AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CONVERTING SMALL COALS OR COAL DUST, OR SMALL COALS AND COKE, OR COAL DUST AND COKE, WITH THE ADMIXTURE OF WATER OR OTHER MATERIALS, INTO ARTIFICIAL FUEL
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Dawson, of 14, Barnes Place, Mile End
Road, in the Parish of St. Dunstan's, Stepney, in the County o
Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
CONVERTING SMALL COALS OR COAL DUST, OR SMALL COALS AND COKE, OR COAL
DUST AND COKE, WITH THE ADMIXTURE OF WATER OR OTHER MATERIALS, INTO
ARTIFICIAL FUEL."
Sealed the 23rd November 1858, and dated the 17th June 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Dawson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th June 1858.
I, ALFRED DAWSON, of 14, Barnes Place, Mile End Road, in the Parish of
St. Dunstan's, Stepney, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
CONVERTING SMALL COALS OR COAL DUST, OR SMALL COALS AND COKE, OR COAL DUST
AND COKE, WITH THE ADMIXTURE OF WATER OR OTHER MATERIALS, INTO ARTIFICIAL"
FUEL," to be as follows:-
For this purpose either small coals or coal dust, or small coals and coke, or
coal dust and coke, admixed with a portion of water or other materials, are
taken and placed into an endless trough by the aid of a hopper and feed roll
of a variable thickness of from two to three inches or more. The portions of
the trough as they become charged with the materials pass into the oven in
such a manner that the sides of the trough touch the top of the oven or

page_text: nearly so, whereby a tube of a thin form is formed within the oven, which
is nearly air-tight. The materials are then uniformly heated for a time, and
at a suitable temperature to effect the desired change, namely, a general
softening of the materials; this having taken place the endless trough is moved
round a cylinder or rollers which are turned by suitable gearing. The trough
is made of pieces, the bottom of which are of a segmental or arched form, and
are connected to each other by bolts in such a manner that the trough is
capable of being passed round a cylinder or rollers, and so form, by the
segmental or arched bottom parts of endless trough, a smooth cylindrical
surface, which surface and sides of trough coming against the edge of scraper
or end of shoot during the motion of the trough the materials are discharged
into the box or boxes of a cubic or any other suitable form; also at the same
time another charge is being placed into the endless trough and passed into
the oven in a similar manner as before described. The box or boxes being
filled with the materials in the softened state are first pressed by a lever or
.cam, and secondly by a hydraulic ram, whereby compact block or blocks of
.fuel are formed. The lever or cam pressure being removed, the fuel is forced
out of the box or boxes by the aid of the hydraulic ram, which fuel is then
fit for use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Dawson in the Great Scal Patent Office on the
17th December 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
DAWSON, of No. 14, Barnes Place, Mile End Road, in the Parish of Saint
Dunstan, Stepney, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One-
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Dawson, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred Dawson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as .I, the said
Alfred Dawson, my 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 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 "AN IMPROVED

page_text: APPARATUS FOR CONVERTING SMALL COALS OR COAL DUST, OR SMALL COALS AND COKE
OR COAL DUST AND COKE, WITH THE ADMIXTURE OF WATER OR OTHER MATERIALS,
INTO ARTIFICIAL FUEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Dawson, 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 Alfred Dawson, do hereby declare 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,
that is to say:
An oven is made of brickwork of any suitable dimensions, being according
to the quantity of fuel required to be manufactured. A convenient size is
about twenty feet long, and is formed with a longitudinal chamber extending
the whole length of the oven, and about four feet six inches wide, and twelve
inches deep. This chamber is heated by a furnace formed under one end of
the same in a longitudinal direction, from which a flue extends under the
remaining portion of the chamber, then passing up the sides, and returning
along the top of the same, and thence to the chimney; the temperature is
regulated by a damper placed at the end of the flue, by this means the
chamber can be heated of a uniform temperature or nearly so. In this
chamber are fixed four, rails longitudinally, and at suitable heights to support
the upper and lower parts of an endless trough, the top rails supporting the
upper part of endless trough in such a manner that the top of the sides of
trough nearly touch the top of inside of chamber. This endless trough is
formed of a number of iron lags, each of which is about five or six inches
wide, and of a length nearly equal to the inside width of chamber; they are of
a circular form, and have ends about two or three inches in depth, which ends,
when the lags are connected to each other, form the sides of trough; also upon
both edges of the under side of each lag bosses are formed in such a manner
that the lags can be connected to each other by bolts passing through the
adjoining ones, and thus form a number of hinge joints. In this manner by
connecting a sufficient number of lags the endless trough is made; this trough
is passed round two cylinders or rollers, each of which are placed at suitable
distances beyond each end of brickwork of chamber of oven, in order that
the trough may. receive the materials to be operated upon at one end of
chamber, and of their being .discharged, at the other end into a box or boxes.

page_text: to receive the required pressure.
Each of these cylinders or rollers are of a
length equal to the width of the trough, and of a diameter such that as the
endless trough passes round their circumferences, the outside of the lags or
bottom of trough form smooth cylindrical surfaces; they also have grooves
upon their circumferences at suitable distances, and of sufficient width and
depth to admit the bosses of lags during the motion of trough, which motion
is effected by the aid of suitable gearing attached to the spindle of a cylinder or
roller situated at that end of chamber at which the fuel is discharged into the
box or boxes to receive the required pressure, also against the bottom and sides
of those parts of endless trough which during the motion of trough pass round
the cylinder. A scraper or shoot is placed against these parts in such a
manner that the fuel is scraped off the endless trough, and passes into the box
or boxes to receive the required pressure. Near the other end of chamber,
and over that part of endless trough which extends beyond the end of the
same, is placed a hopper or shoot for the purpose of supplying the endless
trough with materials, as required to be operated upon, the thickness of which
is regulated by a guage and feed roll which are adjusted by suitable set screws,
the said boxes being placed within the framing of a press in such a manner
that by the aid of a lever or cam the tops of the boxes are forced down upon
the fuel, which is then further compressed by the aid of an bydraulic ram, and
thus form compact blocks of fuel. In order to manufacture blocks of fuel by
the above described apparatus the chamber of oven is heated to a temperature
suited to the materials to be operated upon, which in some cases is about four
hundred degrees, and in others as much as eight hundred degrees, which
temperature are ascertained by a pyrometer or the fusion of metals, such as
tin, lead, or zinc. The endless trough being set in motion it is then charged
with small coals or coal dust, or small coals and coke, or coal dust and coke
admixed with a portion of water or other materials, from the shoot or hopper,
the thickness being regulated by the feed roll and guage, the portions of the
trough as they become charged passing into the chamber to be operated upon;
by this means a sufficient quantity of the materials being admitted into the
endless trough for one charge, being sufficient in this case to make three
blocks of fuel, each weighing about fifty-six pounds, thus by repeating this
process at suitable intervals which depend upon the quality of the materials
to be operated upon and the extent of chamber, the whole of the upper part
of endless trough becomes charged. The first charge being sufficiently
opperated upon, the endless trough is set in motion, whereby this charge is
scraped off the trough and passed down the shoot into the boxes to be pressed
into compact blocks of fuel as before explained, the trough at the same time

page_text: receiving another charge from the hopper at the other end of the chamber in
a similar as before described. The blocks of fuel are removed from the boxes
by removing the tops of the same by the lever or cam, and then forcing out
the blocks by the hydraulic ram, which are then fit for use. In a similar
manner blocks of fuel, each weighing from fourteen to fifty-six pounds or
more, can be made in quantities of from one to three or more at the time,
and as fast as the said quantities can be removed from the boxes of press.
Having thus explained the nature of my Invention, and the means of
applying the same for converting small coals or coal dust, or small coals and
coke, or coal dust and coke admixed with water or other materials, into
compact blocks of fuel, what I therefore claim as my Invention is,-
First, the making of an endless trough, such that the lags or bottom parts
are so formed and connected to each other that during the motion of the
trough, these bottom parts form as they pass round the cylinder at each end
of the chamber a smooth cylindrical surface, whereby the materials are capable
of being scraped off the trough without exposure to the atmosphere.
Secondly, the passing the endless trough with the materials into the heated
chamber in such a manner that the top of the chamber forms the cover of
trough, and thus the materials are heated on the closed part of endless trough.
And, thirdly, the general combination of the above described parts which
form the complete apparatus for manufacturing the blocks of fuel as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Dawson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
ROBERT DAWSON.
ALFRED DAWSON. (L.S.)