Specification of Robert Barbor : manufacture of artificial fuel.

  • Barbor, Robert.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of Robert Barbor : manufacture of artificial fuel. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Barbors Improvements in Artificial Fuel, <^c. X 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 Robert Barbor, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, * and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described 5 and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:— My Invention, which relates to certain improvements in the preparation of artificial fuel, and in machinery for manufacturing the same, consists,— Firstly, in the methods or methods of submitting tan bark, commonly known as tan, to various processes, so as to produce, when combined with resin oil, a cheap and convenient fuel for the purpose of lighting or kindling fires. I would remark, before proceeding to describe the leading features of this my said Invention, that I am aware artificial fuel, composed wholly or partly of tan, peat turf, and other like vegetable substances, has before been prepared for various purposes, with numerous hydro-carbons held in combination with them by saturation or otherwise. It is my intention, therefore, to confine myself to the employment of common tan and resin oil, and to the treatment of such compounds, by which process of manufacture a saving of much time and ^0 expense is obtained. That my Invention may be clearly understood, I will now proceed more fully to describe the same. Firstly, the tan or bark to be prepared is submitted to a bruising or crushing process, for the purpose of separating the fibrous and other particles of 25 which it is composed, and rendering it easier for moulding and manufacturing into fuel. This, in practice, I prefer doing by exposing the tan, previously moistened with water or other liquids, to be continually trodden down by the feet of a horse, which operation reduces the tan to a proper pulpy con¬ sistency. The tan so prepared has then to be formed whilst in a plastic or 30 pulpy state into blocks or cakes of convenient size, and allowed gradually to dry in the open air, until the particles of which they are composed become sufficiently hardened and porous to absorb readily any proportionate quan¬ tities of resin oil. The next process for completing the manufacture of the artificial fuel, as above described, consists in dipping the blocks or cakes 35 aforesaid (by means of an open worked basket or wire frame) into the resin oil, in a highly heated state, until thoroughly saturated therewith. The unabsorbed carbonaceous matter is then allowed to drain, and the blocks or cakes, when dried by exposure to the air, are fit for use.