142 [Assembly 



passing the front and upper part of the grate in consequence of 

 having a less depth ot coal to pass through; air like water pas- 

 sing where there is the least to obstruct. The coal as it gradu- 

 ally slides from the front is less compact and thus facilitates the 

 draft. The draft through the bottom and the deep part of the 

 grate is necessarily sluggish. The deep grate serves as a reser- 

 voir for the coal that has undergone nearly complete combus- 

 tion, as also for the ashes, clinker, slate and other foreign mat- 

 ter, affording sufficient depth to prevent the fire cooling out, an 

 evil that cannot be avoided with a thin fire of a uniform depth ^^either 

 horizontal or inclined.'''' 



" When this deponent had perfected and secured his inven- 

 tion, he had great difficulty to introduce it. He had to contend 

 with the prejudices of the public against a new article. As he 

 was not a practical mechanic he had also to contend with supe- 

 rior skill and economy of manufacture. He offered the inven- 

 tion to some of the trade at their own or in fact without price, 

 for a few years, but being unwilling to incur the expense of in- 

 troducing a new article, or not appreciating its utilities, they de- 

 clined to accept it upon any terms." " Many persons could not 

 be persuaded that a small quantity, of coal would afford more 

 available heat than a larger quantity, whatever might be the 

 construction of the furnace. Others would not use small coal ; 

 as late as 1835, a lady when informed by this deponent that she 

 must use nut coal, refused to purchase his stove, saying that she 

 would not have a load dumped at her door by day light, as it 

 was a cheap coal fit only for the poor; at that date it was selling 

 at about half the price of broken coal," &c.,&c. 



Sworn to on the 24th of November, \ 

 1847, before \ 



Alexander Watson, Commissioner of Deeds. 



Again: "Anthracite coal has been known for centuries; in 

 Wales there is said to be a bed 7 to 8 miles in width and from 

 70 to 80 miles in length, and yet it is not used in England for 

 domestic purposes ; they suffer all the annoyance of the smoke 

 and dust of bituminous coal for no other reason than their igno- 

 rance of the immense value of the Anthracite and tlie want of a 

 proper apparatus for its use ; that their anthracite is equal in 



