AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MALLEABLE IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Brown Wilson, of Number 5, Parliament
Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Inven-
tion of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF MALLEABLE IRON AND STEEL."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Brown Wilson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th April 1862.
I, EDWARD BROWN WILSON, of Number 5, Parliament Street, Westminster,
in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MALLEABLE IRON AND STEEL," to be as follows:-
In the manufacture of malleable iron and steel by forcing atmospheric air
beneath the surface of molten metal, it has been found that the tuyeres or
air pipes at the bottom of the vessel are quickly rendered unfit for service.
Their renewal is a serious inconvenience and loss of time, a vessel only being
used at present at the most four times per day. Now the object of my Inven-
tion is to obviate this difficulty. I construct my vessel of wrought iron, lining
it with fire-brick, ganister, Joam, or any other suitable refractory substance,

page_text: suspending it on its axes. I make the vessel partially crescent-shaped, or in
other suitable form, and close one end, fitting in the tuyere or tuyeres, air
pipe or air pipes, leaving the other end open. I then blow at the top and am
enabled to continue my operations very rapidly, as the tnyere or tuyeres, air
pipe or air pipes, will not require any attention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Brown Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 29th October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
BROWN WILSON, of Number 5, Parliament Street, Westminster, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-nith day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight bundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Edward Brown Wilson, Iler special license that I, the said Edward
Brown Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Edward Brown Wilson, my executors, administrators, or 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
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF MALLEABLE IRON AND STEEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Edward Brown Wilson, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one
of them, 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 Brown Wilson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said lnvention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to certain peculiar constructions and arrange-

page_text: ments of apparatus employed in the manufacture of malleable iron and steel,
by what is known as the atmospheric process.
In the manufacture of malleable iron and steel by the well-known process
of forcing atmospheric air beneath the surface of the molten metal, it has
been found that by reason of the tuyeres or air pipes being situate at the
bottom of the converting vessel, and being consequently always when in action
covered by the molten metal, they are quickly destroyed, and rendered unfit
for service. Their renewal is a serious inconvenience, and occasions a serious
loss of time, as the converting vessel at each renewal must be allowed to cool
down before a fresh tuyere or set of tuyeres can be introduced. In addition
to the inconvenience mentioned, there is the additional inconvenience in the
old arrangement that the molten metal is apt to flow into the tuyere the
moment the upward blast ceases, and thus they become plugged up. Now
the object of this Invention is to obviate these difficulties by placing the tuyere
or tuyeres of the converting vessel (which is suspended on axis) above the
molten metal, and to blow down upon or through the metal, in place of
blowing up through the same, as heretofore.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents a vertical section of
one form of the improved arrangement of converting vessel and tuyere ;
Figure is a sectional plan of the same; and Figure 3 is an end elevation
thereof.
The main or principal part A of the vessel may be either cylindrical,
spherical, oval, or of any other suitable form, but its lower part is curved
upwards, as shewn at B, and is closed at the top, the parts A and B forming
in principle an inverted syphon, the other or main orifice or mouth C of the
vessel being always left open; D is the nozzle of the tuyere, which is con-
nected to the top of the part B, and by a pipe with one of the trunnions or
axes F, F, to allow of the vessel being reversed without interfering with the
blast pipe in any convenient or well-known manner. The surface of the
molten metal is thus kept some distance below the orifice of the blast pipe or
tuyere. The blast of atmospheric air is then turned on, and being blown
down upon the surface of the metal in the part B of the vessel, it forces its
way down the part B, driving the molten metal contained therein before it,
and escapes upwards in the form of air bubbles through the mass of metal

page_text: contained in the main body of the vessel A, as shown by the arrows, and
passes out with the gases and products of combination through the open
mouth at C. It is thus evident that no burning of the tuyere can possibly
take place, as it is never in contact with the metal. Although I prefer the
peculiar form of vessel which I have illustrated, it may be otherwise con-
structed so as to fulfil the same end, namely, the saving of the tuyere, as for
example, the vessel may be curved in the form of a crescent, one of the horns
of the crescent being left open and the other closed by the introduction
therein of the nozzle of the blow pipe or tuyere, the level of the molten
metal being some distance below the nozzle of tho tuyere, so as to be
entirely out of contact therewith. The vessel would be supported at its centre
on trunnions, which would admit of its being turned over for the purpose of
emptying the same. Although I have described the converting vessels as
being suspended on centres or axis, for the purpose of facilitating the emptying
of the same, it is obvious that the same arrangement of tuyere is equally
applicable to stationary vessels.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, the general constructions, arrange-
ments, and combinations of apparatus for manufacturing malleable iron and
steel by the atmospheric process, as herein-before described and illustrated by
the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Brown Wilson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-two.
EDW. B. WILSON. (L.S.)