Improvements in the Manufacture of Fuel.
Year: 1895

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Fuel.
I GEORGE HAYCRAFT of Pontardulais in the County of Glamorgan, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In attempting to utilize small anthracite coal, or anthracite dust, and other
small coal and dust of a non-bituminous character in the manufacture of fuet
blocks or briquettes, a great difficulty has arisen, because of the unequal burning
capabilities of the refuse anthracite and other non-bituminous or steam coal, and
the agglomerant which has to be used to combine it into a block. The effect, in
practice, is that the agglomerating materials quickly burn out, leaving the
non-bituminous coal, which is not so easily affected by heat, untouched, so that it
becomes disintegrated, and falls into its former condition of powder, in which it is
useless as fuel.
The object of my present invention is to provide for the utilization of waste
anthracite, steam coal, coke breeze, and similar non-bituminous materials, by
incorporating the same into briquettes which will burn evenly throughout, and
which will therefore not become disintegrated in the manner above indicated.
In carrying out my invention, I mix with the anthracite, or other non-bituminous
coal, or coke breeze, a suitable quantity of fine bituminous coal; equal quantities
of each have been found to give good results, and I submit the mixture in moulds
to the action of heat, so as to incipiently coke the bituminous coal, without,
however, affecting the non-bituminous coal in that direction. In this manner, not
only is the mass reduced approximately to a uniform condition as regards burning
quality, but also it is rendered into solid blocks of considerable hardness, which
will bear handling and stand combustion without disintegration.
The coking may be effected in any convenient form of oven, the moulds
containing the coal being preferably piled one on the other in a cage, and lowered
into the oven, the top of the cage forming a cover for the oven.
The size of the
moulds should not be too large, as uniformity of coking in the briquetto is
desirable. A mould which will yield a three to four pound briquette is sufficiently
large.
As fine anthracite, coke breeze, and other nou-bituminous waste materials are to
be had in great quantities, their conversion into marketable fuel blocks is a matter
of considerable commercial importance.
Dated this 27th day of September 1895.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant..

page_text: Improvements in the Manufacture of Fuel.
I GEORGE HAYCRAFT of Pontardulais, in the County of Glamorgan, Civil
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 :-
The present invention relates to the manufacture of artificial fuel from small
anthracite coal, waste charcoal, fine coke, coke breeze, and similar waste
carbonaceous materials, of a non-bituminous character.
Attempts have already been made to use these materials in the manufacture of
fuel, by incorporating therewith pitch, tar, or other agglomerating material,
including bituminous coal, the mixture, while in a heated or fused condition, being
formed into more or less solid blocks, with or without the aid of pressure.
For a marketable fuel, it is necessary that the block or briquette should be
sufficiently hard and strong to bear handling; that it should be practically
uniform throughout, in order to burn evenly, and without becoming disintegrated;
and that it should be practically smokeless. In one or more of these characteristics,
the fuels previously made with materials above mentioned have failed, and the
manufacture thereof has been abandoned.
In carrying out this invention, small bituminous coal is employed, as in other
cases, as the medium for giving cohesion to the non-bituminous carbonaceous
waste materials, but by the present process, the treatment of the mixture is such,
that while the anthracite or other non-bituminuous material remains almost
unaffected during manufacture, the bituminous is brought uniformly into a
condition in which it gives to the fuel a hard and solid cohesion, that is maintained
satisfactorily during combustion, the combustion of the fuel being practically
smokeless.
The production of practically smokeless fuel according to this invention, is
effected by incipiently coking, in a uniform manner, the bituminous coal which
constitutes the cementing or cohesive medium in the fuel. This uniform incipient
coking is accomplished by placing the mixed materials in very narrow or shallow
moulds, so that the mixture, when submitted to heat in an oven from which air is
excluded, is divided up, and thus is uniformly acted on throughout the whole
mass, with the result, that there is neither insufficient or excessive coking in
any block.
•
The proportions of the bituminous coal and non-bituminous materials cannot be
precisely laid down, although equal weights of each have been found to give good
results.
In dealing with charcoal dust 25 to 50% in bulk, or measurement, of added
bituminous coal, incipiently coked in narrow or shallow moulds, gives an excellent
smokeless fuel.
By preference, the bituminous coal is pulverized, but not the anthracite or other
non-bituminous coal, or carbonaceous substance mixed therewith, which latter may
be of any size which will pass through a sieve of half inch mesh.
In the accompanying drawings, apparatus is shewn for carrying out the incipient
coking in moulds which forms the feature of this invention.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of a furnace and a series of ovens for receiving
moulds divided from one another by perforated partitions.
Fig. 2 is a similar view of a furnace and heating chamber or oven without
partitions.
Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views, on an enlarged scale, of two forms of mould
for the material to be treated ;-and
Fig. 5 shows a mould of tubular form.
Referring to Fig. 1, A. are a series of ovens or chambers built immediately over

page_text: the flue of the heating furnace B, into which ovens heat may be introduced
direct from such flue, if desired, by means of a suitable damper 6', or such damper
may be kept closed, and the work performed by radiated heat alone. The partitions a
between the ovens A are perforated, as indicated, so that the heat may pass from one
to the other; and the gases eliminated in the process are conveyed back into the
furnace by a suitable Alue C, and there consuined. Each oven is open on the top,
to admit of a cage D loaded with moulds E containing the material, being lowered
into it. The top of the cage forms the cover of the oven when it is in its place.
The material itself is put into moulds, which are open at the top, and they are so
formed that one will stand in another, in order that the operation may be carried
out while the material is under pressure. When the operation is complete, the
cage is lifted out, and another put in, and so on continuously.
Or, as an alternative, a rectangular oven may be used without partitions, like
that shown at Fig. 2, enclosed on all sides by brickwork, except at the end most
remote from the furnace, which is open, but which is closed by a door when in
work. In this case, instead of cages, trolleys D are used, which are run into the
oven A on rails, and which trolleys are loaded with the moulds containing the
material to be operated on. When the operation is complete, the trolleys are
drawn out and a fresh set run in continuously, the arrangements for introducing
heat direct from the flue, and discharging the gases into the furnace, being the
same as in the foregoing case. If preferred, the rectangular chamber or oven may
have doors at both ends, so that the trolleys may be put in at one end and taken
out at the other. The moulds E, of which three forms have been selected for
illustration, may be of varied construction, provided they are not too large;
at Fig. 3 a circular mould is shown with a central tube. Fig. 4 gives two shallow
pans, one upon the other. The interior of the moulds is slightly tapered, to
facilitate removal of the contents. The exterior surface may be slightly
corrugated, so that the heat may circulate all round the moulds, when stacked
close together; or they may be plain, and kept a little apart in loading the cages or
trolleys. The bottoms of the cages and the beds of the trolleys are in the form of
a grating, so that the heat may readily pass up through them.
The mould shewn at Fig. 5 consists of a circular metal tube E, from 2 to 4 inches
in diameter, and of any convenient length. This has caps g g' to cover the ends.
fis a small tube extending longitudinally from cap to cap, centrally of the tube.
The powdered mixture may be filled into the tube E around the tube f and
divided into short lengths by anuular plates f'. Tubular moulds of this
description are stacked into ovens in any convenient manner, where the contents
are subjected to heat. The fuel thus produced, when removed from the mould, is
of annular formi.
To ensure a proper degree of incipient coking, care must be taken that the
material under treatment is not submitted in buik, that is to say, the material must
be so divided that the heat is brought to bear uniformly throughout; to this end,
the moulds should be such as to contain a briquette of little more than two inches
thickness.
The degree of temperature and the duration of treatment must depend, in a
measure on the nature of the materials being treated, and the character of the fuel
to be produced; three hours, more or less, according to the material treated, at a
temperature of 700° to 900° Fahr., has however been found, with the aid of the
moulds, to give good results.
The fuel produced as above described will be found to give, if the incipient
coking has been well effected, a uniform fracture in colour and consistence, the
non-bituminous materials being however unaffected.
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 :-
1. The manufacture of practically smokeless fuel as herein-before described,

page_text: wherein the materials being treated are filled into moulds and submitted to heat,
so that the bituminous coal contained therein is incipiently coked, as and for the
purpose above set forth.
2. In the manufacture of fuel from a mixture of bituminous and non-bituminous
carbonaceous substances by the incipient coking of the former in the manner
explained, the employment of the apparatus hereinbefore described and shewn, in
the manner set forth.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.