IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND PURIFYING COAL
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Sheppard, of Bridgend, in the County
'
of Glamorgan, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR WASHING AND PURIFYING COAL."
Sealed the 12th May 1874, and dated the 29th December 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Sheppard at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th December 1878.
I, CHARLES SHEPPARD, of Bridgend, in the County of Glamorgan,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND PURIFYING COAL," to be as
follows:-
°
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of apparatus for
washing coal in which the same water may be used again and again to
separate the coal from the shale and other extraneous matters contained
therein, and by which means no waste of coal can occur.
The coal to be washed is by preference discharged into a hopper and
passed through a pair of rolls to reduce it to a suitable size; it is then
"

page_text: delivered by an elevator into a revolving screen situated above the
washing machine.
The washing machine may be described as a vessel divided vertically
into two, three, or more compartments or bashes, each one of which is
provided with a plunger that works in a division of the compartment
formed to receive it. The plungers are provided with valves so arranged
as to close at the down stroke, and to open at the up stroke of their
respective plungers. The use of these plungers is to create an upward
current of water in the compartments, and thereby to lift from a
perforated copper bottom with which each compartment is fitted the
coal that has been deposited thereon by the rotary screen. Near the
bottom of the compartments are valves opening inwards for the supply
of water thereto. Set in front of the compartments and brought into
communication therewith at the level of the pierced copper bottoms is
a gutter for conveying away the shale or refuse which lies on the copper
bottoms while the coal through its lighter specific gravity floats above
it. The openings to this gutter are regulated by adjustable sluice valves,
which are intended to keep back the coal and allow only the refuse or
shale to pass under them. At the end of this gutter is an elevator,
which will remove the shale or refuse and deposit it into any suitable :
receptacle..
Communicating with the front of the bashes or compartments of the
washing vessel at a higher level than the gutter just mentioned is a
straining trough, into which the coal is discharged by the upward flow
of the water produced by the action of the plungers. In this trough the :
coal is separated from the water, the latter running away through
suitable channels to settling ponds, where the fine dust which it holds in
suspension may be deposited. In the lower part of the trough a rotary
lifter is mounted, which will raise the coal and deposit it into an
adjacent mixing trough lying parallel therewith. Into this trough is a
also deposited by means of the rotary screen' such fine coal or dust as
does not require to be washed. The mixing trough is fitted with a
propelling screw, by the rotation of which the coal is discharged out of
the machine in a continuous stream and in a semi-dry state. The water
after it has deposited the matters held in suspension is run into a well,
whonce it is taken to repeat its washing action in the machine.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Sheppard in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 29th June 1874.
.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES.
SHEPPARD, of Bridgend, in the County of Glamorgan, Engineer, send,
greeting.
'
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of December, in the
year of our Lord. One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Sheppard, Her special
licence that I, the said Charles Sheppard, my executors, administrators,.
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Sheppard, 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
WASHING AND PURIFYING COAL," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Charles Sheppard, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters›
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Sheppard, 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, reference being had to the Drawing)
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is,
to say):
-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of apparatus for
washing coal, in which the same water may be used again and again to
separate the coal from the shale and other extraneous matters contained
therein, and by which means no waste of coal can occur.

page_text: .
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1, Sheet I., shows the improved
apparatus in side elevation, the brickwork which supports the apparatus
being in section; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same showing also the
tanks for receiving the washing water; Fig. 3, Sheet II., is a plan view
of the washing machine; Fig. 4 is a partial longitudinal section of the 5
same; Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the washing machine; and Fig. 6 is
á transverse section of the same.
The coal before being submitted to the action of the washing machine
is by preference passed between a pair of rolls to reduce it to a suitable
size;
it is then delivered by means of an elevator into a revolving screen
situated above the washing machine, into which it is delivered in a
continuous stream, the several parts of the apparatus being so arranged.
as to act continuously, the discharge of the rubbish and of the washed.
coal being carried on together as well as the supply of clean and outflow
of the foul water.
In Figures 1 and 2 A is a pair of crushing rolls, to which the coal is
fed by a hopper A'. In passing from between these rolls the coal is led
down by a trough A² to a rotary elevator B, which lifts the coal and
discharges it into a rotating inclined screen C placed over the washing
machine D, D.
This machine and the parts in connection therewith are shown on an
enlarged scale in Sheet II.
1
2
By reference to Fig. 4 it will be seen that the screen O consists of a
cylinder of pierced metal mounted on an inclined shaft within a fixed
casing C¹, which is provided at bottom with four shutes 1, 2, 3, 4, for 2
directing the coal into different compartments of the washing machine.
This machine is shewn as divided vertically into three compartments
or bashes (or it may be two or more than three), each one of which is
provided (see Fig. 6) with a plunger E that works in a division of the
compartment formed to receive it, and depends from a plunger rod E¹. 3
These plungers are provided with valves e so arranged as to close at the
down stroke and to open at the up stroke of their respective plungers.
The use of these plungers is to create an upward current of water in the
compartments, and thereby to lift from a perforated inclined copper
floor F with which each compartment is fitted the coal that has been 3
deposited thereon by the rotary screen. Near the bottoms of the com-
partments are valves & opening inwards for the supply of water thereto,

page_text: Authorial at the level of the pierced copper noors is a cymmarical
gutter G for conveying away the shale or refuse as it is separated from
the coal, which by reason of its lighter specific gravity is floated away
by the upward flow of water through the perforated floors F. The
openings to this gutter G are regulated by adjustable sluice valves g,
which are intended to keep back the coal and allow only the refuse or
shale to pass under them. Mounted in this gutter is a propelling
screw G³ for propelling the shale to one end thereof, where it is taken
up by an elevator H, which will deposit the same in any suitable
receptacle.
Communicating with the front of the bashes or compartments of the
washing vessel at a higher level than the gutter just mentioned is a
straining trough I, into which the coal is discharged by the upward flow
of the water produced by the action of the plungers E, E. In this
trough the coal is separated from the water, the latter running away
through suitable channels to settling tanks (shewn in Fig. 2, and here-
after more particularly referred to), where the fine dust which it holds.
in suspension may be deposited. In the front part of the trough I a
rotary horizontal lifter I is mounted, which will raise the coal and
deposit it into an adjacent mixing trough K lying parallel therewith.
Into this trough is also deposited by means of a rotary screen O and the
shute 4 such fine coal or dust as does not require to be washed. The
mixing trough is fitted with a propelling screw K³, by the rotation of
which the dry fine coal is mixed with the washed coal, and the whole is
discharged out of the machine in a continuous stream and in a semi-dry
state.
The water as it flows from the straining trough I is conducted to a
channel L, which leads to tanks M, M, M². These tanks are severally
connected with tanks N, N¹, and the tanks N, N', are connected with a
return passage P leading to a well Q, upon which is mounted a rotary
pump R for supplying the washing compartments with a continuous flow
of water. O, O¹, are tanks for receiving the water when it is very foul,
and for this purpose they are connected with the tanks N, N¹. The
water as it leaves the straining trough I holds in suspension a consider-
able amount of fine coal and refuse, the greater portion of which is
deposited in the tanks M, M. This coal may be used for coking. A

page_text: further deposit is effected in the tanks N, N¹, and may be used for other
purposes.
When the matters suspended in the water have been deposited the
water may be run off to the well Q.
It will be understood that sluices must be provided for the purpose of 5
directing the flow of the water into and from the tanks. S is a steam
engine of any suitable construction for driving the crushing rollers A,
the elevators B, H, and I, the propelling screws G¹ and K¹, and for
rotating the cylindrical screen C and pump R and for working the
plungers E, E, the gearing for effecting all which is clearly indicated in 1
the Drawings.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improved
Apparatus for Washing and Purifying Coal," and explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under
the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the construction and 1
arrangement of apparatus above described, whereby the operation of
washing and purifying the coal may be carried on continuously and
with the aid of a limited supply of water. .
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Sheppard, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of June, in the 20
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
ATT&DTON smann 3