A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN METALLIC COMPOUNDS OR ALLOYS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Mushet, of Coleford, in the County of
Gloucester, Metallurgist, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN METALLIC COMPOUNDS OR ALLOYS."
Sealed the 13th December 1859, and dated the 14th July 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Mushet at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
July 1859.
I, ROBERT MUSHET, of Coleford, in the County of Gloucester, Metallurgist,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN METALLIC COMPOUNDS OR ALLOYS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the method or methods herein-after described of
manufacturing such metallic compounds or alloys as consist or mainly consist
of iron and tungsten, or iron, tungsten, and manganese. In making the said
alloys, I smelt ores or compounds of tungsten in mixture with iron ores, either
containing or free from manganese, in a blast furnace or cupola with charcoal,
coke, or coal fuel, in order to produce by the melting and reduction of the said
ores or compounds, a metallic compound or alloy of tungsten and iron, or of
tungsten, iron, and manganese. The tungsten compound or ore which I prefer
to employ for my process, is that commonly called wolfram, which is a tung-
state of iron and manganese, but other ores or compounds of tungsten or

page_text: tungstic acid may be employed. The iron ores which I prefer to use are purc
and rich hematiles, specular, magnetic, or spathose iron ores, but other iron
ores or ironstones may be employed. To facilitate the reduction of the
tungsten or the tungsten and manganese, I prefer to reduce the wolfram to
a coarse powder by crushing or stamping it, and I reduce the iron ore in a
similar manner to a coarse powder; I then mix the pulverized wolfram and tho
pulverized iron ore in various proportions according as it is desired to obtain
a pig metal of tungsten and iron, or tungsten, manganese, and iron containing a
larger or a smaller proportion of tungsten; and it must be observed that as the
relative proportion of the wolfram to that of the iron ore is increased, the
greater will be the proportion of tungsten in the resulting compound or alloy,
but at the same time the higher will be the temperature required for the
fusion of the said compound. I wish it also to be observed that the greater
the proportion of the tungsten contained in the metallic compound or alloy of
tungsten and iron, or of tungsten, manganese, and iron, the greater will be its
density or specific gravity. The wolfram and iron ore prepared and mixed
together as I have herein-before described, are charged or introduced into the
blast furnace in the manner in which iron ores are usually charged into a
blast furnace or cupola, and a flux of limestone or lime is added to each charge
precisely as is practised in the ordinary process of smelting iron in a blast
furnace. When spathose iron ores are employed in mixture with the wolfren,
it is unnecessary to use lime or any other flux. When the hearth or crucible
of the blast furnace is sufficiently filled with the reduced metallic compound
or alloy of tungsten and iron, or of tungsten, manganeze, and iron, I tap the
furnace in the usual manner, and run off the said compound into pig beds or
into mounds in the manner usually practised in the manufacture of pig or cast
iron. I do not limit myself to any particular proportions of wolfram and iron
ore, as the proportions may be varied; nor do I confine myself to any particular
kind or kinds of iron ore, but I prefer to use rich hematite, specular, or
magnetic iron ores, or spathose iron ores; nor do I limit myself to the use of
tungsten ores and iron ores which have been crushed and mixed previously to
their being introduced into the blast furnace, for the said ores may be intro-
duced without proviously crushing and mixing them, but I prefer to thus crush
and mix them, as I find that the proper reduction of the tungsten and its
alloying with the iron is thereby facilitated. In place of tungsten ore, I some-
times employ deoxydized tungsten ore or wolfram to smelt with iron ore in
the blast furnace, in order to produce a compound or alloy of tungsten and
iron or of tungsten, manganeze, and iron. I sometimes also smelt in the blast

page_text: furnace a mixture of deoxydized wolfram, and the oxydized iron ore, or a
mixture of deoxydized wolfram and cast iron or scrap iron, in order to obtain
the compound or alloy of iron and tungsten or of iron, tungsten, and
manganese.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which I carry it into effect, I wish it to be understood that the essence of my
Invention consists in smelting tungsten ores or tungsten compounds in mixture
with iron ores with charcoal, coke, or coal fuel in a blast furnace, in order to
obtain a metallic compound or alloy of tungsten and iron or tungsten, man-
ganeze, and iron, that is to say, cast metal or pig metal consisting essentially
of tungsten and iron, or of tungsten, manganese, and iron.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Mushet in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th
January 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
MUSHET, of Coleford, in the County of Gloucester, Metallurgist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Iler
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Mushet, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Mushet,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Mushet, 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW
OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN METALLIC COMPOUNDS OR ALLOYS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Mushet, 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
Patont.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Mushet, 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, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of the method or methods herein-after described of
manufacturing such metallic compounds or alloys as consist or mainly consist
of iron and tungsten, or iron, tungsten, and manganese. In making the said
alloys, I take ores or compounds of tungsten, and I mix therewith iron ores
either containing or free from manganese; I treat this mixture of ores in
a blast furnace or cupola, with charcoal, coke, or other carbonaceous matter,
and by the melting and reduction of the said ores I produce a compound or
alloy of tungsten and iron, or of tungsten, iron, and manganese. The tungsten
compound or ore which I prefer to employ for my process is that commonly
called wolfram, which is a tungstate of iron and manganese, but other ores or
compounds of tungsten or tungstic acid may be employed. The iron ores
which I prefer to use are pure and rich hematites, specular, magnetic, or
spathose iron ores, and especially granular hematites or iron sand, but other
iron ores or ironstones may be employed. In order to facilitate the reduc-
tion of the tungsten, or the tungsten and manganese, during the smelting
process, I prefer to prepare the wolfram by reducing it to a coarse powder by
crushing or stamping it; and I also prefer to reduce the iron ore in a similar
manner to a coarse powder, the said pulverized iron ore and the said pulverized
wolfram being afterwards smelted with carbonaceous matter, as herein-before
described. I mix the pulverized wolfram and the pulverized iron ore in
various proportions, according as it is desired to obtain a pig metal of tungsten
and iron, or tungsten, manganese, and iron, coutaining a larger or a smaller
proportion of tungsten. And it must be observed that as the relative
proportion of the wolfram to that of the iron ore is increased, the greater will
be the proportion of tungsten in the resulting compound or alloy reduced from
the mixture, but at the same time the higher will be the temperature required
for the fusion of the said compound. I wish it also to be observed that tho
greater the proportion of the tungsten contained in the metallic compound or
alloy of tungten and iron, or of tungsten, manganese, and iron, the greater
will be the density or specific gravity of the alloy. The proportions of tungsten
which I find produce the best results vary from one half per centum by weight
to ten per centum by weight of the weight of the alloy of iron and tungsten
obtained from the blast furnace, but I do not confine myself to these propor-
tions, which may be varied without departing from the nature of my said

page_text: Invention. The wolfram and iron ore prepared and mixed together as I have
herein-before described, are charged or introduced into the blast furnace in the
manner in which iron ores are usually charged into a blast furnace or cupola,
and a flux of limestone or lime is added to each charge, precisely as is
practised in the ordinary process of smelting iron in a blast furnace. When
spathose iron ores are employed in mixture with the wolfram, it is unnecessary
to use lime or any other flux. When the hearth or crucible of the blast
furnace is sufficiently filled with the reduced metallic compound or alloy of
tungsten and iron, or of tungsten, manganese, and iron, I tap the furnace in
the usual manner, and run the said compound into pig beds, or into moulds in
the manner usually practised in the manufacture of pig or cast iron. I do
not limit myself to any particular proportions of wolfram and iron ore, as the
proportions may be varied; nor do I confine myself to any particular kind or
kinds of iron ore, but I prefer to use rich hematite, specular, or magnetic
iron ores or spathose iron ores; nor do I limit myself to the use of tungsten
ores and iron ores which have been crushed and mixed previously to their
being introduced into the blast furnace, for the said ores may be used without
previously crusbing and mixing them, but I prefer to crush and mix them, as
I find that the proper reduction of the tungsten and its alloying with the iron
is thereby facilitated. In place of tungten ore, I sometimes employ deoxidized
tungsten ore or wolfram to smelt with iron ore in the blast furnace, in order
to produce a compound alloy of tungsten and iron, or of tungsten, manganese,
and iron. I sometimes also smelt in the blast furnace a mixture of deoxidized
wolfram and deoxidized iron ore, or I melt in the blast furnace or cupola a
mixture of deoxidized wolfram and cast iron or scrap iron, in order to obtain
the said compound or alloy of iron or tungsten, or of iron, tungsten, and
manganese. By deoxidized tungsten or wolfram, I mean tungsten ore or
wolfram which has been heated to a temperature ranging from 60 to 90
degrees of Wedgewood's pyrometer in close chambers in contact with carbo-
naceous matter or other reducing agent, by which treatment the tungsten or
tungsten and iron contained in the ore have been reduced or partially reduced
to the metallic state.
I
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner in which
carry it into effect, I wish it to be understood that the essence of my Inven-
tion consists in smelting tungsten ores or tungsten compounds in mixture with
iron ores with charcoal, coke, or other carbonaceous fuel, in a blast furnace,
in order to obtain a metallic compound, or alloy of tungsten and iron, or
tungsten, manganese, and iron; that is to say, cast metal ar pig metal,

page_text: consisting essentially of tungsten and iron, or of tungsten, manganese, and
iron.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Mushet, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witnesses,
EDWP. M. MUSHET,
Coleford, Gloucestershire.
BROOKLYN MUSUET,
Coleford, Gloucestershire.
ROBT. MUSHET. (L.S.)