IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING OR PREPARING CERTAIN WASTE SUBSTANCES SO AS TO RENDER THEM USEFUL AS COMPOSITIONS FOR LIGHTING FIRES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Oliver Cromwell Setchell, of Albany Road,
Camberwell, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING OR PREPARING CERTAIN WASTE
SUBSTANCES SO AS TO RENDER THEM USEFUL AS COMPOSITIONS FOR LIGHTING
FIRES."
Sealed the 23rd April 1872, and dated the 13th February 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Oliver Cromwell
Setchell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 13th February 1872.
I, OLIVER CROMWELL SETCHELL, of Albany Road, Camberwell, in the
County of Surrey, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING OR PREPARING CERTAIN WASTE
SUBSTANCES SO AS TO RENDER THEM USEFUL AS COMPOSITIONS FOR LIGHTING FIRES,"
to be as follows:-
This composition for lighting fires is formed mainly of sawdust or
comminuted wood, such as turnings or fine shavings, which by means
of heat and pressure may be consolidated into bricks or blocks of any

page_text: convenient shape and dimensions suitable for igniting the coal or cinders
laid thereon to make a fire.
In carrying out my Invention I prefer to use the sawdust derived
from deals or any wood which contains a large proportion of turpentine,
rosin, or other highly combustible substance. The sawdust is placed in
a strong vessel and submitted to the action of highly heated steam
while kept in agitation by a stirrer. By this means the resinous matters
in the wood are softened and made to ooze out of the pores. The
softened sawdust is then forced out through an opening in the vessel
and placed in moulds, where it is subjected (while in a soft and heated 1
state) to heavy pressure, whereby the mass is made to adhere together
sufficiently well to admit of being handled, and is formed into blocks or
bricks of suitable shape and dimensions for igniting a fire.
The sawdust of wood which does not contain much resinous matter
will require the addition of a little resinous or bituminous matter, such 1
as pulverized common rosin and coarse turpentine, or the waste or
refuse matters obtained from the manufacture of paraffine or hydro-
carbons.
The object of adding the resinous, bituminous, or combustible matters
is to cause the particles of wood to adhere, and secondly, to increase the 2
combustibility of the wood, so that it will ignite with facility and burn
with a steady flame.
By means of my Invention I am enabled to utilize and convert into a
useful article a waste product (sawdust or turnings), which is not only
considered valueless, or nearly so, at present, but is also troublesome to 2
get rid of if produced in large quantities.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in
the thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Oliver Cromwell Setchell,
Her special licence that I, the said Oliver Cromwell Setchell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Oliver Cromwell Setchell, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING OR PREPARING
CERTAIN WASTE SUBSTANCES SO AS TO RENDER THEM USEFUL AS COMPOSITIONS
FOR LIGHTING FIRES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Oliver Cromwell Setchell, 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

page_text: a strong vessel and submitted to the action of highly heated steam or
hot air while kept in agitation by a stirrer. By this means the resinous
matters in the wood are softened and made to ooze out of the pores of
the wood. The softened sawdust is then removed from the vessel
through a suitable opening provided for the purpose, and while in its
softened and heated state it is placed in moulds, where it is subjected to
heavy pressure, whereby the mass is made to adhere together sufficiently
well to admit of being handled, and is formed into bricks or blocks of
suitable shape and dimensions for igniting a fire.
Sawdust of wood which does not contain much resinous matter will
require the addition of a little resinous or bituminous matter, such as
pulverized common rosin and coarse turpentine, or the waste or refuse
matters obtained from the manufacture of paraffine or hydrocarbons.
The object of adding the resinous, bituminous, or combustible matters
is to cause the particles of wood to adhere together, and secondly, to
increase the combustibility of the wood, so that it will ignite with
facility and burn with a steady flame.
By means of my Invention I am enabled to utilize and convert into a
useful article a waste product (sawdust or turnings), which is not only
considered valueless, or nearly so, at present, but is also troublesome to
get rid of if produced in large quantities.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a plan view of the sawdust
composition when pressed into the desired shape to make a number of
blocks; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same taken in the
line 1, 2, of Fig. 1. These blocks are drawn about one-fourth the real
size, and they are made of the form shewn for the purpose of more
easily subdividing or separating a large cake such as that shewn at
Figures 1 and 2 into smaller blocks, such as that shewn in plan and side
view at Fig. 3, which will be found a convenient size and shape for
lighting an ordinary fire.
Fig. 4 is a plan view of an empty cast-iron mould such as would be
required to produce a large block or cake similar to that shewn at
Figures 1 and 2.
Fig. 5 is a longitudinal vertical section of the mould charged with the
softened sawdust composition and provided with a moveable lid or a
cover a, which is capable of being forced down into the mould 6 for the

page_text: purpose of compressing and consolidating the softened sawdust com-
position. If preferred these moulds may be made of hard wood
bottoms set in a wooden frame strengthened by iron hooping or bands.
The sawdust composition may be heated in any suitable apparatus,
such as a pug mill provided with a rotary vertical stirrer, which will
force out the sawdust composition at the lower end in a heated and
softened state, or it may be heated in a horizontal apparatus such as
that shewn in the Drawing at Fig. 6, which is a longitudinal vertical
section of a strong sheet-iron cylinder c, c, in which the sawdust is
heated and softened by injecting superheated steam or hot air through a
fixed stirrer composed of a number of horizontal perforated pipes d, d, con-
nected by cross arms d¹, d¹, to a hollow central shaft e, which is supplied
with superheated steam or hot air from the pipe f. The cylinder c is pro-
vided at one end with a band wheel or pulley g, whereby it may be rotated
by means of a band from any convenient prime mover. The cylinder is
charged through an opening, which is closed by a sliding door 1, as shewn
in the Drawing, and the softened composition when ready to be com-
pressed is withdrawn through the same opening, which for that purpose
must be brought down 'to the lower side, as shewn in the Drawing.
When the moulds are charged with the softened sawdust they are
passed under heavily weighted rollers, which will force down the move-
able lid or cover and thereby compress and consolidate the softened
composition, and when the latter is cold and hard the compressed block
may be removed from the mould by turning the latter over.
The large
cake may then be subdivided into separate pieces, as shewn at Fig. 3.
If preferred the compression of the composition in the moulds may
be effected by means of a fly press or other equivalent and well known
mechanism.
Having now described my Invention of improvements in treating or
preparing certain waste substances so as to render them useful as com-
positions for lighting fires, and having explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I would observe that I do not intend to confine
myself rigidly to the precise arrangement and construction of parts
herein shewn and described for heating or softening and pressing the
sawdust composition, as there is nothing essentially new in such
mechanical devices when used for other purposes, and moreover I
intend to avail myself of any convenient and suitable mechanism for
effecting the intended object, but that which I consider to be new, and

page_text: therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letter Patent is, treating or preparing sawdust, wood
turnings or shavings, or wood in a comminuted state, in the manner
herein set forth, so that such comminuted or disintegrated wood may be
consolidated and formed into cakes, bricks, or blocks, and thereby
rendered suitable for lighting fires as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Oliver Cromwell Setchell, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
O. C. SETCHELL. (L.S.)