IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CAST IRON
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Livesey, of 10, Park St., Westminster,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CAST
IRON." A communication from abroad by Thomas Blair, residing at
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Sealed the 24th October 1866, and dated the 21st May 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Livesey at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st May 1866.
I, JAMES LIVESEY, of 10, Park St., Westminster, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING
CAST IRON," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the treatment of cast iron in a liquid state (whether
as it flows from the blast furnace or from some other furnace or appliance in
which it has been remelted). Its object is to accomplish three results,
viz.:-
1. Purification of the metal;
2. Simplification of the "casting" operation;
3. Delivery of the iron in a shape more desirable than that of pig"

page_text: The method of operation is as follows:-The liquid iron is made to flow in
n a stream of nearly equal thickness upon an endless iron belt carried upon
pulleys. The machinery which drives this belt is so regulated as to speed
that the iron falling from the spout is caught and stretched out upon it.
After being thus stretched out the iron is carried along upon the belt, being
fanned by a gentle blast to remove the saturated air and supply fresh instead,
and when it reaches the solid state it passes under a shower of water, adjusted
for the purpose, whereby steam is raised on its surface to assist the elimination
of impurities. When the iron becomes too cool to raise steam the shower is
increased so as to cool it altogether by the time it reaches the outer pulley
upon which the belt turns, and as it curves around the pulley opening up at
the joints the cakes of iron crack off and fall from it or may be picked off by
springs or wires adjusted for the purpose. The caked iron may now be used
as pig iron is used, but it will be improved by breaking up small and either
simply exposing to the weather or subjecting to chemical treatment. It will
also be easy to apply chemical treatment to the surface of the belt, the
fanning blast, and the shower, employing saline, alkaline, or chlorine
substances in powder, liquid, or gas. The metal thus produced will be found
to be improved in quality and work more easily in any of the processes
employed for making wrought iron or steel, and to make tougher castings on
account of the slight decarbonization effected by the exposure while liquid.
For all purposes the case of melting will be found a decided advantage.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Livesey in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th November 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, JAMES
LIVESEY, of 10, Park St., Westminster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Livesey, Her special licence that I, the said James
Livesey, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Livesey, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all

page_text: 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 TREATING CAST IRON," a communication to me from abroad
by Thomas Blair, a person resident at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, United States
of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Livesey, 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 James Livesey, 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 :-
This Invention relates to the treatment of cast iron in a liquid state, whether
as it flows from the blast furnace or from some other furnace or appliance in
which it has been remelted; its object is to accomplish these objects,
viz. :-
1. Purification of the metal;
2. Simplification of the "casting" operation;
3. Delivery of the iron in a shape more desirable than that of "pig" iron.
The method of operation is as follows:-The liquid iron is made to flow in
a stream of nearly equal thickness upon an endless iron belt carried upon
pulleys. The machinery which drives the belt is so regulated as to speed that
the iron falling from the spout is caught and stretched out upon it. After
being thus stretched out the iron is carried along upon the belt, being fanned
by a gentle blast to remove the saturated air, and supply fresh instead, and
when it reaches the solid state it passes under a shower of water adjusted for
the purpose, whereby steam is raised on its surface to assist the elimination of
impurities. When the iron becomes too cool to raise steam the shower is
increased so as to cool it altogether by the time it reaches the outer pulley
upon which the belt turns, and as it curves around the pulley opening up at
the joints the cakes of iron crack off and fall from it, or may be picked off by
springs or wires adjusted for the purpose. The caked iron may now be used
as pig iron is used, but it will be improved by breaking up small, and either
simply exposing to the weather or subjecting to chemical treatment. It will

page_text: preferred to employ in carrying out this Invention.
a, a, is an endless belt, which may be formed of wrought-iron plates jointed
together and passing around two large pulleys 6 and b. This belt should be
of considerable length. The pulley 6 is driven in any convenient manner so
that its surface speed may be varied according to the thickness of slab required
and the speed at which the melted iron is delivered on to it, which again will
depend on the amount of treatment found by experiment to be desirable for
the description of iron to be operated on. The endless belt has small pulleys
or wheels d, d, upon it, which run on guide rails e on each side of the machine,
so that the belt may be well supported whilst the load of metal is upon it.
The melted metal is delivered to the machine by a trough f in connection with
the furnace from which the metal is running, and from the trough f it descends
the series of inclines 9, g, which can be set at any desired inclination, so that
the metal as it falls from one incline to the other may be exposed more or less
to the jets of air issuing from the nozzles h. As soon as the melted metal is
spread out on the endless belt it is gently fanned by the rotatory blower i, and
is then exposed to a shower of water from the trough k, the position of which
may be regulated as is convenient on the guide rails 1, 1; or two troughs k
may be employed, the second delivering water in sufficient quantity to cool
the metal thoroughly. m is a truck, which receives the metal as it cracks off
the belt in consequence of its passing around the pulley b; n is a hammer,
which from time to time strikes the belt a to detach any pieces of metal which
may adhere after the belt has passed round the pulley b. The hammer is
raised by a cam on an axis, which is driven by a belt passing around a pulley
on the said axis, and also around another pulley on the axis of the pulley b.

page_text: o is a rotating brush to complete the cleaning of the belt. If desired, chlorino
or other gas may be used together with air to form the blast issuing from the
nozzles h. Saline solutions may be supplied in place of water to the
trough k.
What I claim is the use of a belt or similar moving surface to receive,
stretch out, and deliver cast iron, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Livesey, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Seventeenth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JAMES LIVESEY. (L.S.)