IMPROVE- MENTS IN COMBINING SMALL COAL AND OTHER MATTERS, AND IN PRESERVING WooD
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, FREDERICK
RANSOME, of Ipswich, 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 Tenth day of May, in the eighth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Frederick
Ransome, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,.
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Frederick Ransome, my exors,
adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick Ransome, my
exors, admors, 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 expressed..
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN COMBINING SMALL COAL AND OTHER MATTERS, AND IN PRESERVING
WooD;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said
Frederick Ransome, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my, said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, 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 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, I, the said
Frederick Ransome, 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, that is to say:-
1
.
"
.

page_text: The Invention consists of a method of using a solution of silica with small
coal and wood, for the purpose of cementing and consolidating them together,
and in some cases preserving wood.
I will first describe the mode of producing the solution of silica, and after-
wards shew its application to the different above-mentioned purposes for
cementing small coal into lumps or blocks, as will be afterwards described,
and also in cementing the fibres of wood or timber with stone, the quantity
of cement employed depending upon the materials.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood, I will proceed to
describe the means pursued by me.
The solution of silica, or what I call a siliceous paste or cement, is prepared
in the following manner (that is to say):-I dissolve one hundred pounds of
chrystallized carbonate of soda, usually called sub-carbonate of soda, or in com-
merce frequently termed merely soda, in so much water as shall make the solution
of the specific gravity of about 1-150 at the temperature of sixty degrees, I
then render the carbonate of soda caustic in the usual and well-known manner
by means of lime; or, instead of carbonate of soda I employ about fifty pounds
of carbonate of potash, usually called pearlash, and the requisite quantity of
water, and render it caustic by means of lime; I then put this caustic alkaline
solution, with about one hundred pounds of finely broken flints or other con--
venient siliceous substance, into an iron boiler or digester, and heat the
mixture during ten or twelve hours up to a temperature of about three
hundred degrees of Fahrenheit, frequently stirring the mixture. When the
mixture is sufficiently incorporated, which will readily be ascertained by a
workman after a little experience, it may be removed from the boiler or
digester and passed through a suitable sieve, by which any undissolved stone
may be removed from the paste or cement, I then evaporate the solution till
the specific gravity is increased to about 1.500 at the temperature of sixty
degrees. The cement is then fit for use, or may be tempered to any required
consistency either by evaporation or by the admixture of sand or finely
powdered flint. I generally use for the purpose calcined flint, and if it is too
thick, the same may be reduced by adding water.
In cementing small coal, I proceed as follows:-I usually take about one
hundred parts of coal dust or small coal, and mix it intimately with from one-
tenth to one-twentieth of its weight of the siliceous cement prepared as before
described, but it is obvious that the quantity of cement required will vary
according to the size of the particles of coal used in the mixture, the design.
being in all cases to economise as much as possible the use of the cement, and
yet to produce the fuel of the required stability when dried. The mixture

page_text: thus prepared is put into suitable moulds to form lumps or blocks, and sub-
jected to hydraulic or other mechanical pressure, after which it is taken from
the moulds and allowed to dry at the common atmospheric temperature for
a few hours, when it may be removed and placed in an oven or hot room.
I also find it advisable, for the purpose of effecting the more perfect com--
bustion of artificial fuels generally, as well as my own above described,
to form one or more holes through each lump or block of fuel for the
free admission of air during the process of combustion, and this is easily
accomplished by inserting in the moulds one or more plugs or cores slightly
tapering, which can readily be withdrawn after the fuel is compressed.
In cementing timber I propose to saturate or impregnate it with a solution
of silica in such manner as to cement the fibrous part of the wood with the
silica, so as to form a solid and durable mass. And for this purpose I proceed
as follows:-I place the wood in an air-tight vessel of suitable form to receive
it, and having abstracted as much of the air as may be practicable by an air,
pump or other convenient means, I admit a sufficient quantity of the siliceous
cement, before described, to cover the wood entirely; and for the purpose of
causing the cement to penetrate further into the pores of the wood than would
be effected naturally, I apply artificial pressure by means of a pump. The
wood is afterwards removed and immersed in some acidulated or saline solu-
tion, such, for instance, as a solution of muriatic or bydrochloric acid, or any
other solution which will render the silica insoluble.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best means I
am acquainted with for carrying it out, I would remark that I make no claim
to the means herein described of obtaining a solution of silica, nor do I
confine myself to the precise means described for preparing it; but what
I claim is,
First, the cementing or combining small coal into blocks by the use of a
solution of silica, as herein described.
Secondly, I claim the making of a hole or holes through each lump or
block of artificial fuel for the purpose of increasing combustion.
And, thirdly, I claim the cementing and preserving vegetable substances by
the use of a solution of silica, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Ransome, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
FREDERICK (L.S.) RANSOME.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, 'that on the Seventh day of November, in
the
year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid Frederick Ransome 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
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Telled the Tonth day of November. in the year of our Lord One