IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Gorman, of Glasgow, in the County.of.
Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN APPARATUS
THEREFOR."
Sealed the 17th October 1868, and dated the 17th April 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Gorman at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th April 1868.
I, WILLIAM GORMAN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN APPARATUS
THEREFOR," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object the manufacturing of iron and
steel in an improved manner and with a diminished expenditure of
fuel.
One part of the Invention relates to the manufacturing of iron and
steel from orcs, and another part to the manufacturing of the same,

page_text: metals from the slag, cinder, or refuse ordinarily produced in refining
crude or cast iron and in making malleable iron.
In carrying out the first part of the Invention calcined or uncalcined
ores are reduced in the upper part or chamber of the furnace, being put
therein along with the proper proportions of lime or flux and coal or
other carbonaceous matter. The heat for effecting the reduction is
applied by gases which pass up from below, but these gases are such
as not to re-oxydise the reduced iron as it gradually descends to the
hearth or bottom chamber of the furnace. The lower part of the upper
chamber of the furnace communicates with a hearth space, which has
also in communication with it one or more chambers extending more ar
less up alongside of the upper chamber, and fitted with doors or valves
at their upper ends for the introduction of coke or other carbonaccous
fuel with which these chambers are kept full. Blasts of either cold or
heated air blown in the ordinary way or induced by jets of superheated
or other steam enter by tuyeres placed at the sides so that the air must
pass through the coke. The action of the blasts on the ignited coke
produces the requisite heat, but the air has its oxygen converted into
carbonic oxide in passing through the coke and cannot re-oxydise the
reduced metal. In some cases the heat necessary for fusing may not be
obtainable without carbonic acid reaching the metal, and in such cases
as much additional carbonaceous matter must be put in at the top with
the ores as will insure the carbonic acid being subsequently converted
into carbonic oxide. By suitably proportioning the coke or other car-
bonaceous fuel put in at the top the metal may be obtained with more
or less combined carbon so as to form the different varieties of iron
or steel. Thus when no carbon is combined the metal will reach the
bottom as malleable iron and may be withdrawn without being fused,
and while still at a welding heat be hammered and rolled. If a certain
proportion of carbon becomes combined the metal will be steely iron or
steel, and may still be withdrawn while in the pasty state and be ham-
mered without being fused, or it may be fused and run out of the hearth
as steel. With a larger proportion of carbon combined the metal will
be cast iron and may be run out in the ordinary way. The metal and
the slag may be separated and drawn off in the ordinary way, or hearths 8
or chambers for refining, puddling, converting, or otherwise treating the
metal may be constructed in immediate communication with the hearth
space of the main furnace, and the metal may be directly transferred

page_text: to them for further manipulation. In some cases spiegel eisen may be
added to the other materials at the top or at the bottom of the furnace.
The arrangements and apparatus herein-before described may be
advantageously used for making steely iron or steel from malleable iron,
the malleable iron in the form of scrap or otherwise being introduced
into the upper or reducing chamber, and carbon, spiegel eisen, and other
substances used in making steel may be put in along with it.
In carrying out the second part of the Invention the slag, cinder, or
refuse which is rich in oxides of iron is fused in any convenient vessel,
and there is then projected into it (after the manner of what is known
as the Bessemer process, or by means of a tubular rod or rabble, or
otherwise) a gaseous blast, which instead of being oxydising like the air
blast used in the Bessemer process is deoxydising, being charged with
carbon which will unite with the oxygen of the ferric oxides and remove
them from the metal. The action of the carbonaceous gas may be
continued so as not only to eliminate all the oxygen, but also so as to
cause more or less carbon to combine with the iron and form different
qualities thereof. The carbonaceous gas employed may be carbonic
oxide obtained from coal or other solid or liquid carbonaceous matter
partially burned in a closed furnace or gas producer, according to well-
known modes, and by blowing air of the required pressure into the
producer a carbonaceous blast of much larger volume and of nearly
the same pressure may be obtained. With ordinary fuels sulphuretted
and watery vapors are first given off in the gas producer, and these
should be allowed to escape by a valve provided for the purpose; and
when a continuous carbonaceous blast is required there should be two
or more gas producers, so that there may always be one in proper action.
The carbonaceous gas may be purified by any known means. Instead
of carbonic oxide, or mixed along therewith, carburetted hydrogen gas, or
vapor obtained from coal or oils may be used for the carbonaceous blast,
or oleaginous or fatty matters may be introduced into the gas producer,
so that the gas or vapor therefrom may mix with the carbonic oxide.
The necessary force may be applied to the carbonaceous blast by means
of steam applied in a jet or otherwise, and by preference superheated.
The carbonaceous blast may be advantageously employed in the hearth
of a blast furnace so as to carburise iron, which would otherwise be
white, and so as to reduce ferric oxide, which would otherwise pass away
in the slag or cinder.

page_text: By a modification of the process for treating the slag, cinder, or refuse
containing ferric oxide, it may be calcined or roasted and then be treated
according to the first part of the present Invention, a carbonaceous blast
being arranged to act on the melted metal in the hearth should it not
be sufficiently carburised. The carbonaceous blast may also be used
with advantage in some cases to modify iron that has been treated with
air, as in the Bessemer process.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Gorman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th October 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GORMAN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Gorman, Her special licence, that
I, the said William Gorman, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Gorman, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 MANU-
FACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Gorman, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Gorman, 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 in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say:―
My said Invention has for its object the manufacturing of iron and
steel in an improved manner, and with a diminished expenditure of
fuel.
One part of my Invention relates to the manufacturing of iron and
steel from ores, and another part to the manufacturing of the same
metals from the slag, cinder, or refuse ordinarily produced in refining
crude or cast iron and in making malleable iron.
In the ordinary blast furnace for smelting iron, the fuel, which is the
reducing agent as well as the source of heat, is filled in at the top of
the main shaft or upper chamber of the furnace along with the ores
and flux. Before reaching the tuyeres near the bottom or hearth the
ores will have parted with their oxygen, and their iron in the metallic
form will be exposed along with the remaining unconsumed fuel to the-
action of the oxygen of the air blast, whereby part of the reduced metal
will be re-oxidised, thereby causing loss of fuel.
I have for a number of years been engaged in developing and per-
fecting plans for avoiding the loss of fuel above indicated, and for
generally improving and cheapening the production of iron and steel,
and in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to myself and John
Paton, and dated the 5th December 1863 (No. 3057), there was described
a mode of smelting iron, comprising the placing of the fuel or a large
portion thereof in a chamber separate and apart from the main furnace,
and the blowing of air through such fuel, whereby highly heated gases
were carried thence into the main furnace, the intention being that
such gases should be rendered non-oxidising by passing through the
fuel in the manner described. I have found, however, that such heated
or ignited gases when hot enough to fuse iron will also oxidise it, and
that when they are not hot enough to oxidise it they will not fuse it.
On the other hand I have ascertained that iron can be fused in contact
with solid fuel without being oxidised. The arrangements comprised
in the first part of my present Invention admit of the solid fuel being
thus applied in the hearth space of the furnace in immediate contact
with the minerals, and it is in this respect that they principally differ

page_text: from and are improvements upon the arrangements described in the
earlier Specification, as herein-before referred to.
In carrying out the first part of my present Invention such thickness
of fuel is interposed between the minerals and the air entering for com-
bustion as will neutralise the oxygen, so that fusion of the metal may
be effected without oxidation. Calcined or uncalcined ores are reduced
in the main shaft or upper chamber of the furnace, being put therein
along with the proper proportions of lime or flux and coal or other
carbonaceous matter. The heat for effecting the reduction or partial
reduction is applied by gases which pass up from below, but these gases
are such as not to re-oxidise the reduced iron as it gradually descends
to the hearth space or bottom chamber of the furnace. The lower part
of the upper chamber of the furnace communicates with a hearth
space, which has also in communication with it, one or more chambers
extending more or less up alongside of the upper chamber, and fitted
with doors or valves at their upper ends for the introduction of coke
or other carbonaceous fuel with which these chambers are kept full.
And in order that this first and other parts of my said Invention, and
the manner of performing the same may be properly understood, I have
hereunto appended a Sheet of explanatory Drawings to be herein-after
referred to, and representing various modifications of my improved
_arrangements. The same reference numerals are used for marking the
same or like parts in the various Figures of the said Drawings.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of a smelting furnace, which is of the
ordinary construction, excepting so far as it is modified for the appli-
cation of my improvements; Figure 2 is a horizontal section, as taken
just above the fuel chambers 1, and showing the valved hoppers 2
for filling in the fuel; Figure 3 is a horizontal section, as taken at the
level of the tuyeres 3; and Figure 4 is a front elevation.
There are in this example four fuel chambers, 1, the lower parts of
which open into and as it were completely surround the central hearth
space 4; valved openings 5 are provided a little above the tuyeres (or
at any points that may be found desirable in practice) for inserting
tools to stirr the fuel should it cake or get hard, and not descend
regularly in front of the blast, and also to ram the fuel hard against
the roof and sides of the chambers 1 and towards the central hearth
space 4, so as to confine the materials to be operated upon, and thus
insure the concentration of the heat upon them whilst preventing their

page_text: spreading into the fuel chambers, and presenting too large a mass for
the heat to act upon. The tuyeres 3 are in this example in four pairs,
and a valved opening 6 is provided between each pair, or in any con-
venient situations for introducing instruments for cleaning the tuycres
when required. The arrangements for tapping and for allowing the
cinder or slag to pass off may be the same as in ordinary furnaces.
The fuel chambers 1 are susceptible of various modifications, for
instance, valve doors for putting in the fuel may be arranged as at 7
in Figure 5 (to be herein-after more particularly referred to), or the
fuel chambers may be continued up the sides of the main chamber 8
to any convenient height, or they may be extended in any convenient
direction. Also when it is desired to use lignite, wood, or peat as fuel,
the chambers 1 may be enlarged outwardly above the tuyeres 3, so that
time may be allowed for coking or charring previously to combustion,
provision being in all cases made for transferring the fuel regularly
towards the hearth as it is consumed, and for tools being used for
stirring, pushing, and packing it, so that it may continually interpose
between the blast and the materials that are being operated upon.
In practically working this improved furnace the ores and flux are
filled in at the top of the main shaft or chamber 8 in the usual
manner, along with fuel sufficient with the aid of the reducing gases
rising from below to extract the oxygen from the ore, and to carburise
the reduced iron to the degree required. The fuel required for combus-
tion with the blast is supplied into the fuel chambers 1 by the hoppers 2,
and is packed against the sides and roofs of the fuel chambers and
against the materials in the hearth space 4, and is constantly maintained
by means of suitable rods or tools between the tuyere nozzles and those
materials to protect the reduced metal from the oxidising action of the
blast. The fuel is filled into the fuel chambers 1 at short intervals, so
that these chambers are kept continually full.
The arrangements herein-before described are suitable for the pro-
duction of cast or crude iron from ores, but cast steel may also be
obtained by means of them, and speigel eisen may be charged with the
ores to modify the quality of the steel. Oxide of manganese may also
be charged along with the iron ores for the same purpose, or for the
purpose of obtaining spiegel eisen or ferro-manganese.
Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, represent a furnace with arrangements adapted for
the production of malleable iron or welding steel directly from ores,

page_text: Figures 5 and 6 being vertical sections at right angles to each other,
and Figures 7 and 8 horizontal sections at the boshes and at the
tuyeres 3 respectively. This furnace is made with only two fuel
chambers 1, and in working it the reduced iron or steel is not fused
as in that herein-before described, but the heat is modified or regulated
in such a way that the metal may bo withdrawn from the hearth or
bottom 4 of the main chamber 8 in a pasty state, and be worked up
into balls (suitable for hammering or rolling) on the extended hearth
or floor at 9 (to the left hand of Figures 6 and 8). This hearth 9 is
roofed over and provided with one or more working doors, and a
chimney 10 like a reverberatory furnace, and is heated by a portion
of the gases from the main furnace. A similar hearth (9) may be also
constructed on the other side on the right-hand side of Figures 6 and 8,
however another modification 11 is shown, which is suitable for working
with gases from the main furnace when these are burned by means of
a further supply of air, which air is heated by the escaping gases being
passed through tubes 12 placed in the chimney, and constituting a
heat-restoring appliance of the kind described in the Specification of
an earlier Patent, already herein-before referred to. When using this
arrangement it will be expedient to provide the top of the main
shaft 8 with a cup and cone or other valve for filling and for re-
gulating the escape of the gases thereat, and for thereby regulating
the proportion of gases passing through the lateral chambers 9 or 11.
The arrangement (11, 12,) may be used for making welding iron or
steel, or for fusing the reduced iron along with spiegel eisen to produce
cast steel, being in that case provided with a dished bottom, as shown
in Figure 6.
Figures 9 and 10 are vertical and horizontal sections of a furnace
which differs from that first hercin-before described principally in
having fewer of some of the parts. This modification is suitable for
producing welding steel from mallcable iron. As the various parts
correspond to parts already herein-before described, and as they arc
marked with the same reference numerals a detailed description of
them need not be repeated. The malleable iron in small pieces with a
proper proportion of carbonaceous matter is filled into the main shaft. 8.

page_text: steel, or at that point a reverberatory furnace may be annexed, as at
9 or 11 in Figure 6; a door 14 is provided for removing scoria.
Figures 11 and 12 are vertical and horizontal sections of a modification
which differs from that last herein-before described, but the differences
will be easily understood from the Figures, and are so slight as to need
no separate description. This modification is suitable for producing
cast steel from malleable iron or scrap, which is filled into the main
shaft 8 in small pieces along with suitable cast iron or carbon, or
spiegel eisen, and the whole is fused and tapped out at the bottom as
in a founder's cupola furnace. In the examples herein-before described
of the application of my improved fuel chambers for fusing, reducing,
cementing, or converting and heating, they have been placed in con-
nection with a main reducing or converting chamber (8). I will now
describe a furnace with my improvements in which the whole power
of the fuel is applied to produce heat, the main or reducing chamber
being absent.
Figure 13 is a vertical section of a combined fusing and heating
furnace for producing steel or steely iron by fusing malleable iron and
other steel-forming ingredients. The fuel chamber is at 1, whilst at 80
there is a passage with a cover corresponding to the bottom of the main
shaft (8) of examples herein-before described, and at which are intro-
duced the materials to be fused. These materials descend into the
hearth space 4 but are confined to the inner side thereof by the packing
of the fuel between them and the tuyeres or air inlets 3. A rever-
beratory furnace 9 is shown in connection with the fusing hearth and
serves to utilise the gases therefrom. The passage leading to the
reverberatory furnace 9 is at a higher level than the tuyeres 3, and this
arrangement for utilising the gases may be applied to other modifications
hercin-before described, such as those represented in Figures 9 to 12.
The gases are burned by means of air jets entering at 15 from heat-
restoring apparatus 12, of the kind previously patented by me and
already herein-before referred to. The air inlets 3 to the fusing hearth 4
are also supplied with heated air from the heat-restoring apparatus 12
by a passage indicated by dotted lines. The air current through the
heat-restoring apparatus 12 is induced by means of steam which may
be superheated by passing through pipes 16 subjected to the escaping
gases; or it may be produced by draught or by ordinary blowing
apparatus.

page_text: In practically carrying out my improvements under their various
modifications, it is to be understood that any arrangements in connection
with the furnace, or any modes of construction of the building or of
accessory details in use in existing furnaces or publicly known may be
adopted where suitable in combination with my improvements; for
example, arrangements for taking off and utilising the gases from the
top of the main shaft or upper chamber (8) may be thus used, also
water tuyeres, and the like. It may further be mentioned in reference
to the tuyeres or air inlets that these may be arranged in various
positions and in various numbers, thus in some cases it may be
advantageous to admit air into the fuel chambers (1) not only at the
ordinary level of the tuyeres but also at a higher level. When a soft
current of air is required the air may be admitted by larger openings
than the ordinary tuyere nozzles. The air may be cold or heated
according to circumstances, and it may be blown in in the ordinary
way or induced by jets of superheated or other steam, or by draught;
but the thickness of fuel blown through must be regulated to suit the
different conditions, so that, for instance, when a steam jet is used
there may be a greater thickness to traverse to allow time and surface
for decomposing the steam and for combining its hydrogen and oxygen.
In some cases it may be advantageous to provide outlets in the upper
parts of the fuel chambers (1) for the escape of vapors or gases which
are thrown off from the fuel when heated and which may be hurtful
or unsuitable; also portions of the combustible gases although not
of a hurtful nature may be taken off by such outlets (and be utilised
in any convenient way) when formed in quantities too large for
advantageous use in the upper chamber or main shaft (8) of the furnace,
and in such cases the proportions passing out by such outlets and up
through the main shaft may be regulated by valves of any convenient
kind applied to the outlets and main shaft respectively. For particular
purposes parts of one or more of the herein-before described arrange-
ments may be used instead of the corresponding parts in other
arrangements, thus the forms of fuel chambers 1 and hearths 4, shown
in Figures 9, 10, or 11, 12, may be used with the reducing chambers 8,
shown in Figures 1, 4, 5, 6; or a similar end may be gained by
transferring the materials after being reduced in such chambers to a
furnace like that shown in Figures 11, 12, to be therein fused with
carbon and other ingredients suitable for producing steely iron, stecl,
or cast iron. Instead of transferring the metal to reverberatory furnaces

page_text: in a "pasty" state, only as herein-before described, it may be taken
when in any other suitable state.
In carrying out the second part of my Invention the slag, cinder, or
refuse which is rich in oxides of iron is fused in any convenient vessel,
and there is then projected into it (after the manner of what is known
as the Bessemer process, or by means of a tubular rod or rabble, or
otherwise) a gaseous blast which, instead of being oxidising like the
air blast used in the Bessemer process, is deoxydising, being carbonaceous
or charged with carbon which will unite with the oxygen of the ferric
oxides and remove them from the metal. The action of the carbonaceous
gas may be continued so as not only to eliminate all the oxygen, but
also so as to cause more or less carbon to combine with the iron and
form different qualities thereof. The carbonaceous gas employed may
be carbonic oxide obtained from coal or other solid or liquid carbonaceous
matter partially burned in a closed furnace or gas producer, according
to well-known modes, and by blowing air of the required pressure into
the producer a carbonaceous blast of much larger volume and of nearly
the same pressure may be obtained. With ordinary fuels-sulphuretted
and watery vapors are first given off in the gas producer, and these
should be allowed to escape by a valve provided for the purpose; and
when a continuous carbonaceous blast is required there should be two
or more gas producers, so that there may always be one in proper action.
The carbonaceous gas may be purified by any known means. Instead
of carbonic oxide, or mixed along therewith, carburetted hydrogen gas,
or vapor obtained from coal or oils may be used for the carbonaceous
blast, or oleaginous or fatty matters may be introduced into the gas
producer, so that the gas or vapor therefrom may mix with the carbonic
oxide. The necessary force may be applied to the carbonaceous blast
by means of steam applied in a jet or otherwise, and by preference
superheated. The carbonaceous blast may be advantageously employed
in the hearth of a blast furnace so as to carburise iron, which would
otherwise be white, and so as to reduce ferric oxide, which would other-
wise pass away in the slag or cinder.
By a modification of the process for treating the slag, cinder, or refuse
containing ferric oxides, it may be calcined or roasted, and then be treated
according to the first part of my present Invention, a carbonaceous blast
being arranged to act on the melted metal in the hearth should it not
be sulciently carburised. The carbonaceous. blast may also be used

page_text: with advantage in some cases to modify iron that has been treated with
air, as in the Bessemer process.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be or may be performed, I have to state that
I do not restrict myself to the precise details herein described or 5
delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and original and claim as
the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,―
1. The manufacturing of iron and steel according to the first part of
my Invention substantially in the improved modes herein-before 1
described and by means of improved arrangements, substantially such as
are herein-before described.
2. The interposing of solid fuel in front of the air inlets and in contact
or proximity with the materials to be operated upon, substantially as
herein-before described.
Also, 3. The manufacturing of iron and steel from slag, cinder, or
refuse rich in oxides of iron according to the second part of my In-
vention by means of a carbonaceous blast, substantially as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Gorman, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
1
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
W*. GORMAN. (L.S.)