IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING OR MANUFACTURING FUEL
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre André, Jean François Pline-Faurie, and Joseph
Pierre Richard, all of Bordeaux, in the Empire of France, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING OR
MANUFACTURING FUEL"
Sealed the 13th May 1862, and dated the 18th November 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre André, Jean
François Pline-Faurie, and Joseph Pierre Richard, at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 18th November
1861.
We, PIERRE ANDRÉ, JEAN FRANÇOIS PLINE-FAURIE, and JOSEPH PIERRE
RICHARD, all of Bordeaux, in the Empire of France, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR PREPARING OR MANUFACTURING FUEL," to be as follows:-
It is proposed to compress fuel into a spherical form by an apparatus,
consisting of two toothed wheels gearing into each other, each wheel having
around its circumference a certain number of semispherical moulds (say thirty).
slightly flattened at bottom, where a passage is left, for a piston (which is
pushed forward by a cam and withdrawn by a spring,) of a hopper and butter-
fly wheel, a driver which expels the compressed fuel from the apparatus, and
cog wheels and pinions for communicating motion. The apparatus being set
at work by any power at command, the fuel to be compressed (usually small..
coal and refuse,) is thrown into the hopper from buckets (brought above the
1

page_text: machine by a Jacob's ladder, or rag wheel and chain), and distributed by the
butterfly wheel between the two toothed wheels, which in rotating strongly
press the fuel in the moulds, which meet where the two wheels impinge.
The wheels continuing their rotation, the two moulds separate at this moment;
the cams cause the pistons to push the compressed fuel from the bottom of
each half mould, the driver expels it in a spherical form from the machine,
and the succeeding half moulds having met in their turn, the same action is
renewed on the fuel they have compressed, and so on continuously. The
pistons, when no longer acted upon by the cams, are retired by their spring.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pierre André, Jean François Pline-Faurie, and Joseph Pierre
Richard, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th May 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, PIERRE
ANDRÉ, JEAN FRANÇOIS PLINE-FAURIE, and JOSEPH PIERRE RICHARD, all of
Bordeaux, in the Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Pierre André, Jean François Pline-Faurie, and Joseph Pierre Richard;
Her special licence that we, the said Pierre André, Jean François Pline-
Faurie, and Joseph Pierre Richard, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Pierre André, Jean François Pline-Faurie, and
Joseph Pierre Richard, our 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 OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING OR MANUFACTURING FUEL," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the-said-Pierre André, Jean François
Pline-Faurie, and Joseph Pierre Richard, our executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under our, 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.

page_text: "
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Pierre André, Jean François Pline-
Faurie, and Joseph Pierre Richard, do hereby declare the nature of our 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 Sheet of Drawing hereunto annexed, and forming part of this
my Specification, and to the figures and letters of reference marked
thereon:
The improved machinery or apparatus forming the subject of this Invention
is intended to compress small or waste coal, or other combustible, into a
spherical or semispherical shape, the advantages of which over fuel compressed
into other forms are, firstly, that it does not require breaking before being
used; secondly, that it burns better, and without raking or stirring; thirdly,
the air which always circulates between the balls lessens the smoke, and con-
sequently, the fouling of the furnaces; and fourthly, there is little or no waste,
to which incontestable advantages may be added that of economy, our
improved apparatus manufacturing at an extremely small cost.
In the Drawing, A, A, (Figures 1, 2, and 3,) indicate wheels, forming the
principal parts of our system, and carrying any number (thirty-two is the usual
number, but twenty-seven only are shewn in the Drawing) of moulds or
matrices B, of cast-iron, each forming a half sphere, slightly flattened. These
moulds or matrices are traversed by a piston C, which pushes against the
globule, or ball of fuel at the moment the matrices separate, and prevents its
sticking to their sides. The pistons C are set in motion by the cams E, E,
and drawn back by the helical springs D. The cams E, E, are fixed on the
framing G, G, G, (Figure 2); they wait until the pistons C pass, carried by the
rotation of the wheels A, A; then each piston acts against the ball of fuel,
detaching it from the matrices, if it be sticking to their sides; then the ball
driver F strikes the ball, which might still slightly adhere to the small surface
of the pistons, or of the matrices, and the ball falls, facilitated in its descent by
the separation of the matrices or half spheres in the rotation of the wheels
A, A. The ball driver F is fixed on an iron pedestal set in masonry; it is of
iron, and tapers to a point at the part which rubs against the ball, and
detaches it from the matrices or moulds, H, .butterfly wheel fixed on the shaft
I, both of iron. This wheel makes twenty revolutions a minute, and serves
to press the combustible materials, and distribute them in the matrices; J,
hopper which receives the materials; K, pedestal supporting shaft I of butterfly
wheel H; L, small pulley; M, large pulley, commanding pulley L; N, N,
shafts of wheels, A, A; O, shaft carrying at one end the toothed wheel P, and
at the other the bevel pinion Q; R, R, wheels which gearing into each other,

page_text: cause the wheels A, A, to rotate towards each other; S, 'bevel wheel;
T, pinion; U, U, pullies; VV, iron plate. This press will produce semi-
spherical pieces of fuel, if the knife shewn, Figure 4, be fitted thereto. The
blade A of this knife penetrates to the point of junction of the two wheels,
and cuts the sphere as the two matrices separate. The points B, B, are the
continuation of the knife, which retains the hemispheres in the matrices until
the pistons come into play (past the point K). We cause them to fall on an
inclined plane or an endless cloth D, D, two ring screws serving to attach the
knife to its support X, X, balls of fuel falling from the apparatus. The
circles represent balls of different diameters. Figure No. 1, horizontal section
of our improved apparatus; No. 2, section, following the line A, B; Figure
No. 3, which is an end view partly in section; and No. 4, view of knife in
front and in profile.
In witness whereof, we, the said Pierre André, Jean François Pline-
Faurie, and Joseph Pierre Richard, have hereunto set our hands and
seals, this Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and sixty fu
wwww
P. ANDRÉ.
(L.S.)
J. F. PLINE-FAURIE. (L.S.)
J. P. RICHARD.
(L.S.)
(L.S.)
P. ANDRÉ.
J. F. PLINE-FAURIE. (L.S.)
J. P. RICHARD.
(L.S.)