IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Frederick Ansell, of Bernard Street,
Russell Square, in the County of Middlesex, Analytical Chemist,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND
STEEL."
Sealed the 28th January 1870, and dated the 9th August 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Frederick Ansell'
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th August 1869.
I, GEORGE FREDERICK ANSELL, of Bernard Street, Russell Square,.
in the. County of Middlesex, Analytical Chemist, do hereby declare.the;
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
IRON AND STEEL," to be as follows:-

page_text: or a mixture of the two, to act upon the metal in a molten state,
and applied in such a manner as to act throughout the mass of melted
metal. For this purpose the bi-sulphate may be placed at the bottom
of a vessel lined with fire-clay, which may be called the converting
chamber or receiver, and the melted cast iron poured upon it. This
converting chamber may also have ridges or ledges ranged round its
interior, upon which the bi-sulphate, may also be placed, or the bi-
sulphate may be otherwise disposed to facilitate its mingling with
the molten metal. The bi-sulphate may also be first heated or melted
before being used, and it may be poured into the chamber or receiver
simultaneously with the melted metal, so that their admixture may
commence in the act of being poured into the receiver. By means of
the oxygen contained in the sulphuric acid of the bi-sulphate any
phosphorus, sulphur, carbon, and silicon contained in the melted pig
iron will be eliminated by the chemical action which will take place.
The receiver may have a tap hole at the bottom to run off the converted
metal.
:
The particular mode of using the bi-sulphate will depend upon the
nature or quality of the metal to be acted upon. The quantity of
bi-sulphate to be employed must depend upon the amount and proportion
of phosphorus, sulphur, carbon, silicon, and other impurities in the pig
iron, which must be ascertained by analysis, and the quantity of bi-
sulphate used must be so proportioned as that there may be enough
to supply sufficient oxygen to combine with those impurities. It may
be so proportioned as not to remove the whole of the carbon, so that
steel may be produced. If wrought iron is required the whole of the
carbon must be removed, and if steel is required to be made from
this wrought iron a sufficient quantity of spiegeleisen may be added
to recarburise the iron. Where there is a smelting furnace the melted
metal may be run from it into the converter direct, so that the con-
version may be without any intermediate heating or remelting, or it may
be run through tubes or channels containing the bi-sulphate into moulds
or other vessels for ingots or pigs.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Frederick Ansell in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th February 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
FREDERICK ANSELL, of Bernard Street, Russell Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Analytical Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Frederick Ansell, Her
special licence that I, the said George Frederick Ansell, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Frederick Ansell, 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, usc, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Frederick
Ansell, my exccutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, 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 George Frederick Ansell, 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 relates to the conversion of iron into steel or into
wrought iron for armour plates, railways, and for other purposes by the
use of bi-sulphate of potash or the bi-sulphate of soda, or a mixture of
the two, the same being applied in such a manner as to act throughout
the mass of melted metal. For this purpose the bi-sulphate may be
placed at the bottom of a converting chamber or receiver consisting

page_text: of a vessel lined with fire-clay and furnished with a bed of sand or loam;
into this chamber the melted metal is then to be poured, or the con-
verting chamber may have ridges or ledges ranged round its interior,
upon which the bi-sulphate may be disposed to facilitate its mingling
with the molten metal. The bi-sulphate may also be first heated or
melted before being used, and it may be poured into the chamber or
receiver in a heated state simultaneously with the melted metal, so that
their admixture may commence in the act of being poured into the
receiver. By means of the oxygen contained in and liberated from the
sulphuric acid of the bi-sulphate any phosphorus, sulphur, carbon,
vanadium, and silicon contained in the melted metal will be eliminated
by the chemical action which will take place and will take the form
of slag, which when set may be readily separated from the metal. The
receiver may have a tap hole at the bottom to run off the purified or
converted metal. The quantity of bi-sulphate to be employed must
depend on the amount and proportion of phosphorus, sulphur, carbon,
silicon, and other impurities contained in and intended to be eliminated
from the iron or steel, which must be ascertained by analysis, and the
quantity of bi-sulphate must be so proportioned as that there may be
enough to supply sufficient oxygen to combine chemically with those
impurities. The amount of bi-sulphate may be so proportioned to the
metal under treatment as not to remove the whole of the carbon when
steel is required to be produced, but if wrought iron be required the
amount must be so proportioned as to remove the whole of the carbon.
When steel is required to be made from this purified or wrought iron
a sufficient quantity of spiegeleisen or its equivalent may be added
to recarbonize the iron. Where there is a smelting furnace the melted
metal may be run directly from it into the converter or a succession
of converters direct, so that the conversion may be without any inter-
mediate heating or remelting, or the metal may be run through tubes,
channels, or colanders containing the bi-sulphate and which will serve
as converters, and may thence be discharged into moulds or other
receiving vessels, where the metal will set in the form of ingots, pigs,
solid cylinders, spheres, or otherwise. The slag that may adhere to
these castings may be readily separated therefrom by a hammer. Where
it is desired to eliminate phosphorus, carbon, silicon, sulphur, vanadium,
or other impurities from manufactured iron or steel the metal must be
melted and treated with bi-sulphate, as already described.

page_text: Having now described the nature of my Invention, I wish it to be
understood that I claim, the use of bi-sulphate of potash or soda, or of
a combination of these substances, for the oxidation and removal of the
impurities of and from iron and steel, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Frederick Ansell, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Eighth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
GEORGE F. ANSELL. (L.s.)