Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel, and in Apparatus employed therein.
Year: 1898

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel, and in Apparatus
employed therein.
I, ALEXANDER SATTMANN, of Donawitz, District of Leoben, Steiermark, Austria,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an improved process and apparatus employed therein
for puddling and refining iron in direct connection with the blast furnace process
or other re-melting process.
This improved process consists in allowing the fluid iron (hereinafter called crude
iron) which has been produced in a blast furnace or which has been re-melted in
a furnace, after separation of the slag, to flow continuously into a heated collect-
ing furnace, and in separating therefrom partly or almost wholly during its passage
from the blast furnace or re-melting furnace to the collecting furnace by the action
of an oxidizing and heating process, the elements silicon, manganese, phos-
phorus, carbon etc., and thereby producing either a material well suited for sub-
sequent finishing operation, or finished wrought iron.
The continuous flow of the crude iron from the blast furnace or the re-melting
furnace into the puddling chamber or puddling chambers as also its separation from
the slag, can be effected in various ways, according as to whether the furnace has
an open or closed front. The accompanying drawings illustrate apparatus suitable
for the carrying out of this process.
Fig. 1 shows, in vertical section, the arrangement of the lower portion of a blast
furnace or re-melting furnace with open front.
Fig. 2 illustrates, in vertical section, and Fig. 3 in horizontal section, the
arrangement of a blast furnace or re-melting furnace with closed front, together
with the slag separator and the refining chamber.
Fig. 4 is a cross section through the refining chamber on the line - of Fig. 2.
Figs. 5 and 6 are sections illustrating two forms of construction of the refining
burners or nozzles.
Figs. 7 and 8 are respectively vertical and horizontal sections showing apparatus
serving to carry out the process in combination with one or more Martin furnaces.
A, Fig. 1 is a furnace with open front, in which the molten pig iron collects in
the hearth a up to the upper edge of the dam a' and then flows continuously over
the said dam into the closed duct b. The slag flows uninterruptedly away through
the hole which is provided above the level of the top of the dani in the furnace
wall or framing. The hanging bridge or tymp arch a³ prevents the slag from
flowing over the dam a¹.
The closing of the outlet or discharging channel is effected from the outside
through the arch a' which is mounted in a frame and which rests upon the walls a
that enclose the discharging outlet. This arch at is made removable for the
purpose of facilitating access to the discharge channel.

page_text: In blast furnaces with closed fronts (Figs. 2, 3, 7 and 8) there is arranged between
the hearth a of the blast or re-melting furnace A' and the refining chamber C, a
slag separator B that is inserted in the duct b which is lined with fire-proof material
and which is heated by the waste gases of the furnace or by gases specially produced
for this purpose, or, if desired, by the waste gases escaping from the refining
chamber C.
That end of the duct b which is nearest to the furnace A¹ is plugged into the tap
hole a of the furnace and thereby forms a connecting passage to the hearth a.
The slag-discharging hole ² is arranged at a suitable level in the wall of the
furnace A or in the slag separator B, or it may be in both places. When it is
arranged in the slag separator, it should be at a suitable height between the supply
pipe 6 and the slag sluice-gate b¹. The slag-gate b₁ is made of fire-proof material,
and extends downward below the level of the melted metal which flows through
the slag separator B. This gate keeps back the slag that floats on the surface of
the pig iron so that the said slag is prevented from entering the refining
chamber C.
The slag separator B is provided with a lateral opening 2 which allows of aiding
the free discharge of the metal through the passage or channel from the blast
furnace.
The slag separator is also formed with flanges 63 for the purpose of connecting
it to the duct band to enable it to be rapidly removed and renewed.
The
All the parts of the duct band of the slag separator B which come in contact
with the fluid crude iron are lined with either basic or neutral material.
crude pig iron passes through the closed duct into the closed refining chamber C.
In this chamber, which is lined with fire-proof bricks, there takes place the oxidisa-
tion of the elements which are to be removed from the crude iron by the action of
gases which issue from the refining burners or twyers c.
The refining burners c (Figs. 5 and 6) are water-cooled twyers, somewhat similar
to the twyers of a blast furnace, through which, combustible gases and air for
combustion are conveyed into the refining chamber C.
The twyers are so constructed or arranged as to give to the currents of air and
gas such a direction as will cause them to cross or intersect each other at an angle.
The arrangement may be such that the gases are led through the central por-
tion c (Fig. 5) of the twyer whilst the air issues through the annular orifice c³
surrounding the central portion, and therefore envelopes or surrounds the gases;
or the refining burner is divided by a central wall 3 (Fig. 6) into two inlet open-
ings c, c for the gas and air respectively.
The supply of gas and air may also be effected by means of twyers arranged in
pairs side by side, so that one twyer supplies air and the adjacent twyer supplies
gas to the refining chamber where they become mixed and produce a flame.
The gas, and also the air, may be heated before entering the refining chamber.
This may be economically effected by utilizing the heat of the gases escaping from
the blast furnace. The gas and air are supplied under pressure, or only the air
or the gas is supplied under pressure, whilst the gas, or it may be the air, is intro-
duced by means of an injector-action into the refining chamber. The gases may
be produced in a separate generator, or the furnace gases from the blast furnace
may be utilized in the refining chamber. By burning the gases with the air which
is blown in, there is produced, when there is a suitable excess of air, a hot and
highly oxidizing flame, which, when it is directed against the metal that is flow-
ing along in a thin sheet or layer, produces the desired chemical effect whilst it
also heats the metal to that high temperature which is necessary to keep it suffi-
ciently fluid in the partially de-carbonized state. Whilst the iron is flowing along
the somewhat inclined bottom of the refining chamber C, it is acted upon by a
number of the said oxidizing flames issuing from the burners c.
For the purpose
of increasing the extent of the surface of the iron in contact with the flames, the
refining chamber may be formed with a stepped bottom (Fig. 7) over which the
fluid iron flows in cascade-fashion.

page_text: The refining chamber is lined with fire-bricks, and that part of the same which
comes into contact with the fluid metal, is lined with either basic or neutral
material.
The fluid metal passes from the refining chamber through the pipe d (which is
lined with fire-proof material and which is heated by the waste gases from the
refining chamber or by other gases) into a collecting furnace D which is made of
a suitable capacity, and which is worked after the manner of a Martin furnace with
Siemens regenerative firing or with any other suitable firing. The material is
either finished in this collecting furnace by admixture with the additional matters
employed in the Martin process, or the metal can be removed from the said furnace
as required, and be delivered in a fluid condition to those Martin furnaces in which
it is desired to finish the ingot iron or ingot steel. In Figs. 7 and 8, E E are
Martin furnaces which can be placed alternately in communication with the
collecting furnace D by means of a movable channel d.
The collecting furnace D may be inclined for the purpose of facilitating the dis-
charge of its contents.
The herein-described improvements offer, for those processes in which crude iron
is converted in a reverberatory furnace into wrought iron, the advantage that the
reverberatory furnace is charged with iron which is already well prepared and is
freed from a considerable portion of the elements which are to be removed by the
refining process. When the greater portion of the chemical work to be done in the
subsequent refining process has already been done before charging into the rever-
beratory furnace, then the required quality of the final product can be produced
in the reverberatory furnace in a comparatively short space of time.
Therefore, the production of a reverberatory furnace is considerably increased
by the interposition of the described process, and consequently a considerable
saving will be effected in the reverberatory furnace process as regards cost of con-
struction, service, supply, and maintenance charges, consumption of fuel, and wages
for labour.
When fluid crude iron is employed direct from the blast furnace in the herein
described process, the crude iron, and also the slag from the blast furnace, are
allowed to flow off continuously, which produces a uniform descent of the charge
in the blast furnace. The withdrawal of a large quantity of fluid material during
the tapping which has hitherto been the practice, causes a sudden descent of the
column of the charge, with the result that not only insufficiently treated material
comes below the tapping holes or twyers which has to be broken or melted off after
a time, but there are also produced interruptions or disturbances in the stratification
of the materials of the charge which have an unfavourable effect upon the work-
ing of the furnace.
Now, on the contrary, with a continuous removal of the crude iron, the charge
will descend uniformly, and the operation of the blast furnace will not be affected
unfavourably as above stated, and in consequence of this regularity of the working,
a smaller consumption of fuel will be necessary for producing crude iron than when
large quantities of crude iron are allowed to accumulate and are removed by tapping
in a very short period from the furnace. The quality also of the crude iron pro-
duced in the blast furnace will, when the charge is being thus uniformly treated,
necessarily be very uniform.
The crude iron which collects in the hearth of the blast furnace, when large.
quantities are tapped at one time, loses during the long pause between two succes-
sive tappings, a considerable amount of heat, and becomes still further cooled
during its removal from the furnace, and in its transport to the refining furnaces.
But when the crude iron is removed continuously, it flows at the temperature of its
formation from the blast furnace into the heating chamber, and thus passes in a
very hot state into the refining chamber.
A high temperature is necessary for oxidizing the elements that are to be separated
from the crude iron, in order that the refining may be effected rapidly while the
iron passes over a short distance along the chamber. As in this process a great deal

page_text: of heat is supplied to the metal by the oxidising refining flame, it is thus possible
to employ for the refining process crude iron having a low percentage of silicon,
phosphorus ete, and which is cheapest to make.
F. WISE HOWORTH,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel, and in Apparatus
employed therein.
I, ALEXANDER SATTMANN, of Donawitz, in the District of Leoben, Steiermark,
Austria, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement;—
This invention relates to a process and apparatus employed therein for fining
and refining iron in direct connexion with the blast-furnace process or a remelting
process.
This process consists in allowing the fluid iron (hereinafter called crude iron)
that has been produced in a blast-furnace or has been remelted in a furnace to flow
continuously, after separation of the slag, into a heated collecting furnace, and
in separating therefrom partly or almost wholly during its passage from the
blast-furnace or remelting furnace to the collecting furnace, by the action of
oxidizing and heating gases, the elements silicon, manganese, phosphorus,
carbon, etc., and thereby producing either a material well prepared for a subse-
quent finishing operation, or finished wrought iron.
The continuous flow of the crude iron from the blast-furnace or the remelting
furnace into the refining-chamber, as also its separation from the slag, is effected
in various ways, according as the furnace has an open or a closed front.
The drawings filed with my Provisional Specification illustrate apparatus suit-
able for the carrying out of this process.
Fig. 1 shows, in vertical section, the arrangement of the lower portion of a
blast-furnace or remelting furnace with an open front.
Figs. 2 and 3 represent respectively in vertical section and in horizontal section,
the arrangement of a blast-furnace or remelting furnace with closed front, together
with the slag separator and the refining-chamber.
Fig. 4 is a cross section through the refining-chamber corresponding to the
line of Fig. 2.
Figs. 5 and 6 are sections representing two forms of construction of the refining
burners or nozzles.
Figs. 7 and 8 are respectively vertical and horizontal sections showing
apparatus for carrying out the process in combination with one or more Martin
.furnaces.
A (Fig. 1) is a furnace with an open front, in which the molten crude iron
collects in the hearth a up to the upper edge of the dam a¹ and then flows con-
tinuously over the said dam into the closed duct b. The slag flows uninterruptedly
away through the hole a², which is provided, above the level of the top of the dam,
in the furnace-hearth. The tymp-arch a³ prevents the slag from flowing over the
dam a. The outlet is covered by the arch a', which is mounted in a frame and
rests upon the side walls a5 of the outlet. This arch a is made removable for the
purpose of facilitating access to the outlet.
In the case of blast furnaces or remelting furnaces with closed fronts (Figs. 2, 3,

page_text: 7 and 8) there is arranged between the hearth a of the blast or remelting furnace A¹
and the refining-chamber C a slag-separator B, which is inserted in the duct b.
This duct is lined with refractory material and is heated by the waste gases of the
furnace or by gases specially produced for this purpose, or, if desired, by the
waste-gases escaping from the refining-chamber C.
That end of the duct b which is nearest to the furnace A¹ is secured in the tap-
hole a of the furnace by means of suitable plugging material and thereby forms a
connecting passage to the hearth a.
The slag-discharging hole a² is provided at a suitable level in the hearth of the
furnace A or in the slag-separator B, or a slag-discharging hole may be provided
in both places. When one is provided in the slag-separator, it should be at a
suitable height between the supply-pipe and the slag-guard b.
The slag-guard b' is made of refractory material, and extends downward below
the level of the melted metal which flows through the slag-separator B. This guard
keeps back the slag that floats on the surface of molten iron so that the said slag
is prevented from entering the refining-chamber C.
:
The slag-separator B is provided with a lateral opening 62 which enables the free
discharge of the metal from the blast-furnace to be assisted. The slag, separator
is also formed with flanges for the purpose of connecting it to the duct band
to enable it to be rapidly removed and exchanged for a similar one.
All the parts of the duct 6 and of the slag-separator B that come into contact
with the fluid crude iron are lined with either basic or neutral material. The
crude iron passes through the closed duct b into the closed refining-chamber C
In this chamber, which is lined with refractory bricks, the elements that are to
be removed from the crude iron are oxidized by the action of gases which issue
from the refining-burners e.
C
The refining-burners c (Figs. 5 and 6) are water-cooled twyers, somewhat similar
to the twyers of a blast-furnace. Through them combustible gases and air for
combustion are forced into the refining-chamber C.
The iwyers are so constructed or arranged as to give to the currents of air and
gas such directions as will cause them to cross or intersect each other at an angle.
The arrangement may be such that the gases will be led through the central
portion (Fig. 5) of the twyer, whilst the air will issue through the annular
or.fice surrounding the central portion, and will therefore envelop or surround
the gases; or the refining burner may be divided by a central wall (Fig. 6) into
two inlet openings c, for the gas and air respectively.
The supply of gas and air may also be effected by means of twyers arranged
side by side in pairs so that one twyer will supply air and the adjacent twyer will
supply gas to the refining-chamber, where the air and gas will become mixed and
produce a flame.
The gas, and also the air, may be heated before entering the refining-chamber.
This may be economically effected by utilizing the heat of the gases escaping from
the blast-furnace. The gas and air are supplied under pressure, or only the air
or the gas is supplied under pressure, whilst the gas or the air, respectively, is
introduced by means of an injector-action into the refining chamber. The gases
may be produced in a separate generator, or the waste-gases from the blast-furnace
may be utilized in the refining-chamber. By burning the gases with the air that
is blown in, there is produced, when there is a suitable excess of air, a hot and
highly-oxidizing flame, which, when it is directed against the metal, which flow's
along in a thin sheet, produces the desired chemical effect whilst it also heats the
metal to the high temperature that is necessary to keep it sufficiently fluid in the
partially decarbonized state. Whilst the iron is flowing along the somewhat
inclined bottom of the refining-chamber C, it is acted upon by a number of such
oxidizing flames. issuing from the burners c. For the purpose of increasing the
surface of the iron in contact with the flames, the refining-chamber may be formed
with a stepped bottom (Fig.7) over which the fluid iron will flow in cascade-fashion.
The refining-chamber is lined with refractory bricks, and that part of the same

page_text: which comes into contact with the fluid metal, is lined with either basic or neutral
material.
The fluid metal passes from the refining-chamber through the pipe d (which is
lined with refractory material and is heated by the waste gases from the refining
chamber or by other gases) into a collecting furnace D, which is made of a suitable
capacity and is worked after the manner of a Martin furnace with Siemens
regenerative firing or with any other firing. The material is either finished in
this collecting furnace by admixture with the additional matters employed in the
Martin process, or the metal can be removed from the said furnace as required,
and be delivered in a fluid condition to those Martin furnaces in which it is desired
to finish the ingot iron or ingot steel.
In Figs. 7 and 8, E E are Martin furnaces that can be placed alternately into
communication with the collecting furnace D by means of a movable channel d¹.
The collecting furnace I may be inclined for the purpose of facilitating the dis-
charge of its contents.
The hereinbefore described process offers, for those processes in which crude
iron is converted in a reverberatory furnace into wrought iron, the advantage
that the reverberatory furnace is charged with iron which is already well prepared
and is freed from a considerable portion of the elements that are to be removed by
the refining process. Since the greater portion of the chemical work to be done
in the refining process has already been done before charging the reverberatory
furnace, the required quality of the final product can' be produced
in the reverberatory furnace in a comparatively short time. Therefore,
the production of a reverberatory furnace is considerably increased by the
interposition of the described process, and consequently a considerable saving is
effected in the reverberatory furnace process as regards cost of construction, service,
supply, and maintenance charges, consumption of fuel, and wages for labour.
When fluid crude iron is employed direct from the blast-furnace in the herein
described process, both the crude iron and the slag from the blast-furnace are
allowed to flow off continuously, which produces a uniform descent of the charge
in the blast-furnace. The withdrawal of a large quantity of fluid material during
the tapping, which has hitherto been the practice, causes a sudden descent of the
column of the charge, with the result that not only insufficiently treated material
comes below the twyers, which has to be melted later on, but there are also produced
disturbances in the stratification of the materials of the charge which have an
unfavourable effect upon the working of the furnace. Now, on the contrary, with
a continuous removal of the crude iron, the charge will descend uniformly, and
the operation of the blast-furnace will not be affected unfavourably, as above
stated, and in consequence of this regularity of the working, a smaller consump-
tion of fuel will be necessary for producing crude iron than when large quantities
of crude iron are allowed to accumulate and are removed by tapping in a very
short period from the furnace. The quality, also, of the crude iron produced in
the blast-furnace will, when the charge is being thus uniformly treated, neces-
sarily be very uniform.
The crude iron which collects in the hearth of the blast-furnace, when large
quantities are tapped at one time, loses, during the long pause between two suc-
cessive tappings, a considerable amount of heat, and becomes still further cooled
during its removal from the furnace, and in its passage to the refining-furnaces.
But when the crude iron is removed continuously, it flows at the temperature of
its formation from the blast-furnace in the heated passage, and thus passes in a
very hot state into the refining-chamber.
A high temperature is necessary for oxidizing the elements that are to be
separated from the crude iron, in order that the refining may be effected rapidly
and while the iron passes over a short distance along the chamber. As in this
process a great deal of heat is supplied to the metal by the oxidizing refining
flame, it is thus possible to employ for the refining process, crude iron having a
low percentage of silicon or phosphorus, the manufacture of which is cheapest,

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. A process for fining and refining crude iron in direct connexion with the
blast-furnace process or a remelting process, in which the crude iron, which flows
continuously from the blast-furnace or the remelting furnace and is freed from
slag, is allowed to flow through a refining-chamber C in which it is subjected to the
action of hot oxidizing flames produced by refining burners c, whereupon the iron that
has been refined in this manner, is either used direct as a finished product or passed
into a collecting furnace 1 and converted therein, or in separate reverberating
furnaces E, into finished ingot iron or ingot steel.
2. For carrying out the process referred to in the preceding claim in the case
of blast-furnaces or remelting furnaces A' having closed fronts, the arrangement
of an exchangeable slag-separator B which is inserted in the discharge-duct b
and is provided with a slag-guard for holding back the slag.
3. For carrying out the process referred to in Claim 1, the arrangement of a
refining-chamber C with an inclined or stepped bottom, which is fitted with
refining burners c that are formed with passages e, for the separate supply of
gas and air and are arranged in such a manner that gas and air will unite together
in the refining chamber to form a flame.
4. In a process of the kind referred to in Claim 1, the utilization of the waste-
gases of the blast-furnace for heating the gas employed in the refining chamber and
also the air employed therein, and for producing the refining-flame itself.
1000
F. WISE HOWORTH,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.
F. WISE HOWORTH,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.