IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CAST IRON FOR THE PRODUCTION OF WROUGHT IRON AND STEEL THEREPROM, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edward Alfred Cowper at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th August 1869.
I, EDWARD ALFRED COWPER, of 6, Great George Street, Westminster,
in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CAST IRON FOR THE
PRODUCTION OF WROUGHT IRON AND STEEL THEREPROM, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
The purification or partial purification of cast iron by steam or super-
heated steam in combination with the mixing of such cast iron with
liquid cast iron as it flows from the blast furnace or other furnace to be
afterwards used as cast iron or made into steel or wrought iron.
By the first part of my Invention I accomplish the purification or
partial purification of cast iron by a jet of steam or superheated steam
applied to a stream or jet of liquid cast iron, so as to divide it up into
small particles and act extensively upon such particles for the purpose
of purification, the iron being received into a hot box and transferred to
a calcining furnace, in which it is kept hot whilst still exposed to an

page_text: atmosphere of steam or superheated steam, such purified iron being
mixed either hot or cold with liquid cast iron as it flows from the blast
furnace or other furnace, to be afterwards used as cast iron or made into
steel or wrought iron.
By the second part of my Invention I accomplish the separation of
liquid cast iron into small particles by striking a stream or jet of liquid
cast iron by a fan or arms arranged to throw the metal upwards into a
hot box supplied with steam or superheated steam or with a spray of
water, and from which it is transferred to a calcining furnace, in which
it is kept hot whilst still exposed to an atmosphere of steam or super-
heated steam, such purified iron being mixed either hot or cold with
liquid cast iron from a blast furnace or other furnace, to be afterwards
used as cast iron or made into steel or wrought iron.
By the third part of my Invention I accomplish the separation of
liquid cast iron into small particles or dust by causing it to issue from a
small hole at very considerable pressure either brought to bear on the
surface of the liquid by compressed air, steam, or gas, or by providing a
deep vessel for it to issue from, thus obtaining sufficient hydraulic head
for the purpose, and I place immediately in front of such small hole or
jet a small disc or flat surface of fire-brick or iron (kept cool by water
circulating inside it), so that the jet of liquid cast iron issuing with great
violence against the disc is forcibly broken up into very minute particles
which immediately leave each other in all directions, thereby insuring
the perfect separation of the particles; such particles are to be received
into a hot box supplied with steam or superheated steam, and to be
transferred to a calcining furnace to be kept hot whilst still exposed to
an atmosphere of steam or superheated steam.
By the fourth part of my Invention I accomplish the purification
or partial purification of particles of cast iron placed in a calcining
furnace by causing very highly superheated steam to pass amongst them
to accomplish the oxidization of the iron, and at the same time the
production of phosphuretted hydrogen and sulphuretted hydrogen in
case the iron contains phosphorus and sulphur, the steam being heated
to the requisite high temperature by passing through iron pipes placed
in the chimney flue over the furnace, and through fire-brick flues under
the bed of the furnace, whilst the heat from a fire is communicated to
such flues by passing through other flues placed between them, under the
bed of the furnace, so as to heat the bed of the furnace at the same

page_text: time the currents of steam pass in the opposite direction to the products
of combustion, so as to become gradually heated to the requisite tem-
perature, and they then issue through small holes in pipes or inverted
troughs amongst the particles of cast iron lying on the bed of the
furnace. The phosphuretted and sulphuretted hydrogen gases are led
out of the furnace into the flues carrying the products of combustion,
and are there burnt to economise heat, or may be burnt in the furnace
or allowed to escape into the chimney.