IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN THE
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Alfred Cowper, of No. 6, Great George
Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN THE
Sealed the 1st April 1869, and dated the 3rd October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Alfred
Cowper at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 3rd October 1868.
I, EDWARD ALFRED COWPER, of No. 6, Great George Street, Westminster,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL, AND
IN THE APPARATUS AND MATERIALS USED FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
The improved apparatus consists of a "float" of cast iron, wrought
iron, steel, clay, glass, glass of iron, or other somewhat refractory
materials, so formed as to retain or hold any chemicals that it is wished
to apply to the iron or steel in a melted or semi-melted state in
process of manufacture, in order that such "float" may be set floating
on the iron or steel with the chemicals attached or held to the under

page_text: side of it, thus exposing a considerable surface of the chemicals to the
iron or steel. The upper surface of the "float" may with advantage
be covered with sand or red ore, or other bad conductor of heat, in order
that it may not melt or go to pieces too soon in the furnace, and also
that when the "float" is destroyed the remainder of the chemicals
may be absorbed by the sand or other substance, and not be left to float
about by itself to the probable detriment of the sides of the furnace.
The "floats" may be made of various forms, but a flat plate with the
edges turned down and roughened below or with slight projections to
hold the chemicals answers very well; and if the chemicals are of such
a nature that they may be made to adhere to the "float" there may be
no occasion for any projections being formed on it; and in certain cases
cakes or plates of the chemicals may be attached to the "floats." The
chemicals used may be any of the ordinary well-known substances
commonly called "physic for iron or steel" already used or proposed
to be used for iron or steel in the "finery," "puddling furnace,' or
'melting furnace," but by preference those that have a considerable
affinity for silicon, phosphorus, or sulphur are to be used. I employ for
this purpose a new compound in the form of a soft glass, very similar
to "soluble glass," containing a large proportion of either potash, soda,
oxide of manganese, lime, litharge, or other oxide of lead, or all or
any of these ingredients. The substances for forming this glass are first
melted together and then cast into the under side of the "float" to be
used on the melted or semi-melted metal. Or I fix pieces of the said
glass or "physic" into or under the said float so that they may act
upon the impurities in the metal, absorbing them and improving its
quality. By the above described arrangement for applying the chemicals
by means of "floats" such chemicals are prevented from attacking the
sides of the furnace, which they would do if not so applied.
"
"
The above described floats may be employed with advantage in
furnaces for making iron or steel on the open hearth, such, for instance,
as the "Siemens' " steel furnace, or in puddling furnaces.
The above described new physic I also use in puddling furnaces
without the floots

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Alfred Cowper in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
ALFRED COWPER, of No. 6, Great George Street, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Edward Alfred Cowper, Her
special licence that I, the said Edward Alfred Cowper, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward
Alfred Cowper, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON And
STEEL, AND IN THE APPARATUS AND MATERIALS USED FOR THAT PURPOSE,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Alfred
Cowper, 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.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Alfred Cowper, 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, reference being
had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
The improved apparatus consists of a "float" of cast iron, wrought
iron, steel, clay, glass, glass of iron, or other somewhat refractory
materials, so formed as to retain or hold any chemicals that it is wished
to apply to the iron or steel in a melted or semi-melted state in. process

page_text: "
may
of manufacture, in order that such "float may be set floating on the
iron or steel with the chemicals attached or held to the under side of it,
thus exposing a considerable surface of the chemicals to the iron or
steel. The upper surface of the "float" may with advantage be covered
with sand or red ore, or other bad conductor of heat, in order that it may
not melt or go to pieces too soon in the furnace, and also that when the
"float" is destroyed the remainder of the chemicals may be absorbed
by the sand or other substance, and not be left to float about by itself to
the probable detriment of the sides of the furnace. The "floats"
be made of various forms, but a flat plate with the edges turned down
and roughened below or with slight projections to hold the chemicals
answers very well; and if the chemicals are of such a nature that they
may be made to adhere to the "float" there may be no occasion for any
projections being formed on it; and in certain cases cakes or plates of
the chemicals may be attached to the "floats." The chemicals used
may be any of the ordinary well-known substances commonly called
"physick for iron or steel" already used or proposed to be used for iron
or steel in the "finery," "puddling furnace," or "melting furnace,"
but by preference those that have a considerable affinity for silicon,
phosphorus, or sulphur, or other impurities are to be used. I employ
for this purpose a new compound in the form of a soft glass, very
similar to "soluble glass," containing a large proportion of either potash,
soda, oxide of manganese, lime, litharge, or other oxide of lead, or all or
any of these ingredients. The substances for forming this glass are first
melted together and then cast into the under side of the "float" to be
used on the melted or semi-melted metal. Or I fix pieces of the said
glass or "physick" into or under the said float so that they may act
upon the impurities in the metal, absorbing them and improving the
quality of the metal. By the above described arrangement for applying
the chemicals by means of "floats" such chemicals are prevented from
attacking the sides of the furnace, which they would do if not so
applied.
The above described floats may be employed with advantage in
furnaces for making iron or steel on the open hearth, such, for instance,
as the "Siemens'" steel furnace, or in puddling furnaces.
The above described new physick I also use in puddling and other
furnaces without the floats, in which case I run the glass physick into
moulds of suitable size to form pieces convenient for introducing into

page_text: the furnace or for being broken in order to introduce it in a more or less
divided state into the midst of the iron or steel when in a fluid or semi-
fluid state in the furnace, it being advisable in this operation to keep
the glass physick as much as possible from coming in contact with the
sides of the furnace.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings are shewn some of the
various forms of "floats" for holding "physick" which I employ.
Figures 1 and 2 shew respectively a section and plan of the under
side of one form of float in which a disc with several ribs forming a
cellular structure A is employed for more effectually confining the
physick B. For fixing the physick still more securely to the float nails
or spikes C may be cast or fixed in, as shewn. Figures 3 and 4 shew a
section and plan of a somewhat different form of float with a thicker
rim. Figures 5 and 6 shew a spherical form of the float more calculated
to retain the physick while the metal is in a state of motion, as in
puddling furnaces. Figure 7 shews a float of sheet or wrought iron
either circular as at Figure 8, or square as at Figure 9. Figures 10
and 11 shew a modified form of Figures 5 and 6 with an arrangement
for receiving a covering of sand, clay, or other material D. Figures 12
and 13 shew an arrangement in which the lump of physick is formed
separate from the float and is secured thereto by two lugs or projections,
as shewn. Figures 14 and 15 shew a float formed of a lump of
physick B, and a lump of tap hole cinder cast into an iron hoop A,
which has a few nails previously inserted therein the better to hold
the materials. In cases where chemicals are employed that cannot
be cast or formed in a solid mass they may be rammed into the floats
so as to cohere. I prefer in all cases to cover the upper surface of the
floats with a layer of sand or other refractory material F, for the
purposes before stated.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, what I claim is,-
First. The employment of a "float" for the application to fluid or
semi-fluid iron or steel of "physick" or chemicals at or near the
surface of the metal, substantially as herein-before set forth.
5 Second. The employment of a physick composed of a soluble glass

page_text: containing potash, soda, oxide of manganese, lime, litharge, or other
oxide of lead, or any one or more or all of these ingredients.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Alfred Cowper, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of April,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
E. A. COWPER. (L.S.)