AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE OF MANUFACTURING MALLEABLE IRON
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
SCHAFHAUTL, of No. 77, Cannon Street, in the City of London, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Seal appointed by the Treaty of Union to be
used in place of the Great Seal of Scotland, bearing date at Edinburgh, the
Tenth day of June, in the fifth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Schafhautl, His
special license, that I, the said Charles Schafhautl, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Schafhautl, my
executors, administrators, 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
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
Scotland, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE OF MANUFACTURING
MALLEABLE IRON;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging

page_text: me, the said Charles Schafhautl, 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
enrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancellary within four calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Schafhautl, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to
consist in combining and introducing into the metal and slacks when in a state
of fusion in the boiling or puddling furnace or oven with cinder bottom,
certain ingredients, which by their chemical influence tend to get rid of the
impurities, partly by volatilization and partly by aiding as a flux; and in
further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Charles Schafhautl, do
hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed by
the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
To produce soft iron, I take in the proportion of one pound and three-
quarters of black oxide of manganese, clean and free from foreign matter,
three pounds and three-quarters of common salt well dried, and ten ounces of
potters' clay, well washed and purified as when prepared for making earthen-
ware, and also well dried. These ingredients should be reduced to a very fine
powder and well mixed together, which may be very conveniently done in a
machine such as is used for grinding indigo. When the ingredients have
been thus prepared and mixed together, let the usual quantity of three
hundredweight and three-quarters, or thereabouts, of pig metal, with the
usual quantity of slacks, be fused in the boiling oven in the usual manner, and
when fluxed let the valve or lid over the chimney be lowered so far that the
flames pass over the surface of the fluxed metal in clear transparent and pure
rafts, so that the surface of the fluxed metal may be seen during the process.
The valve should never be lowered so much as to allow the flames to get of a
dark yellowish cloudy aspect obscuring the surface, for this would indicate
that the process was going on too quickly, and consequently the iron would
thereby become an imperfect product; but as soon as at any time dark dirty
yellow flames fill the furnace by the usual process, a little more vent should
be given at the stoke-hole for fresh air to enter, which may be done by
removing a little of the coal with which its mouth is stopped up. From three
to five minutes after the perfect flux of the mass (which depends on the
slower or quicker working of the oven), the mass begins to become somewhat

page_text: more consistent, and at this period the ingredients should be added as after
mentioned. The ingredients I recommend to be kept near the oven in a
warm and dry atmosphere, and they should be put in the oven in about twelve
portions of about half a pound each, and at intervals of about one or two
minutes between each portion. A cylindrical shovel which contains about
half a pound of the mixture will conveniently answer this purpose. As soon
as the first portion is introduced through the stirring hole, it must be mixed
with the mass by stirring the whole as quickly and strongly as possible, the
whole mass becomes by this again more liquid, and it begins to emit pale
yellowish flames on its surface; after an interval of about one or two minutes,
the second portion should be introduced, and so on; after the introduction of
the fluid, or fourth portion, the mass is in such a state of foam and so swollen
from the evolving gases as nearly to reach the stirring hole; at this time the
iron begins to disengage itself from the other matters in the oven, and to
precipitate, at which time the greatest attention is required, the flames emitted
by the boiling mass at that period become more vivid and clear, and exhibit
on their ends a fine light blue color, and reach about five or six inches in
height. The precise intervals for introducing the portions are best ascer
tained by observing when the flames decrease in volume and number on
the surface, which decrease shews that the former portions cease to have
further effect, and then the next portion must be put in, but it is always
important to be attentive that the mass does not become thick too soon;
if this appears, a shovel full of the mixture must be thrown in quickly,
and even a second, which will render the thick mass liquid again; the surest
sign that sufficient of the mixture has been applied is the blue flames
continuing till the time when the iron is ready to work up into balls. It
should be the object of the operator to preserve, as near as can be, a con-
stant equality in the quantity, number, and brilliancy of the flames during the
whole operation. The time which the process occupies, if properly attended
to, from the introduction of the first portion to the introduction of the last one,
is about half an hour, and it is a sign of a correct application of the ingredients
if, during the introduction of the last, or the last but one portion, the work-
man stirs up from the bottom crumbling malleable iron, but this appearance
ought not to be perceptible sooner, as it would indicate that the oven worked
too quickly, or that the valve was lowered too much. It is essential for
obtaining a good equal iron, that a strong, equal, and quick working with the
stirring tool should be continually kept up; and after the last portion of the
mixture has been put in and stirred for two or three minutes the oven may be

page_text: discharged, and the metal treated in the usual manner. If a harder iron for
conversion into steel is required, I employ three or four shovels full of the
slack that is yielded in the rolling the iron, and found under the rollers, and
three shovels full of the cinder that runs out of the balling furnaces, and in
the mixture I put only half the proportion of manganese before mentioned ;
under this process the blue flames do not shew themselves until about the
eleventh or twelfth shovel full, and it is only then the mass begins to foam ;
or if I wish to obtain a still harder iron, I employ the usual quantity of
hammer slacks, but add a shovel full of the cinders from the balling furnaces,
and compound the mixture of manganeze, salt, and clay in the proportions as
mentioned for steel. I apply as far as fifteen shovels full of this mixture
successively and more rapidly, and when the mass is becoming thick, I add
about twelve shovels full at the common interval of one or one and a half
minutes, or as many as can be put in until the iron in the furnace is ready for
balling.
Now whereas I claim as my Invention the introduction in the manner
aforesaid of the ingredients herein-before mentioned into the metal when in
that state which is commonly called a boiling state, whereby I am enabled to
obtain a better flux for the operation, and more effectually to purify the metal
than heretofore. And such my Invention being to the best of my knowledge
and belief entirely new, and never before used within that part of His said
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain called Scotland, I do hereby
declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe
this my said Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without
reserve or disguise with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive
right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Schafhautl, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.
(Signed) CHARLES (L.S.) SCHAFHAUTL.
Taken and acknowledged by the within-named Charles
Schafhautl, this Twenty-sixth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
five, at Sheffield, in the County of York, before me,
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Tony W....

page_text: igned, sealed, and delivered in the presence of me, the words "less than"
having been first struck out, and the word "about" interlined in lieu
thereof, and the word "the" having also been first interlined, and the
words "or balling" having also been first struck out, and the word
"said" also interlined.
(Signed) Wч. WAKE.
Edinburgh, the Second day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-five years.
This Specification is enrolled in the Records of His Majesty's Chancery in
Scotland by me, William Wilson, Substitute of John Dundas, Depute of the
Right Honourable James St. Clair Erskine, Earl of Rosslyn, Director of said
Chancery.