IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Siegerich Christopher Kreeft, of Fenchurch Street,
in the City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."-A communication from abroad
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Siegerich Christopher
Kreeft, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th November 1864.
I, SIEGERICH CHRISTOPHER KREEFT, of Fenchurch Street, in the City of
London, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to impart homogeneity and a compact mole-.
cular arrangement to cast iron, cast steel, and Bessemer metal, and thereby to
give increased strength to the articles manufactured therefrom. To this end
a current of electricity is applied to such metals while in a state of fusion,
obtained either by means of a voltaic battery or by an induction apparatus.
The electric current is applied during the running off of the molten metal,
and it is thereby caused to assume while in a state of fluidity the desired
homogeneous and compact molecular arrangement which is retained after
cooling. The metal thus treated acquires a tenacity very superior to that of
metals manufactured in the ordinary manner. The effect of this treatment is
also to give to the metals a perfect magnetisation which renders, possible the
economical construction of magnets and other applications.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Siegerich Christopher Kreeft, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th May 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SIEGERICH
CHRISTOPHER KREEFT, of Fenchurch Street, in the City of London, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Siegerich Christopher Kreeft, Her special licence that I, the said
Siegerich Christopher Kreeft, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Siegerich Christopher Kreeft, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," being
a communication from Jacopo Bozza, of Naples, in the Kingdom of Italy, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Siegerich Christopher Kreeft,
my executors 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 Siegerich Christopher Kreeft, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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) :-
The object of this Invention is to impart homogeneity and a compact-mole-
cular arrangement to cast-iron, cast steel, and to Bessemer metal, and thereby
to give increased strength to the articles manufactured therefrom. To attain
this end a powerful current of electricity is applied to the metal while in a
state of fusion, the current being obtained either from a voltaic battery or an
induction apparatus. The electric current is applied by means of carbon
points connected with the wires of the voltaic battery or induction apparatus,
the points being brought into contact with the metal while it is being run off;

page_text: the metal is thus caused to assume (while in a state of fluidity) the desired
homogeneous and compact molecular arrangement, which arrangement it re-
tains after cooling. By applying the electric current during the running off of
the fused metal, and more especially the metal obtained by Bessemer's process,
and the cast steel produced in furnaces with saggars, the occurrence of flaws
or bubbles is prevented as the molecular movement set up by the electricity
prevents their formation. The metals thus treated acquire a tenacity very
superior to that of iron and steel manufactured and cast under ordinary cir-
cumstances. The effect of this treatment is also to give to the metals thus
acted upon a perfect magnetisation which renders possible the economical
construction of magnets.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements in the
Manufacture of Iron and Steel" as communicated to me from abroad and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be under-
stood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, subjecting
manufactured iron and steel while in a state of fusion to the action of electric
currents for the production in cast iron, cast steel, and Bessemer metal of a
homogeneous and compact molecular arrangement as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Siegerich Christopher Kreeft, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
SIEG. C. KREEFT. (L.B.)