IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SLABS OR BLOCKS OF MALLEABLE IRON
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Prico Struvé, of Cum Avon Taibach,
South Wales, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF SLABS OR BLOCKS OF MALLEABLE IRON."
Sealed the 28th February 1865, and dated the 20th September 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Williams Price Struvé
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th September 1864.
I, WILLIAM PRICE STRUVE, of Cum Avon Taibach, South Wales, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF SLABS OR BLOCKS OF MALLEABLE IRON," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of slabs
or blocks of malleable iron, and consists in manufacturing them direct from a
bloom or lump of iron obtained by first refining iron in a refiuery, and then
running it into a hearth, and there exposing it to blast.
I construct the finery and hearth of a greater size than heretofore in order
to obtain a bloom of a sufficient size to be able to produce therefrom an entire
rail or plate or other article. I refine the iron in the finery to the extent I
think necessary, and then run it into the hearth and there apply blast, and by
constant breaking up of the iron expose all parts to the blast to bring it to
nature in the form of a large lump. In place of breaking up and piling this
lump, as has heretofore been done, I place it under a hammer, and by suc-
cessive re-heatings and re-hanımerings operate upon it to advance its quality
as wrought iron, at the same time preserving its homogenity, and by this
means produce a bloom of homogeneous unlaminated wrought iron suitable for
rolling into a railway rail or into a plate or other article.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Price Struvó in the Great Seal Patent Office on
tho 16th March 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PRICE STRUVÉ, of Cwm Avon Taibach, South Wales, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victorin, by Iler Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Price Struvé, Her special licence that I, the
said William Price Struvé, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Price Struvé, 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 MANUFACTURE OF SLABS OR
BLOCKS OF MALLEABLE IRON," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Price Struvé, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 William Price Struvé, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to bo performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacturo of slabs
or blocks of malleablo iron, and consists in manufacturing them direct from
bloom or lump of iron obtained by first refining pig iron in a refinery and
then running it into a-hearth refinery, and there exposing it to blast.
I construct the finery and hearth of a sizo suitable to the block, blooms, or
slabs required. I refine the iron in the finery to the extent I think necessary,
and then run it into the hearth, and there apply blast, and by constant
breaking up the iron expose all parts to the action of the blast, and with the
help of soine hammer cinder in the usual way practised in South Wales,
bring it to nature in the form of a large lump. This lump is then taken and

page_text: placed on its end on the anvil of a large forge hammer, and hammered, and
then placed on its sides and well hammered; by this means the face or top
of the lump and the bottom of the lump are forced out by means of the
hammering, and become the ends of the bloom. These two ends are then
well upset by hammering so as to square up the ends. This bloom is again
re-heated to a white heat, and the hammering resumed under a powerful forge
hammer, and the ends upset again so as to give them a finished form; the
bloom is again re-heated to a white heat, and drawn out into a block or slab.
The bloom or slab is now ready to be re-heated for rolling into a tyre or slab
for boiler plates or into any other article.
Iron so prepared is quite homogeneous, and readily combines at a proper
heat with ordinary puddle bars as well as with iron in a more advanced state,
and may be used for such a purpose with great advantage where the object
is to resist lamination. I do not, however, confine myself to any number of
ro-heatings or re-hammerings, or mode of placing the lump under the
hammer, but in some instances slabs or blooms may be formed sufficiently
advanced from the lump with one hammering when intended for combination
with other iron; but in all cases, in place of breaking up the slab made from
the lump into small pieces and then piling or rolling the lump into bars for
the purpose
of breaking up and then piling them, as heretofore has been done,
I place the lump under the forge hammer, and by one hammering only into a
block or slab upon which afterwards to pile other iron for large blooms, or by
successive re-heatings and re-hammerings, as already described, advance its
quality as wrought iron, which may be afterwards combined with other iron,
and rolled into rails or plates, or rolled into plates or other articles without
previous combination with other iron.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Price Struvé, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
WILL. PRICE STRUVĖ. (L.S.)