CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL FUEL, AND IN MACHINERY USED FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
BARBOR, of Chatham Place, Locks Fields, in the County of Surrey, Metal
Smelter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Eighteenth day of January, in the Thirteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Robert Barbor, my exors, admors and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that the said
Robert Barbor, my exors, adiñiors, or assigns, or such others as I, the
said Robert Barbor, my exors, adñors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL FUEL, AND IN MACHINERY
USED FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME;" in which said Letters Patent there
is contained a proviso, that I, the said Robert Barbor, shall particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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

page_text: in part recited Letters 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, J, the said
Robert Barbor, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention, which relates to certain improvements in the preparation
of artificial fuel, and in machinery for manufacturing the same, consists,
Firstly, in the methods or methods of submitting tan bark, commonly known
as tan, to various processes, so as to produce, when combined with resin
oil, a cheap and convenient fuel for the purpose of lighting or kindling fires.
I would remark, before proceeding to describe the leading features of this my
said Invention, that I am aware artificial fuel, composed wholly or partly
of tan, peat turf, and other like vegetable substances, has before been prepared
for various purposes, with numerous hydro-carbons held in combination with
them by saturation or otherwise. It is my intention, therefore, to confine myself
to the employment of common tan and resin oil, and to the treatment of
such compounds, by which process of manufacture a saving of much time and
expense is obtained.
That my Invention may be clearly understood, I will now proceed more
fully to describe the same.
Firstly, the tan or bark to be prepared is submitted to a bruising or
crushing process, for the purpose of separating the fibrous and other particles of
which it is composed, and rendering it easier for moulding and manufacturing
into fuel. This, in practice, I prefer doing by exposing the tan, previously
moistened with water or other liquids, to be continually trodden down by the
feet of a horse, which operation reduces the tan to a proper pulpy con-
sistency. The tan so prepared has then to be formed whilst in a plastic or
pulpy state into blocks or cakes of convenient size, and allowed gradually to
dry in the open air, until the particles of which they are composed become
sufficiently hardened and porous to absorb readily any proportionate quan-
tities of resin oil. The next process for completing the manufacture of the
artificial fuel, as above described, consists in dipping the blocks or cakes
aforesaid (by means of an open worked basket or wire frame) into the resin
The
oil, in a highly heated state, until thoroughly saturated therewith.
unabsorbed carbonaceous matter is then allowed to drain, and the blocks or
cakes, when dried by exposure to the air, are fit for use.

page_text: Secondly, my Invention relates to the manufacture of artificial fuel from
common tan and resin, the said compounds being worked together in a dry
and unprepared state; that is to say, "I cause common tan and resin to be
placed in any convenient vessel or copper, heated by steam or otherwise, until
the temperature is sufficiently raised to melt the resin. The two ingredients
are then well stirred together until completely amalgamated, when they are
taken out in a warm state, and placed in moulds or shapes, and become, when
cold, hardened, firmly cemented together, and ready for use.*
My Invention which relates, thirdly and lastly, to improvements in ma-
chinery for moulding and compressing artificial fuel, consists in the outer and
inner surfaces of moulds or dies being coated with enamel, whereby great
inconvenience, hitherto experienced in such machinery, by the adhering of all
viscous substances to the sides of the moulds, is prevented. Among the
various contrivances made use of for removing the adhesive particles of fuel
which cling to the dies or moulds, the practice of scraping may be mentioned
as one of the most recent; yet in certain cases, when raised or figured
surfaces are required in place of other designs, my Invention of employing
the said enamelled dies and moulds, as above described, will be found much
more desirable.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare it to be my intention not to confine
myself to the precise details herein-before mentioned, so long as the peculiar
character thereof be retained. And I further declare that the several ingre-
dients or combinations of materials of which the said fuel is composed may be
formed or moulded as readily by hand as by any other known means, without
departing from the character of this my said Invention. I claim,-
Firstly, the treatment of common tan and resin oil as above described,
when employed for the purposes of artificial fuel.
Secondly, the manufacture of the said fuel form common tan and resin in an
unprepared state, as described under the second head of my Invention. And,
Thirdly and lastly, improvements in machinery which consist in the em-
ployment of enamel dies or moulds for manufacturing artificial fuel into blocks
or cakes as aforesaid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Barbor, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.
ROBERT (Ls.) BARBOR.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Robert Barbor came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, 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.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Robert Barbor came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, 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 Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.