IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF COKE, AND FOR BLASTING, ALSO FOR THE PRODUCTION AND EXTRACTION OF ILLUMINATING AND COMBUSTIBLE GAS, AS WELL AS AMMONIACAL AND BITUMINOUS MATTERS,
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Alexandre de Fonbonne, of Paris, for the
Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF COKE, AND
FOR BLASTING, ALSO FOR THE PRODUCTION AND EXTRACTION OF ILLUMINATING
AND COMBUSTIBLE GAS, AS WELL AS AMMONIACAL AND BITUMINOUS MATTERS,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Alexandre de
Fonbonne at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th February 1856.
I, CHARLES ALEXANDRE DE FONBONNE, of Paris, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF COKE,
AND FOR BLASTING, ALSO FOR THE PRODUCTION AND EXTRACTION OF ILLUMINATING AND
COMBUSTIBLE GAS, AS WELL AS AMMONIACAL AND BITUMINOUS MATTERS, PART OF SUCH
APPARATUS BEING APPLICABLE TO THE CONSUMPTION OF SMOKE," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in certain new mechanical arrangements and combi-
nations of parts, constituting improved combined apparatus, for performing the
following processes:-Firstly, manufacturing coke; secondly, manufacturing
gas for illuminating and heating purposes, and obtaining the carbonaceous,
gaseous, bituminous, and ammoniacal products contained in pit coal, turf,
schiste, ligneous matters, wood, and bones; thirdly, the application of a portion
of the above-mentioned apparatus to the consumption of smoke.

page_text: In using the above-mentioned apparatus for the manufacture of coke adapted
for manufacturing purposes, I obtain and secure, during such process, gas fit
for illumination, as also bituminous and ammoniacal products which, by the
modes heretofore commonly practised of manufacturing coke, have been
allowed to escape, and thereby become lost.
And in using the said apparatus for the manufacture of illuminating gas, I
obtain, during such process, manufacturing coke, instead of household coke,
and I not only economize the retorts, but also the fuel employed for heating
the same; and at the same time obtain-a larger quantity of illuminating gas
and coke adapted for manufacturing purposes than by the means heretofore
employed of manufacturing gas by the distillation of pit coal.
bonnet or cover
The following will be found a convenient construction of apparatus for
effecting the objects of this Invention :-First, as regards the apparatus for
the manufacture of coke and gas, it consists of four furnaces set in pairs in
brickwork, back to back, an opening being formed at the top of each, com-
municating by a flue to a chimney or chimnies, the above openings serving
also for charging the furnaces with the material or substance to be distilled;
the lower part of the opening being afterwards luted and made air-tight by a
et or cover immersed in fine sand, and the upper part of said opening is
covered with a fire-brick or tile. There is a vertical flue in which the flames
from the other three furnaces collect when such said furnaces are not
extracting. Under the sole of each furnace a circulating flue is built, and
communicates with another flue or flues for conducting the heat from the
three last-mentioned furnaces under the sole of that furnace which is extract-
ing; the above flues are provided with suitable dampers for regulating the
heat and diverting its course, when necessary. There is a pipe in the crown
of each furnace, connected at top to a vessel containing liquid, into which the
gaseous and other products pass by means of hydraulic valves fixed to the top
of the said vessel; one of these valves is employed for regulating the pressure
in the furnaces, and for establishing. or cutting off,as desired, the communi-
cation between one or other "of them, and an artificial draught apparatus
hereafter. described, and the other valve communicates with the gasometer.
The aboves valves are furnished with appliances for actuating them by hand.
Each of the above vessels is furnished with a syplion pipe for maintaining the
liquid in the same at an uniform level.
Secondly, as regardsithe blasting, it consists of an artificial draught apparatus
composed of two cylinders; one placed within the other; and a loose piston or
hollow cylinder closed at top; the lower. edge dips in water contained between
the two cylinders. In connection-with the above cylinders, there is a branch

page_text: pipe, one part of which passes through the top of the outer cylinder, to which
it is connected by a flanch; said pipe also passes through a hole in the top of
the piston, which slides up and down the same. There are two other branches
to said branch pipe, the lower ends of which are respectively fixed to two
separate vessels containing water, one of the aforesaid pipes dips into the
water, and the other one is simply fixed to the top of the box. Into an
opening in another part of the top of each of the aforesaid boxes another pipe
is fixed, one of such pipes dips into the water in that box in which the before-
mentioned branch pipe, does not dip, and the pipe of the other box is simply
fixed to the top thereof; the above apparatus is connected to another similar
apparatus, and motion imparted alternately to the piston thereof by a vibrating
beam connected thereto, or in any other convenient manner.
And as regards the consumption of smoke, the artificial draught apparatus
lastly above mentioned may be used with advantage for that purpose.
'2'
PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE.
The four furnaces above mentioned we first heat to the desired temperature,
to obtain a good distillation, and then introduce the pit coal which it is desired
to carbonize successively in the four furnaces. During this operation the
conduits or flues are opened and put into communication with the principal
chimney or chimnies by lifting off the bonnet at the top of the furnace. The
mouth of the furnace at which the coke is discharged is luted in the usual way..
When there is no longer any atmospheric air in the furnace, I then replace the
bonnet and close the opening at top of the furnace; I then raise the hydraulic.
valve according to the degree of pressure required in the furnace. The artificial
draught apparatus is then set in motion, and aspires or inducts thereinto
the gaseous and other products resulting from the distillation of the coal..
The length of time necessary for performing the above operations will depend
upon the description and quality of the matters employed, and the degree of
carbonization which it is desired to obtain. The operation may be combined
in such a manner as to augment one of the products in quality and quantity to
the detriment of one or other, or all of the other remaining products, that is
to say, 'I can obtain at will more coke in. diminishing the quality or intrinsic
value of the coke itself, or in diminishing the production of the gas, and vicê
versâ, as regards the several products..
"

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Alexandre de Fonbonne in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th August 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
ALEXANDRE DE FONBONNE, of Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Alexandre de Fonbonne, Her special licence that I, the said
Charles Alexandre de Fonbonne, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Charles Alexandre de Fonbonne, 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF COKE, AND FOR
BLASTING, ALSO FOR THE PRODUCTION AND EXTRACTION OF ILLUMINATING AND COM-
BUSTIBLE GAS, AS WELL AS AMMONIACAL AND BITUMINOUS MATTERS, PART OF SUCH
APPARATUS BEING APPLICABLE TO THE CONSUMPTION OF SMOKE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Charles Alexandre de Fonbonne, my execu
tors 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 Charles Alexandre de Fonbonne, 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 consists in certain new mechanical arrangements and com-
binations of parts constituting improved combined apparatus for performing the
following processes:-Firstly, manufacturing coke; secondly, manufacturing
gas for illuminating and heating purposes, and obtaining the carbonaceous,
gaseous, bituminous, and ammoniacal products contained in pit coal, turf,
schiste, ligneous matters, wood, and bones; thirdly, the application of a
portion of the above-mentioned apparatus to the consumption of smoke.

page_text: In using the above-mentioned apparatus for the manufacture of coke
adapted for manufacturing purposes, I obtain and secure, during such process,
gas fit for illumination, as also bituminous and ammoniacal products which,.by.
the modles heretofore commonly practised of manufacturing coke, have been.
allowed to escape, and thereby become lost.
And in using the said apparatus for the manufacture of illuminating gas, I
obtain, during such process, manufacturing coke, instead of household coke,.
and I not only economize the retorts (requiring fewer than heretofore), but
also the fuel employed for heating the same, and at the same time obtain a
larger quantity of illuminating gas and coke adapted for manufacturing
purposes than by the means heretofore employed of manufacturing gas by
the distillation of pit coal.
The following will be found a convenient construction of apparatus for
effecting the objects of this Invention:-First, as regards the apparatus for
the manufacture of coke and gas, it consists of four furnaces set in pairs in
brickwork, back to back, an opening being formed at the top of each, com-
municating by a flue to a chimney or chimnies, the above openings serving
also for charging the furnaces with the material or substance to be distilled;
the lower part of the opening is luted and made air-tight by a bonnet or cover
immersed in fine sand, and the upper part of said opening is covered with a fire-
brick or tile. There is a vertical flue in which the flames from the other three
furnaces collect when such said furnaces are not extracting. Under the scle
of each furnace a circulating flue is built, and communicates with another flue
or flues for conducting the heat from the three last-mentioned furnaces under
the sole of that furnace which is extracting; the above flues are provided with
suitable dampers for regulating the heat and diverting its course, when neces-
sary. There is a pipe in the crown of each furnace connected at top to a
vessel containing liquid, into which the gaseous and other products pass by
means of hydraulic valves fixed to the top of the said vessel; one of these
valves is employed for regulating the pressure in the furnaces, and for
establishing or cutting off, as desired, the communication between one or other
of them, and an artificial draught apparatus hereafter described, and the other
valve communicates with the gasometer; the above valves are furnished with.
appliances for actuating them by hand. Each of the above vessels is furnished
with a syphon pipe for maintaining the liquid in the same at an uniform level.
Secondly, as regards the blasting, it consists of an artificial draught apparatus
composed of two cylinders, one placed within the other, and a loose piston or
hollow cylinder closed at top, the lower edge whereof dips in water contained
between the two cylinders. In connection with the above cylinders, there is a

page_text: branch pipe, one part of which passes through the top of the outer cylinder, to
which it is connected by a flanch; said pipe also passes through a hole in the
top of the piston, which slides up and down the same. There are two other
branches to said branch pipe, the lower-ends of which are respectively fixed to
two separate vessels containing water; one of the aforesaid pipes dips into the
water, and the other one is simply fixed to the top of the box! Into an opening
in another part of the top of each of the aforesaid boxes another pipe is fixed,
one of such pipes dips into the water in that box in which the before men-
tioned branch pipe does not dip, and the pipe of the other box is simply fixed
to the top thereof; the above apparatus is connected to another similar
apparatus, and motion imparted alternately to the piston thereof by a vibrating
beam connected thereto, or in any other convenient manner.
i
And as regards the consumption of snioke, the artificial draught' apparatus
lastly above mentioned may be used with advantage for that purpose.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now
proceed to describe the best means 'I am acquainted with for carrying the same
into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked thereon
respectively, as follows:-
:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
At Sheets 1 and 2, A1, A2, A3, A4, are coke ovens; B, chimney, serving also
for-charging the ovens, with the material or substance to be operated upon;
Bwrought-iron bonnet plunged in fine sand at as a luting; B.
,, a refrac-
tory fire-lump for closing the opening at top of the chimney; C, vertical
chimney, in which the flames unite from those furnaces which are not extracting;
C', circular chimney; C, another circular chimney, conducting. the flames
from three of the furnaces under the sole of the fourth one, which is.extracting.;
C, conduits of the flames under the soles.C"!; CI, conduits of the flames from
one furnace to another'; D, D, D,'entrance of the flames from the main
chimney E, E, F, F; H, pipe for conducting the gas, as also the; bituminous
and ammoniacal products, "into 'the vessel' J; G, G, and I, I dampers;
K, hydraulic valve for regulating the pressure in the furnaces and establishing
or cutting off the communication with an artificial draught apparatus exhibited
át Sheet 5, the construction of which is herein-after fully described; K³, hydraulic
pressure regulating valve, cominunicating with the gasometer; L, syphon, for
maintaining the level of the liquid in the vessel J; M, entrance or opening to
the furnaces, serving also for discharging the coke therefrom; N, cast-iron
plate for closing the opening M by means of the
pressure screw 0; P, opening

page_text: for the admission of air to the furnaces; Q, bed of sand between the arches of
the furnaces.··
At Sheets 3 and 4, A, A, are coke ovens or furnaces ;. B, B, chimney con-
ducting the flame, under the soles thereof; C; C, openings for charging the
said furnaces with the material or substance to be operated upon; B'; B',
channels for conducting heat to the furnaces in a lateral direction; B", B",
channels for conducting heat to the soles of the said furnaces; D, pipe for
separating the gas from the bituminous products; E, vessel similar to that
marked J. at Sheets 1 and 2; F, pressure regulating valve; F', another pressure
regulating valve, communicating with. the gasometer; G, syphon; H, principal
chininey; I, I, dampers;..K, small:auxiliary coke furnace; L, L, entrance.to
the furnaces; M, M, plates for closing the tops of the openings or chimneys B;
N,. pipe for conducting the gas, to the artificial draught apparatus':O, the
construction of which is exhibited at Sheet 5; P, conduit pipe of said apparatus
leading to. the gasometer. :
At Sheet 5, Figure 1 is the exterior of the artificial draught apparatus above
mentioned; Figure 2, a top plan. view thereof; Figure. 3, à transverse, and
vertical section through the line A, B, at Figure 2; Figures 4 and 5, transverse
sections through the parts FF, and I, 1', at Figure 2. A is the external
cylinder of the apparatus; B, a smaller cylinder, placed within the same and
connected thereto.by a flanch, as shewn; C; a sliding piston'; .D, hydraulic
aspiring box; E, exhausting box; F, aspiring pipe, conducting the gas by the
pipes G.and J to the interior of the piston; F, pipe leading to the outside of
the piston; G, G, aspiring pipes; H, H, I, I, exhaust pipes leading to the
gasometer; J, aspiring and exhaust pipes inside the piston C; K, pipes outside
the piston; Land M, elbow pipes, connecting the pipes F and .F' together.
PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE..
...?
The four furnaces above-mentioned I first heat to the desired temperature
to obtain a good distillation, and then introduce the pit coal which it is desired
to carbonize successively in the four furnaces. During this operation, the
conduits or flues C2, C, CV, are opened and put into communication with the
principal chimney E, E', by lifting off the bonnet B at the top of the furnace.
The mouth of the furnace at which the coke is discharged is luted in the usual
way. When there is no longer any atmospheric air in the furnace, I then
replace the bonnet and close the opening at the top of the furnace; I then
raise the hydraulic valve according to the degree of pressure required in the
furnace. The artificial draught apparatus is then set in motion, and aspires or
inducts thereinto the gaseous and other products resulting from the distillation

page_text: of the coal. The length of time necessary for performing the above operations
will depend upon the description and quality of the matters employed and the
degree of carbonization which it is desired to obtain. The operation may be
combined in such manner as to augment one of the products in quality, and,
quantity, to the detriment of one or other, or all of the other remaining products,
that is to say, I can obtain at will more coke in diminishing the quality or
intrinsic value of the coke itself, or in diminishing the production of the gas,
and vice versâ as regards the several products. In order to ensure regularity
in the working of the artificial draught apparatus, I put the vessel E into com-
mmunication with the gasometer by means of a pipe connected with the hydraulic
pressure regulating valve, said gasometer supplying to the said vessel the
necessary quantity of gas for that purpose, and likewise to avoid the formation
of a vacuum in the furnaces, which a too rapid extraction would otherwise cause.
The following are the operations of the extractor or artificial draught appa-
ratus (exhibited at Sheet 5). Suppose the piston to be at half stroke, and the
space above and below the said piston to contain gas, as the piston descends
the gas which is beneath it will ascend the pipe leading thereinto, and descending
that branch pipe which dips into the water contained in its respective box, as
before mentioned, will pass from thence to a purifier, if necessary, or direct to
the gasometer, and cannot possibly return or re-enter, seeing that the pressure
of the gas in the apparatus is greater than in the gasometer. As the gas is
discharged from beneath the piston the space above the same becomes filled
with aspired, gascous, and other products from the furnaces; and as the piston
ascends the gas is discharged from above the same by another pipe into the
vessel E, and the space below and within the piston becomes again filled with
gas, and so on, at each reciprocation of the piston, motion being imparted to
the said piston in any convenient manner. I would remark that the aspiring
or induction pipes should dip deeper in the water in the boxes than the eduction
pipes by which the gas passes from the apparatus. The great surface of the
boxes is unimportant, because the less deep the pipes dip into the water in
said boxes more feeble will be the moving force necessary to impart movement
to the piston of the apparatus. The above apparatus could also be used in lieu
of the main chimney. It would collect the smoke and convey it to any place
where the beat therefrom might be utilized and the smoke condensed; and this
applies to that part of my said Invention which has reference to the consump-
tion of smoke. After having extracted, by the above apparatus, as near as may
be, all of the carbonaceous, gaseous, bituminous, and ammoniacal products from
the coal in the furnace, the furnace is again put into communication with the
main chimney or the artificial draught apparatus or extractor, which terminates

page_text: the operation. Atmospheric air is introduced into the furnace by means of an
opening formed in the stopper or cover of the mouth of the furnace. During
the extraction of the gaseous and ammoniacal products this opening is closed.
Whilst operating in the first furnace, in order to supply to it all the heat it
requires, the flues of the other three lighted furnaces are opened to bring the
flames from these furnaces and conduct them and cause them to circulate under
the sole of that furnace which is extracting, from whence they pass in regular
succession under the soles of the other furnaces before passing off by the main
chimney or artificial draught apparatus; and in this order the furnaces are
successively put into action one at a time. By the above arrangement, it will
appear evident that the heat is employed with economy to the required degree
for heating the furnace which is extracting.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention of
"Improved apparatus for the manufacture of coke, and for blasting, also
for the production and extraction of illuminating and combustible gas,
as well as ammoniacal and bituminous matters, part of such apparatus
being applicable to the consumption of smoke," together with the best means
I am acquainted with for carrying the same into practical effect, I would
remark, in conclusion, that what I claim as my Invention is, firstly, the
general arrangement of the entire apparatus for the purposes above stated;
secondly, the use and employment of the compensating vessel marked E,
at Sheets 3 and 4; thirdly, the use and employment of the artificial draught
apparatus, exhibited at Sheet 5, for the manufacture of coke, as also the
consumption or prevention of smoke in furnaces generally, by exhausting the
smoke from the furnace in the manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Alexandre de Fonbonne, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
CHARLES ALEXANDRE DE FONBONNE. (L.S.)
Rue de Choiseul 4
Witness,
AIMÉ VAN LANGENHOVE
21 Quai Bourbon Paris.
a Paris.