CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISAAC
HAZLEHURST, of Marton, in the Parish of Dalton, in the County of Lancaster,
Steel Refiner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Third day of June, in the fourteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Isaac
Hazlehurst, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Isaac Hazlehurst, my exors, adññors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said Isaac Hazlehust, my exors, adññors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times.
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my In-
vention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Isaac
Hazlehurst, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and:
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had will more fully and at large
anneer

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Isaac Hazlehurst, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof (that is to say):-
My Invention of improvements in the manufacture of iron relates to an
improved method of operating upon pig iron in the puddling furnace, whereby
the metallic mass may be brought into a spongy state; so that it may be easily
broken up or pulverized previous to being operated upon a second time in
the puddling furnace. The iron produced by means of this process will, when
brought into a marketable state, be found more applicable for the manufacture
of spades, shovels, sickles, hooks, scythes, rivets, boiler plate, sheet iron, tin
and block plates, wire, and other purposes for which iron of a superior quality
is required. In working according to my improved method I introduce into
the ordinary puddling furnace the usual charge of pig iron, or pig and
refined iron, or pig iron with a mixture of iron ore and carbonaceous matter,
such as ground coal, coke, charcoal, or sawdust.. The iron is then melted and
brought to as thin or liquid a state as possible for the purpose of well clearing
the iron, and the process of puddling is carried on in the usual manner, the
damper is then lowered until the iron begins to thicken, it is then boiled and
kept very hot until it becomes very thin or liquid. The draught of the fur-
nace should be then checked until the metal is brought into a malleable state,
and is ready to "ball." When this is the case the iron should be drawn out
in any sized pieces without being balled, and placed in a closed barrow or other
receptacle in which it can be shut in, and the external air kept from.it until
it is cool. When cold the lumps of iron will be found to be in an open,
spongy, or honeycomb state, and should then be ground or crushed by rollers or
stampers, and all pieces of iron of a bad quality or of raw or imperfectly.
worked iron, dirt, or other impurities which would injure the quality of the
iron must be carefully picked out from the good iron. The manufacturer must
then take as much of the ground or crushed iron as will be sufficient for the
bloom or bar intended to be made, and introduce it into the same or some.
other furnace suitable for the purpose and having a cinder or sand bottom..
The, iron must then be balled at a low. heat in this furnace in the ordinary
manner, and afterwards finished either under the hammer or in the squeezers.
or rolls as usual, as the iron made according to this improved plan does not
require any cutting and piling.
:
The iron thus produced will be found peculiarly applicable to the above-
mentioned purposes, but if it be required to be polished when made up; the.
ground or crushed iron should be scoured before being introduced into the

page_text: furnace to undergo the balling operation. I also use the ground iron for
sinking in the charcoal fires and for making iron for conversion into steel
instead of charcoal pig iron or best scrap iron, as is now the case. By this
means a considerable economy in the cost of the iron is effected, and at the
same time iron of as good quality is obtained.
Having now described my Invention of improvements in the manufacture of
iron, and the best means with which I am at prèsent acquainted for carrying
the same into effect, I would observe in conclusion that, although in order that
my improvements may be clearly understood, I bave considered it necessary to
allude to certain processes that are well known and in use in the manu-
facture of iron, yet I do not lay claim to any such processes as constituting any
part of my Invention; nor do I claim as new the introduction of carbonaceous
matters as above set forth; but that which I consider to be new in the processes
above described, and therefore wish to claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is stopping the puddling
process at a certain point, as above set forth, so as to obtain the iron in a
spongy or honeycomb state, and then grinding or crushing the iron in that
state, so as to admit of the picking or sorting operation taking place, in order
that previous to any subsequent working all crude metal, dirt, or other
impurities which would injure the quality of the good iron may be removed
therefrom, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Hazlehurst, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of November, in the year of our
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Isaac Hazlehurst, came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Third day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one