THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL."
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John William Perkins, of Arlington Lodge, Herne
Hill Road, Brixton, in the County of Surry, for the Invention of
"THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John William Perkins
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th October 1872.
I, JOHN WILLIAM PERKINS, of Arlington Lodge, Herne Hill Road,
Brixton, in the County of Surry, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL," to be as
follows:-
The Invention consists of a method of using argilaceous cements in
combination with any of the alkaline silicates for the purpose of
cementing and consolidating small coal or slack, and in order that my
Invention may be fully understood I will proceed to describe the means
I pursue.
In cementing small coals I proceed as follows:-I take about one
hundred parts of coal dust or small coals and mix it intimately with
from two to three per cent. of any of the hydraulic cements, and from
one tenth to one twentieth of its weight of silicate of soda or potash.

page_text: The mixture thus prepared is put into suitable molds to form lumps or
blocks and subjected to mechanical pressure, after which it is taken from
the mold and placed in a hot room to dry.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
-
filed by the said John William Perkins in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th April 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WILLIAM PERKINS, of Arlington Lodge, Herne Hill Road, Brixton, in
the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John William Perkins, Her special license
that I, the said John William Perkins, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John William Perkins, 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 "THE MANU-
FACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John William Perkins, my exccutors 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 William Perkins, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described. and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention consists of a method of using argillaceous cements in
combination with any of the alkaline silicates for the purpose of

page_text: cementing and consolidating small coals or slack, and in order that my
Invention may be fully understood I will proceed to describe the means
I pursue.
In cementing small coals I proceed as follows:-I take about one
hundred parts of coal dust or small coals and mix it intimately with
from two to three per cent. of any of the hydraulic cements, and from
one tenth to one twentieth of its weight of silicate of soda or potash.
The mixture thus prepared is put into suitable moulds to form lumps or
blocks and subjected to mechanical pressure, after which it is taken
from the mould and placed in a hot room to dry.
In order to manufacture artificial fuel from the mixture of materials
of which the fuel is to be composed, that is, silicate of soda, hydrate of
lime, and hydraulic cement, I proceed as follows:-I take small coal or
slack and reduce it to nearly one uniform size, and I afterwards mix it
with from about one to two per cent. of hydrate of lime, about one per
cent. of carbonate of lime, and from about two to four per cent of any of
the ordinary hydraulic cements; these substances being thoroughly
incorporated are now to be mixed by any mechanical means with from
about three to about six per cent. of silicate of soda which must be
thoroughly incorporated, and the compound must be at once conveyed
to moulds to be pressed into any desired form.
Having thus described the nature of my said improvements, and the
manner in which the same may be carried into practical operation, I
desire it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise
details herein described, but what I claim is, the manufacture of blocks
or moulded pieces of artificial fuel from slack or small coal mixed with
any of the soluble silicates before described in combination with
hydraulic cements.
In witness whereof, I, the said John William Perkins, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.