IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Gorton Briggs, of Kingsland, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF FUEL."
Sealed the 29th May 1855, and dated the 19th December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Gorton Briggs
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th December 1854.
I, JOSEPH GORTON BRIGGS, of Kingsland, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL" to be as follows:-
I take a mixture of substances suitable for being cast into blocks of fuel by
heat, and such as will not be liable to spontaneous combustion by the effect
of moisture, and prepared by any of the well-known processes, and I heat the
mixture until it is in a fit condition for being cast or run into moulds to form
blocks; I then take a mould or moulds, which may be of any suitable shape
and material, and either separate or united, and of such a size as to form the
blocks of convenient size and weight, and I wet or moisten the interior of
the mould or moulds with water or other liquid, not oily, greasy, or adhesive,
and I put the mixture into the mould or moulds, placing over or against the
open side of each of them a plate or plates wetted or moistened in a similar

page_text: way. The whole is then submitted to a proper amount of pressure, to cause the
mixture to cohere into a block or blocks, and with as little delay as possible
these blocks are turned out of the moulds, and the process is finished. The
fuel thus made I designate "improved patent Etna fuel."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Gorton Briggs in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
GORTON BRIGGS, of Kingsland, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Gorton Briggs, Ier special licence that I, the said Joseph Gorton
Briggs, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Joseph Gorton Briggs, 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Joseph Gorton Briggs, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
scal, 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 Joseph Gorton Briggs, 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 thereof (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists in wetting or moistening the surfaces of moulds
employed in the manufacture of artificial fuc!, in which the substances com-
posing the fuel are consolidated and formed into cakes or blocks, whereby the
substances are prevented from adhering to the moulds; consequently the cakes
or blocks are better formed, and a greater quantity can be manufactured in

page_text: a given time with a given number of moulds, than if their surfaces were
not wetted.
I take a mixture of substances suitable for making artificial fuel, such as
coal, coal dust, breeze, sawdust, resin, lime, coke, or other similar materials,
prepared and mixed by any of the well-known processes, and heated in coppers,
pans or otherwise, until the mixture is in a fit condition for being placed into
moulds; I then take a mould, and wet the surfaces thereof with water or other
suitable liquid, drain off any superfluous liquid, and fill it with a proper
quantity of the heated substances; upon them I place a wetted plate of metal
or wood, which forms the cover of the mould, and I subject the contents
thereof to pressure, which is to be proportioned to the cubical contents of the
mould, the consistency of the materials, as well as to the degree of density
required in the finished fuel. Pressure should be removed as speedily as
possible, the cover of the mould taken off, and the mould itself turned over
smartly and slightly shaken, when the finished fuel will leave the mould, and
when cool will be ready for use. The moulds may be of any suitable form
and material, but I prefer to have them of an oblong shape, with division
plates along and across them, so as to make deep cuts or marks in the blocks
or cakes of fuel when formed, which cuts facilitate their being broken into
small cakes for use; and I prefer the materials for the moulds to be metal,
such as cast iron or gun metal, and of sufficient strength to bear the necessary
handling as well as the pressure herein-before mentioned.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which it is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improvements in
the manufacture of fuel, the wetting or moistening the surfaces of the moulds
in which the same is formed into cakes or blocks in order to prevent adhesion
thereto.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Gorton Briggs, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of June, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
R. A. BROOMAN,
166, Fleet St., London.
J. G. BRIGGS. (L.S.)