358 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[NOVEMBBR, 



ARTIFICIAL FUEL. 



Fkank Hills, of Deplford, in the County of Kent, Manufacturing Chemist, 

 for *' Certain improved jftcans of proiltichi;; or mnrMfactnriTi^ Artijicial Coal or 

 Fuel and other useful products connected tlierewith. — Granted February 17 ; 

 Enrolled August, 1845. 



The invention consists in an improved method of manufacturing artificial 

 coal or fuel from peat, jieat moss, or peat hog, and also in producing or ob- 

 taining from those substances naphtha or pyroligneous spirit, and acetic or 

 pyrotigneous acid in the following manner : — 



Dried peat, either pressed or unpressed, is put into cylinders or retorts, 

 similar to those used in the distillation of wood, connected with a refrigerat- 

 ing apparatu.s. These cylinders are kept at a heat a little below redness by 

 fires lighted under them, and after they are charged with peat the doors are 

 luted up, and tlic distillation of the peat is carried on, and in the course of 

 the process the volati'e products of the peat are driven off, and the peat char- 

 coal is left in the cylinders. Tb.e volatile products, consisting principally of 

 weak pyroligneous or acetic acid, naphtha or pyroligneous spirit, and tar, 

 are condensed in the refrigeratory apparatus in the same mamicr as though 

 wood were employed, which is a well-known proc-ess, and the naphtha and 

 acetic acid are then rectified by distillation in the usual way. The tar is 

 distilled or concentrated, until it becomes pilch -, and whilst in a hot state, is 

 drawn from the still into a shallow iron vessel (perferably kept hot by a fire 

 underneath, )and there mixed with it the peat charcoal, eitherwith or without 

 small coal. The charcoal, if not sufHciently small, must be ground or 

 crushed, and as much of it mixed with the pitch as will combine with it. 

 It may then be taken out of the vessel with a shovel and be put in lumps to 

 cop', when it will become dry and brittle. Coal tar, made into pitch, may be 

 added whilst hot to the peat pitch, if desired. The claim is first for the 

 manufacture of artificial coal or fuel, by the mixture of charcoal obtained 

 from distillation of peat in cylinders or retorts, with pitch obtained from 

 the same material, with or without the addition of mineral pilch or of small 

 coal : secondly, the manufacture of pyroligneous or acetic acid, and of naphtha 

 or pyroligneous spirit, by the distillation of peat or bog earth. 



PAPER TO PREVENT FRAUD. 



Arthur Varnham, of No. 61, Strand, stationer, for " Improvevients in the 

 manufacture of Paper in order to prevent Fraud, which I intend to call * Safety 

 and Protective Paper." — Granted February 4 ; Enrolled August, 1843. 



This invention consists of a coloured or test sheet of paper, covered with 

 a white sheet or surface, or a delicate coloured sheet or surface, on one or 

 both sides, as follows :— The rags for the coloured test, having been reduced 

 into half stuff, and, if necessary, bleached, is then filled into the beating en- 

 gine, which should have steel or brass bios and fittings, according to the 

 colour required for the coloured test, or middle sheet. When the engine is 

 half beat, colouring matter, as hereinafter set forth, is to be added. The 

 engine is then reduced to pulp, and emptied into chest called No. 2. The 

 colouring matter for the coloured test, or middle sheet, mnst be prepared 

 with the utmost' care ; vessels only of glass or earthenware must be employed 

 in order to prevent the delicacy oi the colour being impaired. The colouring 

 consists of any matter usually employed for colouring paper, and also of all 

 others susceptible of change from chemical action. The rags for the outer 

 sbeetsiare of a more tender kind ; having been reduced into half stuff, and, 

 if necessary, 5 bleached. They are filled in the beating engine, and if the 

 paper be required engine-sized, a resinous size is added to the pulp, together 

 with a small qantity of alum. When reduced to pulp, the engine is emptied 

 into chest called No, 1, and if the outside sheets are tu be of a delicate 

 calour, ihenjadd the colour. It is necessary that two vats be simultaneously 

 employed in the manufacture of this paper. Vat called No. 1, is to be fur- 

 nished with stuff from a chest called No. 1. Vat No. 2, is to be furnished 

 with stuff from a chest called No. 2. The vatman will first make a white, 

 or delicate-coloured sheet on a mould of the usual form employed, from 

 No. 1, and deliver the same to the coucher, who will couch the same on 

 the first or bottom felt. The vatman will then make a coloured sheet, on 

 a mould [of the same size and form, from vat called No. 2 {the colour vat J 

 and deliver the same to the coucher, who will couch the same on the wliite' 

 or delicate-coloured sheet or suJface, made frcm vat called No. I. The 

 coucher will then place a felt upon the table thus made. But should the test 

 or coloured sheet be recjuired to have another white or delicate-coloured sheet 

 or surface, the vatman will then make a sheet or surface on the ffrs: mould 

 from vat called No. 1 and No. 2. thereby placing the coloured or test sheet 

 iii the centre of two while or delicate-coloured sheets or surfaces. The 

 coucher will then place a felt upon the paper thus made. The vatraan and 

 c'oucher will then continue to complete the post of felts in the same manner. 

 The post having been well pressed, the pack pressing, parting, drying, size- 

 iug (if necessary} is tu be performed in the usual manner, and with the 

 modes of iSizeing usually employed with coloured paper. 

 . The pulp intended for the test sheet, and outside sheet, having been pre- 



pared in the manner described, are both caused to flow from the chests into 

 the sewers ; thence on to the wires attached to them, thence to the marking 

 dandy, and then in the usual manner to the couch rolls, where the test or 

 coloured sheet, with one or more white or delicate sheets, surface or sur- 

 faces, now unile in a compact body. The sheet of paper thus united and 

 formeil, then passes on to the felt, and is pressed, dried, and finished in 

 the usual manner. 



The object of the invention is, to protect the test or colou«ed sheet from 

 being tampered with by chemical agents employee to obliterate writings ; 

 and to prevent the using of any sharp instrument or rubbers for scraping or 

 erasing writing. As. should any chemical agent be employed, the test or 

 coloured sheet would be so changed as to alter conspicuously the former 

 appearance of the paper ; and the white, or delicate sheet would be like- 

 wise imbued with a stain or colour produced by the action of those chemi- 

 cal agents on, and thence from, the colour of the test shea,. The result, 

 therefore, would destroy the appearance of both, viz., the outer white or 

 delicate-coloured sheet, and the test or [coloured sheet. Tliis beiag done, 

 it would be impossible to make the said Safety and Protective Paper 

 assume its original appearance ; for, if it be attempted to whiten or renew 

 the delicate colour of the outer sheet or sheets, surface or surfaces, it would 

 thereby completely destroy the appearance of the test or coloured sheet ; 

 and if attempted to colour the test sheet, it would likewise produce a 

 darker colour on the white or delicate onter sheet. The one is a protec- 

 tion to the other. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN MATHEMATICAL INSTRUMENTS. 



AViLLiAM Peter Piggott, of No. 11. Wardrobe-place, Doctors' Commons, 

 in the city of London, mathematical instrument maker, for '' Improvements in 

 mathematical, optical and astronomical instruments, and in the mode of manufac- 

 turing dials and other graduated plates." — Granted April 17; Enrolled Oclo- 

 ber 17, 1845. 



The specification is as follows : — These improvements in the construction 

 of mathematical, nautical, optical and astronomical instruments, and in the 

 mode of manufacturing dials and other graduated plates, consist in the ap- 

 plication of the electrotype process, whereby I am enabled to produce certain 

 parts of such instruments hereinafter described in a more expeditious and 

 economical manner than by the ordinary process. Before describing the 

 particulars of my invention it may be well to state that the present mode of 

 manufacturing or producing graduated plates such as those employed or used 

 for barometers, thermometers, quadrants, compass sun dials, clocks, and such 

 like instruments requiring plates accurately divided or graduated, is by the 

 ordinary process of engraving or dividing, or dividing and engraving, and by 

 which process it is very probable that after having produced two or more 

 similar plates that on close inspection a material difference in some of the 

 graduations may be detected, and as it is of great importance that gradaated 

 plates nr scales such as those employed in reducing and laying down me- 

 chanical drawings, and also the scale of chains used for surveying purposes, 

 together with those already named should be correctly divided, and moreover 

 that the several divisions or graduations should in each and every plate or 

 scale be the same one to another, it is desirable to employ some other process 

 than that at present [iractised, in order that each and every plate or scale 

 produced may be a perfect iac-simile of the original, which may be effected 

 by the improvement that constitutes the first part of my invention, which is 

 as follows — that is to say, in order to produce graduated plates such as those 

 already named, I, in the first place, prepare a plate of suitable size for the 

 purpose intended, and engrave upon its surface such graduations and figures 

 or designs as may be necessary to render the same useful and ornamental : 

 this pri cess, as there is never but one of each sort required, should be done 

 in the first style of art and as correctly as possible, especially as regards the 

 divisions and subdivisions ; having done this. I next obtain a matrix or mould 

 in a composition of wax. and from this mould I obtain by means of the elec- 

 trotype process, wdiich is well understood and need not therefore be described, 

 any number of similar plates in copper or other suitable metal capable of being 

 deposited by meai.s of the electrotype process ; or in place of obtaining a 

 mould in wax or other suitable composition, the same may be made in copper 

 from the original engraved plate by the afores.aid electrot;|ie process, which 

 will be more durable, and from which mould almost any number of plates 

 may with care be obtained. After the plates have been produced in the man- 

 ner hereinbefore described, I afterwards finish them in the ordinary manner 

 by silvering, which may also be done by the electrotype process, but 1 prefer 

 the ordinary process of silvering as it may be effected with less expense. It 

 will, therefore, be observed that by the application of the electrotype process 

 I obtain the follow ing important result, namely, that each and every plate so 

 produced must necessarily be fac-similesof the original, and therefore correct, 

 if proper attention has been paid tu the production of the first plate, which 

 I always preserve for the purpose of obtaining the mould or moulds from 

 which I afterwards obtain the plates, in the manner and for the purpose here- 



