IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND BURNING FUEL
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NICOLAS
FRANCOIS CORBIN DESBOISSIERRES, of Rue Saint Pierre, Montmartre, in the
Kingdom of France, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventeenth day of February, in the ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Nicholas Francois Corbin Desboissierres, my exors, adññors, and assigns,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Nicolas Francois Corbin Desboissierres, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Nicolas Francois Corbin Desboissierres, my exors,
adors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING
AND BURNING FUEL;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that
I, the said Nicolas Francois Corbin Desboissierres, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of

page_text: Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Nicolas Francois Corbin Desboissierres, do hereby declare that the nature of
my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
The Invention consists of a mode of preparing and burning fuel, as will be
described. Heat radiating as with light put in equilibrium as with fluids,
penetrates all the bodies and surrounds them in all their parts, but the state of
knowledge at present permits us only to find it in the oxigen gas to apply it to
our wants. In making a fire, it is a simple chemical reduction which operates
as all the others by the way of affinities,-the-oxigen having then under the
necessary temperature more affinity for the combustible substances than for the
caloric, which holds it in the state of gas, combines with it and forms acids, and
the caloric thus rendered free escapes spontaneously. The action of the affinity
is in all cases, by reason of the purity and the tenuity of the substances, put in
contact; thus in-the-arts, with equal quantitys of combustible will always pro-
duce a much more useful effect, and will give temperatures much more easy-to
raise and to modify, so that they be better combined in the fire with the base
of the oxygen gas. This general introduction will facilitate the understanding
the Invention to be afterwards described.
I will first describe the mode of preparing the fuel; and this part of the
Invention consists in extracting from the fuel the water that is contained
therewith; this is done by employing the waste heat from the furnace.
Secondly, in reducing the fuel to a state of powder. In using towdy or
herbaceous matters as a fuel, they must be first carbonized.
The machine for pulverizing or reducing the fuel to powder is shown in the
Drawing No. 1, enclosed-in a case A, A, covered with a plate of metal. B is a
piece of metal, having the whole of its length arched out, as shown at C. The
piece B projects beyond the sides of the case A, A, so as to form at one of
its ends a fire-place, and at the other a small chimney. This piece B should
be kept at a heat of about 250° Rheaumur. D, D, are a series of pestles or
beaters, to which motion is given by the cam shaft E, which passes through a
stuffing box in the sides of the case A, to join its mover. F, F, is the outer
casing; G is a ventilator which is worked by the cam shaft, which works

page_text: about 400 turns a minute, connected by the metallic cord H; I 'is a hopper;
the sides of which are protected with suitable material to prevent the dust of
the fuel passing between them. The machine being thus arranged, the fuel,
having been previously dried, is introduced through the hopper under the
pestles D, which act upon it and reduce it to powder. The fire is lighted under
the case A. The air surrounding the pestles becomes heated, but air as well as
fluids tends towards the equilibrium, but a given volume of air cannot be in
equilibrium until it is at the same temperature throughout the whole part of it;
but this equilibrium cannot be, established in the apparatus, above described,
seeing that the heat introduced through the plate under the pestle escapes.
through the metal covering, by which is established in the column of air thus
enclosed, heated and cooled successively, a continual to and fro movement ;" and
the effect of this movement is, that all the fuel in the form of powder .is con-
stantly raised by the air which enters to be heated,. and it becomes dilated
under the beaters, and carried to all parts of the magazine or case where the
same air goes to slope in cooling. This physical sifting is accelerated and
improved by means of the ventilator C, which causes the air from the magazine
to pass under the pestles or beaters, which air passes away in the form of a
thick column of smoke charged with the powdered fuel through the opening K
in the metal case F, F, F.
In the apparatus above described, I have spoken of pestles or beaters, but
other means may be employed to produce the same. effect; and I do not
confine myself to the precise details given, so long as the characterer of this
part of the Invention be retained, which consists of the mode of sifting.the
powdered fuel as described.
The Drawing No. 2 shows a section and elevation of the apparatus for
burning the pulverized fuel, in which A is a hopper, in which. is placed an
agitator, composed of two rods B, to which is affixed wheel-work, worked by
the pinion of the vertical shaft c, which turns in the hopper. This hopper is
fixed by bolts to the metal case c, c, which case is divided into two compart-
ments by the partition d, d; the first compartment with the small hopper being.
next after to the hopper A. E is a cock, of steel or suitable material, upon
which are cut sixteen grooves divided in two rows. This cock turns in its
bushel F, which is also of tempered steel; this bushel has two openings, the
upper one of which communicates with the hopper A, and the lower one with.
the case the cock E is kept in its place by the screw X, X. G is the cleaner,
having a weight applied to it; H is the sifting cylinder, of. metal or other
suitable material, upon which are formed small channels or grooves, on which

page_text: and
work the series of wire cloth mounted upon springs. In the second com-
partment are the wheels, pinions, and the wheel-work, which communicates
movement to the sifting cylinder H, the cock F, and the vertical shaft G
which turns the agitator in the hopper A, and also the stuffing boxes through
which the shafts of the sifting cylinder and of the cock, and also the shaft I,
which carries at its outer part the pulley k; the apparatus thus arranged is
fixed by bolts on the tubular L, which communicated with the nozel of the
bellows M; the part n of this nozel is furnished with a register O. P is an
agitator, which turns in the piece M, and is moved by means of the pulley K,
opens in the fire-place. This fire-place is to be constructed of fire bricks,
and should be supplied with a bung for giving an issue to residues; and the
opening R is surrounded by a tube S, through which cold water circulates.
The air employed in these furnaces is supplied by blowing machines, but I
prefer the ventilator, and it is better that the air should be heated before
being introduced into the fire-place by any of the ordinary machines for that
purpose. The working of the apparatus is as follows:-The hopper being
filled with the powdered fuel, and the fire-place with wood or other suitable
fuel, and lit, a small quantity of blast is to be introduced by opening the
register of the part n; as soon as the flame from the flue comes out under the
arch T, the distributing apparatus above described is to be put in motion by
placing the strap over the pulley K, the cock E will be turned, and the channels
or grooves will successively be brought under the hopper A, and will be filled
with the powdered fuel which falls continually upon the sifting cylinder, and
will be perfectly mixed with the air by means of the agitator of the bellows;
and the air thus carbonized will readily become ignited in entering into the fire,
and aid in the combustion of the fuel, and the temperature will be increased,
so that the heat may be employed for the apparatus to heat the air, and the air
perfectly carbonized will only burn and with detonation. In applying this
system to ordinary furnaces, the air may be heated to 400 centigrade, with the
waste heat. In order to preserve the distributing apparatus a quantity of cold
air is to be continually passed into the case c, c. In applying this system to
ordinary uses, the fire-place q will supply the place of the ordinary fire-
place. The means of working the machinery of these apparatus will be regu-
lated by the position where it is used, and also the size of machine to be
worked by it.
And I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to the precise
forms or details herein given, nor to the materials of which the different parts
of the apparatus are composed, so long as the character of the Invention be

page_text: пете
In witness thereof, I, the said Nicolas François Corbin Desboissierres,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that, on the oath of William Henry Ritchie,
the Specification aforesaid was enrolled, word for word, as above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six.