IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND REFINING OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Morgan Morgans at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd March
1865.
I, MORGAN MORGANS, of Brendon Hills, in the County of Somerset,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND REFINING OF IRON AND STEEL," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in an improved mode of purifying or refining iron
and steel, and of converting crude iron into wrought iron or steel by dividing
it into minute particles, and causing them to be brought under the influence
of water, steam, air, or any other gases or fluids, mixed or otherwise, to effect
refinement or conversion, as the case may be. For this purpose. I cause the
iron or steel to be operated upon to run in a melted state from the furnace,
converter, or containing vessel, as the case may be, through a suitable channel
or channels, having one or more jets connected with them, through which I
pass water, steam, air, or any other fluid or gases, mixed or otherwise, at a
suitable temperature, and at a pressure sufficiently high to blow the fluid
metal as it passes the jets into fine threads or globules, so that the metal may
be thoroughly divided and its particles exposed to the fluid or gas issuing from
the jet. The extent of the separation may be regulated by the area of the
orifices of the jets, or by the number of jets, or by the pressure of the fluid or
gas, or, as may be more convenient, by a stop-cock. In some cases the
operation described is performed in a receiver to exclude the atmosphere,
and sometimes the receiver is exhausted. When the metal is thus separated
or granulated I convey it to a refining, puddling, or other furnace, or con-

page_text: taining vessel, or converter, for the purpose of reuniting the particles and
forming them into lumps for the hammer or rolls; or I arrange the apparatus
so that the metal may be granulated and refined or converted inside a furnace,
containing vessel, or converter, there to be further puddled, heated, or remelted
as required. The mode described not only furnishes effectual means of
granulating iron or steel, but it also enables me to subject the metal to the
action of any gases or fluids beneficial in purifying iron and steel, and con-
verting crude iron into steel or wrought iron. For removing honeycomb from
iron or steel this process is well adapted, and steel or wrought iron may pass
by the jet or jets direct from the converter if desired. The process is also
well calculated to free iron or steel from impurities; by using jets of steam
sulphur (should the metal contain any) will be removed, and phosphorus
and other impurities may be separated by using suitable gases or fluids, mixed
or otherwise. In all cases I adapt the gas or mixture of gases or fluids to
suit the class of metal operated upon, and the quality of iron or steel
required; and when I use blast furnace or other inflammable gases, I prefer
to ignite them at the orifice of the jet, and allow the flame to play through
the metal. I sometimes force solid matter through the jets with the fluid or
gas in a powdered state, the property of which tends to assist refining or
conversion.