In. PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMPRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Spottiswoode, of 12, James Street, Bucking-
ham Gate, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention. of." In.
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMPRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL AND OTHER
SUBSTANCES."
لدية ..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Spottiswoode a
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his 'Petition on the
30th June 1857.
ANDREW SPOTTISWOODE, of 12, James Street, Buckingham Gate, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN, MACHINERY FOR COMPRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL AND OTHER
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for compressing
artificial fuel and other substances. For these purposesa peculiar combination
of mechanism is employed, consisting of a horizontál table or platform, having
in it three recesses. This table or platform is rotated by means of a jointed
rod, having at its end a claw or clawker, which takes into recesses formed in
the periphery of the table or platform, the jointing of the rod admitting of its
being bent round the periphery of the table, the bending being produced by a
curved fixed guide, between which and the periphery of the table the rod is
made to move to and fro by a spiral, which is rotated by the working of the
machine. Each of the three recesses comes in succession opposite a-lever

page_text: press, a hydraulic press, and a delivering ram. The plunger of the lever press
is worked by means of a crank, and the lever is governed by weights up to the
maximum pressure. The fuel or other substance in a recess having received
the action of the lever press, is moved round with the table one-third of a
rotation, which will bring it over the ram of the hydraulic press, which it is.
preferred should be worked by two pumps. The table is then again rotated
one-third round, which brings the substance in the recess to the delivering
plunger, which is actuated by a lever, and the contents of the recess is forced
out. When making compressed articles less than the recesses, a frame of
moulds of a depth equal to that to which it is desired to reduce the fuel or
other substance is placed in each recess.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Andrew Spottiswoode in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th December 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
SPOTTISWOODE, of 12, James Street, Buckingham Gate, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
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 fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Andrew Spottiswoode, Her special licence that I, the said Andrew
Spottiswoode, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
1, the said Andrew Spottiswoode, 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 Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMPRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL AND OTHER
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Andrew
Spottiswoode, 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. A

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Andrew Spottiswoode, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in a new combination of machinery and apparatus
for compressing fuel or other substances in moulds, with speed and economy, in
the following manner :-In a revolving frameare formed the requisite number
of moulds without top or bottom. This frame revolves upon a fixed table,
round which, at equidistant points, are placed, first, a feeder by which the
moulds are filled; second, a lever or direct-acting mechanical press; third, an
hydraulic press; and fourth, a discharger or plunger for emptying the moulds.
The feeder is a box in which a plunger descends upon the fuel or other
material, which is supplied at the side, pressing it into the mould. For the
mechanical pressure, I prefer a simple excentric motion. For the hydraulic
pressure, I adopt a peculiar application of a plunger, whereby the complicity
of valves and gear, usually applied, are avoided. The discharger is a simple
plunger acted upon by a lever, and descending so as to press out the contents
of the mould,
Further, to facilitate the operation of pressure, as well as to increase the
solidity of the blocks, I make use of exhausters, acting both under the feeder
and in the presses, simultaneously with the pressure which draws the gas
from the moulds. These may be of any convenient form; but it is desirable
that they should be of a sufficient size to produce the required amount of
exhaustion at one stroke; when the pressure is from below the exhaustion
is produced above. The gas extracted is discharged into the fire, and assists
in the production of heat. The motion is given to the revolving frame by..
a barrel or cylinder, on the surface of which is an endless worm, upon which
slides a traveller, guided in a straight line parallel with the barrel. This
barrel performs four revolutions for each pressure, or motion of the revolving
frame, during which time the traveller returns to the spot from which it
started. To the traveller is fixed a flexible or jointed connecting rod, with a
hook or clawker which lays hold successively of corresponding notches in the
circumference of the revolving frame. The longitudinal range of the worm
upon the barrel corresponds with the length of motion desired, so that, every
time the traveller passes from one end to the other in the right direction, it
causes the requisite extent of revolution. The catch, after pausing until the
pressure has begun to act, disengages itself, and returns to lay hold of the
next notch. This motion.is peculiarly adapted to that combination of speed
and steadiness which are so necessary in this operation, and is little subject to

page_text: wear and tear: The material to be pressed is supplied through-a cylinder.or
retort by means of a spiral or archimedian screw. When it is required.to
apply heat to the fuel, or other substance, preparatory to pressure, in order to
economize space and fuel, two or more of these retorts may be placed above:
each other in one furnace, the fuel falling from the first to the second, and
from the last into the feedór. The volatile portions of the coal are conducted
through an ascension pipe from the retort to a proper condenser, where they
are separated, those which are more useful in a separate state being kept. so,
from the remainder is returned to the coal in the feeder. The coal or material
is supplied to the retort by a hopper, through a valve regulating the quantity.
The lip of the hopper may be prolonged, and the flue after leaving the retort
carried under it, whereby the coal or materiał will be dried and partially
heated before entering the retort. In operation I prefer to adopt, which I do
by permission, the Patent process of preparing coal for compression of
Mr. Henry Bessemer, but other means may be used. For this purpose I
make use of a worm, spiral, or screw, within a cylindrical retort.placed.in a
furnace, whereby the coal is mixed and delivered. The fuel or other material
having been forced by the spiral through as much retort as may be necessary,
and being thus or otherwise projected into the feeder at the arrival of each
mould, the plunger descends, forcing the coal into the mould with the amount
of pressure that may be desired. In order to secure that, the mould should
always be filled rather more than enough is generally admitted, and the side of
the feeder under the shoot rising but little above the mould allows the surplus
to escape backwards. Any that may still remain above the mould is cut off by
the edge of the feeder when the table moves on. The inould being filled, the
revolving frame moves one mould forward,and again stops when the full mould
is within the lever or excentric press, which then begins to act. As soon as
the press is relieved the revolving table again moves.forward, stopping when
the mould has reached the hydraulic press; the next move brings it under.the
discharger; the discharger having risen again the revolving frame moves
another step, and the empty mould is again under the feeder. Thus, by the
use of several moulds, all the operations of filling, pressing, and discharging
are performed simultaneously. The discharged fuel is carried from under the
machine upon an endless web, and it may at once be either loaded, heaped,
stacked, or carried through water or through a cooling chamber or for house
purposes, and when thought desirable it may be conducted through.a liquid
glaze which would render it clean to the touch my Tra -1

page_text: The machine consists of a bed plate A supporting a table B, in the under
side of which is placed the guide for the plunger of the main press C, and
channels for exhausting when the coal or substance is being pressed by the
feeder. From the centre of this table rises a wrought-iron column D about
six inches diameter, which carries the upper plate E, upon which is cast the
box which receives the coal from the retort F, and the guide box for the
discharge plunger G; above the main press this plate is perforated with
channels communicating with the exhauster. Between the top of the table
B and the upper plate or frame E is fitted the cast-iron disc H (by preference
about 5 feet 6 inches diameter, 6 inches deep), which revolves upon the centre
column D, and contains four holes or moulds (which are preferred to be
17 inches square), cach of which is fitted with a frame of plates of stccl
halved together so as to subdivide it into 16 moulds or spaces, each 4 inches
square; the plates are inches deep, and so fitted into the mould as to rise
and full, but not drop out. These plates are made thinner at the lower edge
so that the blocks may be better discharged. The foeder is a box about
17 inches square cast on the upper plate E, the side of which is open to the
retort. In this box is fitted a plunger which is pressed down by a lever I,
whose fulcrum is the short end of the weighted lever K, and the other end of
which is connected with the crank L, which is driven by mitre cog wheels
from the main shaft M; the fulcrum of the weighted lever K is the top of
the central column D, and at the other end of this lever is a connection to the
weighted lever N. The main press C is a plunger, fitted and working through
the under side of the table B, and driven up by an excentric on the main
shaft M.
.
...
The discharger G is a plunger working down through the upper plate E.
The face of this plunger has grooves cut across it so as to allow it to pass
between the steel cross plates and push the blocks out. This plunger is
connected with a lever whose fulcrum is upon the upper plate E, and the
other end is connected with a crank upon the end of the main shaft M; O is
a worm of the same description as is used in the double flat printing machines,
and gives motion to the revolving disc H by the chain P, which carries a pall
that alternately takes hold of four notches in the edge of the disc H, and at
each time moves it one-fourth of a revolution. Upon one end of the spindle
of this worm is keyed a wheel which is driven by the pinion on the driving
shaft R, which carries the drums and fly wheel; upon the other end of the
worm spindle is keyed a pinion 14 inches diameter, which drives the wheel

page_text: 4 feet S inches diameter upon the main shaft. One side of this wheel is
heavily loaded, so that the weight may descend while the pressure is being
given, and thereby equalize the power required to drive the machine. The
draw chain from the traveller on the worm is kept rigid by sliding along a
curved groove, and may have rollers fitted at each joint. From the channels
under the feeder, and above the main press pipes, are fitted to an exhauster,
which may be of any of the descriptions commonly used.
The retort is a cast-iron cylinder about 2 feet diameter, 12 feet long, inside
which is a revolving worm driven by a band from the steam engine by means of
two conical drums, so that the speed may beregulated with the greatest precision.
When usingan hydraulic press, it is placed under the vacant space between the
main press
and the feeder, the press head being carried by three columns, the
centre one D forming one, and two being outside; in this case the worm may
be placed a little further from the machine, there may be channels in the press
head leading to the exhauster, and the water may be forced into the press
under the ram by a horizontal plunger of considerable stroke, driven by a
crank on the main shaft M, so that the hydraulic press would act at the same
time, and with as quick a stroke as the other presses. The endless web
for carrying off the blocks when pressed may be driven by a band from the
shaft R.
Having thus described the nature of my Invontion, and the manner
in which the same is to be carried into effect, I do not claim the separato
mechanical parts but theircombination to produce the effect described, nor do
I confine myself to the exact shape, dimensions, number, or positions of the
parts, but the general arrangement of machinery, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Spottiswoode, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
•
Witness,.
S. CARPMAEL.
ANDREW SPOTTISWOODE. (L.S.)