New Smokeless Fuel, 1892

A technological breakthrough was being made in Blantyre in Autumn 1892 which was exciting certain entrepreneurs.

The discovery of a new, smokeless fuel was causing considerable excitement. Though the newspaper article doesn’t mention where or WHO was doing this, the story was definitely set in Blantyre.

Newspapers reported it promised to be a new and important industry and a successful inauguration of the technology took place in Blantyre on Thursday 6th October 1892. A small working plant, capable of making 40 or 50 tonnes of the new fuel per day was seen in working order, producing exciting outputs.

Beginning with the raw material, coke breeze (effectively slack, dross or coal dust!) which was considered a waste product by coal masters, this waste was available from pits in vast quantities. Indeed coal masters usually gave it away just to get rid of it.

But now…a new process of manufacture took this waste and compacted it into solid blocks, with other ingredients which were not disclosed. This briquettes were capable of being stacked and therefore could be transported anywhere. To demonstrate, the briquettes were put into a boiler for raising steam and burned with a bright flame producing good quantities of heat. Unlike coal, it was completely smokeless!

Reports in mining journals from the period confirm that briquette plants were being added to collieries because Scottish coal’s high friability produced large quantities of breeze, making briquetting economically attractive.

Thus ended the report, and despite looking, I could not find any other mention of it. So what became of this? Did somebody get rich? Did it get abandoned? I suspect the answer is about money. I’m presuming here the greed of coal masters kicked in and they started charging for their waste product, and therefore made the whole process unaffordable or that they having access to so much dross in the first place, took control of brick making plants or set them up at their collieries themselves.