CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE FOR THE PURPOSES OF PURIFYING, COMPRESSING, OR EXTRACTING VEGETABLE AND OTHER SUBSTANCES AND FLUIDS, AND IN THE MA- CHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THE SAME NOW KNOW YE
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
RETTIE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Пer present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twelfth day of June, in the ninth year of Iler reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert
Rettie, her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Robert Rettie, 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 of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man,
and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL, PARTS OF
WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE FOR THE PURPOSES OF PURIFYING, COMPRESSING,
OR EXTRACTING VEGETABLE AND OTHER SUBSTANCES AND FLUIDS, AND IN THE MA-
CHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THE SAME
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Kettie, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed and carried into practical effect,
to be fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the illustrative Diawings hereunto annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon (that is to say).
My Invention consists in and has reference to the principles of construction,
modes of arrangement, and mechanical and chemical combinations of the
several parts herein-after particularly described, and in the use and application

page_text: of the same to the purposes of my said Invention, as set forth in and by the
title of the Letters Patent granted unto me as herein before recited.
The particular nature of the first part of my improvements consists in
taking culm or dross coal, with a solution of gluten oxygenated or otherwise,
and consolidating it by an apparatus, see Figure 1, which consists of two reservoirs,
one closed and the other open. A marks the upper vessel, which is filled with a
series of divisions and false bottoms, M and P, of finely perforated metal; or in
some instances I employ finely woven vegetable or metallic cloth, which retains
the substance, but allows the overplus gluten to escape, when the vessel A is
filled with dross coal and gluten, the cock B being shut, and the exhauster at
G set to work to produce a vacuum at C; on re-opening the cock B the pres-
sure commences, and sends the gluten or liquor through the mass into the
vessel C, thereby solidifying the mass, which may be lifted out, and the folding
frames M and P opened, and the blocks of fuel are then ready for use; the
liquor may be either hot or cold, according to its nature and the process re-
quired; E representing a furnace under C to force the liquor up by the pressure
of the steam; and I form the divisional blocks of any size or number by the
folding sides M and P, shewn at Figures 4 and 5, placed with a perforated
top, and another similar division upon it and another top. Again, you may
carry out my extent of quantity, and all will be done at one time, and by one
operation with the same pressure many other substances may be treated in a
similar manner. F is an opening for filling C when hot solution is used and
forced up amongst the mass, but when cold is used it is filled from the top The
vessel C is also used for extracting juice or liquor from any substance by first
extracting the air, and then admitting liquor, which takes the place of the air,
such as salting provision, dyeing, tanning, and such like operations, which is
done as follows, by unscrewing F, and placing in the body of C the substance
to be acted upon, and then shutting B, the Figure 2 representing the way in
which it is done by a brass top T, with three tin tubes, one exit and entrance pipe
O and N, and H the gauze pipe; with this on the top of any vessel, such as
C, you see the action going on; when the pump is working the gauze iudi-
cates, and when the air is sufficiently extracted at O, the back N is opened,
which, being connected with a reservoir containing brine or any other suitable
fluid, it rushes in and fills completely the air cells of the meat, or whatever
substance it may be. The brass tops are made so that they can be soldered
into tin plate cases, or screwed into wooden boxes, casks, &c., where they can
be at once secured at the tubes O and N in the usual way. To facilitate the
charging and discharging of the vessel C, I use in connection with an air pump
a three-way cock and index plate, Figure 2; the opening T is screwed down

page_text: with a ring of caoutchouc leather or other' suitable material, and bolts, which
excludes the atmosphere. -
Figure 3 shews the means to be employed for collecting the refuse soil
which becomes deposited in sewers, and is usually lost in rivers or otherwise.
This refuse I convert into fuel, singly or in combination with other substances,
and I collect it in what I term a sewer pond or well, which pond or well is
representing with two openings and a grating at top, and I construct the lower
part of this grating with a trap which is moveable, and such grating and trap
can be disconnected at pleasure, without stopping up the roadway, by unscrewing
the nuts at R. When the water passes along A, before it reaches the pipe B,
the soil or refuses gravitates 'and falls down the sewer pond-or well, from whence
it may be removed by the outlet D. The self-acting sewer trap is always
water-luted, and only gives way when overloaded, as in spates, see Figure 3.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed and carried into practical effect, I desire it to
be distinctly understood that I claim as improvements in the manufacture of
fuel:-
Firstly, the consolidating of dross by my apparatus with gluten by atmo-
spheric pressure, either by heat or cold, or the preparation of any other sub-
stances, such as peat, furze, or sawdust, for the purpose of fuel, separately, by
passing through the mass any glutenous substance that can retain them
together.
Secondly, the application of oxygenized gluten in the consolidation of tuif,
peat, coal, or other flammable substance, whereby the power of combustion is
considerably increased.
Thirdly, the mode set forth of preserving animal and vegetable substances,
by extracting the air contained therein, and subsequently infusing suitable
liquids into them, and afterwards excluding the air from the package or case
containing the same, as herein-before particularly described.
Fourthly, the arrangement employed for collecting the refuse soil in sewei»,
and the use of such soil in the manufacture of fuel.
Fifthly and lastly, the combining of coal dross with the refuse soil in sewers, or
combining turf, peat, or other vegetable substance with such refuse soil, or the
application of such said refuse soil for the purposes of fuel when uncombined
with other substances.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Rettie, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of December, One thousand eight
ROBERT (L.s.) RETTIE, CE

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that the aforesaid Robert Rettie came before
our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Twelfth day of December, in the year above written.