IMPROVE MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL
Year: 1860

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City
of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL."-A communication from
abroad by Elijah Day Williams and John Reed Bostick, both of
Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, in the United States of
America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 3rd March 1860.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL," a communication
from abroad by Elijah Day Williams and John Reed Bostick, both of
Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, in the United States of America,
to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in preparing artificial solidified fuel by mixing coal

page_text: dust, coal screenings, peat, and other combustible substances with a glutinous
paste, size, or composition which will not have a tendency to burn faster than the
fuel itself. The glutinous composition preferred for this purpose is composed
of rye or wheat flour boiled with water, but other vegetable or animal glutinous
substances may be used. After admixture with the combustible material the
mass is pressed in moulds and then dried. If required to be kept for a long
period the surfaces of the compressed blocks may be coated with asphaltum,
resin, or other waterproof combustible material to prevent absorption of water
by the fuel. During the compression the blocks may be also perforated to
ensure an increased solidity and obviate the tendency to crack when being
dried.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 3rd September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow,. North Britain, Gentle-
man, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said
John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators,
or 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL," a com-
munication from abroad by Elijah Day Williams and John Reed Bostwick,
both of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, in the United States of
America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Henry
Johnson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-

page_text: ticularly 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 Johu Henry Johnson, 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 :-
The said Invention consists in compounding and preparing a solidified fuel
from coal dust, peat, and other like substances, by mixing the same with a
glutinous paste or size, subjecting the composition to pressure in moulds, and
subsequently drying the pressed blocks so that they may be hard and portable,
may serve as an efficient fuel, and retain their solidity until gradually consumed
by the fire.
In carrying out this Invention a paste or size of rye or wheat flour is
prepared by mixing it with water and boiling the compound in the usual
manner, the paste being sufficiently fluid to mix readily and intimately with
coal dust or coal screenings. Sour flour, unfit for culinary purposes, may be
used for making this paste, as also may any suitable vegetable or animal
glutinous substance.
A paste made of twenty pounds of wheat flour will be found amply sufficient
for solidifying one ton of anthracite coal dust. The paste having been
intimately mixed with coal dust, a suitable portion of the compound is placed
in a mould, which may be similar to that of an ordinary brick-making
machine, and submitted to powerful pressure.
If a quantity sufficient to form a block of the size of a building brick has to
be compressed, "the pressure necessary for producing the required solidity will
be from seventy to one hundred tons. By this pressure the small amount of
glutinous substance which, without the pressure, would not serve to unite the
particles of mineral, becomes so closely and thoroughly impregnated with the
latter that the whole becomes a solid mass, which, when properly dried, is
sufficiently hard to admit of its being carried about without breaking, and yet
brittle enough to be readily shattered by a blow from a hammer or other
suitable instrument. The blocks should be dried immediately after being
pressed, the drying being accomplished rapidly in order to prevent any decom-
position of the glutinous paste, the temperature required being equal to or
above that of summer heat. During the compression of the composition in
the moulds the mass may be perforated so as to render it more homogeneous,

page_text: and so obviate the tendency of the compound to crack during the process of
drying.
For ordinary purposes the blocks are ready for use as a fuel immediately
after drying, but when they have to be used for long voyages or have to be
stored in localities which subject them to long continued exposure to moisture,
they should be coated with asphaltum, resin, or other waterproof combustible
substances or compounds, in order to prevent them from absorbing moisture.
In applying the Invention to the solidifying of peat, a greater proportion of;
glutinous paste is required. The dried peat is granulated, mixed with the
paste, subjected to pressure in moulds, and subsequently dried precisely in the
same manner as that described in reference to the coal dust; or the peat may,
in some instances, be mixed with the paste immediately after it has been dug.
from the ground, and subsequently pressed and dried.
Masses of moss, decayed twigs, or any decayed or partially decayed vegetable
substances may be treated in a similar manner.
The solidifying of coal dust, peat, or other similar substances for the purpose
of converting them into an available fuel has been heretofore practised by
mixing it with adhesive substances, and in some instances subjecting the com-
pound. to pressure in moulds. The adhesive materials heretofore used;
however, for this purpose bave been either pitch, resin, gas tar, or compounds
of these, and similar materials which melt during combustion, and allow the
mass to resume its original granulated form, in which it is ill adapted for uso
as a fuel. At the same time these adhesive substances, when subjected to
heat, give out disagreeable and noxious vapours, and interfere with the openings
between the grate bars of the furnace in which the fuel thus prepared
is used.
The blocks of fuel prepared according to the above described improvements
are free from these disadvantages, as the glutinous adhesive material cannot
melt, and has no liability to burn faster than the substances with which it is
mixed, so that each block or portion of a block retains its solidity until it is
gradually consumed precisely in the same manner as a block of coal of the
same size.
It will be evident that the glutinous size cannot create any disagreeablo
smoky vapors, and that it can interfere with the grate bars. to no greater extent
than the coal itself.
:
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel.and

page_text: original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is compounding and preparing a solidified
fuel from coal dust, peat, and other like substances, by mixing the same with
glutinous paste, subjecting the composition to pressure in moulds, and subse-
quently drying the condensed blocks, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.B.)