Specification of Henry Bessemer : fuel and furnaces.

  • Bessemer, Henry.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of Henry Bessemer : fuel and furnaces. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/28 (page 8)
    Bessemer s Improvements in the Preparation of Fuel for Furnaces. less fusible than raw coal; and therefore, instead of caking over the top of the fire, and preventing the passage of air through the fuel, as the raw coal does, the regular sized cylindrical lumps will to a great extent maintain their shape, and allow a free passage of air to play between them, by which means a vivid combustion will be kept up, and the formation of dense black smoke will be 5 for the most part, if not wholly, avoided. In order to render fuel thus pre¬ pared suitable for locomotive engines, and other purposes requiring similar fuel, I carry on the process of volatilization to a much greater extent, varying from one-third to nearly all the gaseous matter contained in the coal. The limit to which this process is carried should always be such that the coal is not 10 rendered so dry or hard as to prevent its cohesion in the pressing cylinder; but in order to obtain these volatile products from coal with as little heat as possible, and also to facilitate the formation of the fuel into a dense and compact mass, I sometimes use an air pump, and form a vacuum or partial vacuum in the retorts or vessels in which the coal is heated, so that the 15 gaseous matters are more freely liberated; and being thus carried off from the pores, cells, or interstices of the fuel, the mass is more readily pressed in the cylinder, and its density and solidity greatly increased, and is therefore in the most favorable condition for burning in furnaces having a powerful blast; and from its great density and regularity of form, it is well adapted for stowage 20 where space is of consequence. The volatile products resulting from the fore¬ going processes may be passed through water, by which a part will be condensed and may be applied for various useful purposes, and the remaining inconden¬ sible portions may be conducted through pipes and burnt beneath the retorts; or it may be conveyed to a gasometer, and supplied as fuel for generating steam, 25 or other purposes, and also to be used for purposes of illumination. In certain localities (Staffordshire, for instance,) where coal is found which produces a white dusty ash, it is desirable to prevent or modify this defect by the admix¬ ture of another description of coal, such as that found at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and known as caking coal; equal quantities of these coals mixed together, 30 softened by heat and pressed in the manner herein-before first described, will be found to produce an excellent fuel, burning more freely than the Newcastle and avoiding the dusty white ash of the Staffordshire coal; and also anthracite coal mixed with varying proportions of Newcastle caking coal will be found to produce a valuable fuel when treated and combined in the manner herein 35 described ; but as these different qualities of coal for mixing will be very much governed by local circumstances, I need not further particularize their use than by saying generally that in those cases where a particular property or quality is deficient in one description of coal, and is possessed to an undue