IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OR MANUFACTURE OF ANIMAL CHARCOAL
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Scott junior, of Greenock, in the
County of Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OR MANUFACTURE OF ANIMAL
CHARCOAL."
Scaled the 15th July 1858, and dated the 14th March 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Scott junior
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th March 1853.
J, JOHN SCOTT junior, of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew,
North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OR MANUFACTURE OF
ANIMAL CHARCOAL" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the so arranging the kilns or ovens used
for reburning and cleansing the animal charcoal used in sugar refineries,
that the burnt material may be cooled by a continuous process, without
the use of water, so that the charging and discharging of the material
goes on uniformly and continuously, whilst the quality of the reburnt

page_text: charcoal is very superior, and the cost of the process is economized.
The kiln is arranged with a series of vertical tubes, surrounded by
fire or hot air flues, and into these tubes the charcoal is placed to be
burned.
Immediately beneath this set of tubes or retorts is a second set, of
smaller content, also set vertically, the axis of each tube in this lower
set being coincident with that of a corresponding retort. When a
charge has been burned, the attendant opens a slide in the bottom of
the retort, and discharges about one third of the charcoal in it, letting
this quantity fall down into the tube below. When this discharge is
effected, the lower tube being filled or nearly so, the operator shuts up
the tube and allows the contained charcoal to cool by an external circu-
lation of air. The upper part of the retort then receives a fresh supply
of the unburned charcoal to fill up the emptied space, and thus the
operation goes on throughout the whole series in the kiln.
A good current of cold air is kept circulating round the cooler tubes,
and this air is then passed up, in its partially heated state, to the retort
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Scott junior, in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 14th September 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN SCOTT junior. of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew, North
Britain, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Scott junior, Her special licence,
that I, the said John Scott junior, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, tho said John Scott junior, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein

page_text: 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
TREATMENT OR MANUFACTURE OF ANIMAL CHARCOAL," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Scott junior, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and scal, 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 Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Scott junior, do bereby de-
clare 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, reference being had to the accompanying
drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
My said Invention relates to the so arranging. the kilns, ovens, or
furnaces used for re-burning and cleansing the animal charcoal used
in sugar refineries, that the burned material may be cooled by a con-
tinuous process without the use of water; so that the charging and dis-
charging of the material goes on uniformly and continuously, whilst the
quality of the re-burnt charcoal is very superior, and the cost of the
process is economized. The kiln is arranged with a series of vertical
tubes, surrounded by fire or hot air flucs, and into these tubes the
charcoal is placed to be burned. Immediately beneath this set of
tubes or retorts is a second set, of smaller content, also set vertically,
the axis of each tube in this lower set being-coincident with that of
corresponding retort. When a charge has been burned, the attendant
opens a slide in the bottom of the retort, and discharges about one
third of the charcoal in it, letting this quantity fall down into the tube
below. When this discharge is effected, the lower tube being filled, or
nearly so, the operator shuts up the tube, and allows the contained
charcoal to cool by an external circulation of air. The upper part of
the retort then receives a fresh supply of the unburned charcoal to fill
up the emptied space; and thus the operation goes on throughout the
whole series in the kiln. A good current of cold air is kept circulating

page_text: round the cooler tubes, and this air is then passed up in its partially
heated state to the retort furnaces above, where its heat is made avail-
able for securing further economy in its action upon the furnaces from
which the original re-burning or charring heat is derived.
Figure 1, on Sheet 1, of my drawings is a half clevation and half
vertical longitudinall section of one modification of this class of improved
kiln. Figure 2, on the same sheet, is a transverse sectional elevation
of the hot air chamber of the kiln, one half of the view showing the
charcoal pipes, with their corresponding coolers and the hot and cold
air flues, whilst the other half of the view represents the opposite side
f the hot air chamber, with the pipes removed therefrom, and exhibit-
ing only the exhaust flues and the supporting columns. Figure 1, on
Sheet, of my drawings, is a corresponding plan of the apparatus,
partially in horizontal section; and Figure 2, on the same sheet, is a
complete horizontal section of the kiln at a lower level.
The kiln, which is built up of brickwork, almost wholly sup-
ported on cast iron columns, mainly consists of an arrangement
of charring tubes or contaminated charcoal retorts A, surrounded
by fire or hot air flues B. It is into these tubes that the vitiated
charcoal, as it comes from the syrup filters charged with the im-
purities separated from the syrup in the filtering action, is placed to
bo re-burned, to carry off the contained impurities, and refit it for subsc-
quent use as a filtering medium. Immediately beneath this set of
retorts is a second set of tubes C, of smaller bore, which act as tho
closed coolers for the re-burned charcoal. These tubes C, are also dis-
posed vertically, and the axis of each cooler is exactly coincident with
that of a corresponding retort above it. In the plan, Figure 1, on
Sheet 2, the quarter division a, represents the top plate of that section
of the kiln with the cover removed, and exposing the guard plate
beneath it. The next section b, is a plan of the bottom plato of tlic
kiln, with the brickwork removed from it. The third portion c, shows
the top plate, with the cover thereon; and the fourth division d, is a
horizontal section showing the tire bars, hot air and exhaust flues, fluc
door, and retorts. The view, Figure 2, on Sheet 2, is a horizontal sec-
tion of the kiln apparatus, taken through the ash-pit, the 'front portion

page_text: showing the coolers, cold air flues, and the columns for supporting the
kiln; the back part showing the ash-pit door and the columns, which,
besides supporting the kiln, serve also to convey the smoke to the
chimney through the flues, as delineated in dotted lines. The primary
heating retort furnace is at D; E, is the cover plate; and F, are the
exhausting flues. The cold air flues are at G; and H, are the supporting
columns of the structure. The main heating flues are at I; J, is the
flue door, with a smaller central door in it for examining the state of the
retorts and flues when in action; and K, is the ash-pit door, which is
kept shut, so that all the cold air for supplying the furnace must pass
through the coolers and cold-air flues, so as to cool the charcoal in the
refrigerating tubes C, whilst the succeeding charge is being burned in
the retorts.
When a charge of impure charcoal or carbonaceous matter has been
burned, the operator opens a slide in the bottom of each retort, as de-
lineated in the sectional portion of Figure 1, on Sheet 1, of my draw-
ings; through this opening he discharges about one third of the burned
charcoal in the tube, allowing it to fall away into its cooler below.
When this is done, the cooling tube being filled, or nearly so, the in-
termediate discharging slide is closed, and the two tubes are thus
wholly disconnected. In this condition, the cooler tube being com-
pletely shut up from contact with the external atmosphere, its contents
are rapidly cooled down by an external circulation of cold air along the
passages G, surrounding the tube C. This proceeding obviously causes
a partial vacuum in the actual burning retort A, and the workman
then fills up the emptied space at the upper end of the retort with
a fresh supply of the impure charcoal. In this the charging, re-
burning, discharging, and cooling all go on consecutively and uninter-
ruptedly throughout the whole series of retorts in the kiln; a rapid
current of cold air being carefully kept up all round the refrigerators.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine
or restrict myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have
had occasion to describe or refer to, as many variations may be made

page_text: therefrom without deviating from the principles or inain features of my
Invention; but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general arrangement and construction of kilns, ovens,
or furnaces, for the treatment or manufacture of animal charcoal, as
hereiu-before described.
Second, the system or mode of treating or re-burning animal char-
coal, wherein the burning and refrigerating or cooling processes are
simultaneously and continuously carried on, and without atmospheric
exposure, or the use of water.
Third, the application and use, in charcoal kilns or ovens, of
secondary closed cooling tubes or refrigerators, capable of being con-
nected to and disconnected from the retorts, for the purposes herein-
before described.
Fourth, the system or mode of arranging and constructing charcoal
kilns, wherein each retort or burning tube has connected with it a close
refrigerating or cooling tube.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Scott junior, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, in the
Year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
JOHN SCOTT
(A)