A New and Useful Alloy of Iron and Hydrogen, and Means for Producing the same.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Apr., 1897-Accepted, 9th Apr., 1898
A New and Useful Alloy of Iron and Hydrogen, and Means for
Producing the same.
I, GEORGE WALTDEN GESNER, residing at Ovington Avenue, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn,
in the County of Kings, in the State of New York, U.S.A., Chemist, do hereby
declare the nature of the invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
I produce a new alloy in the condition of a permanent combination of iron and
hydrogen, adapted to be worked either by forging or casting. The means employed
are such as will induce an absorption, and permanent retention of hydrogen gas.
One manner of making the new alloy consists in melting cast iron and blowing
the hydrogen up through it, which blowing preferably alternates with operations
Ores of iron can
circulating naphtha vapor up through the body of melted metal
be treated to produce my alloy at the time the iron is first reduced from the ore to
the metallic state.
Wrought iron may be subjected to conditions which will result in the permanent
combination of hydrogen therewith, the iron and hydrogen scales of the same
constituting an alloy which may be subsequently melted.
When wrought iron is operated on for the production of the alloy, the change
commences at the surface and as it advances inward the coating of the iron obstructs
the action of the hydrogen on the iron within. At this stage the alloy on the sur-
face is not strongly united and its adhesion to the remainder of the iron is sufficiently
weak to permit the thin coating of alloy to be removed at intervals by percussion
or any sufficiently violent action. These thin portions or scales of the alloy being
afterward subjected to heat melt or weld into a single piece for practical purposes.
Experience indicates that the union of the hydrogen with the iron is stable, and
will remain so under all ordinary or extraordinary conditions to which it may be
subjected.
The alloy possesses unusual properties for resisting oxidation and corrosion. It
is unaffected even by sulphuric acid or aqua regia. It can be worked by tools in
the same manner as iron. Its specific gravity is somewhat less, but it has nearly
the strength of iron.
In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification:
Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view in the plane indicated by the line 1-1
in Fig. 2, and showing an apparatus for making the alloy by forcing up hydrogen
through a body of melted iron.
Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional plan view of part of the apparatus shown in
Fig. 1.
Figure 3 is a view somewhat similar to Fig. 1, but showing an apparatus designed
for first making the alloy in the form of scales adapted for subsequent reduction.
Figure 4 is a horizontal section of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 3.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures where
they appear.
A is a pipe bringing steam from a boiler, not represented, at a sufficiently high

page_text: pressure to enable it to rise through melted iron of the required depth. A¹ is a
series of convolutions in such pipe heated by a fire in the furnace C below, which I
will call the first furnace, to a temperature of about 1500° Fahrenheit. I will
for brevity term this a "coil." B is a valve which controls the flow of the steam
from the boiler to the coil; and D) is a second valve which controls the delivery of
the contents of the pipe into the base of the converter. The effect of the apparatus,
so far as yet described, is to decompose the steam, the oxygen going to line the
interior of the coil A¹ with oxide of iron, while the hydrogen thus liberated moves
forward.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2, E is a converter represented as stationary, but it
may be arranged to tilt on trunnions, like the ordinary Bessemer converter, if pre-
ferred, in any case. The converter being properly heated in advance by ordinary
means, and the fire in a second furnace F below being kept up, the hydrogen is
allowed to flow past the valve D and to rise through the apertures e in the false
floor or bottom E¹, and escape through the stack E³. Now No. 1 iron, or preferably
scrap iron or steel in a fluid condition as far above the melting point as is con-
veniently attainable, is introduced through the charging nozzle E, and the hydrogen
is blown up through the melted mass lying on the false bottom. It will be under-
stood that the apparatus presents a thick coating of fire brick or other refractory
non-conducting material to maintain the heat, and a lining of ganister or other
suitable material to maintain the integrity of the interior. The conditions may in
all points not otherwise described, be as in treating iron with air under correspond-
ing high pressure in the Bessemer process, for the manufacture of steel.
A hydro-carbon inlet pipe M leads from a vessel which for convenience may be the
small vessel N at an elevation of about 25 feet above the coil A¹. In this, for each
batch of one ton of iron, I place one (1) quart of naphtha, about 65 to 70 Beaumé,
and tightly close the vessel N, the descent of the naphtha being controlled by a
cock O.
The pressure of steam in the coil A¹ is controlled by the valve B. Such pressure
is maintained at about 40 pounds except for a short period. After the operation
is continued about two hours, this valve B is so far closed that the pressure in the
coil is lowered to about ten pounds per square inch, and the cock O is opened,
allowing the naphtha to descend through the pipe M and enter the coil A¹. This
condition is maintained for about twenty minutes, when the naphtha will be found
to have nearly or quite all descended. Now the cock O is closed and the valve B
is again set wide open, restoring the full steam pressure in the apparatus, and this
condition is maintained for forty minutes, or until the end of the operation. The
entire treatment will occupy about three hours under ordinary conditions. When
the operation is properly conducted, free hydrogen alone in the first part of the
treatment, and the same with hydro-carbon vapor at a later stage, is delivered past
the valve D into the base of the converter.
The heated iron absorbs the hydrogen and forms my alloy. As nearly as I have
been able to determine, aided by a great number of small experiments, the tem-
perature should be about 2800° Fah. and the depth of the melted iron should be
about fifteen inches.
When the iron ceases to absorb the hydrogen, the fact is indicated by a yellow
color in the flame escaping from the stack E. When this stage is reached the
hydrogen is shut off by closing the valve D, and the metal is allowed to descend
through the passages e into the lower part of the converter, and the tap E³ being
opened it is drawn out, and may be cast into pigs or into any desired useful
or merchantable forms.
My alloy thus produced may be treated by puddling in the same manner as cast
iron, is treated, and it may be afterwards forged or rolled in the same manner as
wrought iron.
I will now describe another mode of manufacturing in which the alloy is pro-
duced in the malleable condition direct. For this method I use iron previously
reduced to a wrought condition, and preferably rolled into sheets.

page_text: The alloy is produced in the form of a scale on the surface of the sheet iron. If
allowed to continue a long time the sheet iron will be alloyed quite through but
the operation will proceed more slowly after the iron is covered with a coating of
the alloy. The alloy at this stage is not strong and it may be beaten off from the
core of unalloyed iron remaining, by subjecting the coated iron to violent con-
cussions in a common agricultural threshing machine or analogous apparatus, and
the separated scale being collected by a process which may be analogous to winnow-
ing, the scaled iron may be again treated until all has been made to absorb its
proper equivalent of hydrogen, and is thus transformed into the scales of alloy.
Finally the scales are heated and worked in rolls or under a hammer like ordinary
wrought iron. It can also be raised to a temperature a little above that of ordinary
melted iron, reduced without injuring its qualities to a fluid or semi-fluid state and
may be cast in sand or in refractory solid molds, like cast iron or steel.
Figures 3 and 4 show the apparatus for working by this method. P is an upright
retort composed of lengths of fire clay pipe, matched together and having the lower end
sealed with water in a concave tank Q. The interior of this upright passage, which
I have termed a retort, is smooth and slightly tapered, the large end downward.
The upper end is open to the atmosphere. A considerable length of this retort is
enveloped in a furnace T which corresponds approximately to the second furnace F
in the first process and maintains a high temperature in all that part of the retort
above the plane of the furnace bars T, and in the quantity of iron moving slowly
downward therein, and in the hydrogen moving upward in the interstices. Thus
conditioned the hydrogen is absorbed nearly uniformly by all the surfaces of the
iron.
This iron in coils or other convenient form is fed in at proper intervals at a
door near the top, and the iron emerges at the bottom below the surface of the
water seal in the tank Q, and is hauled up the inclined sides of the tank by hand
or by machinery, and its place is supplied by more descending from above in the
smooth interior of P, so that the operation is continuous. The manipulation of
the steam and naphtha valves is conducted in the manner and at the periods
previously described.
The heated iron descending through the bath of hydrogen in this, which I term
the coating process, absorbs the hydrogen and forms my alloy in a malleable con-
dition. As nearly as I have been able to determine, aided by a great number of
small experiments, the temperature should be about 1500 degrees Fahrenheit.
I ascribe to the treatment with naphtha at one period an important duty in
absorbing and carrying away any oxygen which may by any chance be present in the
alloy.
It will be understood that the treatment of the steam in the convolutions A¹ of
the pipe A, in the mode which I consider most desirable for producing hydrogen
from steam in the liberal quantities and at the pressure required. The interior
of the convolutions A' may be subsequently de-oxidized by flowing a hydro carbon
through the same at a proper temperature, as has long been practiced by myself
and others. The surface of iron exposed may be increased by any ordinary or
suitable devices, as the filling of the convolutions A' loosely with scrap iron. The
hydrogen for my treatment may be produced by other means than the decomposi-
tion of steam. Hydrogen produced by any available means may be used to produce
my alloy by this process.
I can treat ores of iron and produce my alloy at the same time that the iron is
first reduced from the ore to the metallic state. To effect this I use a non-conduct-
ing vessel with provisions for admitting a gaseous blast and for discharging the
finished product, charging it with fuel, iron ores and flux, in the proportions
indicated by the chemical composition of each. The form of the apparatus may be
that of an ordinary blast furnace. In such case I treat the ore first with the
ordinary air blast, which can enter at the bottom at any convenient place, not
shown, and at a certain time, determined by the progress of the reduction of the
ores to the metallic state, I cut off the air blast and substitute hydrogen from the

page_text: convolutions A¹, by closing a valve not shown, controlling the induction of air,
and opening the valve D, and continuing its application about two hours in the
same manner as before described. The slag and the alloy are drawn from the sub-
melter by the tap.
The purest iron and steel and the richest and most easily reducible ores require
less hydrogen for alloying than the poorer qualities of either. Approximately
1600 cubic feet of hydrogen at the temperature of about 60° Fah. and barometer 30,
or a quantity of that element equal to the conversion of 60 pounds of water into
steam before it enters the coil A¹, is sufficient for the alloying of 2000 pounds of
iron or steel, and of the metallic yield of the ores of iron in proportion to their
composition.
It is important that the scales of the small thickness of iron saturated with
hydrogen from the surface in what I have termed the coating process, be subse-
quently welded or melted. To simply shape the article in iron, wrought or cast,
and then treat it with heat and hydrogen until it is saturated throughout its entire
thickness, will not produce my alloy nor any useful approach thereto.
I use the word "iron" to include all the grades of iron and steel.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. A fusible alloy composed of a permanent combination of iron and hydrogen
having the properties herein specified.
2. A malleable alloy composed of a permanent combination of iron and hydrogen
having the properties herein specified.
3. The process described of manufacturing an alloy of iron and hydrogen, the
same consisting in first passing jets of hydrogen through a mass of melted metal
and thereafter similarly circulating hydrogen and hydrocarbon vapor combined,
substantially as herein specified.
4. The process described of manufacturing an alloy of iron and hydrogen, the
same consisting in first passing jets of hydrogen through a mass of melted metal,
subsequently similarly circulating hydrogen and hydrocarbon vapor combined,
and thereafter resuming the introduction of hydrogen alone until the flame at the
top of the mass indicates a yellowish hue, substantially as herein specified.
5. The process described of producing a fusible alloy of iron and hydrogen by first
puddling the iron, subsequently reducing it to a form presenting a greatly extended
surface, heating such iron in the presence of free hydrogen and allowing time for
the latter to be absorbed, and subsequently detaching and melting the scale thus
produced, substantially as herein specified.
6. The process described of producing a malleable alloy of iron and hydrogen
by first puddling the iron, and subsequently reducing it to a form presenting a
greatly extended surface, heating such iron in the presence of free hydrogen and
allowing time for the iron to absorb the hydrogen, subsequently detaching and
melting the scale thus produced and again mechanically working such alloy, all
substantially as herein specified.
7. In apparatus for the production of an alloy of iron and hydrogen, the com-
bination with a furnace enclosing an iron coil communicating with a source of
steam supply capable of decomposing the steam to form hydrogen under pressure,
of a converter having a chamber for a mass of melted metal provided with a per-
forated bed, and a communication between the coil and converter below the bed of
the latter, the connection at both sides of said coil having suitable controlling
valves, substantially as herein specified.
8. In apparatus for the production of an alloy of iron and hydrogen, the com-
tination with a furnace enclosing an iron coil communicating with a source of
steam supply and capable of decomposing the steam to form hydrogen under
pressure, of a converter having a chamber for a mass of melted metal provided with
a perforated bed, a communication between the coil and converter below the bed

page_text: of the latter, and a hydro carbon supply connecting with the coil, the several con-
nections of the coil with the steam and hydrocarbon supplies and with the con-
verter having suitable controlling valves, substantially as specified.
9. In an apparatus adapted for manufacturing alloys of iron and hydrogen, the
upright retort P, having a water sealed base so that the material may be removed
at intervals or continuously without air admission, provisions T, T₁, for heating
such retort, in combination with a pipe A, supplying steam to a coil A¹, heated
by a separate furnace C, and valves B, D, controlling the passage of steam to and
from said coil, substantially as set forth.
DAY, DAVIES & HUNT,
Chartered Patent Agents, 321, High Holborn, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.