IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND COKE THEREFROM
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL, AND IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND COKE THEREFROM." -A communication from
abroad by Jean Marie Joseph Charles Du Lin and Jean Auguste
Combe d'Almas, of Paris, in the Empire of France..
Sealed the 29th June 1869, and dated the 11th March 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th March 1869.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL, AND
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND COKE THEREFROM," a communication from
abroad by Jean Marie Joseph Charles Du Lin and Jean Auguste
Combe d'Almas, of Paris, in the Empire of France, to be as
follows:-

page_text: use as ordinary fuel or for the manufacture of gas and coke therefrom,
and consists essentially in mixing with fuel dust or reduced or pulverised
fuel of all kinds such as coal, anthracite, charcoal, peat, and the like
powdered vegetable resin alone in proportions varying, say from 3 to 10
per cent. according to the purposes for which the fuel is to be
employed. The dust or powdered fuel is to be intimately mixed with
the powdered resin, and either agglomerated by being pressed into
blocks, as is usually practised in the manufacture of artificial fuel, or
the mixture may be burned in moulds of any desired form according to
the desired form of the coke to be produced from the fuel.
In using
this fuel for the manufacture of gas it may be placed in the ordinary
retorts either in the form of blocks or in iron or fire-clay receptacles,,
and covered over with a layer of sand or with a loose perforated plate
or cover, or both, the gaseous products of distillation passing off freely
whilst the superincumbent pressure of the sand or loose perforated plate
or cover, or both, serves to solidify the coke which will be of a form
corresponding to that of the receptacle in which the mixture was
deposited.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th September 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middle-
sex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson,
Her special license that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Henry Johnson, 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 expressed, should and law-

page_text: fully 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 PREPARATION OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL, AND
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND COKE THEREFROM," a communication from
abroad by Jean Marie Joseph Charles Du Lin and Jean Auguste Combe
d'Almas, of Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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.
the
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, that is to say:
The said Invention consists essentially in the manufacture, by means
of vegetable resin used in proportions determined according to the
products to be obtained, of, first, agglomerated fuel produced from
small vegetable and mineral fuel, or the dust thereof; and intended to
be consumed in furnaces and ordinary domestic fire-grates; second, dense
coke capable of being employed for the same purposes; third, lighting
gas and dense coke produced simultaneously.
Vegetable resin thoroughly mixed with, fuel, dust, and properly
burned produces a coke of good quality whilst the dust employed alone
either yields an inferior coke or is not capable of producing coke at all.
The resinous products employed are extracted from pines of every
description, lofty firs, cedars, and such like trees.
In the production of agglomerated fuel for furnaces and domestic
fire-places the process consists simply in the addition to and thorough
admixture with such small fuel or dust of the above-mentioned
vegetable resinous products, such products having been previously
pulverized. This admixture is effected in a cold and dry state, and
in the proportions of from 3 to 10% which are regulated by the
quality of the coal or other fuel employed, and the required quality
of the blocks to be produced according as they are to be used as fuel
in furnaces or domestic fire-places or employed for the subsequent
manufacture of lighting gas and coke as is herein-after described.

page_text: It is evident that the proportion of resin employed raises the price of
the fuel, and should be kept as low as possible in the manufacture of
fuel for industrial purposes, but on the contrary the proportion should
be augmented when it is required to produce fuel for domestic use, or
for the manufacture of lighting gas. This increase in the quantity of
resin employed greatly improves the product obtained. It is essential
that the small fuel which it is required to agglomerate should be
reduced to a very fine pulverized state as well as the resin which should
be thoroughly mixed therewith. It is not requisite to employ any
special apparatus for the manufacture of these blocks as they may be
manufactured by the ordinary means consisting in the use of super-
heated steam to prepare the materials to be agglomerated and of
pressure or percussion in order to ram and solidfy these materials.
One of the essential points of this Invention consists in the use of
resin alone, and without the addition of any other agglomeratig sub-1
stance which characterizes this process as distinct from all others
hitherto employed, in which the resin extracted simply forms one of two
or more agglomerating elements. It should be observed that the addition
of other matters than resin in the manufacture of compressed fuel has
the effect of radically modifying the results obtained and offers no longer
the advantages possessed by this system. This system is applicable not
only to the agglomeration of small coal or coal dust, but also to that of
coke dust, sifted cinders, the dust of wood, charcoal, anthracite, lignites,
turf, and similar substances.
As above mentioned the products obtained are capable of being
utilized according to the quality of fuel adopted in their preparation and
the proportion of resin employed not only as ordinary fuel but also for
the manufacture of gas and coke. By this process therefore it is possible
to manufacture simultaneously lighting gas and dense coke, whether
the latter be moulded or not, the means employed for obtaining such
results being herein-after described in detail. These means consist either
in the distillation of the dust of dense fuel generally selected for this
purpose with its proportion of resin mixed therewith, or in the distillation
of blocks previously manufactured of the same elements. In both cases
the result of the operation is the production of a dense coke of good
quality, thus utilizing the dust of fuel which in its natural state would
yield only inferior coke or not produce coke at all. When it is required
to distil the fuel dust with its proportion of resin direct the dust or smal

page_text: fuel of a rich quality ordinarily used for this purpose is employed
and to it is added at least 5% of resin which is thoroughly mixed
therewith in a dry and cold state, the mixture is then introduced into
ordinary fixed retorts either by the aid of a shovel or (which the
Inventor prefers) it may be placed in moveable receptacles of cast iron
or refractory clay which are introduced into the retorts. By these means
a greater amount of gas is obtained from a given weight of material than
when the dust alone or when the same fuel in a solid or non-reduced
state and not mixed with resin is employed. The illuminating power of
the gas thus obtained is also much superior to that of gas manufactured
The same
by the ordinary means, it is purer and almost odourless.
result may be obtained even in a more favorable manner by employing
fuel dust previously agglomerated with resin alone in the form of blocks
of a dimension and weight suitable to the size of the fixed retort into
which such blocks are introduced for the manufacture of lighting gas.
With a view to obtain denser coke these blocks may be covered with a
layer of a few inches in thickness of sand which does not interfere with
the evolution of the gas whilst it prevents any deformation of the
product; these blocks may also be placed in cast-iron receptacles or
moulds of the same form, and the open side of which is closed by a
metal plate perforated with holes in order to admit of the evolution of
the gas; this plate is itself covered with a thin layer of sand, the coke in
this manner being compressed by the weight of the cover which rises as
the mass expands, the solid product assuming a density equal to that of
the best coke specially manufactured. The coke produced by either of
these processes when removed from the retorts is placed in etouffoirs or
boxes to preserve it whilst in its incandescent state from contact with
the atmosphere. This non-moulded coke which may be used in ordinary
fires is superior in quality and appearance to coke ordinarily quenched
I
with water and produced from the same fuel not mixed with resin.
am aware that it is customary in gas works to throw resin into the retorts
in order to hasten the distillation of the coal and to expedite the manu-
facture of the gas, but the improved process herein described differs
essentially therefrom, whilst the results obtained are also materially
different. When it is required simply to manufacture dense coke capable
of being employed in metallurgical furnaces or for other purposes the
fuel dust previously mixed with resin is introduced into cast-iron moulds
sprinkled with plumbago, the open side of which is closed by a metal

page_text: plate perforated with small holes for the issue of the gas, the plate itself
being covered with a layer of sand intended to prevent contact with the
air. The coke thus manufactured preserves the form of the mould in
which it is made and may be obtained in any suitable forms to facilitate
transport, handling, and general use.
Coke may also be manufactured of special forms according to the
purpose to which it is to be applied, it being simply requisite to produce
cavities of the required form by means of a pattern introduced into
ordinary moulding sand contained in metal receptacles and to fill these
cavities (sprinkled with plumbago) with fuel dust mixed with resin, and
to cover the whole with a layer of sand which may itself serve for a
second moulding placed over the first, and in the same manner by
calcining the products thus disposed in any suitable furnace a dense coke
may be obtained which retains the form originally imparted to it and
which may also be employed for filtering or other purposes.
This Invention is equally applicable to the manufacture of coke in
close receptacles or coke ovens, such as are at present in use for the
manufacture of metallurgical coke. The admixture of the resin and
coal dust or reduced fuel should be carefully and thoroughly effected
before introducing the compound or mixture into the coking receptacle
or oven.
The coke obtained by this Invention is of a better quality than the
ordinary metallurgical coke as it is made more rapidly than ordinary
coke, its heating properties are greater, and it imparts to cast iron made
by its use properties approaching those of charcoal iron.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that 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 manufacture of blocks of fuel by mixing together vegetable
resin and coal or other fuel in a finely divided state and compressing the
same into blocks, as herein-before described.
ازار
Second. The manufacture of coke or coke and gas from a compound
or mixture, composed of yegetable resin and coal dust or other car-
bonaceous substances capable of being employed as fuel in a finely

page_text: divided state, whether such compound or mixture be compressed into
blocks or employed in a state of division, substantially as and for the
purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to
this my Specification set my hand and seal, the Tenth day,
of September One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.s.)