IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of" IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL." -A
communication from abroad by Theodore H. N. McPherson, of
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 19th October 1875.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for
.. 'IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
FUEL," a communication, to be as follows:-
Pitch or asphaltum, resin, coal tar, and the like have been used as
cementing agents to utilize coal dust for purposes of fuel; but these
elements although adhesive do no service in this capacity as soon

page_text: as fire is applied to the lump, and hence the dust soon falls and a
smouldering fire results.
As a preliminary step in this process I convert pitch or asphaltum
into a true asphalt by the addition of calcareous earth; or when
expedient I use the rock asphalt, which is simply pitch united with
calcarcous earth, and thus obtain a matrix and a durable cement for
the coal dust that will not be affected by the hottest weather we
experience under solar heat, and thus the manufactured fuel can be
transported from place to place holding its continuity. This asphalt
subserves another very important office, as will be made evident in the
description of my process for manufacturing this fuel.
I first mix the coal dust with asphalt, made as described, to about
the consistency of concrete when used for paving and other purposes.
In another vessel or apparatus fitted for the purpose I mix clay twenty
per cent. with one hundred per cent. anthrax or coal dust with hot
water until the whole assumes a pasty mass; this pasty mass in its
hot condition is then thorougbly mixed with the asphalt, made as
described, also warm, until the mass is in that condition ready to be
put into moulds of any size and compressed for use. The clay blended
with the coal dust contracts under heat in combustion, and the finely
divided particles of coal in the dust are thus held firmly together until
consumed, so that by the union with clay in the manner I have
described the process of combustion is successfully consummated; but
this clay is absorbent of moisture, so that in transporting the manu-
factured fuel inconvenience would unavoidably result. This difficulty
is overcome by the asphalt in the mass, so that a lump of the manu-
factured fuel, by reason of its partial asphaltic condition, will not absorb
moisture under exposure to the elements. By this process I obtain
adhesion and exemption from absorption by the combined use of clay
and asphalt, while at the same time the process of combustion is fulfilled
by the hardening and contracting of the clay under high heat, thereby
holding together all the finely divided particles of coal dust until they
are consumed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th April 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert
Lake, 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 for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL," a communication to me
from abroad by Theodore H. N. McPherson, of Washington, District
of Columbia, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors or admi-
nistrators, 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 date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
Pitch or asphaltum, resin, coal tar, and the like have been used as
cementing agents to utilize coal dust for purposes of fuel; but these
elements although adhesive do no service in this capacity as soon as

page_text: fire is applied to the lump, and hence the dust soon falls and a
smouldering fire results.
As a preliminary step in this process I convert pitch or asphaltum
into a truc asphalt by the addition of calcarcous carth; or when
expedient I use the rock asphalt, which is simply pitch united with
calcareous earth, and thus obtain a matrix and a durable cement for
the coal dust that will not be affected by the hottest weather, and thus
the manufactured fuel can be transported from place to place, main-
taining its continuity. This asphalt serves another very important
office, as will be made evident in the description of my process for
manufacturing this fuel.
I first mix the coal dust with asphalt, made as described, to about
the consistency of concrete when used for paving and other purposes.
In another vessel or apparatus fitted for the purpose I mix twenty
per cent. of clay with one hundred per cent. of anthrax or coal dust in
hot water until the whole becomes a pasty mass; this pasty mass in its
hot condition is then thoroughly mixed with the asphalt, made as
described, also warm, until the mass is in that condition ready to be
put into moulds of any size and compressed for use. The clay blended
with the coal dust contracts under heat in combustion, and the finely
divided particles of coal in the dust are thus held firmly together until
consumed, so that by the union with clay in the manner I have
described the process of combustion is successfully consummated; but
this clay is absorbent of moisture, so that in transporting the manu-
factured fuel inconvenience would unavoidably result. This difficulty
is overcome by the asphalt in its minimum quantity blended throughout
the mass, so that a lump of the manufactured fuel, by reason of its
partial asphaltic condition, will not absorb moisture under exposure
to the elements. By this process I obtain adhesion and exemption from
absorption by the combined use of clay and asphalt, while at the same
time the process of combustion is fulfilled by the hardening and con-
tracting of the clay under high heat, thereby holding together all the
finely divided particles of coal dust until they are consumed.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim, the process herein described of
combining calcareous earth or clay and coal dust or coal waste in boiling

page_text: water, and of combining the mixture of clay and coal dust at a high
temperature with asphalt or the like, for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.
Witness,
ROWLAND G. BROWN,
8, Southampton Bdgs.,
London.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)