THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Gjers, of Middlesbrough, in the North Riding of
the County of York, Ironmaster, for the Invention of
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
IMPROVEMENTS IN
Sealed the 18th April 1879, and dated the 24th October 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Gjers at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th October 1878.
JOHN GJERS, of Middlesbrough, in the North Riding of the County of York,
Ironmaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
My Invention has for its object the removal of phosphorus in the Bessemer
converter. For this purpose in the manufacture of iron and steel by the Bessemer
process I proceed as follows:-
I blow in the ordinary way, but before the carbon flame begins to appear I turn
down the converter and run off or rake off the whole of the slag that has up to
that time formed; then I turn up the converter and complete the blow in the usual
way. To assist the removal of the phosphorus by this method 1, in some cases,
before commencing the blow add to the fluid pig iron in the converter a quantity
of oxide of iron and manganese, together or separately, in the form of the ore or as
cinder, either pulverized or melted; then I proceed as above mentioned.
To further assist the removal of phosphorus by this method I, in some cases, also
line the converter with ilmenite or titanic iron ore rich in titanic acid, which I
crush or finely reduce and mix with lime and water sufficient to produce a binding
substance that will set. I apply this lining in the form of bricks, or by pugging
and ramming round the interior of the converter.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Gjers in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd April
1879.
JOHN GJERS, of Middlesbrough, in the North Riding of the County of York,
Ironmaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
In the Bessemer process, as at present carried on for the manufacture of steel and
ingot iron, the slag which is all formed-in- the early part of the blow from the
oxidation of the silicon and some of the other impurities in the original pig iron is
-allowed.to.remain in the converter until the end of the process, and is continually
being agitated and mixed up with the purified product.
Experience has hitherto shewn that it is not usually practicable to stop the
process (as theoretically should be done) at the point when the desired per-centage
of carbon still remains in the steel; and the reason I have found chiefly to be that
the tenacious silicious slag does not separate readily from the steel and more or less
contaminates it, and that when the charge works extra hot some of the silicious
slag formed at first is even decomposed by the subsequent carbon flame, and causes
some silicon to remain to the end, rendering such steel, if it be attempted to tap off
before all the carbon is expelled, unworkable and of bad quality. The consequence
is that more or less overblowing is resorted to, which again involves the use of
spiegel or ferromanganese, for the threefold purpose of, (1), deoxidising the charge;
(2), rendering the slag more fluid so as to thoroughly separate it; and (3), restoring
the desired quantity of carbon.
Now according to my Invention as soon as all the slag has formed and before (or
about) the time when the carbon flame distinctly appears, I turn down the converter
and remove from it the whole of the slag; I then turn up and continue the blow
as usual until the carbon is exhausted.
Spiegel may now be added as usual, but I prefer and am enabled through the
absence of contaminating slag to finish the process before the whole of the carbon
is exhausted, and thus am able to. produce a good and workable quality without
the addition of spiegel. But. where it is desirable to have a small quantity of
manganese in the steel I add the desired quantity in the shape of rich ferroman-
ganese in the solid state.
In treating pig iron containing phosphorous I prefer (but do not claim) to use a
neutral or basic lining chiefly constituted of alumina or lime, which linings are
now well known. I then charge with the fluid iron in the converter from 10 to 20
per cent. (according to the amount of phosphorus and silicon the pig iron contains)
of basic material, a mixture, say, of 50% lime, and 30% rich oxide of iron (by
preference magnetic), and 20% oxide of manganese, or other proportion of this or
other basic material calculated to form a fusible slag with the silica formed by the
oxidation of the silicon in the pig iron (but I do not claim such addition of basic
materials), and blow, as before stated, till before (or about) the time when the
carbon flame distinctly appears, when I turn down and remove the whole of the
slag from the converter, after which I finish the blow with or without the addition.
of spiegel, as before stated. The whole or the greater part of the phosphorus will
be found to have left the iron and gone into the slag.
In lieu of removing the slag from the converter by simply turning down and
raking it off it may in practice be found convenient to pour the metal out of the
converter into a ladle, keeping the slag back, and then to empty the slag out of the
converter and return the clean metal to the converter; or the partially blown metal
and the slag may be poured into a ladle having a bottom plug, and the metal
returned to the converter through the bottom hole, leaving the slag in the ladle.
Having described the nature of my said Invention, and explained in what manner
the same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, I desire to
have it distinctly understood that I do not claim the use of a basic lining or the

page_text: adding of basic material to the charge in the converter, either separately or con-
jointly; but what I do claim as my Invention is the removing the slag in the
Bessemer process before (or about) the appearance of the carbon flame, and subse-
quently completing the blow substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Gjers, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-nine.