IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Longmaid, of Inver, Galway, Ireland, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
Sealed the 30th April 1861, and dated the 24th January 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Longmaid at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th January 1861.
I, WILLIAM LONGMAID, of Inver, Galway, Ireland, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND
STEEL," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the alloying of iron and steel with minute
quantities of gold and platinum, thereby greatly increasing the strength and
otherwise improving the quality of the metals so treated. The gold and
platinum are combined when in a melted state with the iron and steel when
they also are in a melted state or in the progress of their manufacture.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Longmaid in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th July 1861.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Longmaid in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th July 1861.
5 TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LONGHAID of Invor Golwow Ireland send arooting

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Longmaid, Her special licence that I, the said William Longmaid, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Longmaid, my executors, administrators, 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 MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Longmaid, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument 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 William Longmaid, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the sanie is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object the alloying of iron and steel with minute
quantities of gold and platinum, thereby greatly increasing the strength and
otherwise improving the quality of the metals so treated. The gold and
platinum are combined when in a melted state with the iron and steel when
they are in a melted state or in the progress of their manufacture.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
I would state that I have found that gold or platinum may be used alone,
or they may be used together. I would also state that I have ascertained
that a very minute quantity of gold or platinum, or of the two together, will
produce a very marked and evident improvement in iron, and also in cast
steel. Thus I have found that the use of from three to five-sixteenths of
an ounce of gold or of platinum, or of the two together, materially improves
the density, ductility, and tenacity of the iron or steel. The most convenient
mode of applying gold or platinum in minute quantities to melted iron or
melted steel is first to cast small ingots of iron or steel, each containing a
suitable quantity of gold or platinum, or of both. these metals, for alloying a

page_text: ton or other weight of iron or steel on which it is.desired to act at one time.
The gold or platinum is introduced into the ingot moulds, then the melted
iron or steel is run into the ingot moulds, and such. ingots are introduced into
the reverberatory or other furnace or vessel containing the melted iron or steel
which is to be improved by the action of gold or platinum, or of both of those
metals, and it will be found that when these ingots have melted and mixed
with the iron or steel the gold or platinium will be diffused very intimately
throughout the whole mass, and the gold or platinum, or both those metals,
will consequently act on the whole inass so as to produce the desired beneficial
results thereon; or the gold or platinum may be otherwise introduced into
the melted iron or steel; and in cases where gold is contained in quartz or
other minerals in ascertained proportions the quartz or minerals may be
employed without first separating the gold therefrom, and the same may be
used in the blast furnace or otherwise. I would state that, with the exception
of an alloy of iron for making bells, I have not found it desirable to introduce
more than half an ounce of gold or platinum, or of the two metals together,
to each ton of iron or steel, though for special cases it may be hereafter found
desirable to exceed these quantities. For bells I have employed as much as
three ounces of gold with great advantage in getting a very sonorous metal.
When preparing iron for ordinary castings I usually employ at the rate of
about one quarter of an ounce of gold, or of platinum, or of the two metals
together, to a ton of cast iron; but if I desire to make hard castings I employ
up to and even exceed half an ounce of the two metals, or of one of them.
When puddling iron I introduce the gold or platinum (whether used directly
or in an ingot such as above-mentioned) just as the metal begins to come to
nature, and I employ at the rate of about one quarter of an ounce to each ton
of the pig or cast iron used. The puddling process is then finished in the
ordinary manner, and I apply gold or platinium, or both of those metals in
like manner when making puddled steel. When making malleable iron or
cast steel by other processes than by puddling I introduce the gold or plati-
num at any stage of the process whilst the metal is still fluid; or when
making ordinary cast steel I can melt the gold or platinum, or both of those
Inetals with the steel in crucibles or otherwise.
In the above description I have given the precise quantities and proportions
of gold and platinum which I prefer to employ, and I believe that the use of
gold or platinum in much larger proportions will add to the expense without
producing any material or proportionable advantages. I would, however,
state that I do not confine my Invention to the quantities or proportions above
given so long as gold or platinum are used in minute quantities to improve

page_text: the qualities of iron or steel. I would here state, that I am aware that it has
before been proposed to combine or melt gold and platinum with steel in
order to obtain a compound metal consisting of steel and gold, or of steel and
platinum, the gold or platinum being used in very large quantities, in every
case I believe several pounds of gold or platinum to the ton of steel were
used; but such efforts or experiments failed in producing any beneficial results..
I therefore wish it to be understood that the peculiarity of my Invention
consists in applying gold and platinum in minute quantities in order to take
advantage of the peculiar properties I have discovered that gold and platinum
possess (when used in very small quantities) in improving the manufacture of
cast and malleable iron, and also cast steel.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Longmaid, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
WILLIAM LONGMAID. (L.S.)