MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Pettitt, of Cheltenham, in the County of Glou-
" IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
cester, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of
MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Pettitt at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th July 1878.
EDWIN PETTITT, of Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester, Civil Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN."
My Invention of "Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron and in Apparatus
Employed therein," consists in the mixing and incorporation of certain materials and
ingredients with molten iron while in a liquid state, for the purpose of preventing
the crystallization of the metal and causing it to become formed into iron of a
fibrous nature.
The molten iron is run into a ladle or other suitable receiver, and the materials
and ingredients herein-after mentioned, or one or more of them, are added thereto
and incorporated and mixed therewith by means of a mechanical stirrer or by a
blast of air until the mass assumes a thickened or pasty consistency, when it is
tapped off into or transferred to suitable moulds to cool and solidify, or taken
when at a suitable heat and consistency to the squeezer, the hammer, or the rolls,
according to its nature and fitness for either process.
The mechanical stirrer which I prefer to employ for the purpose of my Invention
is composed of two or more radial arms affixed to a vertical shaft, which being
made to revolve effectively incorporates and mixes the materials and ingredients
with the metal. Either the ladle with the molten metal may be lifted up to the
stirrer, or if more convenient the stirrer is lowered into the ladle.
Or instead of employing a mechanical stirrer the mixing operation may be
effected by forcing the foreign materials and ingredients into and through the mass

page_text: of metal by a blast of air, in a manner similar to that now commonly employed in
the manufacture of Bessemer steel; but I prefer to use an open ladle instead of the
ordinary "converter."
The blast of air employed in the Bessemer process is used for the purpose of
oxidising or burning off the excess of carbon contained in the iron. In my process
I employ it simply as a convenient mechanical stirrer and conveyor of the foreign
materials and ingredients into and through the molten iron, thereby preventing its
crystallization and causing it to become fibrous by the interposition of particles of
foreign matter between and around the crystals of iron while forming.
All kinds and qualities of iron or mixtures of several sorts may be advanta-
geously treated by my process, and may be converted into fibrous iron at one
operation either from the blast or cupola furnace.
If it is found necessary to expel from the metal under operation silex, phos-
phorus, sulphur, and other impurities chemically combined therewith, I add a
sufficient quantity of dry common salt (chloride of sodium) to the materials of
foreign matter introduced into the metal, or I use it alone previous to their
introduction; but the quantity so used must have reference to the known
quantities of such impurities, as any excess of the chloride causes a corresponding
loss of iron.
In works where iron is puddled in the usual way, and no change of quality or
even improvement of quality is desirable, I use the ordinary puddling cinder of the
place, or the usual materials and quantities of which it is composed; but where
it is desired to produce high qualities of fine fibrous iron I use in a state of dry
powder a perfectly vitrified glass or other vitrified or vitrifiable substance or
materials, as free from any of the metallic oxides as possible, and fusible at or
nearly at the wielding heat of the metal. If too readily fusible I add a little clay
to the powder; if too refractory, a little ground glass, cullet, or fusible slag, or cinder
or hammer scales.
For all practical purposes a tough grey glassy blast furnace slag is the cheapest
and best standard material for the conversion of cast iron into metal of a fibrous
nature. For some kinds of iron such a furnace slag in a state of dry powder may
be used alone, while for other kinds it is necessary to mix with it various pro-
portions of other materials and ingredients, such as forge scales, protoxide of
manganese, clay, salt, ground iron ore, anthracite, or other coal dust in such
quantities as may be beneficial in the production of the particular quality of metal
desired.
If the mixing operation is carried on by means of a blast of air, the air may be
hot or cold, and it is forced into and through the molten iron by means of a
movable pipe, to the end of which a perforated nozzle is affixed, which nozzle I
prefer to be of a fire-clay or salt-glazed ware. Or the blast pipe may be a fixture
and the nozzle attached thereto and removable when damaged or worn out, in
which case the ladle or receiver will be lifted up to it to receive the blast conveying
the foreign matters into and through its contents. Or the pipe and nozzle may be
lowered into the metal if desired.
In introducing the materials and ingredients before mentioned into, and their
mixture and incorporation with, the metal under operation, they may either be
thrown into the ladle at once or in portions, or fed gradually through a hopper or
funnel opening into the blast pipe.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Edwin Pettitt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th January
1879.
EDWIN PETTITT, of Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester, Civil Engineer.
'IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN."
"
My Invention of "Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron and in Apparatus
Employed therein " consists in the mixing and incorporation of certain materials
and ingredients with molten iron while in a liquid state, for the purpose of
preventing the crystallization or agglomeration of the mass of metal and causing
it to become formed into iron of a fibrous nature.
The molten iron is run into an ordinary converter or other suitable receiver or
furnace, or the metal may be melted in the ordinary puddling furnace, and the
materials herein-after mentioned, or one or more of them, in such quantity and
proportions as may be desirable, and in a dry powdered state, are blown into and
through and incorporated and mixed with the molten metal under operation, until
the mass is in a fit state to be transferred to suitable moulds to cool and solidify, or
balled up and taken to the squeezer or the hammer.
In the Bessemer process the blast of air employed is for the purpose of decarbon-
izing fluid cast iron. In my process I employ a blast of air simply as a convenient and
effective mechanical stirrer of the molten metal and carrier of foreign materials
and ingredients into and through the metal, so as to cause the metal to become
fibrous by the minute interposition of films of foreign matter between and around
the crystals or as a filmy coating to the cells, of which crystals and cells the mass
of metal consists, whereby the intimate union and agglomeration of the crystals of
iron formed and forming during the process are prevented, and the character of the
metal is effectually changed, while at the same time, by the chemical action of the
powdered foreign matter, the metal under operation is refined by the removal, in
combination with the cinder, of the injurious impurities it is desirable to eliminate
from the iron.
All kinds or qualities of iron or mixtures of several kinds may be converted
into fibrous iron or steel or steely iron, according to its quality and the nature and
quantity of the foreign ingredients used in the process.
The dry powdered materials and ingredients I use for my process are glass or
glassy slag, feldspar, roll scales, hammer slag, ground iron ore, protoxide of man-
ganese, or any available oxide of iron, anthracite coal, and soda ash, one or more of
them, in such proportions as may be found useful in the production of the particular
quality of the metal desired.
For all ordinary purposes where a kind of pig iron is used, the quality of which
is known, I use the ordinary hammer slag or other fettling usually employed in the
refining or puddling of such iron, and I find by experience that a much better
quality of metal is the result of more intimately mixing in a dry powdered state
the refining cinder or materials with the metal under operation.
If it is desirable to produce pure or nearly pure iron I use a perfectly vitrified
glass or slag, as free from any of the metallic oxides as possible. The ordinary
black bottle glass or cullet, or a grey, tough, and glassy blast furnace slag are the
cheapest and best materials for the purpose, either alone or with a proportion of
one or more of the other ingredients and materials before mentioned. The whole
quantity of such foreign matters so mixed and incorporated with the metal should
not be less than one-half per cent. nor exceed five or six per cent. of the weight of
iron operated upon.
The quantities and nature of the introduced foreign matter are governed by the
known chemical contents of the metal under operation and the quality of the
finished article it is desired to produce. Thus when a pure or nearly pure iron is

page_text: produced in the manner set forth, it can, while under operation, be changed into a
metal of a harder or steely nature by the admixture of a proportion of Spiegel eisen
or other iron as is well understood.
The annexed Drawing represents the apparatus for the introduction of the
powdered materials and ingredients by means of a blast of air into and through
the fluid iron.
A is a hollow chamber of any convenient size or form, communicating at one end
by the pipe B with the main blast pipe C, and at the other end by the pipe D with
an ordinary converter; or if any other receiver or furnace is employed the pipe D
has connected thereto the hollow instrument or tool E. This instrument or tool is
a pipe, having at the outer end a nozzle with one or more outlets E', E², E³. This
nozzle I prefer to be of fire-clay, or salt glazed ware. F is a hopper or funnel to
hold the charge or quantity of powdered foreign matter to be carried into the fluid
metal by the blast.
If cold blast be used the connecting pipes B and D may be of india-rubber or
other flexible material; but if hot blast be used the connections should be of
iron.
If a converter is employed, the chamber A may be fixed at any convenient point
between the main blast pipe and the converter.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First. The mixing or incorporating with molten iron of any one or more of the
materials or ingredients herein-before named, as and for the purpose described.
Secondly. I claim in combination with one or more of the materials or ingre-
dients herein-before named the employment of a blast of air, as and for the purpose
described.
Thirdly. I claim the apparatus herein-before described for introducing dry
powdered materials or ingredients into molten iron by means of a blast of air.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Pettitt, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this. Fourth day of January, One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-nine.