch ' at one end, which on
lowering the end % of the lever catches the piston and holds it in
position, and thereby closes the communication between the mould and
the supply from the hopper.
The body or barrel of each mould is directly connected with the cam
shaft by means of two or more press bars m, m, as hercin-beforc
described.
I may here remark that although I have described arrangements of
mechanism for working longitudinally it will be obvious to the practical
man that they are adaptable for vertical action or otherwise.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed or carried out in practice, I hereby declare that I claim the
Invention of "Improvements in Machinery for Compressing various Sub-
stances, especially Applicable to the Compression of Small Coal, and

page_text: such like Materials," as herein-before set forth and described, wherein
the following are important points of construction,—
1st. The arrangement of adjustable plates or liners to the moulds of
said machines, the ends of which act as a spring clutch, which gradually
relieves the pressure on the materials as they advance towards the end
of the moulds, constructed substantially as described.
2nd. The form of cam employed to produce the required pressure
in the aforesaid machine or machines, constructed so that tho
eccentricity of the surface or periphery is least, and consequently the
force exerted is greatest at that part of the stroke when the materials
are in the act of consolidating, as herein-before described.
It is however to be understood that I do not claim the constituent
details of the mechanism "per se" and apart from their combination
and use for the purposes of my said Invention, as aforesaid; nor do I
limit myself to the use of such details provided the substantial character
of my said Invention be retained and used.
In witness whereof, I, the said Christopher Kingsford, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
Witness,
C. KINGSFORD. (L.S.)
T. MORGAN,
Secretary,
Inventors' Patent Right Association, Limited,
21, Cockspur Street,
London, S.W.