A NEW METHOD OF MAKING SHEAR STEEL
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
SANDERSON, of Park Gate Iron Works, near Rotherham, in the County of
York, Iron Master, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Fourth day of September, in the ninth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Sanderson, His especial licence, that I, the said Charles Sanderson,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Sanderson, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years,
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend.
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Inven-
tion of "A NEW METHOD OF MAKING SHEAR STEEL;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Charles. Sanderson,, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what. manner the;
same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in: His:
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and

page_text: immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large-appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Sanderson, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention
to consist in forming. shear steel out of very small pieces of bar steel, instead
of pieces from one to two feet in length, as heretofore, whereby I am enabled
to form shear steel with fewer heats, and consequently with less waste, and
without the use of silicious sand, as heretofore practised. And in further
compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Charles Sanderson, do hereby
describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed, by the
following description thereof, that is to say:-
I take bar steel in the state in which it comes from the converting furnace,
and break it into very small pieces of one inch to two inches long. A quantity
of these small pieces being ready, I procure a-round stone of any quality, which
is capable of withstanding the strong heat of a reverberatory furnace without
cracking or breaking, and upon this stone the small pieces of steel are piled as
closely and compactly as possible, the whole is then inclosed in a fire-clay
crucible, and placed in a reverberatory furnace, where it is allowed to remain
until the whole mass becomes of a high welding. heat. It is then taken from
the crucible; and placed under a heavy cast-iron hammer, usually called a
metal helve, and exactly the same as those used in the manufacture of bar
iron. This hammer is driven by machinery; and from the circumstance of the
whole mass being in a semifluid state it is almost instantaneously hammered
or manufactured into one solid mass or bloom of steel of from three to four
inches, square. This bloom is placed in a furnace, or, as it is moro generally
termed, a hollow.fire, of two or three feet square, heated with coke, and the heat
increased by the application of a blast of air, and the whole mass or body of tho
steel so hammered or manufactured as aforesaid is raised to a high welding heat.
It is then taken. from tho furnace, and placed under the same metal helve or
hammer before. mentioned, and drawn into a bar of shear steel; ready to be
tilted or rolled into the various sizes or shapes which may be required. For
shear steel to be used for inferior purposes it might be too expensive to
place the piled steel in, a crucible, but it might merely be placed in a rever-
beratory furnace, and drawn thence when it is of a complete welding heat.
Shear steel made in this manner being very superior in quality to that made
in the ordinary way, and the process herein described causing much less wasto
than that heretofore. adopted; I hereby claim as my Invention the said process
or method of manufacturing shear steel; and sucli my-Invention. being, to the
best of my knowledge and belief, entirely new; and never before used within

page_text: that part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, His said Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same,
and that I do verily believe this my said Specification doth comply in all
respects, fully and without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore I hereby
claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Sanderson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.
Sol", Liverpool.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1828, the aforesaid Charles Sanderson came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.