Treatment of Ingredients for the Manufacture of Fuel Briquettes.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Nov., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 10th Sept., 1892-Accepted, 15th Oct., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
The Treatment of Ingredients for the Manufacture of Fuel
Briquettes.
I, JAMES LYLE of 22 Comerford Road, Brockley, Kent, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows
This invention has for its object the manufacture of fuel briquettes by improved
means from materials that act chemically upon each other, forming hard briquettes
that resist the action of the weather, do not disintegrate during transit, and burn
with a clear flame, and an absence of smoke during combustion.
In carrying my invention into practice I employ a combustible absorbent
debris such as sawdust to which I add calcic oxide, mixing the two together.
The calcic oxide abstracts moisture from the sawdust generating heat in the
process. To this mixture I add tar (preferably wood tar obtained from the
destructive distillation of wood) and the whole is thoroughly mixed, the sawdust
taking up tar to replace the moisture of which it has been deprived by the
calcic oxide until it is saturated, but still retaining its granular condition.
The required quantity of coal dust may be placed in a second vessel and the
binding compound added, the whole being thoroughly mixed, it is then fed to
moulds and subjected to sufficient pressure to bind the material together.
The binding compound from its chemical composition hardens with time so
that the briquette resists the action of the weather and of transport without
disintegration.
In certain cases I add sulphuric acid to the tar or I vary the mode of
mixing the ingredients to suit the manufacture.
The proportions I prefer for the binding compound are as follows:

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
The Treatment of Ingredients for the Manufacture of Fuel
Briquettes.
I, JAMES LYLE, of 22 Comerford Road, Brockley, in the County of Kent,.
Engineer, 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 :-
This invention has for its object the manufacture of fuel briquettes by means
of materials that act chemically upon each other forming hard briquettes that
resist the action of the weather and do not disintegrate during transit and which
burn with a clear flame and an absence of smoke.
Now according to this invention I first make a binding compound or cement
which will harden on exposure to the air and while this binding compound is
still plastic I add it to the coal dust and mix the whole thoroughly and press
the mixture into briquettes.
To prepare the binding compound I take a combustible absorbent such as saw-
dust or tan bark and add thereto about ten per cent. of lime to absorb the moisture
from the sawdust or other material to this mixture I add tar obtained from the
destructive distillation of wood the tar being heated to a temperature of about
180° Fahr. and thoroughly incorporate.
The proportions of materials I have found to give the best results are :-
I add about ten parts of this binding compound to about ninety parts of coal
dust and thoroughly mix the whole, adding in some cases a small quantity of
sulphuric acid for the purpose of absorbing any excess of moisture remaining in
the coal dust or binding compound, and also to prevent smoke, the sulphuric
acid being decomposed by heat giving off gases which combine with the carbon
of the coal for forming combustible gases which burn with a clear flame.
By treating the sawdust or other combustible absorbent with lime as herein
described the moisture is removed therefrom leaving the absorbent free to take
up the tar, the lime is further useful in deodorising the tar.
The proportions of the ingredients will in some cases require to be slightly
different from those hereinbefore stated according to the quality of the coal dust
used as the purposes for which the briquettes are to be used, briquettes to be
burnt in the furnaces of marine or locomotive boilers will require to be harder
than those for domestic use for instance, I may also vary the mode of mixing
the ingredients to suit the manufacture.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1st. In the treatment of ingredients for the manufacture of briquettes adding
lime to the combustible absorbent as and for the purpose stated.
2. In the treatment of ingredients for the manufacture of briquettes the addition
of lime and wood tar to a combustible absorbent to form a binding compound
substantially as and in about proportions stated.

page_text: 3. In the treatment of ingredients for the manufacture of briquettes the addition
of sulphuric acid for the purposes stated.
Dated this 10th day of September 1892.
FREDK. WALKER,
11, Furnival Street, Holborn, London, E.C., Agent for the Applicant.