A COMPOSITION TO BE APPLIED TO COALS AND OTHER CARBONACEOUS FUELS BEFORE USE TO SECURE THEIR PERFECT COMBUSTION
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Cyprien Laurent, of Saint Pancras, in the County of
Middlesex, Chemist, for the Invention of "A COMPOSITION TO BE APPLIED
TO COALS AND OTHER CARBONACEOUS FUELS BEFORE USE TO SECURE THEIR
PERFECT COMBUSTION."
Sealed the 22nd June 1880, in pursuance of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, and
dated the 19th December 1970
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Cyprien Laurent at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th December 1879.
CYPRIEN LAURENT, of Saint Pancras, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist.
"A COMPOSITION TO BE APPLIED TO COALS AND OTHER CARBONACEOUS FUELS
BEFORE USE TO SECURE THEIR PERFECT COMBUSTION."
The object of my Invention is to secure the full oxidation of the different gases
developed during the combustion of coals or other carbonaceous fuels, by combining
with the latter a composition which when applied by any convenient means to the
fuel before it is fed on to the fire will secure the complete oxidation or combustion
of the several gases and vapours developed during the process of combustion and
so prevent their loss as a source of heat.
The material I use is a composition of substances particularly rich in oxygen.
These are pulverised, intimately compounded, and dissolved in or mixed with
water before being ready for use.
The ingredients I employ in the preparation of the composition mentioned
above are by preference as follows :—
For variety, A, No. 1. Hydrochlorate of ammonia
2. Sulphate of sodium
3. Chloride of sodium
For variety B, No. 1. Carbonate of potassa
Hablarate of ammonia
-
3 parts by weight.
-
7
23
"
18
"
"
"
"
୭

page_text: Variety "A" is used with ordinary household or "soft" coals, and variety "B"
with those kinds of coal known as "hard or "caking."
"
I desire it to be distinctly understood that other ingredients or combinations of
ingredients may be used, provided that they contain a sufficiency of oxygen for
securing the object of my Invention.
By using my composition I produce a combustion in advance of the thorough
ignition of the fuel, and this prior combustion sets on fire the several gases and
vapours as fast as they are evolved, which gases and vapours would otherwise
escape unburnt, inasmuch as the bulk of the volatile portion of any fuel is always
given off before the solid portion of the same fuel is burnt through.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, and of
an Order of the Lord Chanceller, filed by the said Cyprien Laurent in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd June 1880.
CYPRIEN LAURENT, of Saint Pancras, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist.
"A COMPOSITION TO BE APPLIED TO COALS AND OTHER CARBONACEOUS FUELS
BEFORE USE TO SECURE THEIR PERFECT COMBUSTION."
The object of my Invention is to secure the complete oxidation, or combustion
as it is more commonly termed, of the several oxidisible gases and vapours
developed during the combustion of coal and other carbonaceous fuels, by com-
bining with the latter a liquid composition which, having been applied to the fuel
by any convenient means before it is fed on to the fire or grate, will secure the
complete oxidation of the said gases and vapours, and so prevent their being lost
as sources of heat.
It is well known that the loss and waste incidental, more or less, to all known
methods of burning coal or other carbonaceous fuel in hearths, furnaces, or open
fire-grates, is due to the fact that the gases and vapours, invisible as well as visible,
and collectively denominated smoke, arising from the incandescent fuel, as well as
from that just supplied to the fire, are not furnished with the proper quota of
oxygen at the right time and temperature. It is this desiderated supply of
oxygen that my Invention aims at providing.
The material I use to carry out my purpose is a combination of ingredients
finely pulverized and intimately intermixed by any convenient mechanical method
and then dissolved in water, thus producing in a liquid form ny newly invented
composition. In this condition and at this stage it is ready for use.
The several ingredients and their relative proportions are as follows, the pro-
portions being given by weight :-

page_text: The dry powder prepared as described above is dissolved in water, in the pro-
portion of 24 or 25 avoirdupois ounces to 1 gallon of water, producing a quantity
of liquid composition sufficient for one ton of coals or other carbonaceous fuel. It
is immaterial whether the water used be hard or soft.
The powder may be dissolved any time before the liquid composition is to be
used, and the latter used immediately before the fuel is used, or time allowed for
it to dry, care always being taken that the fuel after being treated with the
liquid composition is not exposed to rain, hail, or snow, which would in a greater
or less degree wash the deposited material off the fuel.
The liquid composition is applied to the fuel in any convenient way, either by
sprinkling or by means of a syringe, or by a force-pump, or by immersing the fuel
in the solution, or otherwise, the only precaution necessary to observe is to sprinkle
'the solution as evenly as possible.
My motive in dissolving the ingredients is to secure a finer division and a more
equable distribution of them over the fuel than would be possible if they were
applied in the condition of dry powder.
By the use of my composition I maintain a perfect and economical combustion,
accompanied by a corresponding production of heat in advance of the thorough
ignition of the lumps of fuel, and as the evolution of oxygen from my composition
proceeds puri pussu with the development from the fuel of combustible gas and
vapour, (such development always occurring most plentifully when a fresh supply
of fuel is fed on to the fire), the latter are owing to the presence of a sufficiency
of oxygen at a high temperature, and derived partly from my composition and
partly from the atmospheric air present, immediately consumed, and so compellod
to produce their full quota of heat.
The foregoing is not the only way in which my composition facilitates the
economical combustion of fuel. It is well known that the carbonic dioxide CO,
formed in the lower strata of a bed of burning fuel, is converted into carbonic
oxide CO as it passes upwards through the fuel by combining with additional
carbon; this carbonic oxide always escapes unconsumed unless it meets with a
proper quantity of oxygen to reconvert it into carbonic dioxide; this proper
quantity of oxygen my composition is intended to supply, and to thereby obviate
the loss of heat which is inevitable whenever carbonic oxide escapes unconsumed.
The composition herein described differs from ordinary artificial fuel, inasmuch
as it is intended only to prepare coals and other carbonaceous fuels before use for
the purpose already explained, whereas artificial fuel is intended to take the place
of coals or other natural fuels, thereby constituting itself the substance of the
fuel.
Having thus fully described the nature of my Invention and how the same is to
be carried into effect, I declare that what I regard as novel therein, and therefore
claim to be protected by the hereiubefore in part recited Letters Patent is,-
Firstly. The use of a liquid composition prepared substantially as and for the
purpose herein set forth, and applied to any carbonaceous fuel before the latter is
used, aud
Secondly. The composition, substantially as described above for the purpose
herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Cyprien Laurent, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-first day of June, in the year of our Lord 1880.