AN IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL FUEL
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederic Dixon, of Southgate Road, Islington,
London, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL FUEL."
Sealed the 30th April 1875, and dated the 11th November 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederic Dixon at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 11th November 1874.
. I, FREDERIO DIXON, of Southgate Road, Islington, London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL
FUEL," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the treatment and utilization of coal,
whether bituminous or non-bituminous, anthracite or lignite, or other
similar carbonaceous substances, charcoal, coke, and other carbonaceous
substances when in a disintegrated state or state of powder or fine
division so as to produce a compact, solid, and smokeless, or com-
paratively smokeless fuel, especially adapted for metallurgical operations
and in the arts, and where it is desirable the fuel should bear combustion
at a greatly increased temperature without being disintegrated.

page_text: I carry out my process in the following manner:-When coke is em-
ployed, which is obtained in the manner already well understood, on
being reduced to a state of fine division or powder by apparatus adapted
for the purpose or by any suitable means, it is mixed in a suitable pug
or mixing mill or mills in the proportion of eighteen parts of the latter 5
with two parts of the dextrine solution or liquid, herein-after mentioned.
The mixture thus prepared is exposed to heat and made into any desired
shape or form by apparatus adapted for the purpose. In order to evapo-
rate the excess of fluid contained therein, or a sufficient part thereof,
the coke fuel is placed in a retort and submitted to the influence of heat, 1
when it becomes solidified and ready for use.
In the treatment of coal, whether anthracite or otherwise, used for the
purpose of this Invention the same process is pursued as in the case of
coke dust. The materials being reduced to a state of fine division are
mixed with the dextrine solution, as before described, and in the same 1
proportion. The mixture is then made into any suitable shape or form
and exposed to sufficient heat to evaporate a sufficient part of the
moisture contained therein.
My process for manufacturing the dextrine or British gum solution or
liquid is as follows:-One part of dextrine or British gum is mixed with 2
eighteen parts of water and 15 grains of aluminate of soda or soda
alum. The mixture so prepared is introduced into a vessel heated by
steam. The same is submitted to the operation of boiling until solution
of the dextrine or British gum is effected, and from thence run off
through a tap into a boiler, in which are placed pitch and fusil oil in the ?
proportion of six parts of the former to one part of the latter. The
whole of the contents are then submitted to the process of boiling under
a moderate amount of pressure, by which operation the several con-
stituents are caused to unite. Steam is then turned on into the boiler,
and the contents thereof forced through pipes into a tank, whence the
liquid is conveyed by suitable mechanical arrangements into the pug or
mixing mill or mills, in which it is intimately mixed with the coke or
coal or other carbonaceous substance, which is conveyed in a state of
fine division or disintegration or broken state by suitable machinery into
the pug or mixing mill or mills.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederice Dixon in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 11th May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
DIXON, of Southgate Road, Islington, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Frederick Dixon, Her special license
that I, the said Frederick Dixon, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick Dixon, 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 IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL FUEL,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Dixon,
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 immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Dixon, 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 thereof, that is to say: —
My Invention of an improved artificial fuel consists of treating and
combining coal, usually small coal or that known as slack, and whether
of the anthracite or non-bituminous kind, or bituminous or lignite,
brown coal, peat, or other similar carbonaceous substances, or charcoal;
coke, and other allied carbonaceous substances with gummy matters and
hydrocarbons, the effect of which treatment is to fix the carbon in the
fuel produced thereby, so that little or no smoke is generated on ignition.
Combustion is so perfect as to leave little or no residuum of ashes, while

page_text: among other advantages attending the use of this artificial fuel may be
claimed its freedom from liability to spontaneous combustion, its density
and cohesiveness, its being impervious to water, and the fact that it
cokes well, qualities which render it valuable for use in steam ships
especially, and for exportation.
And in order that my said Invention may be well understood I will
now proceed to describe the process I adopt for the manufacture of my
said improved artificial fuel.
In the first place a mixture is to be made of dextrine, British or
foreign gums, or gummy or adhesive matters, or a mixture of any two
or more of such substances in as near as possible the following propor-
tions-One part of dextrine or other gummy or adhesive matter is to
be mixed with two and a half parts of water, and thirty grains of
aluminate of soda is to be added to each gallon of the aforesaid mixture.
Solution is effected in a suitable tank or other vessel heated by steam, in
which the mixture is to be boiled, and then conveyed through a pipe and
tap into a boiler or steam cylinder, in which ten parts of pitch or
bitumen have been previously melted. The whole contents of the boiler
are then to be intimately mixed together by boiling under moderate
pressure; and lastly, a stated quantity of fusil oil is to be added, say
eight to ten fluid ounces to the hundredweight of the above composition.
By means of a revolving mixer or otherwise the respective substances in
the boiler are to be caused to unite. The next process is to cause the
herein-before mentioned composition to become united with the small
coal, coke, or other carbonaceous matters, and is to be effected by fuel
machines now employed in the manufacture of artificial fuel, or
machines which may hereafter be specially constructed for that purpose,
so much of the aforesaid composition being added to the small coal,
coke, or other carbonaceous matters, which are to be in a disintegrated
or granular state as will cause the particles to adhere when pressed and
become when dry consolidated and cohesive.
Although I have herein-before stated the proportions of the ingredients
of the composition, which I have found answer well, the precise quanti-
ties will more or less vary according to and in relation to the particular
carbonaceous matters with which they are to be mixed, and it is to be a
understood that such proportions are only approximative and not
definite.

page_text: I would also here remark that fusil oil is also known as pentylic or
amylic alcohol or grain or potato spirit, the several names designating
one and the same fluid matter, which however may vary in strength,
and although I may prefer to use fusil oil I claim to use other forms of
alcohol, methylated spirit, or methylic alcohol, naptha, rock oils, or
other similar hydrocarbons, which may be advantageously used in the
production of the herein-before described composition, and I therefore
do not exclusively limit myself to the use of fusil oil.
After the composition has been well mixed by mechanical means with
the aforesaid carbonaceous matters the mass is to be run or injected into
metal moulds, and the bricks, blocks, balls, or other forms thus made of
the artificial fuel will become thoroughly dried and consolidated without
the use of artificial heat.
Having now fully described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be carried into effect, I wish it to be
understood that what I claim and desire to secure by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent is, the manufacture of an improved
artificial fuel by the use of a mixture or composition of aluminate of
soda, of dextrine or gummy matters, and of fusil oil, naptha, rock oils,
alcohol, or hydrocarbons, with suitable carbonaceous matters in a disinte-
grated or granular state.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Dixon, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Witness,
CHARLES BARLOW,
23, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane,
London, W.C.
FREDERICK DIXON. (L.S.)
Patent Agent.