IMPROVEMENTS IN PROCESSES FOR THE UTILIZATION OF CERTAIN REFUSE PRODUCTS RESULTING FROM THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON, SUCH PROCESSES BEING APPLICABLE TO THE TREATMENT OF OTHER METALLIC OR MINERAL SUBSTANCES
Year: 1862

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to George Henry Birkbeck, of the Firm of Tongue
& Birkbeck, of 34, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agents & Engineers, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROCESSES FOR THE UTILIZATION OF CERTAIN REFUSE
PRODUCTS RESULTING FROM THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON, SUCH PROCESSES BEING
APPLICABLE TO THE TREATMENT OF OTHER METALLIC OR MINERAL SUBSTANCES."
-A communication from abroad by Emmanuel Minary and Raymond
Soudry, Civil Engineers, of Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 30th December 1862, and dated the 1st July 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Henry Birkbeck
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st July 1862.
I, GEORGE HENRY BIRKBECK, of the Firm of Tongue & Birkbeck, of 34,
Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agents & Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PROCESSES FOR THE UTILIZATION OF CERTAIN REPUSE PRODUCTS
RESULTING FROM THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON, SUCH PROCESSES BEING APPLICABLE
TO THE TREATMENT OF OTHER METALLIC OR MINERAL SUBSTANCES," to be as.
follows:-
The refuse materials which it is proposed to treat and utilize according to
this Invention consist of the slag and scoriæ obtained from the puddling or

page_text: "
other furnaces employed for manufacturing or refining iron, and in reheating (or
melting) the heads, "gyts," and waste top pieces of cylinders or other castings;
the waste metal worked from ". squeezers, "shinglers," presses, or from
other operations employed in the manufacture of iron, together with the treat-
ment of waste or refuse metal generally, wherein a large proportion of valuable
iron is contained varying in most cases from 40 to 70 per cent.
"
Hitherto it has been usual to extract a portion only of this refuse metal
by treating the materials containing it as minerals, and throwing them into
the blast furnace again without submitting them to any other process, except
breaking up into smaller pieces to render them suitable for re-smelting. The
quantity of these refuse materials, which can be thus employed is very small,
owing to the injury which such materials are liable to cause to the iron with
which they are smelted, consequently the bulk of such refuse materials is
usually thrown upon the slag heap, or employed for repairing roads, or for
other similar purposes. The means employed for utilizing the whole of these
materials, according to this Invention, are exceedingly simple and inexpensive,.
and consist of two operations, first, in pulverizing them by means of edge
runners, stampers, or other mechanical means; and, secondly, in their car-
buration previous to their introduction into the blast furnace; this process
being effected without cost of fuel. For this purpose the "slag" and
scoriæ obtained from puddling and reheating furnaces are thrown whilst
in a melting or red-hot state into cold water, in order to render them brittle
and friable (but "gyts or other waste metal does not require this treat-
ment). The slag and "scoriæ " thus prepared are then ground or reduced
to small particles and exposed to the air, in order to free them from the
sulphur. After exposure to the air for a suitable time, depending on the
quantity of sulphur contained therein), they are dried and reduced to powder
by edge runners, stampers, or otherwise, and then sifted. The pulverized
materials are then combined with coal, such as is used for making coke, and
charged into a coke oven or furnace, and carbonized in the ordinary manner.
For this purpose as much as 70 per cent. of "scoriæ" may be combined with
30 per cent. of rich coal, which mixture will make a coke sufficiently, hard to
bear the action of the blast furnace. The coke thus obtained will contain
globules of cast iron disseminated throughout its entire mass, which will have
been reduced and carbonized by the fuel employed for making the coke,
especially with the hydrocarbons which are disengaged during this process.
The reduction of the minerals will thus be found to result from the gases
which are evolved during the carbonization, the quantity of gas produced
being in excess of that required to effect the reduction of the metal, besides

page_text: being of a proper temperature for this purpose, thereby utilizing the heat and
gases, which have hitherto been completely lost in the operation of coking.
The ground scoriæ "mixed with a small proportion of coal sufficient to
reduce it to a metallic state (which for "scoria" containing about 50 per
cent. of iron would be about 10 or 12 parts of coal to 100 parts of "scoria"):
may be thrown into the same coke oven or furnace after several burnings (of
the previously described proportions of these materials) have taken place, that
is, when the furnace is in a highly heated state, by which these materials will
be reduced, and produce an excellent element of affinity wherewith to form the
beds of puddling furnaces in place of using the ordinary materials. The
same processes are also suitable for treating richer minerals or materials than
those before referred to. Fluxes or other materials may, if desired, be added
to the mixture of scoriæ and carbonaceous fuel for the elimination of the
metalloids previous to their introduction into the blast furnace.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Henry Birkbeck in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 31st, December 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HENRY BIRKBECK, of the Firm of Tongue and Birkbeck, of 34, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agents and
Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of July, in the year of our Lord One'
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign,.
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Henry Birkbeck, Her special licence, that I, the said George Henry
Birkbeck, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said George Henry Birkbeck, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PROCESSES FOR THE UTILIZATION OF CERTAIN REFUSE PRODUCTS RESULTING
FROM THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON, SUCH PROCESSES BEING APPLICABLE TO THE TREAT-
MENT OF OTHER METALLIC OR MINERAL SUBSTANCES," (a communication to him
from abroad by Eminanuel Minary and Raymond Soudry, Civil Engineers, of

page_text: Paris, in the Empire of France), upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said George Henry Birkbeck, 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 George Henry Birkbeck, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
The refuse materials which it is proposed to treat and utilize according to
this Invention consist of the slag and "scoria" obtained from the puddling or
other furnaces employed for manufacturing or refining iron, and in reheating
(or melting) the heads, "gyts," and waste top pieces of cylinders or other
castings, the waste metal worked from "squeezers," "shinglers," presses, or
from other operations employed in the manufacture of iron, together with the
treatment of waste or refuse metal generally, wherein a large proportion of
valuable iron is contained varying in most cases from 40 to 70 per cent. This
richness is increased by a great quantity of metallic globules contained in the
mass of these materials. Hitherto it has been usual to extract a portion only
of this refuse metal by treating the materials containing it as minerals and
throwing them into the blast furnace again without submitting them to any
other process except breaking up into smaller pieces, to render them suitable
for re-smelting. Whatever may be the quality of the minerals to be smelted
or the care taken in making and preparing the bed of the furnace, the
proportion of these waste metallic materials which can be advantageously
employed is very small, the least excess causing derangement and unsuccessful
results in the process of smelting, thus injuring the quality of the metal so
smelted.
It is well known that these materials (which are the silicates of the.
protoxide of iron) do not readily part under ordinary treatment with the iron
which they contain. When at the temperature of fusion the affinity of the
silica for the oxide of iron increases and becomes preponderant, and this
combustion resists the reducing action of the gases and of the fuel, and the
melted silicate of iron flows through the body of the blast furnace, and
combines with the dross. On the other hand the compactness of these
materials is one cause of the slowness of their reduction, the iron contained
therein generally arrives at the stage of fusion without having been sufficiently

page_text: دو
carbonized, and reoxidizing melts and combines in the cast iron in the bed of
the furnace, thus altering the quality of the iron. From the causes before
stated it is only possible to re-smelt a small proportion of these refuse materials,
the bulk being thrown upon the slag heap, or used for repairing roads, &c.,
whereas by treating such materials according to this Invention they are of
greater value than raw ore containing from 30 to 50 per cent. of iron. The
means employed according to this Invention for utilizing the whole of these,
materials are exceedingly simple and inexpensive, and consist of two operations,
first, in pulverizing them by means of edge runners, stampers, or other;
mechanical means; and, secondly, in their carburation previous to their.
introduction into the blast furnace, this process being effected without
additional cost of fuel. For this purpose the heavy slag and "scoria"
obtained from puddling and reheating furnaces are thrown whilst in a melting.
or red-hot state into cold water in order to render them brittle and friable.
(but "gyts" or other waste metal does not require this treatment). The slag.
and "scoria" thus prepared are then ground and reduced to small particles,
and exposed to the air, in order to free them from the sulphur. Alter exposure,
to the air for a suitable time (depending on the quantity of sulphur contained
therein), the materials are dried and reduced to fine powder by edge runners,.
stampers, or otherwise. The pulverized materials are then well mixed and,
combined with coal, such as is used for making coke, and charged into a coke
oven or furnace, and carbonized in the ordinary manner. For this purpose as
much as seventy per cent. of "scoriæ" may be combined with thirty per cent..
of rich coal, which mixture will make a coke sufficiently hard to bear the
action of the blast furnace; but as the quantity of scoria produced seldom
exceeds one-tenth part of the minerals consumed, its introduction into the coke
to the extent of twenty per cent. or thereabouts, will be sufficient to utilize
the whole of these materials; therefore it is not necessary to introduce them
in very large proportions. The coking of the coal and "scorise" combined
will be effected in the ordinary coke furnace in the usual manner of making
coke from coal. The coke thus obtained will contain globules of cast iron.
disseminated throughout its entire mass, which will have been reduced and
carbonized by the fuel employed for making the coke, especially by the hydro-
carbons which are disengaged during the process. The cost of this preparatory
process will rarely exceed the cost generally incurred for the loading and
transport of the materials to the slag heap. The reduction of the minerals
will thus be found to result from the gases which are evolved during the
carbonization, the quantity of gas produced being in excess of that required to
effect the reduction of the metal, besides being of a proper temperature for this

page_text: purpose, thereby utilizing the heat and gases which have hitherto been com-
pletely lost in the operation of coking. The ground" scoriæ" mixed with a
small proportion of coal or sufficient to reduce it to a metallic.state, (which
for "scoria" containing about fifty per cent. of iron would be about ten or
twelve parts of coal to one hundred parts of "scoria") may be thrown into
the same coke oven or furnace after several burnings (of the previously:
described proportions of these materials) have taken place; that is, when the
furnace is in a highly heated state, by which these materials will be reduced,
and thus produce an excellent element of affinity wherewith to form the beds:
of puddling furnaces in place of using the ordinary materials. The same
processes are also suitable for treating richer minerals or other refuse metallic
materials than those before referred to. Fluxes or other materials may, if:
desired, be added to the mixture of "scoria" and carbonaceous fuel for the
elimination of the metalloids previous to their introduction into the blast
furnace.
In conclusion, it may be stated that one ton of scoriæ prepared as previously.
described produces about half a ton of iron when introduced into the smelting
furnace in the proportion of about fifteen to twenty per cent. of the mineral
to be fused, and it is melted without any increase in the quantity of fuel
employed for the reduction of the mineral, by which an increase of about thirty
per cent. of metal is obtained. Thus one ton of "scoriæ," costing about five
shillings in preparation, produces about half a ton of cast iron of good quality,
which puddles easily, being equal, if not superior to that obtained from the
best iron prepared from coke. Iron so manufactured is found to work well
cither hot or cold.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Henry Birkbeck, have hereunto
my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
GEO. H. BIRKBECK. (L.s.)