IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OR PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING IRON
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
BAIRD, of Gartsherrie, in the Parish of Old Monkland, and County of Lanark,
in Scotland, Ironmaster, and ALEXANDER WHITELAW, Manager, of Gartsherrie
Iron Works, Parish and County aforesaid, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Charter
of Donation or Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at the Palace of Westminster, the Seventh day of March, in the twelfth
year of Her Majesty's reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said James Baird and Alexander Whitelaw, our exors,
admors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that we, the said James Baird and Alexander Whitelaw, our exors,
adñiors, and assigns, by ourselves and such others as we or they should
appoint or agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention described in the said Letters Patent,
namely "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OR PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING IRON;"
in which said Letters Patent it is provided that we, the said James Baird and
Alexander Whitelaw, within the space of six calendar months from the date
of the said Letters Patent, shall cause a particular description of the nature.

page_text: of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by a
writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, to
be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery, as in and by the said
Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
James Baird and Alexander Whitelaw, do hereby declare the nature of our
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference
being had to the figures therein referred to, and to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
The use of the hot blast in the manufacture of iron is well known and
understood, and various descriptions of apparatus for producing the hot blast,
and various arrangements and combinations of such apparatus with the
smelting furnace have from time to time been adopted as improvements in the
method or process of manufacturing iron; and our Invention- consists in a
more convenient and economical production of the hot blast, and in certain
arrangements and combinations for that purpose. The accompanying Drawings
shew the arrangements which we adopt for carrying into effect our improve-
ments in the method or process of manufacturing iron. On the top of the
blast furnace we construct a heating apparatus, for the purpose of producing a
blast of hot air to such furnace, or to an adjoining furnace or furnaces. This
apparatus consists of vertical pipes having one or more longitudinal partitions
or divisions (we generally use only one such partition or division), which
vertical pipes are inserted into horizontal or socket pipes, as shewn in the
accompanying Drawings. The heating apparatus, consisting of these hori-
zontal and vertical pipes, is placed on the top of the blast furnace; between an
internal and external wall, in such manner that the usual tunnel head building
forms tho external wall, and the internal wall is built so as to afford protection
to the heating apparatus from the direct action of the flame of the burning
materials in the furnace. This internal wall is built of fire brick; with
numerous openings, which allow the heat of the flame to act upon the pipes,
but prevent the flame from impinging or acting directly upon them in such
manner as to destroy them.
The heat of the flame of the burning materials in the furnace acting in this
manner on the pipes, the air contained therein becomes heated to the tempera-
ture required for the hot blast.
The air is driven by the blast engine through the pipes above mentioned in

page_text: the usual way, the pipes for conducting the air to and from the heating apparatus
being similar to those in general use, except that the pipe for conducting
the blast from the heating apparatus to the furnace, in consequence of its
greater length; is fitted with an expansion joint, that it may expand or contract
with the variations of temperature.
The following is a description of the accompanying Drawings. Figure I. is
an elevation and section of a heating apparatus constructed with a horizontal
or socket pipe, and vertical pipes having longitudinal partitions or divisions;
Figure II. is a plan of socket pipe and horizontal section of the vertical pipes
before 'described as having longitudinal partitions or divisions; Figure III. is
a horizontal section of socket pipe, shewing its subdivisions; Figure IV. is
a transverse section taken vertically of a blast furnace, representing a heating
apparatus constructed in connection with the tunnel head, with its internal or
protecting wall, openings, and connecting pipes. The arrows. in this and the
other Figures shew the direction in which the air passes thro' the heating
apparatus to the twyeres of the furnace.
We do not confine ourselves to the precise construction of the apparatus
above described, and shewn in the accompanying Drawings, as the shape of the
apparatus, the form and size of the pipes, & the number of vertical pipes,
and of their partitions or divisions, may be varied.
The shape and size of the tunnel head of the furnace would be varied, to
suit the altered shape of the heating apparatus. The thickness of the internal
wall for protecting the heating apparatus, the size and number of the openings
therein, and the area of the opening of the tunnel head will depend on the
intensity of the flame from the burning materials in the furnace, and the
temperature which the metal of the pipes of the heating apparatus will bear;
but these and other details will be obvious to persons conversant with the
heating of air in metal pipes. By the arrangements herein-before described,
the construction of an additional building for the heating apparatus is unneces-
O sary, greater clear space around the furnace is obtained, and the process of
manufacture is conducted more conveniently and economically. We are
aware that various arrangements have been from time to time suggested or
adopted for rendering the heat and flame escaping from the top of the blast
furnace available for heating air to be employed in the manufacture of iron,
5 we do not therefore claim the rendering such heat available in the process of
manufacturing iron; but we claim as of our Invention the improvements in
the manufacture of iron by the application of a hot blast, produced in a series
of vertical pipes divided and inserted in a horizontal pipe and placed within

page_text: the tunnel head of the furnace, and protected by a perforated internal wall, as
above described.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Baird and Alexander Whitelaw,
have hereunto set our respective hands and seals, this Twenty-ninth
day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and forty-nine.