CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURING GAS FOR AFFORDING LIGHT AND HEAT, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF CERTAIN PRODUCTS THEREOF TO USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
COBBOLD, of Long Melford, in the County of Suffolk, Clerk, Master of Arts,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifth day of May, in the first year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Edward
Cobbold, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Edward Cobbold, my exors, adññors, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Edward Cobbold, my exors, adiñiors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURING GAS FOR
AFFORDING LIGHT AND HEAT, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF CERTAIN PRODUCTS
THEREOF TO USEFUL PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said Edward Cobbett, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edward Cobbold, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in combining and applying tar with peat so as to
obtain a compound substance capable of being used in the manufacture of gas
for affording light and heat, and it may be used either as fuel to obtain gas
from coal or it will itself yield gas in great abundance if put into the retort
and coal be used as the fuel, or it may be used both as fuel and as the substance
from which gas is to be distilled.
My Invention also consists in applying certain products arising in the
manufacture of gas; one is the applying coal tar produced in the manufacture
of gas in making the above compound, which may be used as above, and also
as fuel generally where bituminous fuel is required; another is applying
certain products as paints or pigments, or in the manufacture thereof;
another is, the products may be used in the preparation of iron and for the
This is tho outline of my
better melting thereof; and, lastly, as a manure.
Invention or improvements, as herein-after more particularly described.
In manufacturing coal gas by ordinary well-known means, by placing coal in
retorts and employing coal as a fuel to heat such retorts, and distil from the coal
contained therein, there is produced much coal tar, which has been attempted
in various ways to be consumed in aid of the ordinary fuel, and also has been
placed in retorts with other matters, in order to distil gas therefrom; but up to
the present time I believe that no practically and extensively useful plan of
employing the coal tar as a means of aiding the heat in the retort furnaces
and of using the coal tar as a matter to be distilled has been employed. And
peat has been used as a fuel, and has also been used as a matter to distil gas
from; hence I make no claim to the using of such materials other than when
combined and applied according to my Invention. And it should be stated,
that although I prefer to use coal tar, which in gasworks where coal gas
manufactured is a necessary product of the process of distillation, and con-
sequently a waste matter if not beneficially employed as a means of producing
heat or as a means or matter from which gas may be distilled, it will be
evident, when the cost will allow of it, other tar may be employed. In com-
bining tar with peat, the nature of the peat employed may vary, depending on
the use to which the compound is to be applied, whether for heating the retorts
or for producing a matter to be distilled.
is
In compounding peat and tar to be used as a fuel for heating the retorts,

page_text: .I take that description of peat which contains earthy or alluvial soil, and in
compounding peat and tar for producing a material to be distilled in retorts,
I prefer such peat as is most free from earth. I mix two parts of the peat by
weight with one part by weight of tar; these materials, being intimately
blended, will form a suitable compound to be used in the manufacture of gas,
first as a means of assisting the ordinary fuel in the furnace; and, secondly, as a
material to have gas distilled therefrom; but in the latter process I prefer that
the peat should be in a very dry state.
In employing the compound as a means of assisting the fuel in the furnace,
it is from time to time to be thrown on to the burning fuel in the furnace, by
which means a very powerful effect will be produced in the retort; and in
using the compound as a material to be distilled, the sand is to be placed in
the retorts in place of coal, and the distilling process is carried on in like
manner to what it would be in distilling gas from coal: hence will a most
beneficial result be obtained in the manufacture of gas.
When it is desired to obtain the compound of peat and tar in a hard
substance suitable for burning, independently of having a quantity of lighted
coke or coal in the furnace, this may be accomplished by combining a quantity
of the products of the distillation, which, when coal is employed, will be
ordinary gas coke, and when the composition or compound above explaiued is
employed will be a charred matter or coke produced from the peat and coal
tar, which being reduced to powder and combined with peat and the ashes of
peat or other such substances and tar, the compound produced may be formed
or moulded into blocks, and, if necessary, may be pressed, by which means a
close, heavy, and consistent fuel will be obtained for general purposes where
bituminous fuel is employed.
I would remark that, although I have given particular quantities of peat
and of tar to be combined therewith, it will be evident that such quantities
may be varied without departing from my Invention, and may be desirably
varied, depending on the result it is desired to obtain from peat of any par-
ticular character; but the most beneficial compounding of any class of peat
with tar may readily be ascertained by mixing several small quantities with
varying quantities of tar, and observing the effect produced in consuming the
same. The mixing or compounding of peat and tar is very simple, and may
be performed by gradually stirring in tar with the dry peat, which will quickly
absorb the same and become intimately blended, and the same may be done
by hand, or, where large quantities are required, the mixing may be per-
forined by machinery.

page_text: And further, in respect to that part of my Invention or improvement which
relates to the application of certain products obtained by the manufacture of
gas for affording light and heat, the residuum from the peat is to be broken,
or crushed, or ground (which may be performed first by a mill, and then
by means of rollers,) into an impalpable powder; or it may be levigated with
water and then dried; and being then pulverized and mixed with oil, tur-
pentine, and other necessary materials, it is fit for use as a dark or black paint
or pigment.
In order to produce brown or other dark-coloured paint by the application
of the products as aforesaid, I take of the residuum obtained by the destructive
distillation of the aforesaid substances, either ground, crushed, broken, pul-
verized, or levigated, and mix therewith peat in its natural state or ashes of peat
broken up into small particles, the smaller the better, and these being thoroughly
incorporated I obtain by a perfect levigation, with or without water, a substance
which, when mixed with oil, turpentine, and other necessary materials, is appli-
cable to purposes for which brown or dark-coloured paints or pigments are
usually employed, and I vary the colour of these brown paints by a greater or
less admixture of peat or ashes of peat with the residuum aforesaid. And
further, the residuum obtained by the destructive distillation of the substances
aforesaid mixed in proportion of one to two, more or less, with small coal, and
moistened, may be employed to advantage in preparing iron in blacksmiths'
forges; and the said residuum, if well saturated with water, and laid (in the pro-
portion of half a peck, more or less, to each bushel of coke,) in the furnace where
iron or other metal or metallic substance is being fused, will, by increasing the
heat to a white heat, materially assist the process. And further, the residuum
obtained by the destructive distillation of the aforesaid substances, if not
required as a paint or pigment, or as fuel for heating retorts and other
furnaces, or for blacksmiths' forges, or for founder's or other crucibles, in
the fusion of metals and metallic substances, may be ground or pounded into
a coarse powder by means of a mill or rollers, and may be used as an excellent
manure for agricultural purposes, possessing the nutritive properties of soot,
and on certain soils will be found equal, if not superior, to bone dust for the
increase of agricultural produce.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Cobbold, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-eight.
EDW (L.S.) COBBOLD.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Second day of November, in
the year of our Lord 1888, the aforesaid Edward Cobbold, Clk., M.A., came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained and specified
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.