CERTAIN .IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF FUEL
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
REES, of Pembrey, in the County of Carmarthen, Coal Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date, at West-
minster, the Eighteenth day of January, in the fourteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Rees, Her especial license, that I, the said William Rees, my
exors, adñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Rees,
my exors, admors, and 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, in the Islands
of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also within all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN .IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF FUEL;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Rees, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said in part recited 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
William Rees, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, as follows,
that is to say:

page_text: My Invention consists in converting small coal, or a mixture of coal and
coke, into solid blocks of fuel, without the aid of extraneous cohesive matter,
and the manner in which my Invention is effected is as follows:-
I take small bituminous coal, or bituminous coal admixed with coal of other
qualities, or with coke. The coal or admixture of coal above described is
placed in a cast-iron mould, consisting of four fixed and two moveable sides,
made to fit as nearly air-tight as is practicable, the one being slightly larger
than the other, as herein-after mentioned. This mould is placed in a stove or
chamber heated to a temperature of from 500° to 900° of Fahrenheit's ther-
mometer, for from thirty minutes to three hours (the time and temperature
varying according to the quality of the fuel under operation, the coals contain-
ing least gaseous substances requiring higher temperature, while those
containing more volatile matter require a slower and more gradual heat to
arrive at the desired consistency or state which will serve for the cohesion
of the mass without giving off their gases). While submitted to this operation,
the coal or admixture expands until it becomes to some extent pressed by the
sides of the moulds, and the constituents which would if freely exposed be
formed into gases, become fused, and the whole mass brought to a soft or
pulpy consistency that will retain its cohesion after becoming cool, and of the
form of the interior of the mould, and of nearly the same specific gravity
as before it was operated on, and in fracture resembling large coal. The
desired fusion having taken place, or consistency been produced (the requisite
temperature for which the operator will ascertain for the particular kind of
coal employed, and cause to be indicated by the pyrometer, the moulds are
removed from the stove or chamber and allowed time to partically cool. One
of the two moveable sides of the mould (the larger) is then taken off, and the
other is pressed down, and the block of fuel delivered from the mould fit for
use.
In order to make a fuel of greater density, which is very desirable for the
use of steam ships, any machine for compressing the fuel, while in a state
of fusion or partial fusion, may be employed to force one (the smaller) of the
moveable sides of the mould some distance within, so as to compress the block
into a smaller space, which, being allowed to cool, may be removed in the
manner before described. By this means a fuel of great strength and density
may be produced. It is advisable to dry the coal before using it, in order to
avoid as much as possible the generation of steam in the mould, but in drying
the coal care should be taken not to apply a temperature sufficiently high to
volatilize any of the constituents of the coal. The top of the stove or chamber
may be employed to impart the requisite heat, and thus save the fuel that

page_text: would otherwise be consumed in drying the coal separately. With a view to
economise labour, I recommend the use of carriages, moving on rollers or
wheels, to sustain the weight of the moulds in the stove or chamber, passing in
at one end and out at the other. The stove or chamber should be of sufficient
length to hold several carriages at one time, which could be made to enter and
pass out singly, and at regular intervals. The size of the moulds, and
number on each carriage, may be arranged to suit the convenience of the manu-
facturer. Ten inches by six, by four inches cube, is a convenient size for the
moulds, but, where compression is adopted, they should be one half higher
to produce blocks of the required size, a compression of one third of the whole
being easily acquired. The moulds should taper about one sixteenth of an
inch, the bottom being the wider part, in order to avoid friction in removing
the blocks of fuel.
Instead of separate moulds, constructed as above described, a long and con-
tinuous iron tube, of uniform section, may be employed. This tube is to be
passed through and fixed in a stove, so that the central part of the tube may
be heated, the upper and lower portions projecting respectively above and below
the stove being cold. As the coal is filled in at the upper end iron plates aro
inserted at the requisite distances to divide the fuel into blocks of suitable
length, and pressure being applied by a piston, the blocks, after acquiring the
proper consistency from the central heat, may be forced out at the bottom of
the tube.
It will be obvious that the details above mentioned may be varied according
to circumstances without departing from my Invention, viz, the heating and
pressing in closed moulds or vessels the coal and coke, so that the particles
may be made to cohere in masses, without the addition of any extraneous
adhesive substance.
I am aware that the heating of small coal in order to soften it, preparatory
to its being compressed into moulds or made into blocks, has been proposed, I
therefore do not claim this as part of my Invention. But what I claim is, the
confining coal, or admixture of coals and coke, in moulds or vessels that are
air-tight (or nearly so), and exposing the same to heat and pressure in the
manner before described, thus retaining the gaseous constituents of the coal
under pressure, and causing them to aid in the fusion and ultimate cohesion of
the mass into a compact fuel.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth
dow of T.... One thousand night hundred and fifty ang
WILLIAM (L..S.) REES.

page_text: AND. BE IT. REMEMBERED, that on the Twelfth day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid William Rees 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 Seventeenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.