Improvements in the Manufacture of Briquette Fuel.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Apr., 1896-Accepted, 4th July, 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Briquette Fuel.
We, CHARLES BOURQUIN, of Saint-Symphorien d'Ancelles, par Pontanevaux,
Saône-et-Loire, in the French Republic, Engineer, JOSEPH BESSON, of Poligny,
Jura, in the French Republic, Timber Merchant, and PAUL HENRY PUTE-COTTE
DE RENÉVILLE, of 6, Rue Voltaire, Grenoble, Isère, in the French Republic,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
This invention relates to the manufacture of briquettes, commonly known as
"Patent fuel," and comprises the omployment of an improved agglutinative agent
for binding the particles of fuel together.
According to the process hitherto commonly employed when the fuel is in the
form of small pieces or dust, it has heen customary to use coal-tar as the binding
agent. This process (which is carried out by heating the materials to be treated
and subjecting them to the action of kneading and moulding appliances) requires
the employment of coal-tar in the proportion of about eight to ten per cent. of the
weight of the fuel to be agglomerated, according to the quantity of natural tar
contained in the said fuel, and assuming the latter to he medium fine and porous.
Briquetto fuel thus prepared liberates more smoke in burning than is due to the
small coal actually treated.
"
The improved process, the subject of our invention, may be termed the "paste
process (as distinguished from the "coal-tar" process), inasmuch as under the
designation of "paste" we include the various products which have a base of an
amylaceous or feculoid nature, such, for example, as the flour of numerous cereals.
This process (when it is carried out, like that previously referred to, by the action
of kneading apparatus and moulding machines upon the materials to be treated,
the latter being suitably heated) requires the use of flour, or of other material of
an amylaceous or feculoid nature, only in the proportion of about oue to two and
a half per cent. of the weight of the fuel to be agglomerated, according to the
quantity of natural tar contained in the fuel trented, it being assumed that the
latter is also medium fine and porous. The agglomerated, or briquette fuel thus
prepared burns without disengaging more smoke than is due to the fuel actually
treated.
This stated, and taking for example the mode of manufacture which we prefer
to pursue in carrying out our improved process, and assuming that we have chosen,
amongst the appropriato materials, one of those which may be procured at the
lowest cost, such as flour of the second, third or fourth quality, or even mill
sweepings, or mill dust readily procurable in large towns; we commenco by
intimately mixing, in the dry state, the appropriate quantity of the material chosen
with the fuel to be agglomerated (precisely as is done in the coal-tar process,
where the pulverized coal-tar is mixed with the fuel to be agglomerated). The
mixture is then conveyed to a kneading apparatus, provided with a steam-jacketed
casing, wherein the materials become still more intimately mixed; and, at the
same time, jets of steam, preferably not superheated, are led to the centre of the
said kneading apparatus in order to produce the desired paste, the latter covering,
or surrounding, with a thin adhesive layer, all the particles of the fuel to be
agglomerated. The entire mass thus forms a magma which is finally conducted
to the moulding machine, whence the products issue ready for use, that is to say,
מ.

page_text: without any necessity for a drying operation, either in the open air or in the drying
It may, however, be added that the quality of the product improves and
its hardness increases by storage, in proportion to the time allowed to elapse
between its manufacture and its use.
It will be understood that the proportions of the ingredients specified may be
varied within certain limits, not only, as above stated, according to the quantity
of natural tar, and according to the fineness and porosity of the fuel to be
agglomerated, but also according to the mode of manufacture employed. For
instance, instead of carrying out our process by mechanical means and in the bot
state, it may be conducted by hand and in the cold state, that is to say by
operating simply after the manner of brick-makers; but then the paste (prepared
in this case in the ordinary manner and therefore calling for no special description)
must in general be employed in somewhat increased proportion. This proportion
may, on the other hand, be modified if care be taken to thoroughly saturate the fuel
with water previously. As regards the drying of the briquette fuel obtained as last
described, it is effected either in the open air, or in the drying room, but by
preference in the open air.
From the foregoing statement it will be easy for any one familiar with the
manufacture of briquette fuel to carry out our improved process, and, taking into
account the continually varying elements of the said manufacture, to obtain a
product which, from an economical point of view, will compare favourably with
that resulting from the mode of manufacture hitherto employed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we claim :-
1. The herein described method of manufacturing briquette fuel, consisting in
mixing, with small or dust fuel, a relatively small quantity of material of an
amy laceous, or feculoid nature, subjecting the mixture, whilst under treatment in a
kneading apparatus, to the action of a steam-jet in order to produce the desired
paste, and ultimately moulding the magma into briquettes, substantially as herein
described.
2. The herein described alternative method of manufacture, according to which
the employment of a steam-jet, of kneading apparatus and of moulding machinery
is dispensed with, and the briquettes, after being moulded by hand are dried.
3. As a new article of manufacture, briquettes of fuel produced substantially as
herein set forth and in which paste of the character described is employed as the
agglutinative agent.
Deted the 17th day of Anril 1898.