IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."—
A communication from abroad by Emile Guillaume Boigues and Paul
Rambourg, of Rue St. Sebastien, Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 10th August 1863, and dated the 16th March 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th March 1863.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved manufacture of iron and steel, the
characteristic feature of which is that it is terminated by the liquefaction of the
metallic product such as iron, steel, or iron more or less steely. This latter
part of the manufacture may be effected in any convenient form of rever-
beratory furnace or other equivalent apparatus capable of producing and sus-
taining an elevated temperature, such as Siemens's patent regenerative gas
furnace.
For the purposes of this Invention natural aluminous ores and other
analogous ores, or alumina prepared artificially in a greater or less state of

page_text: purity, are employed. The aluminous ores or alumina are employed either
alone or in combination with fire-clay for the construction of the beds of
furnaces, or for bricks or other articles intended to be submitted to great heat.
The mode of operation may vary, or the iron may be melted or refined in
the same reverberatory furnace as that in which the liquefaction of the metal
which finishes the operation takes place, or the metal may be refined in a
separate furnace by any suitable process, and in case it should be desired to
have recourse to a process of that nature for the final operation, the ores may
be reduced direct in a separate apparatus.
In carrying out the Invention the cast iron may be introduced into the
reverberatory furnace either in a liquid state or in a solid state, and then
melted down. It is afterwards submitted to the action of a current of atmo-
spheric air or of gases in which the air is in excess. The air may be mixed
with steam, either superheated or not, or steam alone may be projected on to
the metal to be refined. The cast iron may be subjected to a previous roasting
process, and fine metal may be employed instead of ordinary cast iron. The
refining process may be also employed by the more or less complete action
upon cast metal obtained from iron ore of scorice or slag rich in oxide of iron,
or upon iron or steel oxydized by any process, of oxides of iron arising from
the decomposition of a salt, or from the roasting of pyrites or other oxydizing
matter, such as the oxides of manganese, or alkaline or earthy nitrates.
When the refining operation is complete the temperature is carried to the point
suitable for well liquefying the refined product, whether steel or iron, and after
remaining at rest for a suitable time the metal is run off. The process there-
fore consists of a refining operation carried to the last limit of decarburation
under the action of a temperature suitable for giving the product such fluidity
as to allow of its being run off.
In the second process a certain quantity of cast iron or fine metal is intro-
duced into the furnace in a liquid state or is there brought to a state of
fusion. With this are incorporated successively refined ferruginous matters,
such as balls from neighbouring puddling furnaces, still in a heated state,
blooms iron, either in a crude state or more or less wrought, scrap or waste
iron, spongy iron, obtained by Chenot's process, or by any other process, these
matters being hot or cold, or more or less carbonised or oxydised.
This process consists in forming a sort of alloy of cast iron and wrought iron
(having the properties requisite for which iron and steel are employed) by
heating the mass, and thereby obtaining the product in a liquid state.
The two processes may be combined and give rise to numerous variations in
the application of the fundamental and common principle. Thus, for example,

page_text: the bed of the furnace may be charged with a sufficiently large quantity of cast
iron introduced in a state of fusion or re-melted in the furnace and caused to
undergo a previous refining process, and afterwards a certain quantity of heated
puddled balls are to be added to the fluid mass.
The advantages of the Invention for the manufacture of iron and steel are,
1st, allowing of the refining of cast iron being effected as slowly as may be
desired, and causing the oxydising agents to act directly on the surface of the
bath, the elevating temperature contributing besides to render the action more
energetic and more efficacious for purification; 2nd, allowing of the intro-
duction of the appropriate re-agents, and giving great facility for the utilization
of all the waste from the manufacture or working of iron; 3d, completing
the reducing process direct from the ores, and in all cases substituting for the
mechanical means of purifying by pressing, hammering, and rolling the purifi-
cation of the metal, by bringing it into a state of fusion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th September 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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," being a
communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing 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

page_text: 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 Edward Newton, 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 (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to an improved manufacture of iron and steel, the
essential characteristic feature of the process being the completion of the
manufacture by the liquefaction of the metallic product, whether of iron or
steel, or iron more or less steely.
This process has in itself a certain analogy with that of the smelting of
copper in a reverberatory furnace, which terminates by bringing the metal into
the desired state of liquidity for running it into ingots or moulds. This latter
part of the manufacture may be effected in any convenient form of reverbe-
ratory furnace or equivalent apparatus capable of producing and sustaining an
elevated temperature, such as Siemens' patent regenerative gas furnace,
which the Inventors prefer to employ, although they do not confine themselves
thereto.
The Inventors in the carrying out of their Invention employ natural aluminous
ores of the south of France and analogous ores from whatever source they may
be derived, or alumina prepared artificially, in a greater or less state of purity,
either alone or in combination with fire-clay, for the construction of the beds
of furnaces or for other parts of the furnaces exposed to great heat.
The mode of operating may be somewhat varied. Thus, the refining of
cast iron may be effected in the same reverberatory furnace as that in which
the liquefaction of the metal that completes the operation takes place, or the
cast iron may be refined in a separate furnace by any suitable process, and in
case it should be desired to have recourse to a process of that nature for
effecting the final operation the ores may be reduced direct in a separate
apparatus.
In carrying out the Invention cast iron is introduced into the reverberatory
furnace in a liquid state, or in a solid state, and then re-melted. It is now
submitted to the action of a hot or cold blast of atmospheric air or rather of
gases in which the air is in excess. The air may be mixed with steam, either
superheated or not, or steam alone may be projected on to the molten metal to
be refined. The cast iron may be subjected to a previous roasting process,
and fine metal may be employed instead of ordinary cast iron. The refining
process may be also effected through the more or less complete action upon
the cast iron of ores of iron, of scorice or slag rich in oxide of iron, of cast iron

page_text: or steel, or iron oxidized by any process, of oxides of iron derived from the
decomposition of a salt, or from the roasting of pyrites, or by the use of other
oxidizing matters, such as the oxides of manganese, or alkaline or earthy
nitrates. When the refining operation is complete, the temperature is carried
to the point suitable for completely liquefying the refined product, whether it
be steel or iron. After remaining at rest in this state for a suitable time
(samples being taken out to test the state of the metal) the product is run off.
If the refining operation has been carried too far an addition of cast iron may
be made to the product to modify its character. This process may be
described as a refining operation carried to the last limit of decarburation
under the action of a temperature suitable for giving the product such fluidity
as to allow it to flow.
In the second process a certain quantity of cast iron or fine metal is intro-
duced into the furnace in a liquid state or is there brought to a state of
fusion. With this are incorporated successively and so as not to cause too
great cooling of the bath, ferruginous matters, which are themselves refined in
a greater or less degree, such as balls from neighbouring puddling furnaces, by
preference still in a heated state, blooms iron in a crude state or more or less
wrought, scrap or waste iron, spongy iron obtained by Chenot's or any other
process, such matters being hot or cold or more or less carbonized or
oxidized.
This process consists in forming a sort of alloy of cast iron and wrought iron
(having the properties requisite for the purposes for which iron and steel are
employed) by heating the mass and thereby obtaining the product in a liquid
state after the manner of the liquid cast iron by a second fusion in a rever-
beratory furnace.
The two processes above described, when combined, admit of numerous
variations in the application of the fundamental and common principle. Thus
for example, the bed of the furnace may be charged with a sufficiently large
quantity of cast iron introduced in a state of fusion or re-melted in the furnace
and caused to undergo a preliminary refining process, and afterwards a certain
quantity of heated puddled balls are to be added to the fluid mass.
The advantages of the Invention are, 1st, allowing of the refining of cast
iron being effected as slowly as may be desired, and causing the oxidizing
agents to act directly on the surface of the bath, the elevated temperature
contributing besides to render the action most energetic and efficacious for
purification; 2nd, allowing of the introduction of the appropriate re-agents,
and giving great facility for the utilization of all the waste arising in the
manufacture and employment of iron; 3rd, completing the reducing process

page_text: direct from the ores, and in all cases substituting for mechanical purifying (by
pressing, hammering, and rolling), the purification of the product by bringing
it into a state of fusion.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of improvements in the
manufacture of iron and steel, as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim, manufacturing iron and steel in the manner above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this. Twenty-eighth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
1734UMO
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)