Improvements in Combustible Coal Bricks.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd May, 1890-Accepted, 7th June, 1890
CODE LEIE DIEUATION.
Improvements in Combustible Coal Bricks.
WA JOSEPH JOHN HIERTZ of St. Louis in the County of St. Louis and State of
Missouri, Inventor and ALGERNON SYDNEY GARNETT, of Hot Springs in the county
of Garland and State of Arkansas gentleman, United States of America do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the saine is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to a composition of matter for utilizing coal dust or slack
and for putting it into a combustible condition and cleanly form for handling; and
the invention consists in features of novelty hereinafter fully described, and pointed
out in the claims.-While this invention is of great advantage for providing the
means for utilizing the slack, waste, or coal-dust in all descriptions of coal, both of
bituminous varieties and those which are lacking in bituminous elements, it is especially
advantageous for use in the last named varieties-such as lignite and brown coals-
which while they form the exclusive coal products of vast areas of this continent
and of other parts of the globe yet have they but little local and no shipping value,
for the twofold reason that they are almost entirely devoid of bituminous elements in
the first place, and in the second place, as a natural sequence of the first and of their
consequent tendency to disintegration they are largely surcharged with water, which
anti-combustible element amounts to from twenty two to thirty-one per cent. of the
product. Now not only are such lignite and brown coals almost incombustible until
their hydrous elements have been evaporated or otherwise discharged from them, but
also in the course of said evaporation or discharge the coal itself slacks and results in a
product of coal slack or dust, which, being void of combustible bituminous elements,
is both from its disintegration and said lack in its constitution of the highest grade
elements of combustible material of little if any value as fuel especially as the dust
precludes the passage of any atmospheric current. The process and formula in the
manufacture of our combustible coal-brick are as follows: Take the slack, dust, or
waste of lignite brown, or any other variety of coal or pulverized coal and dry the
same, which is preferably effected on metallic drying-floors, where it can be easily
turned or tended, and which floors may be heated by steam, or by any other suitable
means, to effect the drying of the coal; or the evaporation may be effected by exposure
of the coal to the rays of the sun. A combinative compost is prepared, preferably
in about the proportions stated below, and in accordance with the following formula
to each ton of dry coal to be treated, although the respective proportions of the
different elements may be varied to adapt the compost to the requirements of the
variety of coal-slack to be treated and the heating purposes to which said combustible
bricks are to be applied. Thus in treating bituminous-coal slack the amount of tar
and turpentine used may be somewhat reduced.-The ingredients of said combinative
compost for the treatment of each ton of dry coal-dust are, with the exceptions noted,
of respective proportions, as follows: Quicklime, one bushel; tar, seven gallons;
salt, twenty five pounds; turpentine, one gallon. These ingredients, when the lime
is slacked and the salt dissolved by the tar and turpentine, are mixed so as to
incorporate the various elements of the compost. This initial compost then added
to the dry coal-dust or pulverized coal and the whole is thoroughly worked together
by any suitable mechanical means, which with the mechanical_construction of the
brick, may be the subject-matter of a future application. The fully-composted
ingredients are then heated to a temperature sufficient to cause the intimate fusion
of all the ingredients, which are then placed in heated moulds of any required size
and shape. The brick formed in said moulds is then pressed by hydraulic or any

page_text: other form of pressure, amounting preferably, to about three tons to the square inch,
surface measure, with bricks which are about three inches in thickness.-Thus if the
bricks are made nine inches long by four inches wide, a pressure of about one hundred
and oight tons is proferably applied to consolidate said brick.
The fusing of the compost and the extreme pressure in the mould not only con-
solidate the same, but also secure a glazed or glassy surface, which is impervious to
moisture, clean to bandle, and compact for storage and shipping. The glazed surface
also confines the odors within the brick.-This process is especially adapted for the
economic reconstruction of lignite and brown coals, which carry from twenty two to
thirty one per cent. of water. These coals when exposed to the air, in the course of
parting with their large quantum of water slack or pulverize partly, because, also they
are lacking in the bituminous properties that hind other coals together. The above
named coals are at present altogether worthless for shipping purposes, partly because
of their slacked condition (and it is impossible to extract the water from them without
their slacking) and partly because of their lack of bituminous ingredients, both which
objections are obviated by the use of our process for the construction of said coal-brick
which produces a fuel more compact than is the best bituminous coal, cleaner to handle,
and more highly charged with combustible material. The water being extracted, as
stated, in the initial stage of the process gives in the product a much larger ratio of
carboniferous combustible material; also, for the same reason, the said coal-brick is
almost completely consumptive and produces but little, if any, smoke, so that when
used on locomotives drawing trains through lengthy tunnels, there is no percoptible
emission of smoke. It follows, therefore, that, as the only perceptible waste products
of combustion are in the ash, and there is bat little of that, and what there is is
entirely clinkerless, not only is this coal-brick, as has previously been stated, especially
clean, easy to handle, to pack, and to ship, and well glazed in from the reintrusion
of moisture, but also, as there is no perceptible discharge of smoke, it is much more
cleanly and has a sanitary advantage in its minimum of emission of smoke and
noxious gases. It is also economic in its use, inasmuch as the major element in its com-
position is the wasto coal slack or dust, which is of little and often of no value in its
unreconstructed condition.
While the process is, as stated, of especial uso with lignite, brown and other
semi-bituminous coals, or the slack of said conls, it is also of great value in rointegrating
the slack of bituminous coals, it being understood, as stated that in such case the
respective proportion of tar and turpentine in the aforesaid combinative compost is
preferably somewhat reduced in quantity: also, in the treatment of bituminous coal-
slack in preparation for moulding it is preferred to heat the composted product to a
somewhat higher temperature than with the treatment of lignite or brown coal.
We do not confine ourselves to the kind of tar that is used in the compost for either
coal or pine tar may be used in the compost with substantially similar results, and
the choice between the two would generally depond on which is the most readily
obtainable in the respective localities where the combustible conl-brick is manufactured.
Thus, for instance, where lignite and brown coal abound, as there are no bituminous
coals in the same territory and fatty pines abound in much of that southern country,
coal-lar is consequently non est and pine tar is plentiful, and in consequence is
preferably used, and so also, vice versa, in the territories that abound in bituminous
coal.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, wo declare that what we
claim is,
1st. A compound consisting of coal dust or slack, slaked lime, tar, salt, and
turpentine, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.
2nd. In a combustible coal-brick, the combination of the coal dust or slack lime,
tar, salt, and turpentine, composted together in about the following proportions and in

page_text: accordance with the following formula: one ton of coal slack, the slaked product of
one bushel of quicklime, seven gallons of tar, twenty-five pounds of salt, and one
gallon of turpentine substantially as and for the purpose sot forth.
3rd. A compound consisting of lignite or brown coal-slack incorporated and
compacted together with slaked lime, tar, salt, and turpentine molded into a combustible
pressed brick, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
F. W. BARKER,
Applicants' Agent.