IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MOULDING ARTIFICIAL FUEL
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sydney Hall, Civil Engineer, of Swansea, and William
Henry Parsons, Machinist, of the same Place, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MOULDING ARTIFICIAL FUEL."
Sealed the 17th December 1867, and dated the 22nd June 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sydney Hall and William
Henry Parsons at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition,on the 22nd June 1867:
We, SYDNEY HALL, Civil Engineer, of Swansea, and "WILLIAM HENRY
PARSONS, Machinst, of the same Place, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MOULDING ARTIFICIAL
FUEL," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for moulding
artificial fuel. The small coal or fuel to be moulded to form blocks of artificial
fuel is when mixed as heretofore with other materials to cause it to agglome-.
rate fed into a pug mill, which at the bottom discharges it into two chambers
on opposite sides of the pug mill, and between these chambers and beneath
the bottom of the pug mill a plunger is caused to move to and fro, entering
first into one chamber and then into the other, and in doing so pushing out the
material from the chamber into the mould in which it is to be compressed to
form a block. The material enters the moulds at the sides, and is then
compressed by rams advancing against it from the ends of the moulds; the
chambers which feed the moulds thus act as measures and ensure the discharge

page_text: of a proper quantity of material into the moulds. The rams receive their
motion from screws, which in revolving traverse nuts in connection with the
rams; each nut also has a stud upon it which works in a slotted link, so that
as the nut approaches either end of its course it gives motion to the link, and
thence to a lever which works the plunger of the measuring and filling
chambers; the same lever also gives motion to a friction clutch and reverses
the motion of the screw by taking it out of gear with one driving pulley and
throwing it into gear-with-another.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Sydney Hall and William Henry Parsons in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 19th December 1867.
... TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SYDNEY
HALL, Civil Engineer, of Swansea, and WILLIAM HENRY PARSONS, Machinist,
of the same Place, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Sydney Hall and-William Henry Parsons, Her special licence that we,
the said Sydney Hall and William Henry Parsons, our- executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Sydney Hall and William
Henry Parsons, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR MOULDING ARTIFICIAL FUEL," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Sydney Hall and William Henry Parsons, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our
their bands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, -that we, the said Sydney Hall and William Henry
Parsons, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
the
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for moulding
artificial fuel. The small coal or fuel to be moulded to form blocks of
artificial fuel is when mixed as heretofore with other materials to cause it to
agglomerate fed into a pug mill supported on a table or bottom carried
between' and.supported by two principal, pressing chambers, and traversed in
its whole length by a chamber.connecting both these pressing chambers.
Into this chamber is fitted a moveable ram, or plunger shorter than the
diameter of the pug mill; and capable of being adjusted to, the quantity of
material to be afterwards consolidated, which when moving alternately from
side to side leaves a space open to the interior of the pug mill, which space
thus becomes, the receiver of the material, which is then moved forward
action of the ram or plunger into the pressing chamber. The material enters;
the moulds or pressing chambers at the sides, and is carried forward by rams
advancing against it from the ends. of the moulds without being subjected to:
any consolidating pressure until it has been carried beyond the opening of the
measuring chambers, and is then.compressed by, the continued advance of the
rams against it; the chambers which feed the moulds thus act as measures and
ensure. the discharge of, a proper quantity of material into the moulds or,
pressing chambers. The rams receive their motion in any convenient manner;
in connection with the ram. there is a stud which works in a slotted link,
so that as the ram approaches, either end of its course it gives motion to the,
link, and thence to a lever which works the plunger of the measuring or filling,
chamber.
.
'
",
but
•
. And in order that our said Invention, may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect we will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed..
"
1. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
:1
.Figure 1 is a plan, partly in section, of apparatus for moulding fuel; it is
constructed according to our. Invention, and arranged in, the manner which
we prefer; Figure 2 is a front view; .Figure 3 is a. side view, and Figure 4.
is a transverse section of the same, the section is taken at. the line 1, 1,
Figure 1..
.
'
a, a, are two strong cast-iron frames connected.. together by the square
table b; and c is the filling mill in. some of the Figures; this is indicated in

page_text: this recess b¹ is covered in the central part by the conical bottom c of the mill,
but its two ends are alternately left exposed, and thus form two measuring
chambers into which the material to be moulded is alternately fed by the mill ;
this material may be any compound such as is usually employed in making
artificial fuel. A vertical axis c³ is stepped upon the top of the conical bottom c',
this axis has two inclined scraper arms cupon it which compresses the material
into the chambers as they are alternately opened, and keep the surface of the
cone c free from accumulation; d is a ram or plunger fitting the recess b¹
and working to and fro: in it, and so alternately opening and discharging the
contents of the chamber into the mould; the moulds, moulding passages, or
pressing chambers consist of longitudinal recesses a¹, a, in the frames' a, a,
and e, e, are rams working within them. The rams are represented with
removeable ends which admit of the wearing surfaces being readily renewed as
they wear, and also of the length of the ram being adjusted if desired ; at the front
the recesses a¹, a³, are enclosed by covers bolted on; these covers are indicated
by dotted lines in Figure 1, and it is the covered ends of the recesses which
form the moulding passages; the rams receive their motion from rods e', ',
which may be actuated in any convenient manner..
We prefer to use direct-acting steam cylinders, suitable precautions being
taken as is well understood to control the movements of the pistons to prevent
them from being at any time too violent.
$
In Figure 1-the ramse are represented in full lines both at the back of the
machine, but when the machine is set up for use it will be understood that
they can never simultaneously be at the same end of the machine; the
rams e, e, must be of such a length as will ensure the space left in the pressing
chamber a' between the end of the recess 6¹, and the back of the block' of
fuel last pressed being of sufficient capacity to contain the whole of the contents
of the measuring chamber before the actual consolidating effect of the pressure
of the ram comes into action. The plunger d receives its motion from one of
the rams in the following manuer:-It is connected by the links f,f, with the
bent lever g, which at g³ is jointed to the table 6; the other end of this lever g
is connected by the rod h with the lever i jointed at ¹ to a bracket projecting
from one of the frames' a. k is a slotted link jointed to the free end of the
lever i, and receiving into it the pin on one of the rams e, so that this ram
during the latter part of its motion in either direction moves the plunger d
and causes it to push the material to be moulded out of the measuring chambers
into the moulding passages, it thus alternately empties the measuring chamber
and fills the pressing moulds alternately. As soon as one of the moulds is
charged the iam advances against the charge and compresses it against the

page_text: back of the block moulded by the previous action of the ram which still
remains in the moulding passage and requires a heavy pressure to move it
onwards, in this way the new charge is consolidated into a block and then
the old block is moved forward. Any desired amount of resistance to the
forward movement and. consequently of moulding pressure may be obtained
by varying the length of the moulding passage beyond the stroke of the
plunger, the proportions shown are however suitable. In order to separate the
moulded blocks one from the other discs may be applied to the faces of the
rams at each stroke, or blocks fitting the moulding passages may be dropped
in through guides, shown in dotted lines at 1, 1, Figures 1 and 2; these blocks
may be made of any material not too strong, so that if they do not go truly
into their places the machinery may not be broken.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we do not confine
ourselves to the exact details described; but what we claim is, the combination
of a moulding passage with a ram working to and fro in it as described, and
a measuring chamber with a plunger working within it, which for each
stroke of the ram supplies a measured quantity of material into the moulding
chamber.
'In witness whereof, we, the said Sydney Hall and William Henry
Parsons, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourteenth day of
December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-seven.
SYDNEY HALL.
(L.B.)
WILLIAM HENRY PARSONS. (L.S.)