IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR AGGLOMERATING OR COMPRESSING FUEL
Year: 1881

page_text: ८८
LETTERS PATENT to Herbert John Haddan, of the Firm of Herbert and
Company, Solicitors of Patents, of 67, Strand, in the City of Westminster,
Civil Engineer, for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
AGGLOMERATING OR COMPRESSING FUEL." A communication from abroad
by Edmond Geisenberger and Emile Picard, both of Brussels, in the
Kingdom of Belgium.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Herbert John Haddan at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st March 1881.
HERBERT JOHN HADDAN, of the Firm of Herbert and Company, Solicitors
of Patents, of 67, Strand, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR AGGLOMERATING OR COMPRESSING FUEL."
A communication from abroad by Edmond Geisenberger and Emile Picard, both
of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium.
The Invention relates to the manufacture of agglomerated or compressed fuel
from coal, bark, saw dust, peat, &c., by means of apparatus constructed and
operating as follows:-
The material to be treated is introduced into a heating and mixing apparatus
with or without some binding or agglutinating substance, said mixing apparatus
being preferably made in the shape of a horizontal boiler, through which passes
a longitudinal shaft armed with revolving blades, and which has at one end
a (syphon) pipe leading from the top upwards, and dipping with its free end in a
liquid tank.
The material is introduced into the boiler through a hopper placed at one end,
and discharged through a channel at the other end into the compressing apparatus,
which consists chiefly of a conical helix with horizontal axis revolving in a conical
barrel, and discharging the product at the thin end of the helix, the material being
compressed by passing from the large end to the thin end of the barrel, and taking
the shape of the discharge opening. If hollow bricks are to be produced the helix
ends in an axial bar, which may be round, square, or cross shaped, and forms the
core of the hollow bricks.

page_text: The compression may be partly heated in any suitable way, and the discharge
pipe may be cooled by water.
After leaving the compressor the material meets two revolving cutters provided
with knives which cut the product into pieces of the desired length, which are
then transported by an endless band or in any other suitable way. Čoal anthracite
coke if supplied in large pieces is first ground or broken into small pieces before
it enters the machine. Bark, sawdust, peat, or other strongly compressible material
is subjected to preliminary compression before being treated in the mixing and
compressing apparatus. The raw.fuel above mentioned may be mixed with any
suitable substance which facilitates combustion or renders the manufacture easier.
The mixing apparatus may be constructed like a kneading machine, or with
helical blades, or in any other suitable and known manner.
If the material is difficult to agglomerate a toothed wheel may be applied
over the barrel of the compressing machine, which wheel is enclosed in a casing
secured to the barrel, the motion being derived either by making the toothed
wheel gear into the helix, or by any suitable gearing driven from the mainshaft
of the machine.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Herbert John Haddan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
31st August 1881.
HERBERT JOHN HADDAN, of the Firm of Herbert and Company, Solicitors
of Patents, of 67, Strand, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR AGGLOMERATING OR COMPRESSING FUEL."
A communication from abroad by Edmond Geisenberger. and Emile Picard, both
of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium..
Amongst the processes for agglomerating coal those have been most successful
which were founded on the principle of mixing the coal with more or less
agglomerating or binding substances and then compressing the mixture. But
these processes, besides being uneconomical, have the great fault of producing
agglomerates which are not fit to resist the destructive influence of time, humidity,
and carriage; they also require the addition of bituminous or indifferent matter to
the coal, which generally contains such in abundance already. This Invention has
for its object to compress and transform into a peculiar kind of fuel, coal, saw-dust,
oak-bark, peat, anthracite, &c., in using these materials either separately or mixed
with one another, or with other matters, as, for instance, charcoal, coke, &c. All
these materials may also be carbonized during the manufacture and mixed with
agglomerating matters, such as resins, colophony, all sorts of tar, refṛ from the
manufacture of petroleum, refuse of resinous oil, blood, glue, si ates, &c.
Materials which do not already contain a sufficient quantity of binding substances
are mixed with the above, preferably when these latter are in a state of fusion or
liquid enough for permitting an intimate mixture, but materials containing a
sufficient amount of binding substances are heated in the apparatus until these
substances are relatively liquefied. With reference to the accompanying Drawing,
Fig. 1 represents an elevation of the compressing apparatus; Fig. 2 represents a
front view of the same; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section showing the helix; Fig. 4
is a longitudinal section of the heating apparatus; Fig. 5 is a cross section of the
same; Fig. 6 shows the tooth wheel for pushing the fuel; Figs. 7 and 8 show the
blades or knives for cutting the cakes of fuel. The heating apparatus is represented
in a smaller scale than the compressing apparatus. The apparatus consists
essentially of a helix B (Fig. 3), the pitch of which is determined according to the
matter to be compressed and the degree of compression to be obtained. This helix
revolves in a cylinder N which communicates with the heating and mixing appa-
ratus by means of a hopper C. On the other side the cylinder terminates in
a mouthpiece D of any suitable section (round, square, oval, cross shaped,
rectangular, &c.), it may be cylindrical or conical, and have any length, according
to the degree of compression desired. The helix may be moved by tooth gearing,
by an endless screw, or by any other mechanism. The mixing apparatus A. (Figs. 4
and 5) may be constructed with revolving blades, screws, or any other mechanism
suitable for producing an intimate mixture, and with their movements so arranged
as to allow of uniformly and evenly heating the whole material.
They may
consist of several superposed apparati or of one single apparatus of sufficient length.
Figs. 4 and 5 represent an apparatus consisting of an elliptic boiler of sheet metal in
which a shaft revolves provided with screw blades, and moved by an endless
screw; the material is introduced through a hopper E and falls into the compressing
apparatus through the channel F. In the upper part of the boiler there is a bent
tube G plunged in water at its other end, and serving to discharge the volatilized
materials so as to prevent explosions. This boiler is heated from a hearth H, and

page_text: the products of combustion are conducted around the compressor through the
flue I, wherefrom they are directed to the chimney. The channel F is provided
with a valve for regulating the admission of the material to the compressor. If
hollow cakes are to be made the compressing helix may terminate with a straight
rod (Fig. 3); in the contrary case this rod may be omitted. The mouth-
piece D and a part of cylinder N can be cooled by a flow of water if the
compressed fuel is to be cooled. All the rest of the apparatus may be
heated in any way, for instance, by placing it under the direct influence of
the fire, or by heating it in any other manner, or by previously heating the
agglutinating matters if such are used, &c. If the material cannot be easily
agglomerated a tooth wheel o (Fig. 6) is placed on the cylinder N moving in a
casing P fitted to the same cylinder N, said tooth wheel being moved either by
special gearing or by the helix itself, the teeth of the wheel gearing in said helix,
like an endless screw. In this case the material drawn along by the helix is pushed
by the tooth-wheel and kept constantly moving in the cylinder N. When coming
out of the mouthpiece D the compressed fuel is cut or broken in any way into
pieces or lumps of determined length. The apparatus recommended for this purpose
is shown in Figs. 7 and 8. It consists of 2 paddle-wheels L placed on both sides
of the emerging matter, the blades q being knives the distance between which is
equal to the length of the cakes to be obtained. These wheels are placed at such a
distance from each other that when 2 knives are in a perpendicular plane to the
axis of the emerging matter, the distance between them is small enough to allow
of two deep cuts being made. The emerging matter pushed by the helix meets two
opposite blades, these knives are first drawn along by the matter like two wheels
moved by a rack bar, and while turning approach each other until they are in the
same plane, subsequently the distance between each pair of blades increases,
leaving in the cake an incision of more or less depth, but before their distance has
increased to the thickness of the cake the latter is met by the two following knives
which act in the same manner as has just been described for the preceding pair,
and each pair of blades acting likewise the product is divided into equal pieces.
The number of knives may be chosen according to the length of the cakes of fuel.
This being explained the apparatus acts as follows:-The material to be mixed or
agglomerated (anthracite coal, coke, charcoal, saw-dust, bark, peat, &c.) or one
of these materials mixed with one or several others (f.i., anthracite mixed
with saw-dust, which gives excellent fuel), is introduced by an endless bucket-
chain or otherwise into the upper part of the apparatus and discharged through a
hopper E. Here the agglutinating matters are generally added when necessary,
but they may in some cases be added later on. The material falls into the heated
mixing-apparatus where it is kept in motion by any suitable mechanism. Figs. 4
& 5 show a paddle shaft applied for this purpose, constantly bringing other
particles of the mass in contact with the heated partitions of the boiler or mixer.
The matter is thrown by the paddles into the channel F and arrives heated and
well mixed at the compressing helix. The inlet of the cylinder is widened for
facilitating the flow of the material. The helix draws the matter along and pushes
it while compressing more and more into the outlet or mouthpiece. According to
the shape and length of this outlet or mouth any desired degree of compression
may be obtained. When emerging from the outlet the fuel meets with the above
described knives and is cut to pieces, which are collected on an endless sheet or in
any other manner. The agglomerated fuel may be cooled by surrounding the
outlet with cold water or by other suitable cooling apparatus. In treating coal,
anthracite, coke, &c., these materials may be previously disintegrated or ground.
In treating bark, saw-dust, or peat, these materials are previously compressed for
depriving them of their elasticity, said compression being effected by two rollers
or other suitable device. It is advantageous to compress these materials before
heating them. Any other matter suitable for increasing the combustibility of the
fuel or facilitating its treatment may be added. .

page_text: 1. The above described apparatus for compressing various combustible materials
either separately or mixed together by means of a helix, and transforming them
into special fuel with or without the use of heat, and with or without the addition
of agglutinating substances.
2. Any modifications in the shape and arrangement of the above apparatus.
3. The process of manufacturing special fuel by using heat and compression
simultaneously in order to obtain a compact material.
4. The process of manufacturing hollow cakes or bricks consisting essentially in
prolonging the axle of a helix which moves with slight friction in a cylinder, and
thus produces cakes not cut before their compression by the brackets of the axle
bearings.
5. The system of automatically cutting the emerging product into pieces of equal
length, substantially as described.
6. The application of a tooth wheel o for forcing the compressed matter to
advance in the cylinder of compression.
7. The process of compressing before their introduction into the apparatus the
elastic compressible materials, such as bark, turf, saw-dust, &c.
8. The mixture of anthracite with saw-dust, bark, or analogous materials for
increasing the combustible power of anthracite as special fuel.
9. The products obtained by the above described apparatus for compressing
fuel.
I claim the system of compressing fuel with any modifications as regards
arrangement, the materials of construction and the manner of setting the working
parts in motion.
In witness whereof, I, the said Herbert John Haddan, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this 30th day of August, A.D. 1881.