IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND TREATMENT OF ARTIFICIAL FUELS.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Christopher Kingsford, of Fulham, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE AND TREATMENT OF ARTIFICIAL FUELS.'
Sealed the 1st December 1874, and dated the 20th June 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Christopher Kingsford
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 20th June 1874.
I, CHRISTOPHER KINGSFORD, of Fulham, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND TREATMENT OF ARTIFICIAL FUELS," to
be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the manufacture of artificial fuel from small
coal, or a mixture of the slacks of various coals and coke or other car-
bonaceous material. For the purpose of manufacturing such artificial
fuel I add to the small coal Portland or other hydraulic cement.
The method I adopt is to intimately mix from 3 to 10 per cent. of
hydraulic cement with the small coal, or coal and coke, or other car-.

page_text: bonaceous material, and a sufficient quantity of water to "guage" the
cement should the coal be of itself too dry for that purpose; the quantity
of cement depends upon the nature of the coal to be operated upon, and
the purpose for which it is required.
I also manufacture artificial fuel by adding to the small coal or slack
1 to 3 per cent. of coal tar, common pitch, resin, asphalte, or other
bituminous, resinous, or oleaginous substances, and 3 to 5 per cent. of
Portland or other hydraulic cement. In both cases the fuel is submitted
to a pressure of say twenty hundredweight or thereabouts to the square
inch, and formed into suitable blocks for burning.
Sometimes in order to render such artificial fuels as are made from
small coal or slack or other carbonaceous material (with the addition or
not of soluble silicates, cements, limes, and various soluble alkaline salts)
impervious to moisture, I add to the coal or other carbonaceous material
(after it has been mixed, or during the time of mixing it with any of the
well known cementing or combining materials), a small portion varying
with the amount of pressure to which the coal is submitted, say from
one to three per cent. of coal tar or common pitch or asphalte or other
bituminous or resinous substances dissolved in hydrocarbon or mineral
oil, and I submit the fuel to a considerable amount of pressure whereby
the bituminous, resinous, or oleaginous matters are intimately pressed
into the interstices of the coal and the surplus is forced to the surface,
forming a waterproof coating to the blocks of fuel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Christopher Kingsford in the Great Seal Patent 2
Office on the 19th December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHRISTOPHER
KINGSFORD, of Fulham, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, 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 Christopher Kingsford, Her special licence

page_text: that 1, the said Christopher Kingsford, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Christopher Kingsford, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE AND TREATMENT OF ARTIFICIAL FUELS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Christopher Kingsford, 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 Christopher Kingsford, do hereby:
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by.
the following statement :-
The first part of my Invention relates to the manufacture of artificial
fuel from small coal and coke or suitable carbonaceous matters mixed
with hydraulic cement, either that known as Portland cement, or other
artificial or natural hydraulic cements.
In order to prepare the fuel, which is the subject of my said Invention,
I mix from three to ten parts of the cement with one hundred parts,
of small coal or small coal and ground coke or suitable carbonaceous
materials, and add as much water as the cement will take up should the
coal of itself be too dry for that purpose; or I mix the cement and
water together and add it to the small coal; or I mix the cement with
the coke and a sufficient quantity of water to bring it to the consistency
of mortar, and then add it to the coal or other materials aforesaid. The
mixture is then submitted to a pressure of about 20 hundredweight to
the square inch in moulds and formed into blocks for fuel.
The second part of my Invention relates to a fuel manufactured as
herein-before described in the first part of my Invention, to which I add
from one to three per cent, of a bituminous or resinous composition, the

page_text: preparation of which I now proceed to explain, and in this case only
from three to five per cent. of cement is required.
For some purposes I use common tar, either coal tar or Stockholm
tar, but I prefer to reduce either pitch, resin, or asphalte to a sufficiently
fluid state to mix intimately with the coal when under pressure, and in
order to do this I dissolve either or two or more of the above-named
substances in tar, naptha, or creosote, or one or more of the well known
oils or hydrocarbons derived from the distillation of tar or petroleum.
I also for some purposes, especially for the manufacture of household
fuel, prefer to dissolve the resin or pitch in turpentine or in linseed oil,
or in a mixture of turpentine and oil.
In order to prepare the fuel I mix the cement with the small coal,
slack, or suitable carbonaceous material in or according to the manner
herein-before described in the first part of my Invention, and I introduce
and intimately mix with the fuel either by hand or by any well known
mechanical arrangement the tar or the prepared bituminous or resinous
composition, or I mix a portion of the coal or suitable carbonaceous
materials with the cement, and the other part with the tar or com-
position; the two portions are then mixed together, and in either case
the fuel is submitted to a considerable pressure and formed into blocks
for burning.
The third part of my Invention relates to a method for rendering such
artificial fuels as are made from small coal or slack, or such like suitable
carbonaceous materials (with the addition or not of soluable silicates,
cements, limes, and various soluble alkaline salts) impervious to moisture.
In order to prepare such fuels I add to the coal or suitable car-
bonaceous matters from one to three per cent. of tar, or of either of the
bituminous or resinous compositions herein-before described; I either add
the bituminous or resinous substances to the said coal or suitable car-
bonaceous matter after it has been mixed with any of the well known
cementing or combining materials; or I mix the aforesaid substances
with a portion of the coal or suitable carbonaceous material, which said
portion is ultimately mixed with the prepared materials forming said
artificial fuels made from small coal with the addition or not of soluble
silicates and various soluble salts prior to entering the mould to be

page_text: pressed, and I submit the aforesaid mixture to a considerable amount of
pressure, whereby the bituminous, oleaginous, or resinous matters are.
intimately pressed into the intersticies of the coal, and the surplus is
forced to the surface, forming a waterproof coating to the blocks of
fuel.
In some cases I find it expedient to immerse the aforesaid fuel or
fuels in the prepared bituminous or resinous composition after they have
been pressed into blocks (the nature or the particular mode of manu-
facturing said fuels rendering it impracticable to introduce the sub-
stances into the fuel in the manner herein-before specified). .
It is unnecessary for me to describe any machines for consolidating
small coal, or mechanism for mixing coal with other materials, for I
can use any suitable mechanism used for analogous purposes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of my said Invention, and indicated in what manner the same
is to be performed or carried out in practice, I hereby declare that
I do not claim as novel the mere mixture of cement with coal, or of tar,
or pitch with coal, nor do I claim any combination of soluble silicates,
cements, limes, and various soluble alkaline salts per se and apart from
the scope and intention of my said Invention, what I do claim being,-
Firstly. The manufacture of artificial fuel formed of coal or other
suitable carbonaceeus materials combined with hydraulic cement, either
artificial or natural when submitted to a considerable pressure, in
manner substantially as herein-before described.
Secondly. The manufacture of artificial fuel formed of coal or other
suitable carbonaceous materials combined with hydraulic cement, either
artificial or natural, and tar, or pitch, resin, or asphalte dissolved in one
or more of the hydrocarbons or oils derived from the distillation of tar or
petroleum, or turpentine, or linseed oil, and submitted to a considerable
pressure in moulds, and in manner substantially as described.
Thirdly. Rendering impervious to moisture by the combination of tar
or dissolved pitch, resin, or asphalte, with such artificial fuels as are
made from small coal, or slack, or other suitable carbonaceous materials
(with the addition or not of soluble silicates, cements, limes, and other

page_text: suitable soluble alkaline salts or earths) substantially in manner as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Christopher Kingsford, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
T. MORGAN,
Secretary,
Inventors' Patent Right Ass", Limited,
21, Cockspur Street, S.W.
C. KINGSFORD. (L.S.)