IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- PACTURE OF IRON
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Birch, of Bradford, in the County of York,
Furnace Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
PACTURE OF IRON."
Sealed the 28th December 1855, and dated the 30th June 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Birch at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th June
1855:
I, JOHN BIRCH, of Bradford, in the County of York, Furnace Manager,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF IRON " to be as follows:-
My said improvements relate to a process for facilitating the manufacture
of malleable iron, and to the arrangements of the furnaces connected
therewith. It is usual to take the pig metal to the refinery fire, a small
low furnace, to be re-melted and refined, being there subjected to the chemical
influence of the air blast, blown into it, which process is continued in the
puddling furnace. Now, by means of my Invention I shorten this process;
first, by employing improved arrangements of the furnaces; and, second, by
smelting, refining, and puddling the iron while in its first molten state.
In arranging my blast furnaces where the back tuyere is situated, I build a
refinery furnace in the same building, and forming part thereof; then I employ
reducing and oxidizing tuyeres to smelt and refine at one operation, by which
I save using the coke now required for the present refinery fire. I also effect.

page_text: a saving of the coke used in the re-melting of pig iron in the common refinery
furnaces by placing a suitably constructed refinery. furnace in the immediate
neighbourhood of old blast furnaces.
In the hearth boshings and tymps of the blast furnaces I place wrought or
cast iron or other metal tubes with water circulating therein to lessen their
wear and tear.
I construct refinery furnaces with arrangements for blowing the blast
through the water boxes which surround the fire, and make the water boxes of
tuyeres in one piece, either of wrought or cast iron or other metal; I place the
air box and plates below the fire to blow direct from the blast pipe. I hereby
dispense with pillars and uprights, and am likewise enabled to run the metal
from the blast furnace into the refinery furnace, and the puddling furnace
receives the molten metal immediately from the refinery furnace, so that I
smelt, refine, and puddle at one heat.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed.
by the said John Birch in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th
December 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BIRCH, of Bradford, in the County of York, Furnace Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Birch, Her special licence, that I, the said John Birch, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Birch, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Birch, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 filled in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Birch, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My said improvements relate to a process for facilitating the manufacture of
malleable iron, and to the arrangements of the furnaces connected therewith.
And for the better understanding of my said Invention, I will now proceed to
describe the details thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, in which the same letters indicate like parts throughout.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a blast and refinery furnace combined
according to my Invention; and Figure 2 is a plan of the same (Sheet 1).
A is the bottom of the hearth; and B, the top of the hearth; C, top of the
boshes; D, cast-iron beams; E, tuyere arches; F, lining of the furnace;
G, reducing tuyere at line in hearth; a, the tymp plates, with the water pipe
passing to b, the damp platė, which is made hollow, and placed against the
dam stone; c, the reducing tuyeres, soft and dense; d, the oxidizing tuyeres ;.
e, the oxidizing blast pipes; f, the water box through which the oxidizing
tuyeres pass; and g, space for introducing oxide of iron.
Figure 3, Sheet 2, is a sectional elevation of a refinery furnace with my
improvements; and Figure 4 is a plan of the same.
H, II, are water boxes, kept constantly full, and which surround the fire,
and have holes made to receive I, the tuyeres, which are also kept supplied
with water by K, the water pipes, having cocks to regulate the water passing.
from the tuyeres and water boxes through L, the spouts, to M, the slake troughs,
and from thence througli N, tubes, away to the drain; h, h, are the blast
pipes, to which are connected the tuyere pipes i, i, by means of j, j, the stuffing
boxes, so that I can pull the tuyere pipes from the tuyere, and throw off the
blast, as shown at k, Figure 3, the pipe thrown back; 1, 1, are small leather
bags to make the tuyere pipe flexible; m, m, pedestals to support the blast
pipes; n, brickwork foundation; 0, 0, single brick wall to support one end of
P. p, the covering plates of the furnace, the other end being supported by the
water boxes H, H, between which there is a loose lid fitting on to the open
top; q, sand to form the refractory bottom of the furnace; ", the tapping
hole;
the runner or spout; and t, the moulds.
Having thus fully described the several arrangements I usually adopt in the
construction of my improved furnaces, I would-here-remark-that-it-is usual-to-
take the pig metal to the refinery-fire, a small low furnace, to be re-melted-and-

page_text: refined, being there subjected to the chemical influence of the air blast blown
into it, which process is continued in the puddling furnace. Now, by means of
my said Invention I shorten this process; first, by employing my improved
arrangements of the furnaces; and, second, by smelting and refining by one
process and in the same firë.
.. It will be observed, that in arranging my improved furnaces where the
back tuyere is situated, I build a refinery furnace in the same, building, and
forming part thereof; then I employ reducing and oxidizing tuyeres to smelt
and refine at one operation, Figure 1, by which I dispense with using the coke.
now required for the present refinery fire. I also effect a saving of the coke
used in the re-melting of the pig iron in the refinery furnaces by placing a
suitably constructed refinery furnace in the immediate neighbourhood of the
old blast furnaces. In the hearth boshings and tymps of the blast furnaces;
I place metal tubes with. water circulating therein, Figure 1, to lessen their
wear and tear. I construct refinery furnaces with arrangements for blowing the
blast through the water boxes which surround the fire, Figure 3, and make the
water boxes of tuyeres in parts, or in one piece, either of wrought or cast iron
or other suitable metal. I place the air box and pipes below the fire to blow.
direct from the blast pipe, whereby. I dispense with the necessity for erecting.
pillars and uprights, and am likewise, enabled to run the metal from the blast
furnace into the refinery furnace, so that I melt and refine at one heat.
As my said improvements are capable of modifications in applying them,
without deviating from the principle of my said Invention, I wish it to be
understood that I do not restrict myself as to the materials, dimensions, or
precise situation of the several parts; but what I do claim as my Invention is,
namely, the peculiar arrangements of furnaces and the process pursued in
their application in the manufacture of iron, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Birch, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord 1855
JOHN BIRCH. (L.S.)