A NEW OR IMPROVED FUEL
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Francis Stoddard, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "A NEW
OR IMPROVED FUEL."
Sealed the 19th March 1867, and dated the 24th September 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Francis Stoddard
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th September 1866.
I, ARTHUR FRANCIS STODDARD, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"A NEW OR IMPROVED FUEL," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This said Invention has reference to the manufacture and use of a new or
improved fuel for general heating and heat-generating purposes, and also to
the means or apparatus employed therefor; and it consists essentially in mixing
the oily, fatty, pitchy, and other residues of shale oil, petroleum, or other
mineral oil after their most valuable volatile gases, spirits, and oils have been
abstracted from them by distillation for illuminating and other purposes, with
coal and coal dross, or "slack," by preference in a finely broken, crushed, or
pulverised state, as an absorbent, and so as to saturate or moisten the coal with

page_text: the said inflammable residues of mineral oils, which in this simple mixed.state
may for some purposes (when the coal is not too finely ground) be used as the
new or improved fuel for heating purposes in essentially the same manner or
ways that small or dross coal is at present used; or otherwise, and by pre-
ference, the said mixture may be pressed or moulded into the form of small
blocks or lumps by brick-making machines, or other machinery which is at
present employed for such compressing and moulding purposes, either with or
without the application of heat to the mixture while being moulded or com-
pressed, and in this form be transported and used in the same manner that
"round" or large coal is at present, as a general heating and heat-generating
agent in fire-places and furnaces. The crushing or grinding and mixing
machinery preferred to be employed is that of the simple mortar and loam
mill; but the grinding of the coal may also be done in many other well-known
grinding and crushing mills, and the mixing may be subsequently done in any
of the ordinary pugging mills or machinery, such as are usually employed for
mixing and moistening fire-clay and other substances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Arthur Francis Stoddard in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st March 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
FRANCIS STODDARD, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Arthur Francis Stoddard, Her special licence that I, the said Arthur
Francis Stoddard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Arthur Francis Stoddard, 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
"A NEW OR IMPROVED FUEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Arthur Francis Stoddard, executors or administrators, by an instru-

page_text: 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Arthur Francis Stoddard, 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 in writing, that is to say:-
My said Invention has reference to the manufacture and use of "A New.
or Improved Fuel" for general heating and heat-generating purposes, and also.
to the means or apparatus employed therefor; and it consists essentially in
mixing the oily, fatty, pitchy, and other residues of shale oil, petroleum, or
other mineral oil after their most valuable volatile gases, spirits, and oils have
been abstracted from them by distillation for illuminating and other purposes;
with coal and coal dross or "slack," by preference in a finely broken, crushed,.
or pulverized state as an absorbent, and so as to saturate or moisten the coal.
with the said inflammable residues of mineral oils, which in this simple mixed.
state may for some purposes (when the coal is not too finely ground) be used.
as the new or improved fuel for heating purposes in essentially the saine
manner or ways that small or dross coal is at present used; or otherwise, and:
by preference, the said mixture may be pressed or moulded into the form of
small blocks or lumps by brick-making machines or other machinery which is
at present employed for such compressing and moulding purposes, either with
or without the application of heat to the mixture while being moulded or com-
pressed, and in this form be transported and used in the same manner that
"round" or large coal at present as a general heating and heat-generating
agent in fire-places and furnaces. The crushing or grinding and mixing
machinery preferred to be employed is that of the simple mortar and loam
mill; but the grinding of the coal may also be done in many other well-known
grinding and crushing mills, and the mixing may be subsequently done in any
of the ordinary pugging mills or machinery, such as are usually employed for
mixing and moistening fire-clay and other substances.
In practically carrying out my said Invention for the purpose of manu-
facturing and using the new or improved fuel I prefer to employ the before-
mentioned ingredients in the following proportions:-In making the admixture
thereof, namely; to one ton of coal; "dross," "slack," or "duff," I add from
twenty to forty gallons (according to the richness of the said coal dust and

page_text: the absorbent qualities thereof) of oily, fatty, pitchy, and other residues of
shale oil, petroleum, or other mineral oil, after the said residues have had their
most valuable volatile gases, spirits, and oils abstracted therefrom, as herein-
before mentioned. When coal "duff" is used, this being generally at hand
in some coal districts in great quantities in the form of a comparatively
impalpable powder, which hitherto has been of very little value, might be
used as found, subject only to being screened or sifted when desired to free it
from any large or foreign particles; but when coal, "coal dross," or "slack,".
is employed as the solid ingredient in the admixture, I prefer to prepare it
for such employment by breaking, crushing, and pulverizing it in the manner
and by the use of the apparatus herein-before described which may be any of
the well-known grinding and crushing mills, and by preference I employ a
Joam or mortar mill. It is however important that the pulverized coal, " coal
dross, or slack," or "duff," before its incorporation with the before-mentioned
oily or fatty ingredient or ingredients, be as dry as possible and to ensure this
it may in some cases be desiccated or dried in kilns, on hot plates, or by other
suitable artificial means, so as to ensure the thorough assimilation of the
particles of solid carbon with the oily or fatty ingredient or ingredients employed
in the admixture.
To further ensure the thorough absorption of the inflammable semi-fluid
mineral residues before mentioned I prefer to heat the latter in an open or
close boiler, so as to give the said residues the greatest amount of fluidity and
consequent penetration which they are capable of assuming; this heating
will be the more necessary when the residues last referred to are exposed to
a low temperature. The further assimilation of the solid particles with the
fluid or semi-fluid residues employed in the admixture may be still further
promoted by also, in some cases, heating the finely pulverized coal. The
mixing together or incorporation of the several ingredients is effected by pre-
ference in a pug mill, or by other suitable agitating machinery; but the
grinding and mixing might be effected at the same time in a loam or mortar
mill, the warm oil from the boiler being introduced or fed into the mill
simultaneously with the pulverized coal. The mixture having been discharged
therefrom and been allowed to remain stored in heaps for, say, one or two
days, it may then be used in this simple mixed state as one form of my new
fuel in furnaces of boilers and for other general heat-generating purposes in
the same way as dross is used at present, either by itself or with a portion of
large coal, coke, or wood sawdust, or chopped straw mixed therewith.
Instead, however, of simply using this improved fuel in the pulverized or

page_text: loose state as delivered from the pug or mortar mill, either by itself or in
combination with other heat-generating substances, I prefer to compress or
mould the said mixed ingredients of pulverized coal and residues of mineral
oils on leaving the pug or mortar mill into blocks or lumps, so as to form a
portable fuel to be used in furnaces and for heat-generating purposes generally
in the same way as large or round coal is at present employed, either with or
without an admixture of a portion of coal, coke, or wood. For the purpose
of moulding and compressing the said mixture into these blocks I prefer to
employ any of the well-known machinery or apparatus, such as at present
employed for compressing and moulding bricks and for other similar purposes,
as herein-before described. While moulding or pressing the said ingredients
into shape I may in some cases to facilitate the operation employ heat,
applied either to the materials or externally to the mould. As the residues of
the mineral oils employed in accordance with my Invention have, as before
stated, previously had their most valuable volatile constituents, as herein-
before named, abstracted from them by distillation, I am not only enabled by
my
Invention to produce the improved fuel in accordance therewith at a low
rate of outlay for the materials employed, but the resulting fuel may be kept
on board ship, in stores, houses, and other confined places, with perfect safety,
without the danger of ignition, which immunity would not exist if the said
oils were used in their purity.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise modes of heating, grinding, mixing, and compressing the
ingredients of my improved fuel as herein described, as many variations may
be made therefrom without departing from the main or essential features of
my said Invention. Nor do I claim the heating, grinding, mixing, and
compressing apparatus and machinery in or by themselves, which I have had
occasion to herein refer to except when applied to the production of my
improved fuel; but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent, is-
First, the mixing of pulverized coal with the herein-mentioned residues of
mineral oils, and the means or apparatus and machinery to be employed
therein for the production of one form of my new or improved fuel to be used
for general heat-generating purposes, substantially as herein specified.
Second, the mixing and compressing of pulverized coal and residues of

page_text: mineral oils into blocks to be used as a second form of my new or improved
fuel for beat-generating purposes generally, and the means or apparatus
employed therein, substantially as herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Francis Stoddard, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
JOHN THOMSON, Agent,
20, Buchanan St.
Glasgow.
A. F. STODDARD. (L.S.)