FUEL, ARTIFICIAL. 



838 





iin extent, may be cited rosin, as- 

 phalt, ]> -ir.iU'uin, ooal-tar, ond its derivative 

 fluid, an 1 dry pitch, lime, plaster, starch, and 



I'm:'. A. S. Biokraore, in a very interesting 

 r on "Coal ii China," read brt->ru Un- 

 American Astoriatioii, says that "from time 

 immemorial, in the north of China, coal is 

 irniiind tn du-t and mixed with clay, that it 



i'lirn more slowly." 



I'n l ;<:; a pamphlet entitled " A New, Cheap, 

 and Delicate Fire of Coal-balls," was puhlMied 

 in London by Sir Hugh I'latt. This gontle- 

 recommonded, for nse in common firo- 

 . a mixture of coal and clay, moulded by 

 hand, in the shape of balls. Ho also used an- 

 other mixture, which consisted of coal-dust, 

 tanner's bark, sawdust, and cow-dung. 



Another pamphlet, also published in Lon- 



d.m, in IdT'.t, and entitled "An Excellent In- 



on to make a Fire," contains the follow- 



ipe : 



Take three parts of tho best Newcastle coal, 

 beaten small, one part of clay : mix these well to- 

 into a muss with water ; make thereof balls, 

 which you must dry very well. This fuel is durable, 

 , not offensive by reason of the smoke or cin- 

 der as other coal-flres are, beautiful in shape, and 

 not so costly as other fire ; burns as well in a room 

 even as charcoal. 



In an article on tho coal-basin of Eschwei- 

 '!. I'lere, a French engineer of great repu- 

 tation, states that 



At Lie^e (Belgium) coal-dust is mixed with clay, 

 pressed by hand in the form of balls, dried in the 

 sun, and stored away for domestic use. That kind 

 of iuel is there called hochfts. 



Kven to this day, not only at Lige, but every- 

 where in Belgium, coal-dust is used in the 

 same manner. 



There exists in Belgium a certain class of 

 working-women, who earn a scanty living by 

 converting the coal-dust into solid fuel. They 

 call at every house in front of which a load 

 of coal-dust has been dumped, offering their 

 services. These poor creatures can be seen 

 daily in the streets, always two or three to- 

 gether, each one of them pushing a wheelbar- 

 row loaded with clay, in which stands a shov- 

 el. As soon as tho price is agreed upon, they 

 go to work in earnest ; the coal-dust is shov- 

 eled all around so as to form a circular bed of 

 about one foot in thickness. From 25 to 30 

 per cent, of clay is diluted with water and 

 sprinkled over the coal, which is first well 

 mixed with the clay by means of the shovels. 

 Then, putting on wooden shoes, they com- 

 mence to trample upon the coal, turning round 

 the coal-bed from the circumference to tho 

 centre, and back again from the centre to tho 

 circumference, following each other like ducks. 

 When the whole surface of the coal-bed has 

 been trampled upon twice, the mixture is 

 turned over with the shovel, and the tram- 

 pling recommences. After five or six opera- 

 tions of the kind have been gone through, the 

 coal and clay have been worked to a plastic 



mass. This is piled up in a heap, and, seating 

 themselves on their wheelbarrows, these wom- 

 en proceed to compress the fuel in the shape 

 of balls, by hand. These balls are then dried 

 in the sun, after which they are ready for use. 



In some parts of Germany the trampling on 

 the coal ia done by men on horseback. In 

 tho Rhine regions the mixing of the clay with 

 coal is an affair of constant occurrence. 



At Ham-sur-Sambre (Belgium), in 1859, 

 under the direction of M. Darbois, machines, 

 invented by M. David, a French engineer of 

 merit, were erected for the purpose of manu- 

 facturing, by mechanical pressure, solid lumps 

 from semi-anthracite coal-dust, mixed with 

 15 per cent, of clay. With these machines, 

 lumps of cylindrical shape were pressed, also 

 cylindrical lumps with perforations half an 

 inch in diameter through the centro. These 

 machines wore very expensive, and their pro- 

 duction was very limited. In 1801 they were 

 replaced by cheaper and more productive ma- 

 chinos, invented by Mr. Martin, from Li6ge 

 ( Belgium). These machines, making egg-shaped 

 lumps, met with more favor, as the product 

 was very similar to the lumps pressed by hand. 

 Martin's press is still in operation at Ham-sur- 

 Sambre. 



At Tamines-sur-Sambre (Belgium), in 1862, 

 under the direction of M. GavenaSle, the com- 

 pany of the " Charbonnages r6unis do la Basso 

 Sambre " erected also Martin's machines to 

 convert the coal-dust into egg-shaped lumps, 

 by using 18 per cent, of clay as cement. Mar- 

 tin's press made only one lump at a time. 

 The feeding was very defective. This slow 

 and very imperfect method of drying econo- 

 mized fuel, but required a large number of 

 boys. 



Baudry invented a drying-oven with shelves 

 all around. It required two hours to dry the 

 fuel. Labor being relatively cheap in Bel- 

 gium, and coal selling high, no improvements 

 have been made to diminish unnecessary 

 handling. Notwithstanding the defects of 

 Baudry's process, it is still applied in Belgium, 

 the product containing 18 per cent, of clay, 

 and not being impervious to moisture. Tho 

 large percentage of clay and the fuel not being 

 able to stand exposure to the weather are the 

 greatest obstacles to the development of the 

 manufacture of artificial fuel by the use of 

 clay as a cement. Asphalt, rosin, and petro- 

 leum, as cements, have been found wanting in 

 cohesive property, and also too expensive. 

 Coal-tar and its derivative, fluid pitch and dry 

 pitch, have been the most extensively used. 

 The idea of mixing coal-dust with coal-tar 

 originated with Peter Davey, an Englishman, 

 who, in 1821, took out an English potent for it. 



From 1821 to this day a considerable num- 

 ber of patents have been issued, both in this 

 country and abroad, either for so-called new 

 processes or for the machines to apply them. 



Among the inventors who have really im- 

 proved the means of manufacturing artificial 



