The ground mixture is elevated from the disintegrator to a point above the top of the upper mixer of the machine. At the base of this cylinder, steam can be admitted by several openings to heat the material to any desired temperature, usually from 180° to 205° Fahr. There, a plunger, making 17 strokes per min., compresses two briquettes at each stroke.
The German lignite-briquetting machine (Figs. [18] and [19]) was made by the Maschinenfabrik Buckau Actien-Gesellschaft, Magdeburg, Germany. Lignite from the storage room on the third floor of the building is fed into one end of a Schulz tubular drier (Fig. 1, [Plate XXII]), which is similar to a multi-tubular boiler set at a slight angle from the horizontal, and slowly revolved by worm and wheel gearing, the lignite passing through the tubes and the steam being within the boiler. From this drier the lignite passes through a sorting sieve and crushing rolls to a cooling apparatus, which consists of four horizontal circular plates, about 13 ft. in diameter, over which the dried material is moved by rakes. After cooling, the material is carried by a long, worm conveyor to a large hopper over the briquette press, and by a feeding box to the press (Fig. 2, [Plate XXII]).
Fig. 1.—Dryer for Lignite Briquetting Press.
Fig. 2.—Lignite Briquetting Machine.
The press, which is of the open-mould type, consists of a ram and die plates, the latter being set so as to make a tube which gradually tapers toward the delivery end of the machine. The briquettes have a cross-section similar to an ellipse with the ends slightly cut off; they are about 1¼ in. thick and average about 1 lb. in weight (Fig. 2, [Plate XX]). The press is operated by a direct connection with a steam engine of 150 h.p., the base of which is continuous with that of the press. The exhaust steam from the engine is used to heat the driver.
The plunger makes from 80 to 100 strokes per min., the pressure exerted ranging from 14,000 to 28,000 lb. per sq. in., the capacity of the machine being 1 briquette per stroke, or from 2½ to 3 tons of completed briquettes per hour. It is expected that no binder will be needed for practically all the brown lignite briquetted by this machine, thus reducing the cost as compared with the briquetting of coals, which require from 5 to 7% of water-gas, pitch binder costing more than 50 cents per ton of manufactured briquettes.