IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF CANNEL COAL ' SLACK' TO THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND COKE
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Young, of Aspull, in the County of Lancaster,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF CANNEL COAL
' SLACK' TO THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND COKE."
Sealed the 21st April 1868, and dated the 28th October 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Young at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th October
1867. .
I, JOHN YOUNG, of Aspull, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF
CANNEL COAL 'SLACK' TO THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND COKE," to be as
follows:-
The Invention is designed to treat cannel coal slack in such manner as to
render it suitable for the manufacture of illuminating gas and coke for the
purpose of attaining economical results.
The Invention consists in first crushing the cannel coal slack by suitable
machinery into such sized pieces as shall destroy the cohesion of the pyrites
and carbonate of lime adhering to the crystals of the coal, and subsequently
washing the crushed "slack" in an ordinary and well-known machine, which
is so arranged in its parts and motions that it separates the impurities from
the coal and all other matters having a greater density than the coal itself.
Secondly. In drying and warming the purified slack and mixing it with any
hydrocarbon pitch containing paraffin, napthaline, or other constituents which

page_text: are convertible into rich illuminating gas, and only fusible at a high tem-
perature, and then forming the mixture into blocks by pressing it into moulds
by suitable well-known machinery. By the mixture employed the quantity and
quality of gas yielding properties of the cannel is enhanced, and further the
blocks so formed are rendered impervious to air and moisture, and therefore
protected from these deteriorating influences to which coal is subject when
long kept in stove, and by removing the sulphur and lime from the coal the
manufactured gas is much easier of purification, and the quality of the coke is
also improved by abstracting the elements forming the ash and clinker.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Young in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th April 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
YOUNG, of Aspull, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Young, Her special license that I, the said John Young,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Young, 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 THE APPLICATION
OF CANNEL COAL SLACK TO THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND COKE," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said John Young, 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 John Young, 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 (that is to say) :-

page_text: The Invention is designed to treat cannel coal slack in such a manner as to
render it suitable for the manufacture of illuminating gas and coke for the
purpose of attaining economical results.
The Invention consists, first, in crushing the cannel coal slack by suitable
machinery into such sized pieces as shall destroy the cohesion of the pyrites
and carbonate of lime adhering to the crystals of the coal, and subsequently
washing the crushed slack in any suitable ordinary and well-known machine,
which is so arranged in its parts and motions that it separates the impurities
from the coal and all other matters having a greater density than the coal
itself.
Secondly. In drying and warming the purified slack and mixing it with any
hydrocarbon pitch containing paraffin, napthaline, or other constituents which
are convertible into illuminating gas and only fusible at a high tempe-
rature, and then forming the mixture into blocks by pressing it into
moulds by suitable well-known machinery. By the mixture employed the
quantity and quality of gas yielding properties of the cannel is enhanced,
and further, the blocks so formed are rendered impervious to air and moisture,
and therefore protected from the deteriorating iufluence to which coal is
subject when long kept in store, and by removing the sulphur and lime from
the coal the manufactured gas is much easier of purification, and the quality
of the coke is also improved by abstracting the elements forming the ash and
clinker.
In order to prepare or crush the cannel coal for the process of washing it
is passed from a hopper between a pair of rollers or other suitable crushing
machinery, several descriptions of which are well known, and which are so
arranged and fitted that the rollers give way or separate so as to allow any
extraneous substance to pass which would otherwise break the machine; the
operation of crushing destroys the mechanical adhesion of the lime and pyrites
to the coal, and when they are thus separated the whole crushed slack is
submitted to the subsequent operation of washing, which may be effected by
any such of the well-known machines used for washing minerals, ores, or
coals as may be suitable; but the apparatus I prefer is an ordinary one
operating as follows:-In order to prepare the cannel coal slack I pass the
slack from a hopper between a pair of rollers, or other suitable crushing
machinery so arranged that no pieces of coal larger than horse beans can pass
without being crushed. The object of crushing is to destroy the mechanical
adhesion of the lime and pyrites to the coal, and so free them from each other
that they can be entirely separated by the subsequent process of washing. I
prefer to effect the crushing by a pair of rollers placed horizontally, and so

page_text: fitted up that the space between them can never be less than three-tenths of
an inch; the one roller to be fitted up with levers. loaded with such weight as
will give power adequate to crush the slack, but which will also allow the
rollers to separate from each other and pass. an iron bolt or any similar hard
substance, that is liable to break the machine. The crushed' slack passes from
a hopper into a spout supplied with a constant flow of water, which with the
slack is conveyed by the spout into one end of an oblong cistern which contains
the water, and. in which is fixed (from six to ten inches under the surface of
the water) a perforated plate. which extends over the whole area. To the inlet
end of the cistern a cylinder and piston are attached, the cylinder being con-
nected with the cistern by an opening in the side below the perforated plate;
the piston has only a short stroke. and, makes about 180 strokes per minute.
The reciprocating action of the piston communicates an, undulatory motion to
the water within the cistern, which is communicated to the slack on the per-
forated plate. During the descent of the piston the water and slack are lifted
up and the latter kept in suspension, and whilst the slack is in suspension the
various particles. arrange. themselves in layers, according to their various
densities, the. heavier particles sinking at, every stroke of the piston nearer to
the perforated plate, whilst the lighter coal, is buoyed, up to the surface. The
overflow from the cistern. is at the end opposite to that at which the water and
slack enter, consequently the water and slack have to traverse the entire
length of the cistern before they can escape, and by the time the mixed mass
has traversed the length of the cistern the coal will have all floated to the
surface and will be carried with the water out by the overflow, and the heavy
impurities will have settled to. the. bottom and will be carried with the water
along the surface of the perforated plate to the end of the cistern. near the
discharge; a. tap or opening is left at the end of the. perforated, plate, which.
can be opened or shut at pleasure,;. when this opening is prepared, for the
heavy impurities it drops through. into, the. body of the cistern; beneath, from
which it, is withdrawn from time to time, by a; sluce valve in the side of the
cistern. The slack thus.separated from impurities is, to be, dried, and warmed
by. any convenient methody and when dry to be mixed in a pug mill heated, with
a stenm jacket: with.(from.six- to, twelve per cent. of). pitch, ritch, in, paraffin,
or with a mixture of such pitch with napthaline, rosip, or, other hydrocarbon
compound capable of being converted into, rich, illuminating gas. The, mixture
of slack and hydrocarbons. so, made I propose to press into suitable moulds
under, a heavy, pressure,. thereby, forcing, all the particles, of the coal into
contact to the exclusion of air and moisture,, and, to use, this product as, a
substitute for coal in making gas and, coke, by ordinary processes.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best method
with which I am acquainted to carry the same into practical effect, I wish it
to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein
described, nor the mechanism herein described, such being well known and
ordinary; but I claim,-
First. The application, preparation, and treatment of cannel coal slack by
crushing, washing out the impurities, warming, drying, and combining with
hydrocarbons, as herein described, for the manufacture of illuminating gas
and coke.
And, secondly. The compression of the purified cannel slack into blocks
adapted for transport as a substitute for coal in making coke, and for other
purposes, for which processes any ordinary and suitable mechanical- means
may be employed, no claim being made herein for the mechanism used.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Young, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JOHN YOUNG.
(L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
above-named John Young, in the
presence of
MASKELL W. PEACE,
of Wigan, Solicitor,
and a Commissioner to administer
Oaths in Chancery in England.