IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING AND REVIVIFYING ANIMAL CHARCOAL, APPLICABLE ALSO For OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Adam Fyfe, of Barnes, in the County of
Surrey, for an Invention of " IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR
PRODUCING AND REVIVIFYING ANIMAL CHARCOAL, APPLICABLE ALSO For
OTHER LIKE PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Adam Fyfe at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th May 1881.
DAVID ADAM FYFE, of Barnes, in the County of Surrey. "IMPROVED METHOD
OF AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING AND REVIVIFYING ANIMAL CHARCOAL,
APPLICABLE ALSO FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES."
My Invention has for its object in the first place to manufacture and revivify
animal charcoal of a superior quality suitable for sugar refining, and is also
applicable to the carbonating and manufacturing of soda ash, carbonizing wood,
wood saw dust, peat, and other like substances to obtain useful products therefrom,
and to produce charcoal suitable for sanitary and other purposes.
According to my Invention I employ a self acting retort or furnace of a
rectangular form having double chambers set in brickwork, and heated by a
suitable arrangement of fire place and flues carried underneath the same, and
I employ an endless chain with scrapers to move the material slowly through the
heated chambers of the said retort or furnace.
The
The material to be operated upon being first broken into suitable size is fed into
the said retort or furnace through a hopper provided with feeding rollers.
material is then moved gradually along the floor of the upper chamber of the retort
or furnace by the endless chain and scrapers, and then falls into the lower chamber.
The said scrapers are so arranged on the endless chain as to move the material
slowly along the floor of the said lower chamber (as well as the upper one), at the
end of which it is finally discharged through a wing or other suitable valve into a
receiving box placed in an air tight chamber provided with door to receive it.
The speed of the endless chain and scrapers and the heat of the retort or furnace
being so regulated that the material to be operated upon may be completely
carbonized to the exact degree most suitable for the purposes required.
The gaseous matter evolved from the material while under treatment in the said
retort or furnace may be conveyed and passed (by any suitable arrangement)
through suitable condenser, the liquid matter resulting therefrom being collected
and worked into useful products. The uncondensible gas may either be used for
illuminating or other purposes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said David Adam Fyfe in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th November 1881.
DAVID ADAM FYFE, of Barnes, in the County of Surrey. "IMPROVED METHOD
OF AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING AND REVIVIFYING ANIMAL CHARCOAL,
APPLICABLE ALSO FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES."
My Invention has for its object in the first place to manufacture and revivify
animal charcoal of a superior quality suitable for sugar refining, and is also
applicable to the carbonating and manufacturing of soda ash, carbonizing wood,
wood saw dust, peat, shale, and other like substances to obtain useful products
therefrom, and to produce charcoal suitable for sanitary and other purposes.
According to my Invention I employ a self-acting retort or furnace of a rectangular
form having double chambers set in brickwork, and heated by a suitable arrange-
inent of fire place and flues carried underneath the same, and I employ an endless
chain with scrapers to move the material slowly through the heated chambers of
the said retort or furnace. The material to be operated upon being first broken
into suitable size is fed into the said retort or furnace through a hopper provided
with feeding rollers. The material is then moved gradually along the floor of the
upper chamber of the retort or furnace by the endless chain and scrapers, and then
falls into the lower chamber. The said scrapers are so arranged on the endless
chain as to move the material slowly along the floor of the said lower chamber (as
well as the upper one), at the end of which it is finally discharged through a wing
or other suitable valve into a receiving box placed in an air tight chamber provided
with door to receive it, the speed of the endless chain and scrapers and the heat
of the retort or furnace being so regulated that the material to be operated upon
may be completely carbonized to the exact degree most suitable for the purposes
required. The gaseous matter evolved from the material while under treatment in
the said retort or furnace may be conveyed and passed (by any suitable arrange-
ment) through suitable condenser, the liquid matter resulting therefrom being
collected and worked into useful products. The uncondensible gas may either be
used for illuminating or other purposes.
And in order to explain my said Invention more fully, I will now proceed to
describe the same with reference to the accompanying Drawing.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Fig. 1 shews a longitudinal section of an apparatus constructed according to my
said Invention.
Fig. 2 shews plan of condenser.

page_text: so that the whole surface may be acted upon. The bottom plates a are made
thicker than the top ones b, whereby a more regular heat is obtained in the
retort. The plates situated at or near the furnaces are protected by fire brick
arches c, and a mid feather wall d is erected along the centre of the furnace to
assist in sustaining the bottom plates of the retort; D is a hopper provided with
grooved rollers c, e, which latter are actuated by the driving shaft f by means of
the chain g. The said rollers are set so that the points of the teeth approach each
other very closely, and revolve against (or nearly so) the sides of the hopper; or
plates may be provided, as shewn in the Drawing, in order to check the escape
h
of vapours through the hopper. The delivery end of the retort opens into a down
shoot I which is capable of being closed at any time by means of the valve i; the
said shoot communicates with a chamber provided with a door. The retort
communicates with a condenser K by means of the pipes ; the said condenser is
provided with drip pipes m to allow the liquid matter to flow into a cistern
placed underneath; n is a pipe to convey the uncondensable gases as may be
required.
The operation is as follows:-
The material to be operated upon being first broken into suitable size is fed into
the retort A through the hopper D provided with feeding rollers c, e. The
material is then moved gradually along the floor of the upper chamber B of the
retort A by means of the endless chain F and scrapers G, and then falls into the
lower chamber B¹. The said scrapers are so arranged on the endless chain as to
nove the material slowly along the floor of the said lower chamber (as well as the
upper one), at the end of which it is finally discharged through the shoot I, the
speed of the endless chain and scrapers and the heat of the retort or furnace being
so regulated, that the material to be operated upon may be completely carbonized
to the exact degree most suitable for the purposes required.
The gaseous matter evolved from the material while under treatment in the said
retort or may be conveyed and passed through the condenser K, the liquid
matter resulting therefrom being collected and worked into useful products. The
uncondensable gas may either be used for illuminating or other purposes.
•
Having thus described the nature and object of my said Invention, and the
means whereby the same may be carried into practical effect, I would remark
in conclusion that what I claim as my Invention, and desire to secure by tho
herein before in part recited Letters Patent is, the method of and apparatus for
manufacturing and revivifying animal charcoal, applicable also for other like
purposes, all substantially as herein described and shewn in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Adam Fyfe, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
D. A. FYFE.
(L.S.)