IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO BESSEMER CONVERTERS AND BLAST FURNACES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Edwin Sherman, of Bucksport, in the State
of Maine, United States of America, but at present residing at
Norbiton Hall, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Edwin Sherman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th October 1873.
I, JOHN EDWIN SHERMAN, of Bucksport, in the State of Maine, United
States of America, but at present residing at Norbiton Hall, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO BESSEMER CONVERTERS AND BLAST FURNACES,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the facilitating the introduction or
injection of iodine or compounds containing iodine or other compounds
for improving the quality of the metal in what is known as the Bessemer
converter, and in blast furnaces generally, and consists as applied to a

page_text: converter in the employment of a separate branch pipe and nozzle
connected with the existing blast pipe, the nozzle of the separate branch
pipe entering the bottom plate of the converter so as to inject the said
compounds directly upwards through the tuyeres. This separate pipe
should be provided with two valves and made detachable from its nozzle,
so as to admit of the introduction of the said compounds into the said
pipe, one of the valves serving to retain the compounds in position till
they are injected, whilst the other valve serves to turn on or shut off the
blast from the said pipe as required. The main blast pipe is provided
with a throttle or suitable valve, whereby a portion of the blast may be
directly diverted into the said branch pipe which may be extended some
distance inside the said blast pipe. The same arrangement of separato
pipe and nozzle may be adapted by slight modification to blast furnaces
in general.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Edwin Sherman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th April 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
EDWIN SHERMAN, of Bucksport, in the State of Maine, United States
of America, but at present residing at Norbiton Hall, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and 1
grant unto me, the said John Edwin Sherman, Her special license
that I, the said John Edwin Sherman, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Edwin Sherman,
my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter a
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 APPLICABLE TO BESSEMER CONVERTERS AND BLAST FURNACES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Edwin 3
Sherman, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing

page_text: under my hand and seal, 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 John Edwin Sherman, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say:-
This Invention has for its object the facilitating the introduction or
injection of iodine or compounds containing iodine or other compounds
for improving the quality of the metal in what is known as the Bessemer
converter and in blast furnaces generally, and consists as applied to a
Bessemer converter in the employment of a separate branch pipe and
nozzle connected with the existing blast pipe, the nozzle of the separate
branch pipe entering the bottom plate of the blast chamber immediately
underneath the bottom plate of the converter so as to inject iodine or
other compounds directly upwards through the tuyeres.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, reference being
made to the annexed Drawing which represents a part side section of a
Bessemer converter with my Invention in connection therewith.
A is a portion of the converter lined with ganister or other fireproof
material; B, the existing blast pipe, and C, C, the tuyeres; D is a
separate branch pipe attached at its upper end to and communicating
with the blast pipe B, and at its lower end with a nozzle box E, by bolts,
keys, or otherwise, so as to be easily disconnected or detachable there-
from as required. The nozzle box E is attached to and enters the
bottom plate of the blast chamber immediately underneath the bottom
of the converter A, and is fitted on its upper end with nozzles or
nipples x, x, directly in line with the passages y, y, through the
tuyeres C, C, as shewn. The separate branch pipe D is provived with
two valves or cocks F and G for the purpose hereafter described.
The mode of injecting the iodine or its compounds through the tuyeres
by the apparatus is as follows:-The cocks F and G being closed to the

page_text: .
passage of the separate branch pipe D, the latter is disconnected or
detached from the nozzle box E which is then filled, the converter A
and its appendages being in an elevated position for the time being with
the iodine or its compounds, and the separate branch pipe D being
again connected with it the cock F is turned when required so as to
open communication between the separate branch pipe D and the blast
pipe B, and simultaneously the cock G is turned so as to open com-
munication between the separate branch pipe D and the nozzle box E,
or with the iodine or its compounds contained therein; the consequence
is that the blast from the pipe B passes through the cock F along the
passage of the separate branch pipe D, and through the cock G into the
nozzle box E, whence it blows or forces the iodine or its compounds
through the nozzles x, x, and through the passages y, y, of the tuyeres C, C,
into the inferior portion of the interior of the converter A, where it
combines or mixes with the iron therein. Near the upper end of the
separate branch pipe D a throttle or other valve may be fitted in the
blast pipe B which by diminishing the sectional area of the latter will
cause a more effectual diversion of the blast through the separate branch
pipe D. The same arrangement of separate branch pipe and nozzles
may be adapted with slight modification to blast furnaces in general.
In lieu of the separate branch pipe D and nozzle box E above
described a short pipe H connected at both ends to the blast pipe B, as
shown in red, may be used, in which case the pipe H is furnished with
valves or cocks K, L, M, and operates as follows:-The valves and
cocks K. and M being closed the portion of the pipe H or space between
them is filled with the iodine or its compounds through the valve and
cock L which is then closed, and the valves or cocks K and M being
opened the blast entering through the cock K blows or carries forward
the iodine or its compounds through the cock M along the lower portion
of the blast pipe B, and through the passages y, y, of the tuyeres as
before.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the application
and use of a separate branch pipe provided with suitable valves and
connected or not with a nozzle box, and nozzles in combination with the

page_text: existing blast pipe and tuyeres of Bessemer converters or blast furnaces
in general, substantially as and for the purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Edwin Sherman, have to
this my Specification set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day
of April, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.