AN IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL FUEL.
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Evans, of Belgrave Street, Commercial
Road East, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL FUEL.".
Sealed the 16th February 1864, and dated the 21st August 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Evans at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
August 1863.
I, WILLIAM EVANS, of Belgrave Street, Commercial Road East, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL FUEL," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in combining limestone with culm, mixed with clay,
in the proportions of about three parts, more or less, of the limestone broken
into pieces of convenient size, with about one-fourth part, more or less of the
culm mixed with clay to bind the culm together. To manufacture this
improved fuel, I propose to surround or coat one or several pieces of lime-
stone according to their size with the mixture of culm and clay, and mould
same into blocks of convenient size and shape. The effect of this improved
fuel when in use is as follows:-The outer coating of culm and clay when
ignited will impart its heat to the limestone encased therein, and the heat
from the limestone be given off as the culm is consumed. The limestone
thus becomes burnt, and may be used for building and other purposes, in the
same manner that limestone is now used when burnt in kilns, and thus the
residue from the improved fuel is as valuable as the fuel itself.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Evans in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th
February 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EVANS, of Belgrave Street, Commercial Road East, in the County of Middle-
sex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Evans,. Her special licence that I, the said William
Evans, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Williani Evans, iny executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the terni 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 "AN IMPROVED
ARTIFICIAL FUEL," upon the condition. (amongst others) that I, the said
William Evans, 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 William Evans, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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:-
My Invention consists of certain improvements in the manufacture. of
artificial fuel, the objects being to provide a cheap substitute for ordinary
fuel, affording an intense degree of heat, either for furnaces of steam boilers,
smelting or other furnaces or retorts, and also: for ordinary fire-grates, and to.
economize or utilize the residue of such artificial fuel in order to adapt the
same to building or other useful purposes.
I now proceed to describe the component parts and the process of making
the fuel. The materials consist of limestone, culm or coal, or slack and clay,
in combination, when desired, with tar and pitch, or other resinous substances.
The proportion of limestone is to be about one part broken into pieces of

page_text: convenient size, to about three parts more or less of culm combined with clay,
or culm or coal. or slack combined with tar or pitch or other resinous
substance. When tar or pitch or resinous substances are added or sub.
stituted a smaller quantity will suffice, depending upon the purpose to which
it is to be applied. To manufacture the fuel I surround, embed, or. coat one
or several pieces of limestone, according to their size with the mixture of
culm or coal, or slack and clay, or tar or pitch, or any resinous substance, and
mould the same into blocks of any suitable size and shape, by hand, and press
them afterwards by machinery. The effects of the fuel when ignited are
that the outer coating of culm and clay or coal or slack mixed with tar or
pitch cause the limestone in combination to acquire and retain an intense
degree of beat, diffusing itself throughout the fuel; the limestone in its
incandescent state being reduced to lime, its carbonic acid being removed,
and the process affording a degree of heating power not hitherto acquired by
any ordinary or natural fuel such as coal or coke. In fact the outer coating
of culm or clay, or coal or slack, mixed with tar or pitch, serves mainly to
aid the limestone to ignite in the first instance; the action of the burning
limestone afterwards produces the intensity of heat by its reduction into lime
when mixed with the argillaceous and carbonaceous matter associated with
it while burning in the furnace. Where the absence of smoke is not a
desideratum, I mix with the culm and clay, or coal or slack, a small-quantity
of tar or pitch, or other resinous substance, which will serve to aid and
facilitate combustion. The residue of the contents of the furnace will consist
of lime (with some burnt clay). The lime will be available for mortar, or
lime white, or for other preparations of a chimical nature, and will be as
serviceable in every way as the lime produced from limestone burned in a
kiln, and it will thus be as valuable as the fuel itself. When the blocks of
fuel are of large size, I prefer to make a hole or aperture vertically through
the centre thereof, and if the block is of a square or oblong square form, to
make a corresponding lateral and horizontal aperture on each side of the
block communicating with the main vertical passage; by these means the
fire, aided by the currents of air in the openings, will rapidly reach the interior
of the blocks, and render them incandescent masses of fuel. Of course the
system of perforating the blocks as just described is applicable to blocks
of any form, whether polygonal, spherical, or otherwise, it being merely
necessary to suit the apertures in the most convenient situations for effecting
the desired result.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I would remark in conclusion that I

page_text: do not limit myself to the exact details I have expressed, as the same may
obviously, be modified without departing from the principles on which my
Invention is based, for example the proportions may be varied from those
described, and many methods may be devised of forming or moulding the
blocks with or without machinery, or of making the apertures or passages
therein, but what I claim and desire to be secured to me by the herein in part
recited Letters Patent is, the manufacture of "An Improved Fuel," and the
perforating, of such blocks, of fuel substantially as herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Evans, have hereunto set my
-hand, and seal, this Eighteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
ALEX³. PRINCE,
Agent for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.
W*. EVANS. (L.S.)