AN IM- PROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Morgan Richards, of Southampton Row, in
the County of Middlesex, Merchant, for the Invention of " AN IM-
PROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL."-A communication
from abroad by Daniel F. Packer, of Mystic River, in the State of
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Morgan
Richards at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 1st March 1875.
I, JOHN MORGAN RICHARDS, of Southampton Row, in the County
of Middlesex, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL,"
to be as follows:-
Hitherto in manufacturing artificial fuel by the amalgamation there-
with of rosin as a binding material it has been customary to use the
same in a melted state, but experience has shown that the rosin is then
only capable of taking up or mixing with two to three times its weight,

page_text: and when ignited the fuel crumbles, melts, and emits an intense amount
of smoke.
By the process which I will now describe the same amount of rosin
takes up and amalgamates eleven times its weight and burns without
melting. Take of any resinous substance, such as pitch or rosin in a dry
hard state, say ten pounds, and grind or pulverize the same in a crusher,
then sift it into, say ninety pounds of coal dust, sawdust, or peat, while
the coal dust, sawdust, or peat is being passed into a rotating and mixing
drum arranged with separating arms or knives on the inside, then close
the drum and set it in motion. When the contents are well mixed
apply heat thereto, keeping the contents in motion until the rosin or
pitch is melted, and the whole thoroughly amalgamated and reduced to
a doughy consistency. The amalgamated mass thus formed may now be
removed to a press and formed into slabs, blocks, or bricks of any
required form or size, and on cooling it is ready for use as fuel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Morgan Richards in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MORGAN RICHARDS, of Southampton Row, in the County of Middlesex,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Morgan Richards,
Her special licence that I, the said John Morgan Richards, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Morgan Richards, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL,"
being a communication to me from abroad by Daniel F. Packer, of

page_text: Mystic River, in the State of Connecticut, United States of America, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Morgan Richards,
my executors 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Morgan Richards, 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 (that is to say):-
Hitherto in manufacturing artificial fuel by the amalgamation with
coal dust or other carbonaceous substance of rosin as a binding material
it has been customary to use the same in a melted state, but experience
has shewn that the rosin is then only capable of taking up or mixing
with two to three times its weight of carbonaceous substance, and the
fuel so made when burning crumbles, melts, and gives off a dense
smoke.
By the improved process which constitutes the subject of the present
Invention and which I shall presently describe, the rosin is enabled to
take up and amalgamate with a far larger per-centage of coal dust or
equivalent substance, whereby a considerable economy is effected, and
the fuel produced will moreover burn without melting. In order to
attain this result take of any cheap resinous substance, such as pitch or
rosin in a dry hard state, say ten pounds, and grind or pulverize the
same in a suitable crusher. The powdered rosin thus obtained sift into,
say ninety pounds of coal dust, sawdust, or peat while the coal dust,
sawdust, or peat is being passed into a rotary mixing drum fitted with
separating arms or knives on the inside thereof, and so arranged as to
allow of its being heated externally. When the drum has received the
charge its charging aperture is closed and a slow rotatory motion is then
imparted to the drum. During the rotation of the drum heat is to be
applied thereto, and maintained for some twenty minutes to effect the
melting of the rosin or pitch. When the contents of the drum are by the
combined action of heat and agitation reduced to a uniform plastic
mass the compound is removed or discharged from the drum and moulded

page_text: (while still soft) in a suitable press into slabs, blocks, or bricks, of any
required form or size, which blocks or slabs, when cold, will be ready for
use as fuel.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improve-
ment in the Manufacture of Artificial Fuel," as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim, subjecting coal dust or equivalent car-
bonaceous material mixed with a resinous substance in a dry pulverized
condition to the action of heat, while being agitated in the manner and
for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Morgan Richards, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this 31st day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.