IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT IRON."
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Parsons, of Pont-ar-Tawe, Swansea, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT IRON."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Parsons at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
April 1860.
I, WILLIAM PARSONS, of Pont-ar-Tawe, Swansea, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT
IRON," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
wrought iron. For these purposes ordinary puddling, balling, and re-heating
furnaces are used, but it is preferred that the fires should be longer and
narrower than those usually employed. The fire-places are made with closed
ash-pits, and steam from a steam boiler or generator is allowed to flow into
such closed ash-pits and up between the fire-bars. Air under pressure is also
supplied to such closed ash-pits by any suitable blowing apparatus, to neither
of which arrangements do I make any claim; but the peculiarity of my
Invention consists in combining therewith the use of anthracite coal, by which
the manufacture of wrought iron will be greatly improved.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Parsons in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th October 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PARSONS, of Pont-ar-Tawe, Swansea, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Parsons, Her special licence that I, the said William Parsons, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Parsons, 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
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT IRON," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Parsons, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their bands 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 William Parsons, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
wrought iron. For these purposes ordinary puddling, balling, and re-heating
furnaces are used, but it is preferred that the fires should be longer and
narrower than those usually employed. The fire-places are made with closed
ash-pits, and steam from a steam boiler or generator is allowed to flow into
such closed ash-pits and up between the fire-bars. Air under pressure is also
supplied to such closed ash-pits by any suitable blowing apparatus, to neither
of which arrangements do I make any claim; but the peculiarity of my
Invention consists in combining therewith the use of anthracite coal, by which
the manufacture of wrought iron will be greatly improved.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood, I will

page_text: describe the manner in which I prefer to carry the same into effect. The
various furnaces employed in the processes of puddling, balling, and re-heating,
I construct as heretofore, excepting that I make the fire-grate about half as
long again as is usual. A good proportion for the fire-grate is seven feet
long and three feet six inches wide, the working bed of the furnace being four
feet long and three feet six inches wide. The bars of the fire-grate I make
much deeper and thinner than usual; I prefer that they should be about ten
inches deep and half an inch thick, and that spaces half an inch wide should
be left between the bars. I close the ash-pit of the furnace, and lead into the
same a steam pipe of two inches in diameter, and perforated so as to allow the
steam to escape beneath the fire-bars. Another perforated pipe is employed
to supply air to the ash-pit; this latter, as employed by me, is one inch in
diameter. The fuel made use of is, as before mentioned, anthracite coal. The
steam employed is of a pressure of about seven pounds on the square inch
and when the furnace is in full work, as much steam is supplied to the ash-
pit as the pipe will allow to pass. The blast is of a pressure of about two
pounds on the square inch; and when the furnace is in full work, as much air
is admitted to the ash-pit as the pipe will carry. The several operations
of puddling, balling, and re-heating are carried on on the beds of the furnaces
in the usual manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Parsons, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
WILLIAM PARSONS. (L.S.)
WILLIAM PARSONS.
(L.S.)