An Improved Manufacture of Artificial Fuel and other Moulded Blocks and Apparatus Employed therein.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Sept., 1888
Complete Specification Lett. 11th June, 1889-Accepted, 27th July, 1889
NOYISIONAD DI MUITIATION.
An Improved Manufacture of Artificial Fuel and other Moulded
Blocks and Apparatus Employed therein.
I, THEODORE LOUIS JULES QUENNESSON, of Chauny (Aisne) France, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an improved manufacture of artificial fuel and other
moulded blocks, and also to the apparatus employed therein. Hitherto, in the
manufacture of blocks or briquettes of waste coal, the agglomerating agent has
always consisted of resins, pitch, or tar, which it has been necessary to employ hot,
that is to say, when liquefied by heat, which is the cause of considerable difficulty
in the manufacture, and the principal object of employing these agents being the
agglomeration of the small coal or other matters, it is impossible either to reduce or
increase their proportion.
In studying the composition of clays and plastic earths and the means of modifying
their constitution, I have found that certain clays and plastic earths may be utilized
as agglomerating agents under certain conditions. Thus by the employment of
potter's clay and plastic earths, pitch, tar, resin, sulphur, and many other combustible
substances or aids to combustion may be employed either simultaneously or separately,
according to requirements, in the form of powder or more or less fine particles, or,
even in small lumps simply as aids to combustion and only in sufficient amount to
compensate for the greater or less combustibility of the coal to which the clay is
added for the purpose of agglomerating the materials.
With this mode of agglomeration, there may be employed certain extracts of the
distillation of coal, tars, petroleums, oils, fats, etc., in a more or less liquid state.
When the materials are in a dry state, they are preferably reduced to powder or
small particles, and readily mixed in a dry state with the coal, and the whole then
kneaded together with the clay in a suitably moist condition. When the substances
employed are in a more or less liquid state, they are kneaded with the clay after it
has been brought to the degree of dryness suited to the moisture of the substances
added thereto. There is no question of dissolving the clay in these substances as,
independent of impossibilities, it should be employed in much too large quantities.
The following method of manufacture which has been found to give good results,
is here given, as an example. I put the potter's clay or other suitable earth in a
receptacle and allow it to soak for some days in from about three to four times its
weight of water, after which it is well stirred, until it can be readily penetrated at all
points by a stick or iron rod, when a greater part of the clay will be found to adhere,
in the form of an adhesive paste, to the stirrer. It is this portion which it is of the
greatest advantage to employ, as the part which first dissolves in the water, or does
so upon being stirred ever so little, possesses much inferior plastic qualities.
It will be understood that it is absolutely impossible to exactly fix the quantities to
be employed as the result depends upon the nature of the clay and the nature and
qualities of the materials to be agglomerated therewith. Thus for every hundred
pounds of coal, the quantity of tar or pitch employed may vary from five pounds and
under to fifteen pounds and upwards while the proportion of clay may vary from five
pounds and under, to twenty-five pounds and upwards, the exact amounts being only
determined by experiment.
When employing liquid or semi-liquid combustible matters or aids to combustion
1 bring the clay which is to serve as cementing agent, to a suitable degree of
moisture either by allowing it to dry gradually or more quickly by placing it in
sacks and draining it and then subjecting it to pressure in a press similar to that used
for cider.or sugar, the sacks being superposed with hurdles or filter plates interposed

page_text: between them. I then add the combustible matters or aids to combustion to the clay
and work them well together before introducing the coal, and continue by a thorough
kneading to mix the whole together, after which the material may be moulded either
by hand or by any of the machines used for brick-making. The blocks or briquettes
are then simply dried either in the open air or by means of artificial heat, and in this
manner acquire the necessary solidity.
My Invention is not limited to the kind of product before described but applies
equally to the manufacture of briquettes of coal as well as to firelighters. To make
this latter. class of article I employ the stalks of reeds, bracken, broom, wood
shavings, especially of deal or pine, birch twigs, branches of pine or other resinous
woods, waste strippings of textile materials, etc., which are first subjected to the
following mechanical treatment:-The materials are first passed between breaking or
crushing rollers so as to enable them to be cut up, by means of rotary knives, to a
maximum length of from one-fifth to one-eighth of an inch in which condition they
are passed between grooved rollers running at different speeds, by which they are
simultaneously torn and crushed, so as to reduce them to a flocculent condition,
whereby they are rendered especially suitable for absorbing the agglutinative
substance employed, which I prefer to consist of plastic clay or loam which may be
previously prepared by steeping in water, as before described. The quantity of
water to be absorbed would of course depend upon the degree of siccity of the
matters, but the average quantity would be from two to four pounds of clay dissolved
in from two to eight gallons of water for every hundred pounds of ligneous material.
If the vegetable matters employed are in a green state, especially those of a resinous
nature, only about half the quantity of water required for dry materials and shavings
is needed, the amount of water necessary to be added to the materials depending
on their dryness, even when of the same nature. After the ligneous materials and
agglutinant have been thus separately prepared, I select from the former those which
are most suitable for the product to be obtained (with which may be mixed about 50%
of small coal) and add thereto from 3% to 6% of powdered resin. After the
mixture has been rendered as intimate as possible, it is kneaded together with the
agglutinative liquid or clay water, as before described.
For making briquettes, I pulverize, if necessary, the coal employed and improve
their combustibility by the addition of from 3% to 6% of powdered resin, and
after having carefully mixed the several kinds of coal reduced to different sizes,
according to the results desired, I agglomerate these dry matters together with the
resin by means of about 25% of water in which is dissolved from 3% to 6% of
clay earth which has been purified by the extraction of the greater part of the
substances it contains inimical to its plastic and combustible properties and which
often exceed 40% of the total weight.
A pasty product is in this manner obtained which is then moulded into briquettes
or fire-lighters of any desired form, and dried by means of the apparatus which I
will now proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying drawings forming
part of this specification, which represent a machine for the manufacture of briquettes
or fire-lighters of cylindrical form. Figure 1 is a sectional elevation, and figure 2 a
half. elevation of the mould press. Figure 3 is a top plan of part of the mould
plate. The press is mainly composed of two parts, the one movable and the other
fixed. The movable part, which is mounted upon a horizontal axis a, carries the
moulds, plungers e, and, pressing mechanism which latter may be of any desired
kind, but is here represented by a screw d and cam lever e which is used in certain
cases to apply a finishing pressure to the briquettes in the moulds. The head of the.
press is fixed and carries a series of plungers f and pressure screw g and between it
and the lower part of the, press is. a space for the introduction of the charging
apparatus shewn on the right hand side of figure 2 and consisting of a, tray, carrying
a series of cylindrical fillers corresponding in number and position to the moulds b.
The cylinders are filled by hand and the plate upon which they are carried is then
slig into position above the moulds between guides so as to ensure accuracy in position,
as represented in dotted lines in figure 1, the followers k and plungers.c being level

page_text: with the mould table so as to close the mould apertures and prevent the material
dropping out of the charging cylinders into the moulds.., This done, the plungers c
are then lowered after which the upper plungers are also lowered so as to force out
the contents of fillers h into the moulds. The under faces of plungers when lowered
should be flush with the surface of the mould table, in which position they are
retained by a latch in readiness to receive the upward pressure which compresses the
briquettes.
The moulds b are open at bottom, and beneath the plate on which they are carried
is a second plate fixed thereto from which rise core pins in the centre of each
mould cavity, a similar plate, provided with core pins of larger diameter, being
employed for moulding fire lighters. The plate carrying the core pins is pierced to
correspond to the diameter of each mould or nearly so, the core pin i being supported
at the centre of each aperture by il bridge, as shewn in figure 4, and the aperture
being closed by the follower which is also perforated to receive the core pin i.
The parts being in the position described, that is to say, after the materials have
been forced down into the moulds by the plungers fand the latter have been locked
in position, the materials are then compressed by means of plungers c with the aid
of screw d and cam lever e, said plungers being made hollow and vertically grooved
to correspond to the bridges or radial arms of core plate i. After pressing, the
plungers are raised to their initial position, the charger is withdrawn, and the press
turned back on its hinge a to the position shewn in dotted lines in figure 1, whereby
the moulds & are brought to the horizontal position shewn in figure 5, after which a
truck, bearing rows of carriers placed one above the other and corresponding to the
rows of moulds, is brought in close proximity therewith, as shewn. By then continuing
to propel the plungers c forward, the briquettes are expelled from the moulds and
transferred to the carriers without damage. The press is then returned to its
original position in readiness for a fresh operation.
Figure 8 shews a modified arrangement of the press-mould in which the plunger f
on entering mould carries with it the core pin i which slides through the lower
plunger c. After pressure has been applied by the plunger f, it is withdrawn from
the mould and the briquette is expelled therefrom by the plunger c which carries with
it the core pin i. The moulds are charged by means of fillers h, as before. The
moulded briquettes or fire-lighters after they are discharged from the moulds are
placed in a hot-air stove at a suitable temperature and not in an open furnace or
exposed to the action of inflammable gases. This removal of the moulded blocks
should be very carefully performed, as the fire-lighters only acquire sufficient firmness,
after being stored. For transferring the briquettes from the moulds to the stove, I
employ a series of trays provided with trough-like carriers (see figures 6 and 7)
corresponding in position and diameter to the moulds b. For fire-lighters, it is
necessary that they should be conveyed to, and passed through, the drying stove,
enclosed between two half-cylinders or carrier plates 1, combined two and two, as
shewn in figure 7. The potter's clay in passing through the stove at a suitable
temperature, becomes changed in its nature, does not dissolve on contact with water
or moisture as before but retains its cohesion with the matters with which it is mixed.
The resin completes the solidification by becoming melted by the heat and afterwards
cooling. The fire-lighters, on leaving the drying stove, are finally dipped in a bath
of boiling resin, in order to increase their inflammability. The briquettes may also,
in some cases, be similarly treated.
T. L. J. QUENNESSON.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Patent Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Manufacture of Artificial Fuel and other Moulded
Blocks and Apparatus Employed therein.
I, THEODORE LOUIS JULES QUENNESSON, of Chauny, (Aisne) France, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement
My Invention relates to an improved manufacture of artificial fuel and other
moulded blocks; and also to the apparatus employed therein.
Hitherto, in the manufacture of blocks or briquettes of waste coal, the agglomerating
agent has always consisted of resins and pitch which it has been necessary to employ
when liquefied by heat which is the cause of considerable difficulty in the manufacture
and, the principal object of employing these agents being the agglomeration of
the small coal or other matters, it is impossible either to reduce or increase their
proportion.
In studying the composition of clays and plastic earths, and the means of modifying
their constitution, I have found that certain clays and plastic earths may be utilized
as agglomerating agents under certain conditions. Thus by the employment of
potter's clay and plastic earths, pitch, tar, resin, sulphur, and many other combustible
substances or aids to combustion may be employed either together or separately,
according to requirements, in the form of powder or more or less fine particles, or
even in small lumps simply as aids to combustion and only in sufficient amount to
compensate for the greater or less combustibility of the coal to which the clay is
added for the purpose of agglomerating the materials.
With this mole of agglomeration, there may be employed certain ex racts of the
distillation of coal, tar, petroleum, oils, fats, etc., in a more or less liquid state.
When the materials are in a dry state, they are preferably reduced to powder or small
particles, and mixed in a dry state with the coal, and the whole then kneaded together
with the clay in a suitably moist condition. When the substances employed are in a
more or less liquid state, they are kneaded with the clay after it has been brought to
the degree of dryness suited to the moisture of the substances added thereto.
There is no question of dissolving the clay in these substances as it should be
employed in much too large quantities.
The following method of manufacture which has been found to give good results,
is here given, as an example. I put the potter's clay or other suitable earth in a
receptacle and allow it to soak for some days in from about three to four times its
weight of water, after which it is well stirred, until a stick or rod can readily
penetrate it at all points, when a greater part of the clay will be found to adhere, in
the form of an adhesive paste. It is this portion which it is of the greatest advantage
to employ, as the part which first dissolves in the water, or does so upon being stirred
ever so little, possesses much inferior plastic qualities.
It will be understood that it is absolutely impossible to exactly fix the quantities to
be employed as the result depends upon the nature of the clay and the nature and
qualities of the materials to be agglomerated therewith. For every hundred pounds
of coal, the quantity of pitch employed may vary from five pounds and under to
fifteen pounds and upwards while the proportion of clay may vary from five pounds
and under, to twenty-five pounds and upwards, the exact amounts being only
determined by experiment..
When employing liquid or semi-liquid combustible matters or aids to combustion,
I bring the clay which is to serve as cementing agent, to a suitable degree of
moisture either by allowing it to dry gradually or more quickly by placing it in bags
and draining it and then subjecting it to pressure in a press similar to that used for
cider or sugar, the bags being separated by hurdles or filter plates interposed between
them. then add the combustible matters or aids to combustion to the clay and work
them well together before introducing the coal, and continue by a thorough kneading

page_text: to mix the whole together, after which the material may be moulded either by hand
or by any of the machines used for brick-making. The blocks or briquettes are then
simply dried either in the open air or by means of artificial heat, and in this manner
acquire the necessary hardness.
My Invention is not limited to the kind of product before described but applies
equally to the manufacture of firelighters as well as briquettes of coal. To make
this class of article I employ the stalks of reeds, bracken, broom, shavings, especially
of deal or pine, birch twigs, branches of pine or other resinous woods, waste strippings
of textile materials, etc., which are first subjected to the following mechanical
treatment:-The materials are first passed between breaking or crushing rollers so as
to enable them to be cut up, by means of rotary knives, to a maximum length of
from one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch in which condition they are passed between
grooved rollers running at different speeds, by which they are simultaneously torn
and crushed, so as to reduce them to a flocculent condition, whereby they are
rendered especially suitable for absorbing the agglutinative substance employed,
which I prefer to consist of plastic clay or loam which may be previously prepared
by steeping in water, as before described. The quantity of water to be absorbed
would of course depend upon the degree of siccity of the matters, but the average
quantity would be from two to four pounds of clay dissolved in from two to eight
gallons of water for every hundred pounds of ligneous material. If the vegetable
matters employed are full of sap, especially those of a resinous nature, only about
half the quantity of water required for dry materials is needed. After the ligneous
materials and agglutinant have been thus separately prepared. I select from the
former those which are most suitable for the product to be obtained (with which may
be mixed about 50% of small coal) and add thereto from 3% to 0% of powdered
resin. After the mixture has been rendered as intimate as possible, it is kneaded
together by pouring over it the agglutinative liquid or clay water, as before
described.
For making briquettes, I pulverize, if necessary, the coal employed and improve
its combustibility by the addition of from 3% to 6% of powdered resin, and after
having carefully mixed the several kinds of coal reduced to different sizes, according
to the results desired, agglomerate these dry matters together with the resin by
means of about 25% of water in which is dissolved from 3% to 6% of potters
clay which has been purified by the extraction of the greater part of the substances
it contains inimical to its plastic and combustible properties and which often exceed
40% of the total weight.
A pasty product is in this manner obtained which is then moulded into briquettes
or fire-lighters of any desired form and dried by means of the apparatus hereinafter
described.
In order to utilize the whole of the agglutinative properties of the clay without
impairing the combustibility of the briquette I introduce in combination therewith
certain substances which at once improve both the properties of the clay and the
combustible qualities of the product. This improvement consists in the special
application and combination of resins and pitch under novel conditions, viz., by
employing them in a cold state in the form of powder and consequently without
heating or fusion which would be incompatible with my mode of employing the
clay. The resin in powder is first agglomerated by means of the clay with the other
substances specified so that when the product is stoved the resin will melt and
become an agglomerant in cooling, while increasing the combustion of the product.
I also find it of advantage to employ in certain cases a solution of dextrine mixed
either with liquid clay or with coal dust before adding the clay. I have also found
that the clay when brought to a liquid state will dissolve the tar, and I therefore
utilize this property in the manufacture of my agglomerated fuels for improving
the quality of certain of them. The improved compositions for agglomerating
combustible materials herein described are also applicable to the manufacture of
fire-lighters.
In order that my invention may be readily understood I will proceed to describe

page_text: by way of example with reference to the drawings left with my provisional specifi-
cation and also to the accompanying drawings, the mechanical arrangements employ
for the manufacture of my improved briquettes or fire lighters which I make of
cylindrical form. Figure 1 is a part sectional elevation, figure 2 is a half elevation
at right angles thereto of the machine; figure 3 a top plan of the mould plate.
Figure 4 shows the apparatus for coring out hollows in the fuel. Figure 5 shows the
apparatus for depositing the moulded blocks upon trucks. Figures 6 and 7 show the
trays upon which the briquettes are carried. Figure 8 shows a modification of the
moulding press. Figures 9 to 15 show a modified form of machine upon the same
principle, figure 9 being a front elevation and figure 10 an end elevation of the
machine before being charged. Figure 11 is an end elevation of the machine in
position for discharging the moulded blocks and also the carrier to receive the blocks
and prevent their breakage. Figure 12 is a face view and plan of said carrier.
Figure 13 is a vertical section of the press moulds and an elevation of the mould
filler. Figure 14 is a section of a mould for making products of spherical or
cylindro-spherical form, said mould, being capable of use in connection with a press
similar in principle to that hereafter described. Figure 15 is a similar section of
the mould in position for discharging the moulded product.
The press is mainly composed of two parts, one of which movable upon a horizontal
axis a and carries the moulds, plungers c, and pressing mechanism which may consist
of a screw d and cam lever e which is used in certain cases to apply a finishing pressure
to the briquettes in the moulds. The press head carries a series of plungers operated
by a screw and between it and the lower part of the press is a space for the
introduction of the mould filler shewn on the right hand side of figure 2 and
consisting of a tray carrying a series of cylindrical fillers corresponding in
number and position to the moulds b. The cylinders are filled by hand and the
plate upon which they are carried is then slid into position above the moulds between
guides so as to ensure accuracy in position, as represented in dotted lines in figure 1,
the followers and plungers c being level with the mould table b so as to close the
mould apertures and prevent the material dropping out of the mould filler into the
moulds. This done, the plungers c are then lowered after which the upper plungers f
are also lowered so as to force out the contents of fillers h into the moulds.
under faces of plungers when lowered should be flush with the surface of the mould
table, in which position they are retained by a latch in readiness to receive the
upward pressure which compresses the briquettes.
The
The moulds are open at bottom, and beneath the plate, on which they are carried
is a second plate fixed thereto from which rise cores in the centre of each mould
cavity similar cores, of larger diameter, being employed for moulding fire-lighters.
Through the apertures thus left pass the four members of each plunger e which is
vertically slotted to admit the cross arms. The plate carrying the cores i has apertures'
corresponding to the mould, the cores being supported at the centre of each aperture
by cross arms, as shown in figure 4, and passing through apertures in the
followers k.
The parts being in the position described, that is to say, after the materials have
been forced down into the moulds by the plungers fand the latter have been locked
in position, the materials are then compressed by operating came and screw d.
After pressing, the plungers fare raised to their initial position, the filter is withdrawn,
and the press turned down on its hinge a to the position shown in dotted lines in
figure 1, whereby the moulds & are brought to the horizontal position shown in
figure 5, after which a truck bearing semicylindrical carriers framed together in
tiers placed one above the other as shown in figures 6 and 7 and corresponding to
the moulded rows of moulds, is brought in position to receive the blocks therefrom
as shown. By then continuing to propel the plungers c forward, the briquettes are
expelled from the moulds and transferred to the carriers without damage. The press
is then returned to its original position in readiness for a fresh operation.
Figure 8 shows a modified arrangement of the press-mould in which the plunger f
enters mould band forces down the core i which slides through the lower plunger c.

page_text: After pressure has been applied by the plunger f, it is withdrawn from the mould and
the briquette is expelled therefrom by the plunger c. The core is then raised and
the operation repeated. The moulds are charged by means of fillers has before.
The moulded briquettes or fire-lighters after they are discharged from the moulds
are placed in a hot air stove at a suitable temperature and not exposed to a naked
fire or gas flames. Care must be exercised in removing the moulded blocks as the
fire-lighters only acquire sufficient hardness after being stoved. For fire-lighters it
is necessary that they should be conveyed to, and passed through, the drying stove,
enclosed between two half-cylinders or carriers l, combined two and two as shown in
figure 7. The clay in passing through the stove at a suitable temperature, becomes
changed in its nature, is not softened or dissolved by water or moisture as before but
retains its cohesion, with the matters with which it is mixel. The resin completes
the solidification by becoming melted by the heat and afterwards cooling. The fire-
lighters, on leaving the drying stove are finally dipped in a bath of boiling resin
which penetrates their pores and coats their surfaces and so increases their
inflammability. The briquettes may also in some cases be similarly treated.
The modified arrangement of press, represented in figures 9 and 10, is constructed
in two ways, the one for cylindrical blocks with either flat or slightly convex.ends
and the other for spherical or cylindro-spherical products. This latter, which is of
slightly less height than the other, has no tilting movement and is slightly modified
as regards the bottom press plate.
In the machine. for moulding cylindrical blocks, the movable part a¹ b₁ is capable
of being oscillated upon a horizontal axis c¹ to the position a² 2, figures 9, 10, 11.
It carries the moulds d', figure 13, plungers e¹ and pressing mechanism which may
be of any suitable kind and here consists of a screw f¹. The upper part of the
press carries a series of plungers g' with pressure screw . Sufficient space E is left
between the top and bottom parts of the press for inserting the fillers shewn below,
figure 13. The filler is placed on a removable bottom plate and when filled is placed
above the mould table with which each cavity is made to coincide with the aid of
steady pins. The bottom plate is then withdrawn from beneath the filler and the
plungers brought down by turning hand-wheel k¹ so as to force the material into
the moulds and compress it. The plungers are then raised, the filler is removed,
the weighted lever moved from position B to B2 so as to bring the moulds opposite.
the corresponding apertures in the carrier o (figure 12) which has been brought up
to the machine. The hand wheel is then turned so as to cause the plungers e¹ to
enter the moulds d' and expel the moulded blocks on to the trough-shaped carriers n¹
made of wire gauze having large meshes to facilitate drying. The carrier, filled with
moulded blocks, is placed in a stove where the products acquire the necessary
hardness and are then ready for use. The carrier may be filled in one or several
operations, and several of them may be carried in the same truck and run into the
stove. The particular form given to the products and the apertures in the carriers
upon which they are deposited are both designed to facilitate their perfect and
uniform drying while still permitting of their free expansion.
For making spherical or cylindro-spherical blocks, the press is made of less height
and the tilting motion is dispensed with. From the bottom plate p', figures 14
and 15, rise the cylinders fitted with pistons ! whose upper ends form, together
with the sleeves s; hemispherical cavities. The cylinder q may be formed with the
plate p¹ itself or fixed thereto; the same may also be the case with the sleeve s¹ which
is however preferably made separate and fixed by a screw sl to allow of its removal
for the purpose of cleaning the mould. Sufficient space is left between the parts t¹ u
and the cylinders q¹ for inserting the mould filler before mentioned or for filling by
hand. Supposing the moulds to be filled by hand, the top plate t¹ is brought down
by hand wheel and the plungers are caused to enter the cylinder q', when
the plungers u¹ first press the material by their own weight and force it against the
sides of where the material is of more solid consistency the weight of the
plunger may be aided by a spring. In compressing, the plunger u¹ rises until its
bottom surface coincides with that of its motion being limited by the stops x¹ y'.

page_text: After moulding, parts t¹¹ are raised and then the plunger so as to lift the ball
out of the mould (see figure 15) after which a fork is passed under the series of
balls so that, on lowering the plunger, the balls remain in the cavity 1, 2, 3, 4, of
the fork by which they are transferred to the truck and conveyed to the stove. On
lowering the plunger by the hand-wheel the moulds can be refilled.
When a
filler is employed, the lengths of ¹ and should be increased to an extent
corresponding to the height of the filler as, in this case, the said parts u' v¹ require
to traverse the latter before entering the moulds.
Fire lighters require greater activity of combustion more rapid ignition and a
larger burning surface than briquettes and for this purpose I use the materials in a
coarser condition and charge them from a hopper fitted with a slide so that all the
fire-lighters shall be of the same quantity and weight. The charge is placed above a
series of small receptacles of round form each of which is of a size for a firelighter,
the receptacles being heated by a water bath whereby heating to the proper
temperature is ensured. Variations in the weight of the fire-lighters is also avoided
as the mass requires to be pressed hot. As water does not give sufficient heat I use
water saturated either with sea-salt or chloride of calcium or an oil-bath which may
also be employed for the bath by which the resin and pitch are melted. The resin
and pitch are poured, in measured quantities for each fire-lighter, into the before
mentioned receptacles. To these resinous matters may be added a very small
quantity of nitro-benzine. After stirring, I introduce a charge of the solid matters
and after stirring, the contents of the receptacles are transferred to the pressing
moulds.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1st. The manufacture of moulded blocks of artificial fuel by simply drying, without
the aid of heat, a mixture in which clay forms the agglomerating agent and pitch,
sulphur and resin, the combustible matters, as specified.
2nd. The manufacture of fire-lighters and other moulded blocks in which purified
liquid clay forms the agglomerating agent in combination with a suitable proportion
of powdered resin and pitch, dextrine, glycerine, and tar, as described.
3rd. Moulding the materials forming the subject of the preceding claims by
means of a press having a mould-table which is capable of being tilted for the
purpose of depositing the moulded products upon a carrier for conveyance to a stove,
as described, and illustrated in figures 1 to 8.
4th. Moulding the agglomerated compounds herein specified by means of moulds
composed of a cylinder g, plunger, and follower u¹, sliding freely in said mould,
substantially as described, and illustrated in figures 14 and 15.
T. L. J. QUENNESSON..
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Patent Agents.