AN APPARATUS FOR CONVERTING SMALL COALS OR COAL DUST, OR SMALL COALS AND COKE, OR COAL DUST AND COKE, WITH THE ADMIXTURE OF WATER OR OTHER MATERIALS, INTO SOLID BLOCKS OF FUEL, PARTS OF WHICH APPARATUS CAN BE USED AND ARE SUITED FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Dawson, of 14, Barnes Place, Mile End
Road, in the Parish of Saint Dunstan's, Stepney, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN APPARATUS FOR CONVERTING
SMALL COALS OR COAL DUST, OR SMALL COALS AND COKE, OR COAL DUST AND
COKE, WITH THE ADMIXTURE OF WATER OR OTHER MATERIALS, INTO SOLID
BLOCKS OF FUEL, PARTS OF WHICH APPARATUS CAN BE USED AND ARE SUITED
FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 14th March 1856, and dated the 19th January 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Dawson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th January 1856.
I, ALFRED DAWSON, of 14, Barnes Place, Mile End Road, in the Parish
of Saint Dunstan's, Stepney, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for AN APPARATUS FOR CON-
VERTING SMALL COALS OR COAL DUST, OR SMALL COALS AND COKE, OR COAL DUST AND
COKE, WITH THE ADMIXTURE OF WATER OR OTHER MATERIALS, INTO SOLID BLOCKS
OF FUEL, PARTS OF WHICH APPARATUS CAN BE USED AND ARE SUITED FOR OTHER
PURPOSES, to be as follows:-
I take small coals or coal dust, or small coals and coke, or coal dust and
coke, and admix a portion of water or other materials, and place either of the
mixtures within a box, which box is made nearly air-tight, and of a form

page_text: having a great amount of superficies proportionate to its content; this box is
then placed in an oven, where the materials are uniformly heated, or nearly
so, for a time, and at a temperature suited to the quality of the materials
operated upon. The desired change having taken place, the box is then
removed from the oven, and its contents, which are in a thin form, are with-
drawn and transformed, without exposure to the atmosphere, into a box, of
a form having less superficies proportionate to its content than the box from
which the materials have been withdrawn ;- the contents are then compressed
by the aid of a hydraulic press, or any other mechanical means, and formed
into a block of fuel, which when removed is fit for use. Therefore what I
claim as my Invention is, the making of an apparatus whereby small coals or
coal dust, or small coals and coke, or coal dust and coke, admixed with a
portion of water or other materials, are heated in an oven of a uniform heat, or
nearly so, in a thin form, within a box made nearly air-tight, and so made
that the materials can be withdrawn from the thin form, and transformed into
a thick or cubic form into a box without exposure to the atmosphere, and
compressed into conipact blocks of fuel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Dawson in the Great Seal Patent Office. on the
18th July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
DAWSON, of 14, Barnes Place, Mile End Road,.in the Parish of Saint-Dun-
stan's, Stepney, in the County, of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eiglit hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, för Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alfred Dawson, -Her special licence, that I the said Alfred Dawson, my
executors, administrators; and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred
Dawson, 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 AN APPARATUS FOR CONVERTING
SMALL COALS OR COAL DUST, OR SMALL COALS AND COKE, OR COAL DUST AND COKE,

page_text: WITH THE ADMIXTURE OF WATER OR OTHER MATERIALS, INTO SOLID BLOCKS OF
FUEL, PARTS OF WHICH APPARATUS CAN BE USED AND ARE SUITED FOR OTHER
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I; the said Alfred
Dawson, 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 bé filed'in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
Y..
T
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Dawson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said. Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:
. I take small coals or coal dust, or small coals and coke, or coal dust and
coke, and admix a portion of water or other materials, and place either of the
mixtures in a thin form within the box marked A, which box is made.nearly
air-tight, and of a form having a great amount of superficies proportionate to
its content, which is shewn in the annexed Drawings, Figure 1, letter A;
Figure 2, letter A; Figure 5, letter A; (the box in this view being without the
lid to shew the materials in the thin form;) Figure 12, Figure 13, and
Figure 15, letter A. This box is then placed in the oven marked on
Figure 5 and Figure 15, (the opening of which, V, V, is in the opposite
direction to its own furnace door). This oven is so constructed as to be
capable of giving a uniform heat, or nearly so, by the aid of a large quantity
of sand, and the construction of the furnace and flues, as shewn in Figures 2,
5, and 15, when the temperature can be taken in the tubes marked K on
Figures 1, 2, 5, and 15, (by a thermometer or pyrometer, the charring of
wood or fusion. of metals, such as lead, tin, zinc, &c.), in which oven the
materials are uniformly heated, or nearly so, for a time, and at a temperature
uniform, or nearly so; the temperature of this uniform and continuous heat
being according to the nature of the materials operated upon, which in some
cases require a temperature between: 300 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and in
others as much as 800 .or 900 degrees. The desired change having taken
place, which is indicated by a general softening and union of the materials,
requiring a time from one to six liours, being according to the nature of the
materials operated upon, the box is then removed: from the oven, and its
contents, which are in a thin form, are withdrawn and transformed, without
exposure to the atmosphere, into the:box D, of a form having less superficies
proportionate to its content than the box A, from which the materials have

page_text: been withdrawn; this is accomplished by forcing up the followers F and G,
Figures 12 and 18. The contents are then compressed by the aid of the
hydraulic press, or any other mechanical means, and formed into a block of
fuel, which when removed is fit for use. This is accomplished by the boxes
A and D being withdrawn from the oven O, by winding up the chain upon
barrels C, C, Figure 5; the sliding bolts H, H, Figures 1 and 2, being
sufficiently liberated to allow the bottom B to become the bottom of box D;
the followers F and G are then forced up by the additional winding upon
barrels C, C; the materials by this means are forced into box D, as shewn in
Figures 1, 2, and 16. The pressure upon the ram R of the hydraulic press P
is then given upon the moveable part T of the lid M of the box A, which
moveable part T becomes the top of box D, as shewn in Figures 2 and
16, where the contents are compressed and formed into a block of fuel.
In a similar manner a large block or several blocks can be made under one
hydraulic at the same time, or the hydraulic in a similar manner can be made
applicable to several apparatuses. I here submit a description of the parts
of the Drawings annexed. Figure 1, longitudinal elevation of apparatus ;
Figure 2, section of longitudinal elevation of apparatus; Figures 3 and 4, the
cubick box in which the block of fuel is formed; Figure 5, horozontal section
of apparatus; Figures 6 and 11, the lid of box A; Figure 7, top of box D;
Figure 8,. bottom of box D; Figures 9 and 10, side view and plan of cross
bars for fastening lid M upon the box A; Figure 12, top view of box A and
followers F and G; Figure 13, bottom view of the same; Figure 14, sectional
view of the same with box D attached; Figure 15, transverse sectional eleva-
tion of apparatus, shewing the materials in the thin form within the box A in
the oven O; Figure 16, transverse sectional elevation through the boxes A
and D, shewing the materials when passed from the box A to the box D, and
compressed by the aid of the hydraulic press into a block of fuel. Letter A,
the box into which the materials are placed in the thin form; letter B, the
bottom of box D; letters C, C, chain barrels for the chain to wind upon when
the box A with the materials are being withdrawn from the oven O, also
when the materials are passed into box D; letter D, the cubick box in
which the block of fuel is formed; letters E, E, the eccentricks for supporting.
box D while the materials are being withdrawn from the box A into box D.;
letter F, the follower of the box A to which the chain is attached; letter G,
the front follower of the box A; letters H, H, two sliding bolts for supporting
bottom B at bottom of box A, and keeping the box D:in its place when the
materials are being passed from the box A into the box D; letter I, pipe
leading to pump of press P; letters J, J, two rails for carrying the box A and-

page_text: the materials to and from the oven O, and supporting the same while submitted
to heat within the oven; letters K, K, K, K, tubes for taking the temperature
of oven 0; letter L, front stay for supporting rails J, J; letter M, top of box
A; letter N, fence or stop for end of follower G to abut against while the
materials are withdrawn from the box A into the box D; letters O, O, inside
of even; letter P, hydraulic press; letter R, ram of press P; letters Q, Q,
stays of oven; letters S, S, springs for supporting the box A while passing to
and fro beneath the ram R of hydraulic press; letter T, top of box D;
letter U, the small chain for drawing box A and materials into the oven; letters
V, V, framework of oven door and supports of rails J, J; letter W, spur
wheel of gearing for drawing the materials from box A into box D; letters X,
ends of spindles of eccentricks E, E, to which handles are attached when the
eccentricks require moving, to allow of a bottom pressure being given to the
materials in the box D by the hydraulic press; letters Y, Y, cross bars for
fastening lid M on box A; letters Z, Z, ends of spindles of pinion of gearing,
to which handles are attached when the materials are required to be drawn
from the box A into the box D.
Therefore what I claim as my Invention is, the making of an apparatus
whereby small coals or coal dust, or small coals and coke, or coal dust and
coke, admixed with a portion of water or other materials, are heated in an
oven of a uniform heat, or nearly so, in a thin form, within a box made
nearly air-tight, and so made that the materials can be withdrawn from the
thin form, and transformed into a thick or cubick form into a box, without
exposure to the atmosphere, and compressed into compact blocks of fuel.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Dawson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
ALFRED DAWSON. (L.S.)