AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST STEEL
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gentle Brown, of Swinton, near Rotherham, in the
County of York, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST STEEL."
Sealed the 20th June 1856, and dated the 25th January 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gentle Brown at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
January 1856.
I, GENTLE BROWN, of Swinton, near Rotherham, in the County of York,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IM-
PROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST STEEL," to be as follows:-
My Invention of an improvement in the manufacture of steel relates to a
means of making cast steel, without the ordinary process of conversion. In
order to effect this object I take one part of pig iron and three parts of clipped-
up wrought iron to make a moderately hard steel; but as all irons differ in
hardness the proportions of iron to be used must depend on the quality of steel
réquired. These materials I put into a common steel crucible, and melt in the
usual manner, and when the irons are well mixed the liquid metal may be run
out, and a good quality of cast steel will be the result.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Gentle Brown in. the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GENTLE
BROWN, of Swinton, near Rotherham, in the County of York, Gentleman, send
greeting.
"
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself; Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Gentle Brown, Her special license that I, the said Gentle
Brown, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Gentle Brown, my executors, administrators, and 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 MANUFACTURE OF CAST STEEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Gentle Brown, by an instrument in writing under my hand and.
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 Gentle Brown, do hereby declare the
nature of my said-Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
(that is to say)"
:
This Invention consists in the production of cast steel, of good quality by a
much cheaper.and more simple process than that now in practice, the operation
of converting the iron in the ordinary.converting furnace: being. by my.Inven-
tion rendered unnecessary: In carrying out this: improved manufacture I
put into a, common melting pot charcoal bar iron, clipped; in pieces, of about
one and a half inches long, and add thereto: good! charcoal pig, iron in the
proportion of one part, more or less, by weight of pig, iron, to three parts, more
or less, of the clipped bar iron... This 'combination; of metals, I melt in,,the
usual manner, and then run it into ingot moulds. By this process I obtain
cast steel suitable for any purpose to which cast steel made on the old plan
can be applied; the various qualities of steel required being obtained by

page_text: slightly varying the proportions of the bar and pig iron. Taking forty pounds
weight as the standard of an ingot, I should put from seven to twelve pounds
of pig metal and the remainder bar iron; these proportions would produce a
cast steel suitable for most purposes. Thus for cast steel to be manufactured
into edge tools I prefer to combine ten pounds of pig metal with thirty pounds
of bar iron. For table knives I add eight pounds of pig metal to thirty-two
pounds of bar iron; and for hard steel I add twelve pounds of pig metal to
twenty-eight pounds of bar iron. But as almost all irons differ in hardness
and quality these proportions are not invariable, but must to a slight degree
be modified according to the judgment of the melter.
Having now set forth the nature and object of my Invention of an
"Improvement in the Manufacture of Cast Steel," and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above
in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the manufacture of cast steel by the
admixture of charcoal bar and charcoal pig iron, in the manner and for the
purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gentle Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
EDWARD WOOD,
Postmaster of Swinton,
Near Rotherham.
GENTLE BROWN. (L.S.)