IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MACHINERY FOR MOULDING AND COMPRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Barker, of Northfleet, in the County of
Kent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
MACHINERY FOR MOULDING AND COMPRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL AND OTHER
SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 21st December 1874, and dated the 30th June 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Barker at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th June 1874.
I, DAVID BARKER, of Northflect, in the County of Kent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF MACHINERY FOR MOULDING AND COMPRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL,
AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements upon an Invention for
"Improvements in the Construction of Machinery for Moulding and
Compressing Artificial Fuel, and other Substances," for which Letters
Patent, bearing date the 22nd day of November 1873, No. 3813, were

page_text: granted to William Clark, of Plumstead, in the County of Kent, Engineer,
and by means of which Invention artificial fuel and other substances
could be moulded and compressed and manufactured into spherical balls
and other desired forms with great rapidity.
Under the said last-mentioned Invention such objects are effected by the
employment of four pressing rolls or mould wheels, which are arranged
above a bed plate and are rotated by suitable means, as described in the
Specification of the said Invention. The said pressing rolls or mould
wheels are placed so that the respective pairs are at right angles with
each other, the outer edges of the same being of a A shape, and at such
an angle as to fit closely together when brought into juxtaposition, and
being also respectively provided with an equal number of hollow spaces
or cavities round their surfaces, each space or cavity forming a quarter
of a sphere, the same meeting together during the revolution of the
pressing rolls or mould wheels which revolve in the same direction and
at the same speed. A pug or mixing mill provided with suitable blades
is placed above the pressing rolls or mould wheels, and into which pug
or mixing mill the artificial fuel or substances to be compressed or
moulded is or are admitted. In the centre of the pug or mixing mill is
an upright shaft on the top of which is fixed a mixer having any
number of suitable blades. The upright shaft projects through the bars
of the mixer on the lower side, and has a screw fixed thereon with two
or any desired number of blades placed at a suitable angle, and which
press the fuel or other substances on to the faces of the respective
pressing rolls or mould wheels.
When the machine is set in motion the action of the revolving blades
in the pug or mixing mill forces the fuel or other substances which has
or have been placed therein through the before-mentioned openings on to
the top of the respective pressing rolls or mould wheels, each of which
takes a portion thereof, the same being quickly drawn to that part at
which the pressing rolls or mould wheels meet, and is or are thereby
forced to take the form of balls or spheres receiving the greatest pressure
on passing the centre line of the pressing rolls or mould wheels. After
passing the centre line the pressing rolls or mould wheels are turning in
opposite directions, thereby causing the moulds to open on the lower
sides thereof and allow the balls or spheres to fall into a trough, and
thus to pass on to an endless band by which they can be carried to any
convenient receptacle.

page_text: It has been found in practice that the method of pressing the fuel or
other materials downwards by means of the before-mentioned inclined
blades, as described in the Specification of the Invention of the said
William Clark is attended with great disadvantages, which in fact render
the machine incapable of being worked, inasmuch as the fuel or other
substances is or are thereby forced down upon the top of the respective
pressing rolls or mould wheels in a larger quantity than is sufficient or
necessary to supply the moulds as they are presented for filling, and the
overplus or superabundant quantity of the fuel or other substances
forms a firm mass, which partially or entirely "jams" or fixes the
pressing rolls or mould wheels, and prevents the free rotation and
working thereof.
The object of the present Invention is to obviate the before-mentioned
disadvantages, such object being effected in the following manner :—
Instead of the pug mill or mixing mill, vertical shaft and inclined
blades being placed immediately above the pressing rolls or mould
wheels as described in the said Specification of the Invention of
the said William Clark, a filling pan is placed above the pressing
rolls or mould wheels, the same being furnished with a stirrer or
other suitable appliance to direct the fuel or other substances down-
wards. The latter passes or pass through a pipe or channel placed
at the bottom of the filling pan and extending near to the centre line of
the pressing rolls or mould wheels. At the lower part of such pipe or
channel are fixed four solid cheek blocks, corresponding in form to the
four-quarter spheres of the pressing rolls or mould wheels, such cheek
blocks forming a cavity for the successive reception of the fuel or othe
substances under treatment, and which cavity should be so proportioned
in capacity with regard to that of the moulds, that the former will
contain a quantity of fuel or of the other substances under treatment
as will be compressed in the moulds into the desired compass and degree
of density. Such relative proportions are of course capable of adjust-
ment as may be desired according to the nature of the fuel or other
substances under treatment. The fuel or other substances being thus
received by the said cavity passes or pass therefrom to the moulds as the
latter are respectively brought beneath the same by the revolution of
the pressure rolls or mould wheels in the necessary quantity or nearly
the necessary quantity for cach mould, thus avoiding the evils arising
from too much of the fuel or other substances passing on to the top of
the pressure rolls or mould wheels, and thereby clogging the same.

page_text: In order to facilitate the escape of any small quanties of the fuel or
other substances which may at any time pass from the before-mctioned
pipe or channel more than is necessary, a jet or jets of steam is or arc
caused by means such as will be well understood to play upon the
same, in order that such fuel or other substances may be sufficiently
softened and prevented from becoming hardened, and so be likely to
interfere with the efficaceous working of the apparatus. A further
improvement embraced by this Invention is to cause by suitable and
known means a jet or jets of steam to play over the peripheries of the
pressure rolls or mould wheels and the separate parts of the moulds
thereon, so as to cleanse the same by softening and dispersing such
portions of the fuel or other substances under treatment as may have
adhered thereto.
This Invention is capable of being combined with the apparatus
embraced by the said Invention of the said William Clark, with the excep-
tion of such parts of the latter as are replaced thereby or are incapable
of being employed in conjunction with the present Invention, as will be
well understood by persons conversant with mechanism.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said David Barker in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 30th December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
BARKER, of Northfleet, in the County of Kent, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said David Barker, Her
special licence that I, the said David Barker, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said David Barker, 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

page_text: Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MACHINERY FOR MOULDING AND COM-
PRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said David Barker, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 David Barker, do hereby declaro
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 annexed Drawings
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to certain improvements upon an Invention
for "Improvements in the Construction of Machinery for Moulding and
Compressing Artificial Fuel, and other Substances," for which Letters
Patent bearing date the 22nd day of November 1873, No. 3813, were
granted to William Clark, of Plumstead, in the County of Kent,
Engineer, and by means of which Invention artificial fuel and other
substances can be moulded and compressed, and manufactured into
spherical balls and other desired forms with great rapidity.
Under the said last-mentioned Invention such objects are effected by the
employment of four pressing rolls or mould wheels which are arranged
upon a bed plate and are rotated by suitable means, as described in tho
Specification of the said Invention. The said pressing rolls or mould
wheels are placed so that the respective pairs are at right angles with
cach other, the outer edges of the same being of a A shape, and at such
an angle as to fit closely together when brought into juxtaposition and
being also respectively provided with an equal number of hollow spaces
or cavities round their surfaces, each space or cavity forming a quarter
of a sphere, the same meeting together during the revolution of the
pressing rolls or mould wheels which revolve in the same direction and
at the same speed. A pug or mixing mill provided with suitable blades
is placed above the pressing rolls or mould wheels and into which pug
or mixing mill the artificial fuel or substances to be compressed or

page_text: moulded is or are admitted. In the centre of the pug or mixing mill is
an upright shaft, on the top of which is fixed a mixer having any
number of suitable blades. The upright shaft projects through the bars
of the mixer on the lower side, and has a screw fixed thereon with two
or any desired number of blades placed at a suitable angle, and which
press the fuel or other substances on to the faces of the respective
pressing rolls or mould wheels.
When the machine is set in motion the action of the revolving blades
in the pug or mixing mill forces the fuel or other substances which has
or have been placed therein through the before-mentioned openings on to
the top of the respective pressing rolls or mould wheels, each of which
takes a portion thereof, the same being quickly drawn to that part at
which the pressing rolls or mould wheels meet, and is or are thereby
forced to take the form of balls or spheres receiving the greatest pressure
on passing the centre line of the pressing rolls or mould wheels. After
passing the centre line the pressing rolls or mould wheels are turning in
opposite directions, thereby causing the moulds to open on the lower
sides thereof and allow the balls or spheres to fall into a trough, and
thus to pass on to an endless band by which they can be carried to any
convenient receptacle.
It has been found in practice that the method of pressing the fuel or
other materials downwards by means of the before-mentioned inclined
blades as described in the Specification of the Invention of the said
William Clark is attended with great disadvantages which in fact render
the machine incapable of being worked, inasmuch as the fuel or other
substances is or are thereby forced down upon the top of the respective
pressing rolls or mould wheels in a larger quantity than is sufficient or
necessary to supply the moulds as they are presented for filling, and the
overplus or superabundant quantity of the fuel or other substances
forms a firm mass which partially or entirely "jams" or fixes the
pressing rolls or mould wheels, and prevents the free rotation and
working thereof.
The object of my present Invention is to obviate the before-men-
tioned disadvantages, such object being effected in the following
manner-Instead of the pug mill or mixing mill, vertical shaft and
inclined blades being placed immediately above the pressing rolls or
mould wheels, as described in the said Specification of the Invention

page_text: of the said William Clark, a filling pan is placed above the pressing
rolls or mould wheels, the same being furnished with a stirrer or
other suitable appliance to direct the fuel downwards.
The latter
passes through a pipe or channel placed at the bottom of the filling pan
and extending near to the centre line of the pressing rolls or mould
wheels. At the lower part of such pipe or channel are fixed four solid
cheek blocks, corresponding in form to the four-quarter spheres of the
pressing rolls or mould wheels, such cheek blocks forming a cavity for
the successive reception of the fuel, and which cavity should be so pro-
portioned in capacity with regard to that of the moulds that the former
will contain such a quantity of fuel as will be compressed in the moulds
in the desired compass and degree of density. Such relative proportions
are of course capable of adjustment as may be desired, according to the
nature of the fuel. The latter being thus received by the said cavity
passes therefrom to the moulds as they are respectively brought beneath
the same by the revolution of the pressing rolls or mould wheels, in the
necessary quantity or nearly in the necessary quantity for each mould;
thus avoiding the evils resulting from too much of the fuel passing on
to the top of the pressing rolls or mould wheels and thereby clogging
the same.
In order to facilitate the escape of any small quantities of the fuel
which may
at any
time pass from the before-mentioned pipe or channel
more than is necessary, a jet or jets of steam is or are caused by means
such as will be well understood, to play upon the same in order that
such fuel may be sufficiently softened and prevented from becoming
hardened, and so be likely to interfere with the efficaceous working of
the apparatus. A further improvement embraced by my said Invention
is to cause by suitable and known means a jet or jets of steam to play
over the pheripheries of the pressing rolls or mould wheels and the
separate parts of the moulds thereon, so as to cleanse the same by
softening and dispersing such portions of the fuel under treatment as
may have adhered thereto.
My said Invention is capable of being combined with the apparatus
embraced by the said Invention of the said William Clark, with the
exception of such parts of the latter as are replaced thereby or incapable
of being employed in conjunction with my present Invention, as will
be well understood by persons conversant with mechanism.

page_text: I will now proceed to refer to the annexed Drawings from which the
nature of my said Invention will be more clearly understood.
Figure 1 is a top view of the main portions of the machine, and
Figure 2 is a cross section shewing the filling pan, two pressing rolls or
mould wheels, together with the before-mentioned cheek blocks. In
these Figures the pressing rolls or mould wheels are shewn at A and B ;
the filling pan at C; the cheeks blocks at D, D, D, D, and E is the
point at which the fuel enters the mould.
Having thus declared and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I would
observe in conclusion that what I consider novel and original, and
therefore claim as constituting the Invention secured to me by the said
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the combination and use
of the cheek blocks with the before described apparatus, substantially
as and for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Barker, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
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