CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION Or FUEL
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WYLAM, of the Town and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-second day of June, in the seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto nic, the
said William Wylam, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Wylam, my
exors, adññiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said William Wylam, my
exors, adiñiors, or 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, an Invention, communicated to me by a Foreigner residing
abroad, of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION Or
FUEL;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I, the
said William Wylam, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, under
my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her 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 in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Wylain, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully set forth

page_text: Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
The said Invention consists,
Firstly, in converting small coal or coal dust, or other coal in a like state
of minute division, into large coal, of any required size or form, by the means
following:-
I first mix in an iron pot, or other suitable vessel, one hundred parts of the
small coal or coal dust, or coal in a like state of minute division, with an equal
number of parts of tar or pitch (preferring, however, the tar which is obtained
from gasworks, and is produced by the distillation of coal), and subject the
mixture to a very strong heat, till the particles of coal have the appearance of
being completely fused and amalgamated with the tar or pitch (which
is generally in the space of about an hour). I then pour out the mixture on
some cold surface, which has been previously powdered over with coal dust
to prevent adhesion, and allowed to cool; when cold it becomes quite hard
and solid, and of an uniform texture; I then grind it into powder for subse-
quent use. I next put from eighty-five to ninety-two parts of the small coal
or coal dust into a cauldron or other suitable vessel, or place it on a hot table
and subject it to a strong heat, and add thereto from time to time from eight
to fifteen parts of the powder or flux obtained by the preceding process,
stirring the two materials well together until a complete amalgamation of them
appears to take place (which is generally in about a quarter of an hour). The
product of this second operation is a plastic substance of about the consistency
of clay. While it is yet in a hot state it is put into moulds of the construction
herein-after described, and as each mould is filled it is subjected to strong pres-
sure, either from the ram of a hydraulic press or from the fall of a tilt hammer
upon it, or by any other suitable mechanical means. The moulds are then set
aside to cool, and when cooled they are opened and the blocks of fuel removed.
In point of cohesiveness, solidity, and uniformity of texture, these blocks very
closely resemble coal of natural formation; they possess also great heating
power, do not run or fall asunder under very high degrees of heat, do not
deteriorate from exposure to the atmosphere or moisture, and leave an exceed-
ingly small portion of ashes. When the small coal or coal dust is of a highly
bituminous quality I intermix with it dry turf or peat, broken up into small
pieces or reduced to powder.
Instead of using a flux composed of small coal and tar, or small coal and
pitch, a flux may be used made from peat or turf and tar, or from peat o
turf and pitch, in the manner following:--I take fifty parts of peat or turf, in
the state in which it ordinarily comes from the field, and free it from the

page_text: greater part of the moisture which it contains, either by pressure or evapora-
tion. I add to it an equal weight of tar or pitch (preferring, however, coal
gas tar as aforesaid), and mix the two materials together. I then leave them
in this state for two or three hours, or, if convenient, longer, after which I
place them in a cauldron or other suitable vessel, where they are subjected
to a boiling heat until the mass is in a fluid state, and hardens on exposure to
the atmosphere. The mixture is then cooled in the same way as the coal and
tar or coal and pitch flux first before described, and when hardened it is also
ground to powder and used in that state.
Instead of either of the said fluxes being employed in a dry state, they may
be used in a liquid state before cooling and hardening, but the difficulty of
manipulating with them is then much greater.
Secondly, the said Invention consists in converting poor coal into rich coal,
that is to say, in increasing the heating power of any coal of natural formation
by the means following:-To any given portion of the small dust of the poor
coal which is required to be made rich I add from ten to fifteen per cent. of
either of the said fluxes in the state of powder, according to the degree in
which the coal requires to be enriched. I subject the mixture to exactly the
same process of heating, moulding, pressing, and cooling, as has been before
directed to be followed for the purpose of converting small into large coal.
Thirdly, the said Invention consists in transforming dry peat or turf, or the
refuse of tan pits, or other like combustible vegetable substances, into a fuel
possessing generally the same proportions as coal, in manner following:-I take
sixty parts of dry peat or turf, or the refuse of tan pits, or other like combus-
tible vegetable substance, broken up into small pieces or reduced to powder. I
then add from twenty-five to thirty parts of small coal or coal dust, according
to the combustibility of the substance to be operated upon, and fifteen parts in
the state of powder of either of the fluxes before described, but preferring that
made from coal and tar, or coal and pitch. I mix the whole well together and
pass them through the same processes as before directed to be followed for the
conversion of small into large coal, and poor coal into rich. The product is a
fuel similar in appearance to coal, and which, weight for weight, will evaporate
as much water as some of the very best sorts of small coal.
Fourthly, the said Invention consists in employing, in the manufacture of
the several sorts of fuel before described, moulds of the construction repre-
sented in Figures 1, 2, and 3, of the Drawings hereunto annexed. The mould
in these Figures is of an oblong form, ten inches long and five inches wide, but
it may be made of any form and size required, which gives the fuel manufac-
tured as aforesaid a great advantage over every sort of natural coal. In the
case of steamers, for example, they may be provided with any of the said several

page_text: sorts of coal, moulded into such fitting shapes as to fill with the utmost exact-
ness every corner of the bunkers or boxes in which they are stowed, and if the
blocks are also laid in regular layers, and so as to break joint with one another
like brickwork, they would form a wall which would afford a greater protec-
tion against shot than twice or thrice an equal thickness of loose coal. But
whatever be the shape of the mould it must be made so far like that exempli-
fied in the Drawing, Figure 1, 2, and 3, that as much of it can be detached as
is necessary to allow the block of fuel to be removed from it after it has been
compressed and cooled. The side and end plates a and b (see Figure 1) are
in one piece, and firmly welded to the bottom plate c, but the corresponding
side and end plates e and d, which are also in one piece, are made to fit, or be
removed at pleasure, in the manner following. Two flat bars f¹, f, are welded
to the backs of the pieces a and e; each of these bars has at one end a notched
arm g, attached to it by a pin made fast by a nut and washer that permits it to
rise and fall freely, and at the other end a cleft h, for the reception of the arm
of the opposite bar. When the mould is about to be filled the plates e and d
are fitted into their places, and the arms g, g, dropped into the clefts h, h, of
which they take firm hold by the notched parts i, i. The whole mould is thus
so firmly secured together as to be able to resist any pressure to which it
need afterwards be subjected. After the mould has passed from the hydraulic
press or tilt hammer, or any other sort of compressing machine or instrument
which may be used, and been cooled, the arms g, g, are then thrown up, which
allows the plates e and d to be drawn aside, and the block of fuel to be removed.
All the parts of the mould are of wrought iron.
Fifthly, the said Invention consists in the manufacturing of coke by means of
steam of high temperature obtained and applied in manner following:-Figures
4, 5, and 6, of the Drawings hereunto annexed, represent the apparatus which
I employ for the purpose of heating the steam. Fig. 4 is an elevation, and
Fig. 5 a sectional view, of so much of the apparatus as is necessary to shew its
interior construction. It consists of four sets A, B, C, D, (Fig. 4), of hori-
zontal tubes of copper or other suitable material, each enclosed within
plates of copper or other suitable material, having flanges at their extre-
mities, by which flanges and the clamps e, e, e, e, the whole are firmly bound
together. Fig. 6 is a separate view of one of these clamps. The tubes
in each set communicate with one another in the manner indicated by the
arrows, and the sets also communicate collectively with one another by the
channels marked a, b, c, d. This apparatus is placed in a furnace, and beated
to a red heat. The steam, which may be either steam generated for the pur-
pose, or the waste steam of an engine employed in any other operations, is
then introduced into the series of tubes by the pipe E, and the resulting

page_text: volume of highly heated vapours or gases which issues out from the pipe F is
conducted into the oven or other vessel containing the coal or other combustible
substance intended to be carbonized or converted into coke. For carrying off
and collecting the liquid and volatile products resulting from the distillation of
the coal or other substance, there are pipes and reservoirs provided as usual.
I find the apparatus just described to answer well in practice, but I do not
confine myself to the use of such an apparatus exclusively, but reserve to
myself a right to employ any other mechanical arrangement of tubes, pipes, or
other parts by which the steam may be subjected to a high temperature for the
purpose aforesaid.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is,
First, the preparation, as aforesaid, of fluxes for the manufacture of fuel
from coal and tar or coal and pitch, and from turf and tar or peat and tar, or
any equivalent combination of any two or more of the said materials.
Second, the several modes of manufacturing and preparing fuel, described
under the first, second, and third heads of this Specification.
Third, the employment, in the manufacture and preparation of fucl, of
moulds of the construction represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed, and
before described.
And fourth, the manufacturing of coke by means of highly heated steam, as
before described.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth
day of December, One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.
WILLIAM (L.S.) WYLAM.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1843, the aforesaid William Wylam came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according