CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF OVENS, APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF COKE, AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS. SHALL COME, I, JOHN
Cox, of Ironmonger Lane, in the City of London, Civil Engineer, 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 Twenty-first day of November, in the fourth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Çox, Her especial licence that I, the said John Cox, my exors, admors, or
assigns, or such others as I 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, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF OVENS, APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE
OF COKE, AND OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained-a
proviso obliging me, the, said John Cox, 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 performed, and to cause the
same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, may more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Cox, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to consist,―
Firstly, in an arrangement for manufacturing coke by employing the
products distilled from the coal in manner herein-after described; and,
Secondly, in the application of heat so produced to manufacturing and other
useful purposes.
And I do hereby declare the manner in which my said Invention is to be
known and practised by the following statement :-
The coke oven is a close vessel of any suitable shape, and made of any
suitable material. I prefer using the very best Stourbridge or other equally
good firebrick, jointed with clay of the same sort as the bricks are made of.
This oven having been made hot by the usual process or processes, and the
charge of coal placed therein, and the oven door properly closed up, the gaseous
products which distill off from the charge of coal pass by any suitable aperture
or apertures from the oven, and on or after their escape from the oven they are
supplied with atmospheric air through proper small apertures into the flue for
that purpose, to promote their combustion, and great heat is thereby produced.
When my object is only the preparation of good coke, the heat produced by
the said combustion of the distilled products is conducted in a flat, wide, and
shallow flue over the top or crown of the oven. The top or crown of the oven
is made as thin as possible, and the heat from the combustion of the distilled
products is transmitted downwards through the top or crown of the oven, and
completes the
process of coking in the oven beneath. Sometimes I prefer to
commence my process by admitting a little atmospheric air at any suitable
place or places in the oven; but I discontinue this intentional supply of
atmospheric air so soon as the coals are well lighted or inflamed; and I depend
thereafter solely or mainly upon the heat transmitted downwards from the flue
above the oven. When my object is the application of my said Invention for
manufacturing purposes, or for purposes other than the manufacture of coke
only, I sometimes carry only a portion of the heat created by the combustion
of the distilled products over the crown or top of the oven to promote the
process of coking, as above described, and I use the remainder of the heat for
such other purposes as the same may be required for; sometimes I do not
carry any portion of the heat produced by the combustion of the distilled
products over the oven, but I admit atmospheric air into the oven in the
usual manner, sufficient only for the process of coking, and then I use the

page_text: products which come off-from the oven unconsumed by admitting atmospheric
air to meet the same when such unconsumed products have left the oven.
Sometimes I set retorts, or other vessels or articles which I intend to heat, in
the said flue, and sometimes I use the heat so created for the same purposes
after it has passed through the said flue, and previous to its passage into the
chimney stack.
I have now described my Invention of "Certain Improvements in the
Construction of Ovens, applicable to the Manufacture of. Çoke and other
Purposes," in such manner that coke burners, and others accustomed to and
acquainted with the building of coke ovens, and in the burning of coke, may
be able to practice my Invention.
And I hereby declare, that I do not claim as my Invention the use of a coke
oven in which the distilled products are burned in the same chamber with the
coal to be coked; that I do not claim as my Invention the application or
use of any flue or flues passing below the said oven, or at the side or sides of
the said oven; but that I do claim, as my Invention, the creation of heat by
the admission of atmospheric air to the distilled products on or after their
leaving the said oven, and the consequent combustion of the same distilled
products on or after their leaving the said oven. And I do claim the same,
whether the atmospheric air be admitted for that purpose below, or above, or
at the sides or ends of the oven; and this I do claim as my Invention,
whether the same be applied to a coke oven for the process of coking only, or
for any other process. I do further claim, as my Invention, the promoting the
process of coking by carrying a flue or flues above or over the oven, whatever
be the shape, form, or substance of the coke oven to which the said flue or
flues may be applied or added. And such my Invention being, to the best of
my knowledge and belief, entirely new, and never before practised or used
within that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that I
do verily believe that this my Specification doth comply in all respects, fully
and without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby claim to
maintain exclusive right and title to my said improvements.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Cox have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this *
day of January, One thousand eight hundred

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of January, in
the year of our Lord 1841, the aforesaid John Cox 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 5
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Nineteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-one.