IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Parkes, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF STEEL."
Scaled the 15th September 1870, and dated the 9th April 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Parkes at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 9th April 1870.
I, ALEXANDER PARKES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL," to be as follows:―
First. This Invention consists in the conversion of iron, by preference
wrought iron of good quality, or rich iron ores, or oxides thereof, directly
into steel, by adding, together with carbon, nickel, either alone or with
speigel cisen, copper, zinc, brass, manganesc, chromium, or uranium
with carbon. Or without nickel I use copper, or brass, or chromium, or
uranium with carbon; or I employ copper or manganese, manganese
and iron, chromium, or uranium and copper, nickel, or chromium.

page_text: Second. To improve the quality of the ordinary cast steel of commerce
I employ speigel eisen and nickel, or copper, nickel and zinc, or uranium,
chromium, manganese, and iron separately, or in alloy, one or more
together, or oxides or compounds of such metals with carbon. The
substances above named I add to the steel when in a molten state
or otherwise.
The improving substances, as above described, are employed in about
the proportion of from one per cent., or less, to five per cent. in order to
produce an improved steel. The steel thus produced has a high degree
of elasticity with great ductility and strength.
In casting ingots of these materials and other steel ingots I employ
rapidly revolving ingot moulds, by which means I obtain ingots solid
to the centre and prevent effectually what is known as "piping," or the
formation of a hollow in the centre of the ingot.
Steels of the compositions above set forth have a considerably lower
melting point than the ordinary cast steel, and may, if desired, be cast
in moulds of dry sand without injury to the surface of the castings.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Parkes in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 7th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
PARKES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Alexander Parkes, Her special licence that I,
the said Alexander Parkes, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Alexander Parkes, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-

page_text: PACTURE OF STEEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Alexander Parkes, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Parkes, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
steel. For this purpose I put wrought iron into contact with nickel and
carbon or carbonaceous matter, melt these matters together, and so
obtain cast stecl.
By preference I proceed as follows:-In an ordinary steel melting
pot I place 50 lbs. of wrought iron of good quality in the form of small
scrap together with from 1 to 5 lbs. of nickel, a few ounces of charcoal
in small pieces or in powder, three or four pounds of speigel eisen, from
a quarter to half a pound of black oxide of manganese, and a similar
quantity of common salt. I melt the charge as steel is commonly
The larger
melted, and afterwards work the metal in a similar manner.
the quantity of nickel employed within the proportions above stated
the tougher will be the steel, and a smaller proportion of nickel very
considerably improves the strength and toughness of the steel.
Also according to my Invention I sometimes substitute uranium or
chromium for nickel in the above process, either in whole or in part; in
this way I obtain a very hard and tough metal. I employ these metals
in the form of oxide with sufficient carbon to reduce the oxide to the
metallic state in the melting process.
Also according to my Invention I substitute brass or copper for nickel
in the first-mentioned process, either in whole or in part, a very good
metal results from the use with 50 lbs. of wrought iron with 5 or 6
pounds of brass, and half a pound of nickel. Also from the use with
50 lbs. of wrought iron, of 1 lb. of copper, and 1lb. of nickel, or ½ lb.
of nickel and ½ lb. of copper.

page_text: Also according to my Invention I obtain cast steel of improved quality
by taking ordinary blister steel, or it may be cast steel of inferior quality,
and treating it as herein-before described in respect to wrought iron; the
carbon may be in whole or in part omitted. Or I treat molten steel in
the Bessemer converter to obtain the improved quality by adding the
substances, as above named, when the blowing is finished or partly
finished. Steel produced in these manners melts easily and is remarkably
fluid, and in consequence clean castings may be obtained of such metals
in sand moulds, or other moulds. By preference I cast under pressure
into clay moulds well baked.
I claim the manufacture of cast steel by placing wrought iron in
contact with nickel, uranium, chromium, brass, or copper and carbon or
carbonaceous matter, and melting the metal substantially as described.
I also claim the treatment of steel to improve its quality with nickel,
uranium, chromium, brass, or copper, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Parkes, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
ALEXANDER PARKES. (L.S.)