IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FERDINAND
CHARLES WARLICH, of Eccleston Street, Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifth day of October, in the seventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Ferdinand Charles Warlich, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Ferdinand Charles Warlich, my
exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Ferdinand
Charles Warlich, my exors, aditiors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
and in the Isles of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in
all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, the said Ferdinand Charles Warlich, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Iler said Majesty's

page_text: High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Ferdinand Charles Warlich, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon (that is to say) :-
It is well known that fuel manufactured from small coal, together with tar,
pitch, or other bituminous substance, will not resist the heat to which fuel is
subjected on board steam boats, particularly in hot climates, and the same
has heretofore been liable to run or adhere together in a mass, and in some
cases to disentegrate or crumble in the coal bunkers. Now my Invention has
for its objects,
First, the submitting fuel composed more or less of small coal and pitch,
tar, or other bituminous matter to high degrees of heat in retorts.
Secondly, the construction of a peculiar retort and furnace for applying
high degrees of heat to fuel made of coal and pitch, or other bituminous
matter; and,
Thirdly, the introduction of air into retorts where fuel, manufactured more
or less of coal and pitch, or other bituminous matter, is being subjected to high
degrees of heat, and also the application of exhausting apparatus to the
retorts used in the manufacture of fuel made of coal and pitch, or other
bituminous matter.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me :-
Fuel having before been made by combining small coal with pitch, tar, and
other bituminous matters, and then compressing the same in moulds, it will
not be necessary for me to enter into any particular description thereof, as my
Invention does not apply to the compounding of small coal and pitch, or other
bituminous matter, nor to the pressing the same in moulds, my Invention
commencing after such combining and moulding have been accomplished.
At the same time I would state, that I prefer the compound of coal and bitu-
minous matter to be as follows, but I do not restrict my Invention thereto :-
I take from five to fifteen per cent. of pitch and coal tar, and ninety-five to
eighty-five per cent. of small coal, and subject them to heat, if necessary, in
a suitable pan or boiler, and mix them intimately together. And when pitch

page_text: is used it is melted before applying the coal, and I have found it advantageous
to use "heavy oil," to the extent of two to five per cent., and excepting in
very cold weather, heat is not required where only tar is used. And in cases
where it is desirable to prevent the fuel evolving smoke when being burned,
I combine from two to five per cent. of common salt mixed in a dry state
with the coal, or from two to five per cent. of alum dissolved in about its own
weight of hot water. The mixture is then, as heretofore, to be shaped and
moulded into convenient sizes, and then to be subjected to heat according to
my Invention, which consists in placing such fuel into retorts, and heating
the fuel therein from four hundred degrees and upwards of Fahrenheit for
six to eight hours or more, according to the sizes of the moulded fuel and
the compression it has been subjected to, by which I am enabled to drive off
gases and matters which tend, if they remained in the fuel, to bring about the
prejudicial effects to which fuel manufactured from similar materials has
heretofore been subject to, and the evaporation and evolving of such gases
and matters is quickened and facilitated by the introduction of streams of
air, and by exhausting or withdrawing the air and vapours from the retorts.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
c, c, are
Figure 1 shews an elevation of a retort and furnace formed in brick or
other fit material. Figure 2 is a plan thereof, shewing the flues and other
parts. Figure 3 is a transverse section of one of the retorts and furnaces.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the retort and furnace flues and other
parts of the apparatus. a is the retort or chamber in which the fuel to be
manufactured is placed, and into which are conducted by means of either
pipes or flues, or both, streams of air highly heated by fire b, and thus is a
high degree of heat kept up to the manufacturing fuel within. The Drawing
clearly shews the nature of the retort and means of applying heat.
rails for the carriages, Figure 5, to run on when in the retort, the carriages
having several shelves d, d, on which the manufactured fuel is placed.
e, eduction ways for the gases or products driven off from the manufactured
fuel; these ways by a dip pipe ƒ convey the products into the main g, in the
manner of distillation of coal for coal gas. The retorts are fitted with sliding
doors as shewn, and the carriages with the fuel being run in, the doors are
closed, and the fuel heated from four hundred to six hundred degrees of
Fahrenheit, and even higher temperature may be used, when it is desired to
make fuel for locomotive and other furnaces having a strong draft.
Figure 6 shews a section, and Figure 7 a plan, of the exhausting apparatus
I prefer to employ; it consists of two cylinders h, h, open at bottom, working

page_text: in two vessels i, i, containing water, the vessels h, h, being alternately raised
and lowered by the beam j, to which motion is communicated by means of
the connecting rod k by any suitable power. 9, the main, having two branch
pipes 1, 1, with valves m, m, opening upwards. n, n, are two dip pipes into
the tank of water o; hence, in working, the products will pass from the retorts
into the main g, thence into the vessels h, and be driven thence below the
water into the tank o, the uncondensed products rising up through the water
and pass into the atmosphere. During the time that these processes are
going on streams of heated air pass into the retort through the openings p, p,
there being suitable apparatus for regulating the flow of such streams of air,
by this means the atmosphere in the retorts will be constantly changed by
exhaustion, whilst fresh dried and heated air flows into the retort, the degree
of heat of the interior of the retort being ascertained by the thermometer q.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best means I
an acquainted with for performing the same, I would wish it to be under-
stood that I do not confine myself to tlic precise details, provided the peculiar
character of either part of my Invention be retained. And I am aware that
artificial heat has before been proposed to be used in drying fuel in ovens, but
the heat in such cases has not been raised to a temperature sufficiently high
to effect the object of my Invention. And I would wish it to be understood,
that in respect to the first part of my Invention, I do not claim the application
of heat generally to manufactured fuel composed of coal and bituminous
matter, but oily when heat of at least four hundred degrees of Fahrenheit
is employed, and the fuel raised to a still higher degree in the progress of the
process, and I would have it understood that what I claim is,
First, the submitting manufactured fuel containing coal and Bituminous
matter to the high degrees of temperature herein described.
Secondly, I claim the peculiar construction of retort herein described, for
applying high degrees of heat to manufactured fuel containing coal and
bituminous matter.
And thirdly, I claim the introduction of streams of highly heated air into,
and also exhausting products from, retorts, when applying heat to manufactured
fuel containing coal and bituminous matter.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ferdinand Charles Warlich, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Third day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
FERDINAND CHARLES (L.s.) WARLICH.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of April, in the year
of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid Ferdinand Charles Warlich came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-four.