CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CARBONIZING COAL, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Claude Laurent Victor Maurice, Civil Engineer, of the
Town of St Etienne (Loire), in. the French Empire, for the Invention of
CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CARBONIZING COAL, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE
EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 15th October 1855, and dated the 20th April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Claude Laurent Victor
Maurice at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 20th April 1855.
I, CLAUDE LAURENT VICTOR MAURICE, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CARBONIZING COAL, AND IN APPARATUS
TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
I carbonize the coal in a coke oven of circular or other suitable form having
an aperture or flue in the top or dome. In the brickwork or voussoirs of this
oven I construct a series of inclined perforations or passages, which enter the
oven above the surface of the charge of coal, and are directed upwards towards
the aperture in the top. These passages communicate with a flue or flues
running round the oven by which air is admitted; a conical sheet of air is thus
constantly flowing from the sides or shoulders of the oven to the aperture in
the top, without coming in contact with the mass of coal or coke in the oven.
By this means the gas which comes off from the coal is ignited and burnt by

page_text: the cone of air, while the solid mass of coal or coke is not exposed to the action
of the air. I thus obtain a larger yield of coke than is obtained in the ordinary
ovens, in which the air is admitted at the door, and sweeps over the surface
of the mass of coal or coke, and causes the combustion of a portion of it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Claude Laurent Victor Maurice in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CLAUDE
LAURENT VICTOR MAURICE, Civil Engineer, of the Town of St Etienne (Loire),
in the French Empire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Claude Laurent Victor Maurice, Her special licence that I, the said
Claude Laurent Victor Maurice, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Claude Laurent Victor Maurice, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CARBONIZING COAL, AND IN APPARATUS
TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Claude Laurent Victor Maurice, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Claude Laurent Victor Maurice, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner tho
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-

page_text: The carbonization of coal is ordinarily effected in furnaces or ovens of
variable size and form, covered by arches of hemispherical, cylindrical, or other
vaulted form, and sometimes having the base or sole heated and sometimes
not. The air necessary for the combustion of the gases enters by horizontal
or sometimes descending apertures either at the door or in the sides or walls
of the oven. From this manner of introducing the air into the oven, it results
that although the air may not enter in sufficient quantity to burn all the gases
in the oven, it still consumes and reduces to ashes a very notable portion of
coke, and thus causes the yield or produce to fall below that indicated by
theory. This deficiency indicates a grave defect in the ordinary process and
apparatus, which is remedied by my Invention, which permits the introduction
of all the air necessary to burn the gases in the oven itself without burning any
part of the coke. This cause of loss is thus suppressed.
My Invention rests on the principle of introducing the air into the oven
between the charge of coal and the vault or roof, in the form of ascending jets,
and at a sufficient height that the gases alone may be burnt without the coke
being attacked. To carry this principle into effect, I cause the air to arrive
in the oven exclusively by a series of channels inclining upwards, and passing
through the haunches of the vault or roof by means of bricks of a particular
form or construction.
The Invention may be applied to the various forms of ovens at present in
use, with or without heated soles or floors, by modifying the forms of the
bricks in a suitable, manner. I prefer, however, the form of oven represented
in the accompanying Drawing, which I consider the best adapted for carrying
the principle into effect.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of the oven, taken through the line X, Y, of
the plan, Figure 2. The same letters refer to similar parts in cach Figure.
A is the sole or floor of the oven, which is circular in plan; B is a vault, of a
flattened, hemispherical, or ellipsoidal form, which forms the roof and sides of
the oven; C is the front opening or door of the oven, which is kept closed
during the operation of carbonizing. In the centre or top of the vault is a
circular opening or chimney T', for the escape of the gases or products of
combustion.
The external air enters the oven at the level of the line b, c, which may be
about four feet above the floor in an oven of ten feet internal diameter. The
air enters by a series of channels or passages, ascending through the haunches
of the vault, as shewn at b, b, c, c, d, d, e, e, and 1, l, &cta., in Figures 1 and 2.
These channels or passages may be more or less close together, according to
the nature of the coal or the rapidity with which it is wished to conduct the

page_text: operation. All these jets of air converge towards the point a in the vertical
axis of the oven, and they have all a considerable ascending inclination, as
indicated by the lines a, b, a, c. The union of all these jets of air forms a
conical sheet of air, the summit of which is in the vertical axis of the oven
at a, nearly at the base of the chimney or flue.
From this description it will easily be understood that all the gases are burnt
as they reach the cone of air, which, owing to its direction, can have no burning
action upon the coke. The combustion of all the gases in the oven pro-
duces a high temperature, which much assists and accelerates the carbonization.
In order to form with facility the ascending air channels through the haunches
of the vault of the oven, I construct a portion of the vault with bricks specially
formed for the purpose, one of which is shewn in plan at m, m', n, n¹, o, o', p, p',
in Figure 2, and in section at m, n, o, p, in Figure 1, in Figure 1. These
bricks have the form of an elongated voussoir of the vault, and they are pierced
from the lower exterior angle p, p, to the upper interior angle m, m³, with a
channel or passage of rectangular or other suitable form. This channel is in
the centre of the brick, but it may be made in the side of the brick if pre-
ferred. The external orifice of each of these perforated or channelled bricks is
placed in communication with the external air by means of a small horizontal
gallery or flue G which encircles the vault, and is provided with two inlet
The
passages G, G¹, on each side of the door in the front wall of the oven.
entrance of the air can thus be easily regulated by opening or closing the
passages G¹. The sides of the oven have a curved form where they meet
the floor, so as to avoid the imperfect carbonization of portions of coal, which
occurs in the angles of some of the ordinary ovens.
The floor or sole of the
oven is hollow, and the space beneath it communicates with the gallery G.
When the oven is charged with wet coal, a portion of the water escapes
through the floor, and is carried off in the form of steam by the gallery G.
X, Y, is the top of the oven.
The part X, a, Z, is
The plan, Figure 2, is taken at different levels; thus, the part V, a, Y,
represents one quarter of the oven, seen from above. The part V, a, X, is a
section, taken along the line Q, R, S, T, in Figure 1.
a section at the line X, Y, in Figure 1. The last quarter Z, a, Y, is a section
along the line M, p, N, in Figure 1. The arrangement of the air channels b, d,
e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, in one quarter of the oven is shewn in the part V, a, X, in
Figure 2. The same construction may be applied to an oven with a heated
floor by adding the necessary flues or galleries for conducting the flame under
the floor and closing the connection between the gallery G and the space under
the floor. This construction of furnace or coke oven with the cone of air gives

page_text: very advantageous results, and avoids the loss occasioned by the combustion of
a portion of the coke in the ordinary coke ovens. The ascending jets of air
may be applied to coke ovens of the ordinary forms, and of other forms than
that shewn in the Drawing.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I claim is,-
Firstly, the introduction between the charge of coal and the vault or roof
of the coke oven, of a series of jets of air directed upwards towards the top of
the oven, and at such a height as not to impinge upon the charge, as herein-
before described.
Secondly, the constructing coke ovens with bricks or voussoirs formed with
inclined air passages or channels directed upwards towards the top of the oven,
as herein-before described.
Thirdly, the particular construction of circular coke oven with ascending air
passages arranged and combined as herein-before described in reference to the
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Claude Laurent Victor Maurice, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the First day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
CHARLES ARMENGAUD, Ing",
6, Rue Filles du Calvaire,
à Paris.
C. L. V. MAURICE,
Ingénieur Civil.
(L.S.)