IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING PULVERULENT IRON ORES FOR SMELTING
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Cochrane, of The Grange, Stourbridge,
in the County of Worcester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
"
Sealed the 17th October 1873, and dated the 14th June 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Cochrane at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th June 1873.
I, CHARLES COCHRANE, of The Grange, Stourbridge, in the County of
Worcester, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING PULVERULENT IRON ORES FOR SMELTING," to be as
follows:-
Iron ores are often found of so pulverulent a character that when they
are charged into the smelting furnace they seriously impede its action.
My Invention relates to a method of treating such ores before charging
them into the furnace, so as to render them better suited for undergoing
the smelting operation, and to facilitate the action of the furnace. For
this purpose I mix with such ores a sufficient quantity of clay to make

page_text: their particles cohere, and I mould or press the mixture into bricks or
blocks of convenient size, which I dry or calcine, and charge into the
smelting furnace. Some ores of pulverulent character, such as that
found in Lincolnshire, have a cohesive property to such a degree as to
render the addition of clay unnecessary. In such cases I press the ore
powder into moulds, so as to form bricks or blocks for smelting.
It is to be understood that in applying the treatment above described
to ores, it is only necessary to agglomerate such portions of the bulk as
are not already agglomerated, the agglomerated parts or lumps being
first separated by screening to be smelted in the ordinary way. When,
however, such lumps have little natural coherence, and are liable to
crumble in the furnace, I prefer to reduce them to powder in the first
instance by rollers, edge runners, or other known grinding or crushing
apparatus, and agglomerate the product with or without clay, as
described above.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Cochrane in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
COCHRANE, of The Grange, Stourbridge, in the County of Worcester,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteen day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Charles Cochrane, Her special license,
that I, the said Charles Cochrane, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Cochrane, 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

page_text: Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING PULVERULENT IRON ORES. FOR SMELTING," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Charles Cochrane, 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 Charles Cochrane, 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 :-
Iron ores are often found of so pulverulent a character that when they
are charged into the smelting furnace they seriously impede its action.
My Invention relates to a method of treating such ores before charging
them into the furnace, so as to render them better suited for undergoing
the smelting operation, and to facilitate the action of the furnace. For
this
purpose I mix with such ores a sufficient quantity of clay to make
their particles cohere, and I mould or press the mixture into bricks or
blocks of convenient size, which I dry or calcine, and charge into the
smelting furnace. Some ores of pulverulent character, such as that
found in Lincolnshire, have a cohesive property to such a degree as to
render the addition of clay unnecessary. In such cases I press the ore
powder into moulds, so as to form bricks or blocks for smelting.
It is to be understood that in applying the treatment above described
to ores, it is only necessary to agglomerate such portions of the bulk as
are not already agglomerated, the agglomerated parts or lumps being
first separated by screening to be smelted in the ordinary way. When,
however, such lumps have little natural coherence, and are liable to
crumble in the furnace, I prefer to reduce them to powder in the first
instance by rollers, edge runners, or other known grinding or crushing
apparatus, and agglomerate the product with or without clay, as
described above.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim the treatment of
pulverulent iron ores, preparatory to smelting by moulding them into
bricks or blocks, adding clay when necessary to give them coherence,
and drying or calcining such blocks, substantially in the manner and for
the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Cochrane, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of November
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
CHARLES COCHRANE. (L.S.)