In- PROVEMENTS IN FETTLING OR LINING PUDDLING FURNACES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Mattieu Williams, of Sheffield, in the
County of York, Analytical Chemist, for the Invention of "In-
PROVEMENTS IN FETTLING OR LINING PUDDLING FURNACES USED IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
Sealed the 20th June 1869, and dated the 1st January 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Matticu
Williams at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 1st January 1869.
I, WILLIAM MATTICU WILLIAMS, of Sheffield, in the County of York,
Analytical Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FETTLING OR LINING PUDDLING FURNACES USED IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," to be as follows:-
In the ordinary method of fettling or lining the beds and sides of
puddling furnaces oxide of iron or a compound consisting mainly of
oxide of iron is employed for that purpose.
My Invention consists in fettling or lining the beds and sides of
puddling furnaces with black oxide of manganese, either alone or mixed

page_text: with oxide of iron or other material, which is or may be employed for
fettling or lining the said furnaces. In using oxide of manganese
without admixture with other solid, I reduce it to fine powder and
moisten it so as to produce a plastic or pasty mass which I apply to the
bed and sides of the puddling furnace; when I use the said oxide of
manganese in combination with oxide of iron or other fettling material
I mix it with the said fettling material and apply it in the way in which
the oxide of iron or other fettling material is ordinarily employed.
By the use of oxide of manganese, as described, the puddling process is
expedited and the quality of the iron or steel produced is improved. The
heated iron or steel during the puddling process decomposes the oxide
of manganese causing an evolution of oxygen, which rising through the
molten iron or steel rapidly oxidizes the oxidizable materials contained
in the said iron or steel. A portion of the reduced manganese enters
into alloy with the iron or steel and effects the improvement in the
quality of the iron or steel, which is well known to result from the
presence of manganese therein.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Mattieu Williams in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th June 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MATTIBU WILLIAMS, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Analytical
Chemist, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign,' did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Mattieu Williams, Her special
licence that I, the said William Mattieu Williams, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Mattieu 'Williams, 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 Ohannel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-

page_text: tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FETTLING OR LINING PUDDLING FURNACES USED IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Mattieu Williams, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly describo 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 William Mattieu Williams,' 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 thereof, that is to say :-
In the ordinary method of fettling or lining the beds and sides of
puddling furnaces oxide of iron or a compound consisting mainly of
oxido of iron is employed for that purpose.
My Invention consists in fettling or lining the beds and sides of
puddling furnaces with crude or prepared oxide of manganeso or man-
ganese ore either as the chief ingredient of the fettling or as an addition
to the oxide of iron or other material, which is or may be employed for
fettling or lining the said furnaces. In using crude or native oxide of
manganese or manganese ore without admixture with other solid, [
select an ore which when pulverized and moistened will form a plastic
or pasty mass, and which when heated will harden and adhere firmly to
the sides and bottom of the puddling furnace. For this purpose the
cheap oxides containing a considerable proportion of iron are best suited,
provided they do not also contain other impurities, such as sulphur and
phosphorus, which would injure the iron in the furnace. When I use
an ore or prepared oxide which does not harden sufficiently after being
rendered plastic by water alone, I mix it with a sufficient quantity of
finely powdered and moistened hæmatite or other suitable material to
give it the property of hardening and adhering when heated in the
furnace. The proportions in which oxide of manganese and oxide of
iron should be mixed in order to make the fettling according to my
Invention vary with the nature of the cast or pig iron to be puddled.
With pig iron of ordinary quality about half a hundredweight of oxide
of manganese mixed with the requisite quantity of oxide of iron for the
fettling of the furnace is sufficient for a charge of four to five hundred-

page_text: weight of pig iron. When the pig iron itself is rich in manganese a less
proportion is necessary in the fettling. When the pig iron contains a
large quantity of silicon and little manganese more oxide of manganese
is required in the fettling than is required with pig iron containing much
oxide of manganese and little silicon. Where practicable I prefer to
introduce the pig iron into the puddling furnace in a melted state;
when this is done and the fettling containing oxide of manganese is laid
on the bottom and lower part of the sides of the furnace the charge gets
the full benefit of the evolution of oxygen, which takes place when the
oxide of manganese is heated. By the use of oxide of manganese, as
described, the puddling process is expedited, and the quality of the iron
or steel produced is improved. The heated iron or steel during the
puddling process decomposes the oxide of manganese, causing an ovo-
lution of oxygen, which rising through the molten iron or steel rapidly
oxidizes the oxidizable materials contained in the said iron or steel. A
portion of the reduced manganesc enters into alloy with the iron or steel
and effects the improvement in the quality of the iron or steel, which is
well known to result from the use of manganese in the manufacture of
iron or steel. When oxide of manganese is mixed directly with the
charge for fluxing, as has been proposed, a portion is liable to become
mechanically distributed through the mass of iron or steel in the state
of an infusible powder, consisting of manganese in a low state of
oxidation, and injures the mechanical propertics of the iron or steel.
But when oxide of manganese is used in the fettling of the puddling
furnace according to my Invention it is gradually decomposed as the
carbon and silicon of the pig iron or steel are presented to it by the
stirring of the puddler, and the manganese enters the charge in a fused
state either as reduced metal or as silicate. Very little of the man-
ganese which enters the iron or steel during the puddling process
remains in the finished metal, most of the said manganese separating
during the finishing of the metal in the form of silicate of manganese,
carrying with it other impuritics, such as phosphorus and sulphur.
This silicate of manganese separates from the metal more readily than
silicate of iron, and is found in considerable quantity in the cinder and
hammer slag. The said cinder and hammer slag are therefore more
valuable than ordinary cinder and hammer slag for the making of cinder
iron in consequence of their richness in manganese. Although the
fuxing property of oxide of manganese, either alone or mixed with
oxide of iron, renders the addition of any other material to the fettling

page_text: unnecessary when pig iron or steel of the ordinary qualities are puddled,
yet when pig iron or steel of such quality as renders the uso of alkaline
fluxes desirable is about to be puddled, common salt or carbonate or
nitrate of soda may be added to the oxide of manganese. A quantity
of the soda salt equal to about one-fourth- the weight of the oxide of
manganese is generally sufficient.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details hercin described, as the same may
be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but. I
claim as my Invention, the improvements in fettling or lining puddling
furnaces used in the manufacture of iron and steel herein-before
described, that is to say, fettling or lining the beds or bottoms and
the sides of the said puddling furnaces with crude or prepared oxido
of manganese or manganese ore either alone or mixed with oxide of iron
or other material, which is or may be employed in the fettling or lining
of puddling furnaces.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Matticu Williams, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Twenty-third day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-
nino.
Witness,
WILLIAM MATTIEU WILLIAMS. (L.S.)
OTTO GÖPELL PINK,
Sheffield.