IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Davie Morries Stirling, of the Larches, in the
Parish of Aston, near Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Esquire,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON."
Sealed the 22nd March 1854, and dated the 6th January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Davie Morries
Stirling at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents with his Petition,
on the 6th January 1854.
I, JOHN DAVIE MORRIES STIRLING, of the Larches, in the Parish of Aston, near
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature
of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE, MANUFACTURE OF IRON " to be as
follows:-
The advantageous employment of the oxides of iron and of other metals
with ligneous or oily matters, when added to molten iron in certain stages of
manufacture (as in the pig bed), has already been described. The object of the
present Invention consists in adding certain salts, such as chlorides, phosphates,
carbonates, and other suitable combinations of oxides of metals, or of the
alkaline and earthy bases, alone or in combination with the oxides of iron and
of other metals, and of using certain other matters, such as petroleum,
bituminous or tarry matter, rosin, peat, and other similar combustible matter,
with such oxides, or such combinations of oxides, as it may be advantageous
to use, and these additions are to be made by placing the materials in the
moulds or receptacles into which the molten iron is to be run.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by
the said John Davie Morries Stirling in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
DAVIE MORRIES STIRLING, of the Larches, in the Parish of Aston, near Bir-
mingham, in the County of Warwick, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord Ono
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Davie Morrics Stirling, Her special licence that I, the said John Davie
Morries Stirling, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Davie Morries Stirling, 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," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Davic Morries Stirling, 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 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 John Davic Morries Stirling, 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 advantageous employment of the oxides of iron and of other metals
with ligneous or oily matters, when added to molten iron in certain stages of
manufacture (as in the pig bed), has been already described. The object of
the present Invention consists in adding certain salts, such as chlorides, phos-
phates, carbonates, and other suitable combinations of oxides of metals, or of
the alkaline and earthy bases, alone or in combination with the oxides of iron
and of other metals, and of using certain other matters, such as petroleum,
bituminous or tarry matter, resin, peat, and other similar combustible matter,
with such oxides, or such combinations of oxides, as it may be advantageous to

page_text: use; and these additions are to be made by placing the materials in the moulds
or receptacles into which the molten iron is to be run.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same. In the Specification of a Patent
granted to me in conjunction with Joseph Leon Talabot I described the use
of oxides of iron and other oxides with sawdust, or ligneous, oily, or other
matters, in the moulds into which pig iron is run from blast furnaces; and the
present Invention consists,―
First, of employing chlorides, phosphates, and carbonates, with or without
oxides of iron or other oxides, in the manner formerly described. These
matters are used in small quantities, and each produces its own peculiar action
on the pig iron. When it is desired to give to iron the peculiar hardened
character consequent on combining tin with iron, I use chloride of tin, preferring
to use therewith oxide of iron as formerly described, and I employ it (i.e. the
chloride) at the rate of about one per cent. by weight of the iron which is to
be run into the moulds or pig bed; and in like manner carbonate of zinc is
employed in order to produce those effects now known to result from combining
small quantities of zinc with pig iron, and I employ them at the rate of from
half to three quarters per cent. by weight of the weight of the pig iron. In
like manner chlorides, phosphates, and carbonates of the alkalies and alkaline
earths are used, with a view to cleanse and purify the iron thus treated. For
this purpose I employ them at the rate of from about one to one and a half
per cent. of the weight of the pig iron to be run into the moulds or pig bed,
and I prefer to employ such matters in combination with the oxides of iron,
as described in my said former Specification. I would remark, that although
I prefer to use the quantities above stated, I do not confine myself thereto.
In carrying out the second part of iny Invention, when preparing moulds or
pig beds of blast furnaces, in place of or in conjunction with ligneous matters,
sawdust, or oily matters, formerly described by me, I employ petroleum,
bituminous or tarry matter, resin, peat, and similar substances, and I use
them in like manner to what was described under my said former Patent, in
combination with oxides of iron or of other metals, and also, when using
the other matters herein-before described, in place of or in conjunction with
the oxides.
The quantity of these substances may be varied. I have recommended in a
former Patent an equal bulk of sawdust and hæmatite, and have pointed out
that the more gas evolved by the combustible matter the smaller, generally
speaking, the proportional quantity to the oxide will be employed. Therefore,

page_text: when using resin and the purer bituminous matters, a much smaller quantity
becomes necessary, and a fourth or fifth of the bulk of the hæmatite or oxide
may be used; but a nice adjustment of the quantities is not found to be
requisite when using such matters; and when using peat or other decomposed
vegetable matters, they are applied in a dry and powdered state, and in about
equal bulks with the oxides employed.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is,---
First, the employment of chlorides, phosphates, and carbonates of metals,
alkalies and earthy bases, in the moulds or pig beds of blast furnaces; and,
Secondly, I claim the employment of petroleum, bituminous or tarry matter,
resin, peat, and similar combustible matters, in the pig beds or moulds of blast
furnaces, in combination with the oxides.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Davie Morries Stirling, have herc-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
J. D. MORRIES STIRLING. (L.S.)