AN IMPROVED FUEL
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, of
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED FUEL."--A communi-
cation.
Sealed the 4th August 1854, and dated the 3rd June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand le Comte de
Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 3rd June 1854.
I, PETER ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVED FUEL" to be
as follows:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in making an improved fuel,
the basis of which is peat, or peat-like substances, to be used partially dried or
fresh as it is cut from the moor or other locality. To obtain this fuel, I mix
vegetable or mineral carbon, or both, with quick-lime or other dessicating or
heating substances, by which a fuel is produced of greater heating power and
more capable of compression than the fuel obtained by any process yet known.

page_text: I use this fuel for metallurgical purposes, by introducing in the compound
certain substances in minute divisions, adapted for fluxing and better smelting
the ores and purifying the metallic results.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 2nd December 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, & 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, Her special license that I, the
said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, 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 of "AN IMPROVED FUEL," communi-
cated to me by a foreigner residing abroad,) upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, 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, & cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal
Patent Office within six calender months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters-Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in making an improved fuel,
the basis of which is peat, combined with other vegetable or mineral
substances.

page_text: The first ingredient that I employ in my Invention is peat earth or turf,
sometimes called bog earth. It exists in immense quantities in this country,
Scotland, and Ireland, and a large proportion is adapted to the purpose of the
Invention. It ought to be of a black and tolerably compact nature, and
selected as free from earthy matter as possible, and taken from the drained
part of the moor, but still to retain a considerable portion of its natural
moisture. It should not be artificially dried. The next ingredient is vegetable
or mineral carbon. Of these I greatly prefer the char peat for this purpose,
which of course may always be had on the spot. For many purposes I use
anthracite coal, charcoal, and even other carbonaceous materials; this
charcoal, char peat, or coal, must be reduced by adequate machinery to a
coarse grained powder, and it is then ready for use.
The third ingredient
that I use is lime, in a quick or calcined state, and this ought to be calcined
fresh every morning in kilns adapted to the purpose.
As to the use of any invention with fluxes for metallurgical purposes, I do
not claim any other than the exclusive right of supplying the proper materials
for the fuel.
The mode in which I prepare the improved smokeless fuel is as follows:-I
take a quantity of raw peat, fresh raised from the moor, in a partially drained
state, on the spot, when attainable, and, according to its more or less retentive-
ness of water, which varies from 50 to 75 per cent., I add a larger or smaller
proportion of coarsely crushed lime, generally about 12 parts to 150 of peat,
as soon after it has been burnt the better, when its absording power is the
greatest; these two substances, having been loosely thrown together, are
allowed to remain till the lime has become slacked, and evinces greater
aflinity for water than the peat; it draws away from it its superabundant
moisture, the lime at the same time acting in its reduced state chemically on
the peat, to the extent of materially changing its character; for by mixing with
the lime it altogether loses its greasy nature, and assumes more the property
of a cement or mortar; but the quantity of water being still in excess, and the
body not sufficiently firm to admit of its being pressed to force out the water,
I add to it the previously prepared char peat, charcoal, &c., till I have brought
it to a proper degree of consistence, when I subject it to powerful compression,
and form it into bricks or lumps of any required shape and size. The quantity
of char peat used for 150 parts varies with the object, but as a standard I
should say that 17 per cent. will be sufficient. In the manufacture of these
fuels special care must be taken to exclude all siliceous and aluminous earths,
which would flux with the lime and cause stag or clinker.

page_text: Having thus described the said Invention and improvements on the making
of fuels, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim any exact proportions,
as they are varied; nor do I claim the parts or substances herein named taken
separately, as I am aware of their having been one and all used variously in
the manufacture of artificial fuels. But what I do claim is, the combination
of these several materials to obtain smokeless fuels from peat, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof; I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, the First day of
December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-four.
L' DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (L.S.)