IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Gjers, of Middlesbrough, in the North Riding of
the County of York, Ironmaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
Sealed the 2nd November 1877, and dated the 22nd June 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Gjers at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd June 1877.
JOHN GJERS, of Middlesbrough, in the North Riding of the County of York,
Ironmaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
My Invention has reference to the production of crude steel and of malleable
steel and iron from melted pig iron or crude iron (which irons may contain phos-
phorus) by a process depending, like the Bessemer process, for the supply of heat
upon the combustion of the impurities in the melted metal to be converted.
Prior to December 1867, I ascertained that by working crude iron or re-melted.
pig iron in an ordinary puddling furnace (using fuel in the ordinary way), with the
assistance of a rich, pure iron cinder, nearly all the phosphorus was removed,.
while the metal was yet in a fluid state and at a time when only a portion of the
carbon was climinated. And, taking advantage of this, I, under a Patent granted
to me the 3rd December 1867, No. 3440, for "Certain Improvements in the Manu-
facture of Cast Steel and Homogeneous Iron" proposed to transfer the metal so
purified (which I call crude steel metal) whilst yet in a fluid state into the open
hearth of a reverberatory furnace, and in such furnace to effect the further removal
of carbon necessary to bring such crude steel metal into a state to form malleable.
steel. In practice however the ordinary puddling furnace was found unsuitable,
and hand labour not fully reliable for the production of the crude steel metal.
One object of my present Invention is to produce such crude steel metal in a
reliable and economical manner. To this end I treat the melted pig or crude iron
in a vessel or chamber lined with oxidizing fettling containing rich oxides of iron
and in such vessel or chamber I maintain combustion by the use of air blast
without the aid of fuel (except such as may be consumed externally of the said.
vessel or chamber for heating the blast), simultaneously causing alternately the
TD 077

page_text: surface of the fettling to be acted upon by the oxygen in the blast, and the metal
constituting the bath to be acted upon by the surface of the fettling.
The apparatus employed may be a vessel or chamber resembling a revolving
furnace, lined with fettling, as described, and capable of being entirely closed, so that
the charge inside the vessel or chamber will then be entirely isolated from external
influences; this vessel or chamber is provided with a small inlet and valve for the
admission of cold or hot blast under pressure, and with a small opening at the end
of the vessel or chamber opposite to the said blast inlet or valve, such small opening
being for the escape of the products of combustion and being capable of being
closed by a suitable plug. Thus when the valve is closed and the escape hole is
plugged the contents of the vessel or chamber will be entirely isolated from
external influences. In this vessel or chamber the heat will be sustained entirely
by the oxidation or combustion of the carbon and the impurities in the crude iron,
the escape hole being. regulated to such a size as by preference always to form a
plenum of pressure inside the vessel or chamber,
The vessel or chamber may be of an oblong cylindrical form capable of revolving
on its axis, or may be of other shape independent of any. contrivance for the
production of heat, except such as may be necessary to supply it with heated
blast.
The rationale of the beneficial alternate action of the fettling upon the bath and
of the air upon the surface of the fettling is this, that the whole of the impurities
in the crude iron, including carbon, have to be removed by a process of oxidation
indirectly through the fettling (as herein-after more fully described), the oxide of
iron in revolving comes in contact with the bath, oxygen is abstracted by the
impurities from the oxide of iron, metallizing a portion of iron which is partially
dissolved in the bath, increasing the yield, but a portion may stick to the surface of
the fettling, other small particles of inetallic iron may be carried up mechanically
from the bath; as the surface of such fettling revolves out of the bath it does not as
in the ordinary revolving puddling furnace come in contact with a carbonaceous
flame, but with highly heated atmospheric air which immediately re-oxidizes such
metallic particles, thereby preparing it and making it more efficient for again
entering underneath the bath, besides it generates by such oxidation an amount
of heat which is beneficial to the operation.
In treating crude iron or re-melted pig iron for the production of crude steel
metal in a revolving vessel or chamber, such as is above described, I continue to
revolve the vessel or chamber until the whole or the greater part of the silicon,
phosphorus, and other impurities are removed, and then while there still remains
about two per cent. of carbon (more or less), I may transfer the fluid metal which
will have become crude steel into a reverberatory gas furnace (Siemens' or other),
and there complete the decarbonization by any well-known means, and finally cast
the metal into ingots; or I may transfer the crude stecl metal either by itself or in
admixture with other substances, such as melted pig or crude iron free from phos-
phorus, into a Bessemer converter, and thus complete the decarbonization; or
use the said crude steel.metal to run into castings for various purposes, particularly
such as are by cementation to be made into what are known as malleable castings;
or I may run the crude steel metal into moulds, to be afterwards re-melted for any.
of the above purposes.
may
I furthermore propose to make malleable steel in my herein-before described
revolving vessel or chamber. For this purpose: a more highly heated blast may be
required.
And in order when it is necessary still further to increase the surplus of heat in.
the said vessel or chamber, I propose to use a partially metallized fettling, such as
whilst above the surface of the metal bath will be re-oxidized to a greater extent by
the oxygen of the blast in the vessel or chainber, thus to a greater extent compen-
sating for the heat absorbed in decomposing the oxide of the fettling during
submersion. Such a fettling may be formed by the intimate admixture of very
pure and rich iron ore or cinder with such a proportion of coal or carbonaceous

page_text: matter, that when exposed to sufficient heat the oxide of iron will be reduced, more
or less, to the metallic state, forming more or less what is known as metallic sponge,
a proportion of common tar or other binding substance may be advantageously
mixed with the other ingredients to form a pasty mass easily applied to the interior
of the vessel or chamber.
To provide the heat necessary for commencing the operation, the needful amount
of fuel may be thrown into the vessel or chamber after it is fettled, and the necessary
amount of blast turned on. The fuel having burnt out, and the vessel or chamber
being sufficiently heated, I prefer in some cases to introduce a small quantity of
melted crude or refined iron, by preference, such as does not contain phosphorus,
which will, while the vessel or chamber rapidly revolves, fill up, decompose, and set
in any crevices in the more or less porous fettling, and will to such extent further
metallize it. The metal to be operated upon may then be introduced into the vessel
or chamber. This metal may be Cleveland or other crude, or re-melted pig iron
containing phosphorus. I prefer its being taken direct from the blast furnace; it
may be fed to the vessel or chamber through a large opening at the end thereof,
which opening when the vessel or chamber is at work will be covered with a door
having in it the escape hole for the products of combustion. When the vessel or
chamber has been charged it must be closed, leaving only the escape hole open, and
the blast must be turned on.
The surface of the metallized fettling forming the interior of the véssel or chamber,
and on which the bath of melted inetal rests, will now or previously during the
heating process be oxidized, aud as the vessel or chamber is made slowly to revolve,
it will successively bring this oxydized surface underneath the melted bath, and by
its action oxidize the silicon and phosphorus, and more slowly the carbon, forming
a silicate of phosphide of iron, which will rise to the surface as slag, and carbonic
oxide, which will rise in bubbles; as the metallized fettling surface, partly cleared
from its oxide, rises out from under the bath, it will be re-oxidized by the atmospheric
air above the bath, such air only being admitted in such proportion as will suffice
to accomplish this oxidation, and to burn all the carbonic oxide as it rises from out
of the bath to carbonic acid, the bath at the same time feeding upon and
appropriating soine of the metallic iron in the metallized lining.
The principle upon which this part of my Invention is based may be thus stated
The interior of the vessel or chamber approximates to a metallic surface of iron,
which is continually being oxidized when above the bath of metal, owing to the
action of the heated air, and continually deoxidized when underneath the bath by
contact with the liquid metal. In carrying out this principle, I do not limit myself
to the precise composition of the fettling herein-above described, so long as the
interior of the vessel or chamber is made to prevent more or less a metallic iron.
surface capable of being oxidized by the atmospheric air in the vessel or chamber, as
described.
In some cases it may be found convenient to make the vessel or chamber with an
interior entirely composed of metallic iron, but in others it may be found possible
to make the malleable steel with a lining such as described for making the crude
steel.
I propose to continue to revolve the vessel or chamber until the whole or the
greater part of the silicon, phosphorus, and other impurities are removed. When
å taken sample shews that the carbon is reduced to nearly the point required,
the air may be altogether shut off, and the revolving partly or altogether stopped,
when the bath, after having reduced the oxidized surface beneath it, will ultimately
rest on a surface, more or less coinposed of metallic iron, from which it will continue
to feed, and will remain in a comparatively quiescent state till a sample shews the
required degree of softness and malleability; whereupon the metal may be tapped
into steel ingots, adding previously (or not adding) à small quantity of ferro-
manganese or other substance, such as is usually employed to improve the product.
Or I may reduce the decarbonization still farther by continuing to rapidly
revolve the vessel or chamber, while allowing the metal to form itself into a malleable

page_text: .
, ball which will be protected from oxidation by shutting off the air until it is ready
to take out and bring under the hammer or squeezer, thereby forming malleable iron,
such malleable iron ball however being formed with perhaps greater facility in a
. vessel or chamber fettled as for crude steel, and may be turned out as an ordinary
iron puddle ball, or as a puddle steel ball.
The following shews the calorimetric effect expressed in Fahrenheit heat units,
by which it will be seen that a large amount of surplus heat remains, so that
in practice, even allowing for mere approximation to theory and loss in radiation
there is ample margin to increase the heat in the vessel or chamber by its own
operation, sufficiently to keep ordinary steel in a melted state, and that by succes-
sive additions of heat to the blast, such surplus may be increased to an extent only
limited by the amount of heat put into such blast:-
Containing Silicon
Phosphorus
2°°
1.25°*
As 2% of carbon will be left in the crude steel, the following quantities will
have to be removed :-
Carbon
Silicon
Phosphorus
Temperature of the bath of crude steel
Fettling to consist of rich oxide of iron.
-
-
=
8.75 lbs.
= 10 lbs.
==
=
6.25 lbs.
2,200° Fahr.
1 carbon requires 1 oxygen to form carbonic oxide, and 8.75 lbs. of carbon will
therefore require 11:07 lbs. of oxygen in forming 20-42 lbs. of carbonic oxide.
1 silicon requires oxygen to form silicic acid, and 10 lbs. of silicon will there-
fore require 11.42 lbs. of oxygen in forming 21-42 lbs. of silicic acid.
I phosphorus requires oxygen to form phosphoric acid, and 6.25 lbs. of
phosphorus will therefore require 8.06 lbs. of oxygen in forming 1431 lbs. of
phosphoric acid.
Or a total amount of 31·15 lbs. of oxygen will be required.
The calorimetric effect being of,—
Carbon, forming carbonic oxide
Silicon, forming silicic acid
Phosphorus, forming phosphoric acid
Iron, forming magnetic oxide of iron
Carbonic oxide, forming carbonic acid
==
4,451
==
14,094
=
10,381
2,966
4,325
=====
the heat produced by 8.75 lbs. of carbon in forming carbonic oxide, will be,—
8.75 x 4451 = 38,946 units.
The heat produced by 10 lbs. of silicon in forming silicic acid, will be,―
10 x 14,094 = 140,940 units;
and the heat produced by 6.25 lbs. of phosphorus in forming phosphoric acid will
be,—
6.25 x 10,381 = 64,881 units;
or the carbon, silicon, and phosphorus together will produce in burning,-
38,946 +140,940 + 64,881 = 244,767 units of heat.
As the carbonic oxide gas generated will be burnt by atmospheric air to carbonic
acid, a further amount of,--
of host will be canamted
20.42 x 4,325 = 88,316 units

page_text: Total surplus of unies of heat
00,000
This surplus is independent of any heat that may be generated by the oxidation
of particles of metallic iron which may mechanically have been carried up from the
bath, or may have been left on the surface of the fettling by the chemical action of
the bath. On the other hand no deduction is made for the loss of heat by
radiation.
Charge of pig iron (Cleveland)
Carbon
Containing Silicon
Phosphorus
=
500 lbs.
3.75%
2°°
1.25°
As 0.25% of carbon will be left in the malleable steel, the following quantities
will have to be removed
Carbon
Silicon
Phosphorus
Temperature of the bath of malleable steel
= 17.5 lbs.
=
10 lbs.
=
6.25 lbs.
2,550° Fahr.
=
The inside of the vessel or chamber is supposed to be metallic iron, the surface
of which will alternately be oxidised and deoxidised by the action in the vessel or
chamber.
1 carbon requires 1 oxygen to form carbonic oxide, and 175 lbs. of carbon will
therefore require 23-33 lbs. of oxygen in forming 40-83 lbs. of carbonic oxide.
1 silicon requires oxygen to forin silicic acid and 10 lbs. of silicon will there-
fore require 11-42 lbs, of oxygen in forming 21-42 lbs. of silicic acid.
1 phosphorus requires 1 oxygen to form phosphoric acid, and 6.25 lbs. of

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Gjers in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st Déceinber
1877.
Ironmaster.
JOHN GJERS, of Middlesbrough, in the North Riding of the County of York,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
My Invention has reference to the production of crude steel and of malleable steel
and malleable iron from melted pig iron or crude iron (which irons may contain
phosphorus) by a process depending, like the Bessemer process, for the supply of
heat upon the combustion of the impurities in the melted metal to be converted:
Prior to December 1867, I ascertained that by working crude iron or remelted pig
iron in an ordinary puddling furnace (using fuel in the ordinary way) with the
assistance of a rich, pure iron cinder, nearly all the phosphorus was removed while
the metal was yet in a fluid state, and at a time when only a portion of the carbon
was eliminated. And, taking advantage of this, I, under a Patent granted to me
the 3rd December 1867, No. 3440, for "Certain Improvements in the Manufacture
of Cast Steel and Homogenous Iron," proposed to transfer the metal so purified
(which I call crude steel metal), whilst yet in a fluid state, into the open hearth of
a reverberatory furnace, and in such furnace to effect the further removal of carbon
necessary to bring such crude steel metal into a state to form malleable steel. In
practice, however, the ordinary puddling furnace was found unsuitable, and hand
labour not fully reliable for the production of the crude steel metal.
One object of my present Invention is to produce such crude steel metal in a
reliable and economical manner. To this end I treat the melted pig or crude iron
in a vessel or chamber lined with oxydizing fettling containing rich oxides of iron,
which fettling may be such as is ordinarily used in rotary puddling furnaces,
preferring, however. (except for the production of malleable iron) a metallized or
approximately metallized fettling, sucli as is herein-after fully described; and in
such vessel or chamber so fettled I maintain combustion by the use of air blast
without the aid of fuel (except such as may be consumed externally of the said
vessel or chamber for heating the blast), simultaneously causing alternately the
surface of the fettling to be acted upon by the oxygen in the air blast (as distin-
guished from the ordinary carbonaceous flame of a rotary puddling furnace), and
the metal constituting the bath to be acted upon by the surface of the fettling so
oxydized.
The apparatus employed may be a vessel or chamber resembling a revolving
furnace lined with fettling, as described, and capable of being entirely closed, so
that the charge inside the vessel or chamber will then be entirely isolated from
external influences; this vessel or chamber is provided with a small inlet and valve
for the admission of air under pressure, and with a small opening at the end of the
vessel or chamber opposite to the said blast inlet or valve, such small opening being
for the escape of the products of combustion, and being capable of being closed by
a suitable plug. Thus when the valve is closed and the escape hole plugged the
contents of the vessel or chamber will be entirely isolated from external influences.
In this vessel or chamber the heat will be sustained entirely by the oxidation or
combustion of the carbon and the impurities in the crude iron, the escape hole being
regulated to such a size as by preference always to form a plenum of pressure inside
the vessel or chamber.
The vessel or chamber may be of an oblong cylindrical form, capable of revolving
or oscillating on its axis; or may be of other shape so long as it be independent of
any contrivance for the production of heat except. such as may be necessary to
supply it with heated blast.
The rationale of the beneficial alternate action of the fettling upon the bath and
of the air upon the surface of the fettling is this, that practically the whole of the
impurities to be removed from the crude iron, including carbon, have to be removed
by a process of oxidation indirectly through the medium of the fettling; the oxide

page_text: of iron in revolving comes in contact with the bath; oxygen is abstracted by the
impurities from the oxide of iron, thus reducing the oxide from a higher grade to a
lower grade, and even metallizing (or approximately metallizing) a portion of iron
which may partially dissolve in the bath, thereby increasing the yield, or it may
stick to the surface of the fettling; other small particles of metallic iron may be
⚫ carried up mechanically from the bath; as the surface of such fettling revolves out
of the bath it does not, as in the ordinary revolving puddling furnace, come in
contact. with a carbonaceous flame, but with highly heated atmospheric air, which
immediately re-oxidizes such metallic or partially deoxidized particles, thereby
preparing the surface of the fettling, and making it more efficient for again entering
underneath the bath; moreover, such oxidation generates an amount of heat which
is beneficial to the operation.
In treating crude iron or remelted pig iron for the production of crude steel metal
in a revolving vessel or chamber, such as is above described, I continue to revolye
the vessel or chamber until the whole or the greater part of the silicon, phosphorus,
and other impurities are removed, and then while there still remains about two per
cent. of carbon (more or less) I may transfer the fluid metal, which will have
become crude steel, into an open hearth reverberatory gas furnace (Siemens' or
other), and there complete the decarbonization by any well-known means, and,
finally, cast the metal into ingots; or I may transfer the crude steel metal into a
Bessemer converter, wherein I may treat the said crude steel metal in admixture
with other substances, such as melted pig iron or crude iron free from phosphorus
but rich in carbon and silicon; or with what is known as burnt or glazed pig iron,
and by treating the said mixture in the converter according to the Bessemer process
I may complete the decarbonization; or I may use the crude steel metal to run into
castings for various purposes, particularly such as are by cementation to be made
into what are known as malleable castings; or I may run the crude steel metal into
moulds to be afterwards remelted for any of the above purposes.
I furthermore propose to make malleable steel in my herein-before described
. revolving vessel or chamber. For this purpose it will usually be found advantageous
to use a more highly heated blast than is requisite for making the crude steel.
And in order still further to increase the surplus of heat in the said vessel or
chamber I use a fettling partially metallized before use, and such as whilst above
the surface of the metal bath will, by the oxygen of the blast in the vessel or
chamber, be re-oxidized to a greater extent than the ordinary rotary furnace fettling
herein before referred to, thus to a greater extent compensating for the heat
absorbed in decomposing the oxide of the fettling during submersion. Such a
fettling may be formed by the intimate admixture, as hercin-after described, of very
pure and rich iron ore or cinder with such a proportion of coal or carbonaceous
matter that when exposed to suflicient heat the oxide of iron will be reduced. more
or less to the metallic state, forming more or less what is known as metallic sponge.
A proportion of binding substance (and flux when necessary) should be mixed with
the other ingredients to form a pasty mass easily applied to the interior of the vessel
or chamber.
-
. . To provide the heat necessary for commencing the operation, the needful amount
of fuel may be thrown into the vessel.or chamber after it is fettled and the necessary
amount of blast turned on. The fuel having burnt out, and the vessel or chamber
being sufficiently heated, I prefer in some cases (for instance, when the fettling is
cracked or uneven) to introduce a small quantity of melted crude or refined iron,
by preference such as does not contain phosphorus, which will, while-the vessel or
chamber revolves, fill up, decompose, and set in any crevices in the more or less
porous fettling, and will to such extent further metallize it. The metal to be
operated upon may then be introduced into the vessel or chamber. This metal may
be Cleveland or other crude or remelted pig iron containing phosphorus. I prefer
its being taken direct from the blast furnace. It may be fed to the vessel or
chamber through a large opening at the end thereof, which opening, when the vessel
.or chamber is at. work, will be covered with a door having in it, the escape hole for

page_text: the products of combustion. When the vessel or chamber has been charged it
must be closed, leaving only the escape hole open, and the blast must then be
turned on.
The surface of the metallized fettling forming the interior of the vessel or
chamber, and on which the bath of melted metal rests, will now, or previously
during the heating process, be oxidized, and as the vessel or chamber is made to
slowly revolve, it will successively bring this oxidized surface underneath the melted
bath, and by its action oxidize the silicon and phosphorus, and more slowly the
carbon, forming a silicate of phosphide of iron, which will rise to the surface as
slag, and carbonic oxide which will rise in bubbles. As the metallized fettling
surface, partially deprived of its oxygen, rises out from under the bath, it will be
reoxidized by the atmospheric air above the bath, such air only being admitted in
such proportion as will suffice to accomplish this oxidation, and to burn all the
carbonic oxide as it rises from out of the bath to carbonic acid, the bath at the
same time feeding upon and appropriating some of the metallic iron in the metallized
lining.
The principle upon which this part of my Invention is based may be thus stated :-
The interior of the vessel or chamber approximates to a inetallic surface of iron,
which is continually being oxidized when above the bath of metal owing to the
action of the heated air, and continually deoxidized (more or less) when underneath
the bath by contact with the liquid metal. In carrying out this principle I do not
limit myself to the precise composition of the fettling, herein-after described with
reference to my Drawings, so long as the interior of the vessel or chamber is made
to present more or less a metallic iron surface capable of being oxidized by the
atmospheric air in the vessel or chamber, as described.
In some cases it may be found convenient to make the vessel or chamber with an
interior entirely composed of metallic iron or steel, but usually this will not be so
desirable as an artificially metallized fettling.
I continue to revolve the vessel or chamber until the whole or the greater part of
the silicon, phosphorus, and other impurities are removed. When a taken sample
shews that the carbon is reduced to nearly the point required, the air may be
altogether shut off, and the revolving partly or altogether stopped, when the bath,
after having reduced the oxidized surface beneath it, will ultimately rest on a
surface more or less composed of metallic iron, from which it will continue to feed,
and will remain in a comparatively quiescent state till a sample shews the required
degree of softness and malleability, whereupon the metal may be tapped into steel
ingots, adding previously (or not adding) a small quantity of ferro-manganese or
other substance, such as is usually employed to improve steel. Or I may in some
cases decarbonize still further by continuing to revolve the vessel or chamber while
allowing the metal to form itself into a malleable ball, which will be protected from
oxidation by shutting off the air until it is ready to take out and bring under the
hammer a squeezer, thereby forming malleable iron. Such malleable iron ball
however will be formed with much greater facility in a vessel or chamber lined with
fettling such as is used in ordinary rotary puddling furnaces, as herein-before
mentioned, and may be turned out as an ordinary iron puddle ball, or as a puddle
steel ball.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I now proceed
more particularly to describe how it may be carried into practical effect, and for that
purpose refer to the accompanying two Sheets of Drawings, whereof Fig. 1 is a
central longitudinal vertical section of my apparatus; Fig. 2 is a vertical cross
section, and Fig. 3 is an elevation of the tapping end.
A is the body of the revolving vessel, made to rotate either by hand, by means of
the handles B, or by any suitable mechanical means; C is the lining; D is a per-
manent backing; E is the blast pipe with regulating valve, and F is the escape hole
for the products of combustion; G is the charging door, which can be taken off at
pleasure; H is the tapping hole for the metal, and I is the slag tapping hole.
The lining or fettling of the vessel A is originally done by first giving the iron

page_text: shell a permanent lining D of about 2 ins. thick of suitable fire-resisting material,
such as ganister or fire-clay, with sufficient binding material in the shape of cement
to make it set.
The inner lining or fettling C is made up of a mixture of iron ore with such a
proportion of carbon, and, when necessary, flux, as will, when exposed to the necessary
heat, produce metallic iron. In practice I take 75parts by weight of rich and pure iron
ore in a pulverised state, such ore by preference (though not necessarily) containing
about 10 per cent. of manganese; or I use a mixture of non-manganiferous iron ore
with ore containing manganese, so as to produce a mixture of rich pure iron with
about 10 per cent. of manganese, and I add to the said rich pure iron ore or mixture
about 15 parts by weight of charcoal or pulverised coke. This addition of car-
bonaceous matter (with or without flux) to the other ingredients composing the
fettling enables me, by the application of heat, as herein-before described, to
inctallize (or approximately metallize) the iron in the fettling, as described. To the
foregoing mixture I add, say, 10 parts by weight of Portland cement, adding also
the necessary quantity of lime for fluxing if the ore is very silicious, and does not,
in conjunction with the Portland cement, produce sufficient flux; the intention
being to make both a flux and a cementing medium, and to forin the whole into
properly shaped bricks (which will set when dry) wherewith to line the vessel.
The vessel being so lined I put fuel into it, and by means of the blast, heat the
vessel up to the necessary point for starting, which should be a full red heat; this
heating should be continued sufficiently long to cause the fettling, for at least a
portion of its depth, to assume through the action of the intermixed carbon a inore
or less metallic state, the surface however being by the action of the blast more or
less oxidized. The vessel is now ready for charging, and by taking off the charging
door G, the metal may be run in direct from the blast furnace; it should be grey
fluid iron, and may contain phosphorus. The door having been put on and the
heated blast (I have obtained satisfactory results in making crude steel from
Cleveland iron by the use of air blast heated to a temperature of 1,000° Fahrenheit)
turned on by the valve E¹, the oxidizing of the silicon, phosphorus, and carbon in the
fluid iron bath by the action of the metallized but oxidized surface of the fettling,
goes on continually receiving fresh supplies of oxygen indirectly through the air
blast. The vessel being slowly rotated (intermittently or otherwise), say, at the
rate of two or three revolutions per minute, more or less, so as to bring fresh
surfaces of fettling underneath the bath, and expose fresh surfaces of the more or
less metallized fettling to the action of the air blast, as herein-before described, slag
will gradually be formed, which will float on the bath, to accelerate which 1
sometimes throw in some fine ground and dry manganiferous iron ore and common
salt, which I mix in about the proportion of three parts by weight of ore to one
part by weight of salt on the top of the bath.
The bath having for some time been exposed to the action of the fettling and the
slag, such slag is ultimately tapped off through the slag hole I, and then the purified
but crude steel metal containing about 20% of carbon, but free from silica and
phosphorus, may be tapped and transferred direct into an open hearth steel furnace
for further decarbonisation; or may be transferred into a Bessemer converter, and
therein treated in admixture with highly silicious and carbonized pig iron, as herein-
before described; or the further decarbonization may be allowed to go on in my
revolving vessel, the further slag being allowed to run off as it is formed, and the
finished steel ultimately tapped into ingot moulds, as herein-before described. It
will thus be seen that whether I intend to produce crude steel or finished steel, I
prefer to use the more or less metallized fettling, as described.
After every tap, more or less, metallic iron or steel (with which there will be some
slag) remains in hollow parts of the lining of the furnace, and by turning those
parts which require most re-fettling to the bottom, and allowing the said metallic
iron or steel to set, the inore or less metallic surface of the lining will be continually
maintained by metal, which is either accidentally or purposely allowed to set
upon it,

page_text: Having described the nature of my said Invention and the mode of carrying it
into practical effect, I hereby declare that what I consider to be novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to ine under the Letters Patent herein-
before first in part recited is,―
1. The use of a metallized (or approximately metallized) iron fettling or lining, in
combination with a heated blast, substantially as described.
2. The use of a chamber or vessel capable of being entirely closed when required,
lined as herein-before described and referred to in the preceding claim, and made to
revolve or oscillate in such a manner that the surfaco of the metallized lining may
be raised above the molten bath, so as to be acted upon by the air blast, and be
brought underneath the said fluid bath to act upon the metal in the said bath
alternately, as described.
3. The conversion of molten pig iron or crude iron into crude steel, malleable
steel, or malleable iron, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Gjers, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Nineteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
TOUN CUTERS
(201
JOHN GJERS. (L.S.)