AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PROCESS OF MANU- FACTURING CAST STEEL
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Franz Uchatius, of Vienna, Captain in the Austrian
Service, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PROCESS OF MANU-
FACTURING CAST STEEL."
Sealed the 22nd February 1856, and dated the 1st October 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Franz Uchatius at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st
October 1855.
I, FRANZ UCHATIUS, of Vienna, Captain in the Austrian Service, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PROCESS
OF MANUFACTURING CAST STEEL," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to manufacture cast steel directly from pig
iron, by melting it in the presence of materials that will determine the
amount (according to the proportion required) of carbon that shall enter into
combination with the iron, and facilitate the separation of the impurities from
the molten metal.
The pig iron is granulated by pouring it while in a molten state into water,
and it is then in the best state for conversion into cast steel. To the pig iron
thus reduced, pulverized sparry iron and fine clay are added, or grey oxide of
manganese may be used instead of this latter. This mixture is put into
crucibles, and the manipulation of melting and casting is proceeded with in

page_text: the usual way of producing cast steel. In order to obtain the harder kinds
of steel, charcoal is added in small quantities to the above-mentioned com-
binations. In place of sparry iron and grey oxide of manganese, other mineral
substances having the same or nearly the same chemical affinities may be
employed, and besides fine clay, as above mentioned, chalk may be used, or
combinations of these substances.
It will be understood that the object of this Invention is not merely to effect
an economy in the manufacture of cast steel, but also to produce that article
of a determinate instead of an approximate quality.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Franz Uchatius in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th March 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANZ
UCHATIUS, of Vienna, Captain in the Austrian Service, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Franz Uchatius, Her special licence that I, the said Franz Uchatius, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Franz
Uchatius, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PROCESS
OF MANUFACTURING CAST STEEL," upon the condition (among others) that I,
the said Franz Uchatius, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Franz Uchatius, 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 (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to reduce the cost of manufacturing cast

page_text: steel by economizing the labor of the process. To this end, I take pig iron of
the purest quality, and melt it in a suitable furnace, and while in a molten,
state I run the metal into cold water, and thereby reduce it to granulated
iron. It is now in a suitable condition to undergo the process which will
convert it into cast steel. This process is founded on the well-known fact,.
that cast iron enwrapped or surrounded by any oxygenized materials, and
subjected to a cementing heat for a given time, will yield up a portion of its
carbon, which will combine with the oxygen driven off from the surrounding
materials, and form carbonic oxide or carbonic acid gas. If this process is
interrupted before the completion of the process a partially decarbonized iron
will result, the surface of which will have been converted into a pure iron,
while the interior parts remain unchanged; or, in other words, the progress
of the decarbonizing action will depend on the amount of metallic surface
brought into contact with the oxygen-yielding material with which the iron is
surrounded. In order, therefore, to expedite this operation, I reduce the pig
iron, as before mentioned, to a granulated state; and further, to economize fuel
and labor, I avail myself of the heat required for effecting the decarboniza-
tion of the iron, to reduce the metal when sufficiently decarbonized to a molten
state, and thus by one and the same heating to convert it into cast steel, which
only needs to be forged to prepare it for the market. The granulated iron I
mix with, say, twenty per cent. of roasted pulverized sparry iron ore and four
per cent. of fire clay, but I do not confine myself to these proportions; and
these substances I place in fire clay crucibles, and subject the same to heat in
a cast steel blast furnace of an ordinary construction. By thus subjecting the
granules of iron in presence of the sparry iron ore to a melting heat, the
enwrapping oxides will first effect a partial decarbonization of the granulated
iron, which decarbonization will be limited in amount according to the size of
the granules operated upon, and by reason of the continued application of heat
the iron will melt and separate (with the assistance of the melting residues of
sparry iron ore) from the impurities with which it was mixed, and also bring
down with it a portion of the iron contained in the sparry iron ore, thereby
increasing the yield of cast steel by about six per cent. I would remark that
the manipulations of melting and casting are the samo as is commonly
employed by cast steel manufacturers.
The quality of the steel is capable of being by this process considerably
modified. Thus, the finer the pig iron is granulated, the softer will be the
steel made therefrom. The softer sorts of welding cast steel may be obtained
by an addition of good wrought iron in small pieces, and the harder qualities
by adding charcoal in various proportions to the before-mentioned mixture.

page_text: Having now set forth the nature of my Invention, and explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim
the combination of the above mentioned materials with pig iron for effecting
its conversion to cast steel, neither do I confine myself to the use of those
materials, as others may doubtless be found to yield oxygen gas as required for
the carrying out of the decarbonizing process. But what I claim as my
Invention is, the conversion of pig iron into steel by subjecting the same
when reduced to a granulated state in crucibles to the combined action of
oxygen heat and fluxes, whereby I am enabled to manufacture cast steel of a
determinate quality, and obtain it at one melting, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Franz Uchatius, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
FRANZ UCHATIUS, (L.S.)
CAPTAIN.