IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Leachman, of 13, Compton Terrace,
Islington, in the County of Middlesex, Colonial Broker, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON."-A
communication.
Sealed the 6th October 1853, and dated the 6th April 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Leachman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th April 1853.
I, HENRY LEACHMAN, of 13, Compton Terrace, Islington, in the
County of Middlesex, Colonial Broker, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON "
to be as follows, that is to say:
The said Invention consists of a new combination or new combina-
tions of materials, for the purpose of producing a more plastic and
malable iron than is at present used.
The materials which I combine for this purpose are common brick
dust, salt, black oxide of manganise, and pig iron.

page_text: The three first-mentioned materials are mixed together in the follow-
ing proportions, that is to say:
Common brick dust
-
120 lbs.
These three materials I cause to be thoroughly intermingled, and
reduced to a state of powder. In this state I use it in the boiling
process to which the pig iron is usually subjected. When the metal is
thoroughly melted and commences to rise, the powder is to be added in
quantities varying from 4 lbs. to 10 lbs., according to the quality of the
metal. If the metal is of a very poor quality I use 10 lbs. to the heat
of 420 lbs. of metal, and as the quality is superior so less is to be used,
in doing which the manufacturer must be guided by experience. The
powder should be added to or thrown into the metal all at once, at the
same time stirring it briskly about, so that the whole gets thoroughly
mixed, and the iron is then ready for use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Leachman, in the Great Seal Patent 2
Office, on the 6th October 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL, COME, I,
HENRY LEACHMAN, of 13, Compton Terrace, Islington, in the County of
Middlesex, Colonial Broker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 2
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant.
unto me, the said Henry Leachman, Her special licence that I, the said
Henry Leachman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such g
others as I, the said Henry Leachman, my executors, administrators, and

page_text: 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,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Leachman,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particu-
larly 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 Henry Leachman, 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:
My said Invention consists in treating iron by means of certain
materials, or a certain combination of materials, for the purpose of pro-
ducing a more plastic and malleable iron than heretofore.
For this purpose I employ common brick dust, salt, black oxide of
manganise, and pig iron, as herein-after mentioned. The first three
mentioned materials are mixed together in the following proportions,
that is to say
DICA CARE S
Making together
-
1,000 lbs.
These three materials I cause to be thoroughly intermingled and
reduced to a state of powder, which I use in the boiling process to
which the pig iron is usually subjected. When the metal is thoroughly
melted and commences to rise, the powder is to be added, in quantities
varying from four pounds to ten pounds weight, according to the quality
of the metal. If the metal is of a very poor quality I use ten pounds

page_text: weight to the heat of four hundred and twenty pounds of metal, and as
the quality is superior; so less is to be used proportionately, up to four
pounds, in doing which the manufacturer must be guided by experience.
The powder should be added to or thrown into the metal all at once, at
the same time stirring it briskly about, so that the whole gets thoroughly
mixed, and the iron is then ready for use. Calcined clay may be used
instead of brickdust.
The use of this compound in the manufacture of iron, as above
'described, will be found to produce a metal of a very superior quality.
And I claim as the Invention for which the said Letters were granted
as aforesaid, the treating of iron by or with a compound of materials as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Leachman, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of October, in the year
of.our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
HENRY LEACHMAN. (L.S.)