IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of the firm
of Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agents, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL."-A communi-
cation
Sealed the 27th October 1858, and dated t. 12th August 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard
Archibald Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th August 1858.
Sp
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of the firm of Robertson, Pr
Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL"
to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to the manufacture of fuel from small
coal, and consists in the use of Cuba or other similar bitumen
combined with resin as a means of solidifying or agglomerating.
small coal into masses fit for moulding, and in the use of water in
which clay has been dissolved and allowed to subside, and to which

page_text: gum arabic, gum senegal, or other similar gum has been added,
for the purpose of moistening the mixture of small coal, resin, and
bitumen.
The coal is first screened, then sprinkled with resin, and mixed
with the bitumen in variable proportions according to its nature.
The mixture is then moistened with water, prepared as above
mentioned, again well mixed or ground together, and then
moulded into bricks, which are compressed, dried, and gradually
heated to a high temperature to effect the fusion and thorough
amalgamation of the materials.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,
I; RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of the firm of Robertson,
Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agents, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three,
in the seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Richard Archibald
Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said Richard Archibald
Brooman, ny executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, ad-
ministrators, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL," Communicated
to me by a foreigner residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, by an instru-

page_text: ment in writing under my hand and seal, should' particularly de-, S
Scribe 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 Patent. -
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is
to say:
The Invention relates to the manufacture of fuel from small
coal, and consists, first, in the use of Cuba or other similar bitumen,
alone or combined with resin, as a means of solidifying or agglo-
merating small coal into masses fit for moulding; and, second, in
the use of water in which clay has been dissolved and allowed to
subside, with or without the addition of gum arabic, gum senegal,
or other similar gum or glutinous matter, for the purpose of mois-
tening the mixture of small coal, resin, and bitumen.
The manner in which the Invention is carried into effect is as
follows:-
The operator first takes small coal, which for greater con-
venience should be previously screened. He next takes one or
more of the varieties of the substances known as raw bitumens,
such as those found in the islands of Trinidad, Cuba, and others,
amongst the volcanic formations, and at the bottom and on the
shores of lakes in America, Russia, &c. &c. He heats this sub-
stance in an ordinary vessel, and when completely melted pours
it upon a paved surface, upon which a thin layer of coal dust has
been previously sprinkled. When cold he reduces it to powder.
A small portion of common resin is added to the bitumen to
accelerate the fusing process, but this addition is quite optional,
and may be dispensed with. After this he takes 220 gallons of
water, to which he adds 200 or thereabouts of the strongest
and most adhesive common clay that can be procured. He keeps
the water continually stirred until the clay is completely dissolved

page_text: and incorporated with it, after which he leaves the mixture until
the clay has completely separated itself and sunk to the bottom of
the vessel, which it will do in about: 24 hours; he then draws
off the water into another vessel and dissolves in it from 2 to 3 lbs
of the commonest gum arabic, senegal or other gum. He, next
proceeds as follows:-Upon one ton of small coal he sprinkles
from 25 to 30th of the powdered bitumen; or sometimes the
weight of bitumen may be reduced, and the difference made up
with powdered resin, varying the mixture according to the quality
and nature of the coal to be operated upon. These ingredients
having been well mixed; he moistens them with the clay water, or
water in which clay has been steeped, as before described, and
triturates the whole in a common pug mill, or in any other way
that may be preferred, until the mass is perfectly homogeneous
and of a proper consistency for moulding. This operation--may
be commenced immediately if required; it may be performed with
a common iron box mould of any required dimensions, upon the
top of which, when filled, is placed an iron cover or plate-fitting
the inside, and over this plate a.block of.wood, upon which the
operator gives several smart blows with a maul or hammer; the
cover is then removed, a slight tap given on the bottom of the
mould, and the contents of it come out, as would be the case with
à brick of common clay.
Instead of adopting this inode of moulding, other means that
may be applicable to this part of the process may be employed.
The moulded forms of the mixture are then exposed to the
action of the open air, which should be allowed to pass on all sides
of them for 24 hours or more, according to the season and ten-
perature; they require, however, to be protected from the rain.
They are next placed in a drying room or stove of convenient
dimensions, which is heated up to a temperature sufficiently
elevated to drive off the moisture and the smell of the compound.
As the desiccation proceeds the heat is increased so as to effect
the complete fusion of the substances mixed with the coal, even
to the very centre of the moulded mass, and when the moulded

page_text: forms emit no more smell or moisture the process is completed.
This process produces a fuel superior as a combustible and steam
generator to any coal hitherto employed, burning freely, durably,
and without smell to the last.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do
not confine myself to any particular proportions of the materials
employed, as they may be varied according to the quality and
nature of the coal which is to be operated upon; but I claim, first,
the employment of raw bitumen in the manner herein-before
described, alone or combined with resin, as a means of solidifying
or agglomerating small coal into masses; and, secondly, the
employment of water in which clay has been dissolved and allowed
to subside, and to which gum arabic, gum senegal, or any other
gum possessing the same properties, may or may not have been
added, for the purpose of moistening the compound already
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day
of February, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.S.)