IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COKE
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jabez Church, of Upper Kennington Lane, Vauxhall,
in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF COKE."
Sealed the 29th June 1860, and dated the 26th March 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jabez Church at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
March 1860.
I, JABEZ CHURCH, of Upper Kennington Lane, Vauxhall, in the County of
Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COKE," to be as follows:-
I take coal tar, asphalte, or pitch of coal tar in a roughly pulverized state,
and I mix it with coal and with a certain quantity of lime, limestone, chalk,
shells, or carbonate of lime in any form. I then introduce the mass thus
obtained into a retort such as is used in making ordinary coal gas, I next
subject the whole to the action of heat in the usual way of heating charged
retorts at gasworks, by which means I obtain gaseous products which can be
Or,
collected in gasometers and a dense compact coke remains in the retort.
I submit the mixture of coal, asphalte and lime, or any form of carbonate of
lime to the action of heat in coke ovens. Or, I take small coke, breeze, or
cinders, pulverized or not pulverized, and wash them to take out the sulphur
compounds of iron and other impurities, and then treat them in a similar

page_text: manner after mixing them with asphalte, lime, or carbonate of lime in any
I use any other species of asphalte, whether produced naturally or
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jabez Church in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JABEZ
CHURCH, of Upper Kennington Lane, Vauxhall, in the County of Surrey, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria. by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Jabez Church, Her special licence that I, the said Jabez Church, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jabez
Church, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF COKE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Jabez Church, 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 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 Jabez Church, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
I take asphalte or pitch of coal tar in a roughly pulverized state and mix
it with coal and with, slaked lime in the proportion of twenty-five pounds of
slaked lime to one ton of coal, and one hundred and forty pounds of asphalte
or pitch of coal tar. I then introduce the mass thus obtained into a retort,
such as is used in the manufacture of ordinary coal gas, and subject the whole

page_text: to the action of heat in the usual manner of heating charged retorts at gas
works, by which means I obtain gaseous products that may be collected in
gasometers, and a dense compact coke remains in the retort when the charge
is worked off. I also use limestone, chalk, shells, or any other form of
carbonate of lime in the proportion of thirty-five pounds of either of these to
one ton of coal, but I prefer burnt or caustic lime slaked. Or, I submit the
mixture of coal with the other ingredients and in the proportions already
described to the action of heat in coke ovens after the ordinary manner of
making oven coke. Or, I take small coke, breeze, or cinders, ground or
unground, and first wash them to take out the sulphur compounds of iron and
other impurities, and then treat them in a similar manner, that is by mixing
them with slaked lime or with any of the forms of carbonate of lime above
named, and with the other ingredients in the proportions already described,
and in addition to these substances I use a sufficient quantity of coal tar so as
to cause the mixture to adhere together, which is not necessary when coal
itself is employed. A scoop is then to be charged with this adherent mass
and introduced into a retort, and the scoop is to be left in the retort until the
charge is worked off by heat. I find that the coke obtained in this manner
is of a far superior quality when the small coke, breeze, or cinders are ground
previously to mixing them as already described. I use any other species of
asphalte whether produced naturally or artificially, along with lime or any
form of carbonate of lime with coal, coke, breeze, or cinders in the proportions
above named.
I do not however confine myself to the proportions of the ingredients as
given above, but I find such proportions to answer best practically. I do not
claim the use of coal tar, asphalte, or pitch of coal tar or natural phalte in
the manufacture of coke from coal, small coke, breeze, or cinders but I claim
the use of lime or any form of carbonate of lime in combination with such
ingredients as are herein-before described. And I also claim the washing
of the small coke, breeze, or cinders when manufacturing coke as herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jabez Church, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
J. CHURCH. (L.S.)