AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE. OF AN ALLOY OR ALLOYS OF TITANIUM AND IRON
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edward Brown Wilson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
February 1863.
I, EDWARD BROWN WILSON, of No. 5, Parliament Street, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE.
OF AN ALLOY OR ALLOYS OF TITANIUM AND IRON," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in manufacturing an alloy or alloys of iron and tita-
nium, containing also carbon, from iserine in the state of titaniferous iron stand.
I prefer to carry my Invention into effect in the manner herein-after explained,
but I do not limit myself to the details described as the method of carrying.
my Invention into effect may be varied without departing from the nature of
my Invention.
That ore of titanium, termed by mineralogists iserine, is found in immense
quantities in the state of fine sand at Taranaki, near the port of New Plymouth
in the island of New Zealand, and on various parts of the coast of Italy. This
iserine is a titaniferous iron sand almost pure, consisting essentially of titanic
acid combined with oxide of iron; it is therefore a compound or double oro
of titanium and iron, and when smelted yields an alloy of titanium and iron.
When this iserine or titaniferous iron sand, unmixed with any cohesive matter to
agglutinate its particles, is smelted in a blast furnace or cupola the said iserine
or titaniferous iron sand falls down through the interstices of the fuel and chokes

page_text: up the hearth of the furnaces, and impedes the working of the said furnace, so
that the smelting of the said ore and its reduction to the state of pig metal
cannot be properly accomplished. In order to obviate this difficulty, and to
obtain, by smelting this iserine or titaniferous iron ore in a blast furnace
or cupola with coal, coke, or charcoal fuel, an alloy of titanium and iron
free, or nearly free, from impurities, such as sulphur, silicon, aluminium,
and calcium, I proceed in the following manner:-When I commence
smelting the titaniferous iron sand, instead of using any bituminous or other
material to agglutinate its particles, I charge the furnace with ordinary pig
iron, using as small a quantity as possible for this first operation, and when the
hearth of the blast furnace or cupola has become sufficiently filled with metal
in its molten state, I tap the furnace or cupola in the ordinary way, and run
the said metal into pig moulds, or moulds forming slabs of any required thick-
ness or pans, or ingot moulds, or any mould or form found most convenient,
and while in the liquid state I mix with it the titaniferous iron sand in its
natural state, and when such is sufficiently set or cold I break it up into
convenient pieces for charging the said furnace or cupola in the ordinary way,
and so I proceed to make use of every third or fourth charge run off, or when
required of molten metal, and mixing with it the titaniferous sand in its natural
state as shall keep the furnace constantly at work. The proportions I have
found most convenient are one part of molten metal with two parts of the sand
in its natural state, in this proportion every third charge run off would be
sufficient to keep the furnace supplied; but I do not confine myself to theso
proportions. I carefully avoid mixing the iserine or titaniferous iron sand
previously to introducing the said iserine or titaniferous iron sand into the
blast furnace or cupola with either bituminous coal, or clay, or lime, or mixtures
of these, as such mixtures, although they would bind together and agglutinate
the particles of the said ore, would nevertheless prove injurious to the quality
of the alloy obtained therefrom when the said alloy is intended to be
subsequently used for the manufacture of steel, and therefore I prefer to agglu-
tinate the particles in its natural state with a portion in its molten state as
before described.
The fuel I employ in the blast furnace or cupola for the purpose of
smelting the iscrine or titaniferous iron sand may be either coal, coke, or
charcoal fuel, but when the alloy of titanium and iron is intended to be
subsequently used for the manufacture of steel I prefer to use charcoal fuel,
as it requires an intense temperature in order to deoxodize and metallize the
particles of titanic acid or oxide of titanium in contact with carbonaceous

page_text: matter, I prefer to supply the blast furnace in which the iserine or titaniferous
titaniferous iron sand is smelted with a blast of heated air, but nevertheless cold
blast may be employed where heated air cannot be conveniently obtained.
The said blast of heated air, in order to be most effective, should possess a
temperature of not less than six hundred degrees of Fahrenheit's scale. The
blast furnace or cupola being filled with ignited coal, coke, or charcoal
fuel, I introduce at the filling place of the said furnace four hundredweight of
the titaniferous iron sand or iserine herein-before described; over this I place
two hundredweight of fuel, and over this a second charge of four hundred-
weight of the said titaniferous iron sands; again over this I place two hundred-
weight of fuel, and so on. I proceed charging the furnace as the fuel burns
away and the charges work down in the furnace, but I do not confine myself
to the relative proportions of the titaniferous iron sand and fuel employed for
the burdening of the blast furnace or cupola herein set down, for the
proportions may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention.
Fluxes may
be added to the burden of the blast furnace or cupola, such as
blast furnace cinders, clay, and lime, but such fluxes must not be mixed up
with the titaniferous iron sand previously to the introduction of the said iserine
or titaniferous iron sand into the blast furnace or cupola. Manganese may be
employed as a flux either mixed with it or added separately to the burden of
the blast furnace or cupola; but I do not claim the addition of these fluxes as
forming any part of my Invention.
When the hearth of the blast furnace or cupola has becomes sufficiently
filled with the metal reduced from the New Zealand iserine or titaniferous
iron sand introduced into the said furnace with the coal, coke, or charcoal fuel,
I tap the furnace or cupola in the ordinary manner, and run the metal into pig
moulds of iron or sand. The metal thus obtained is an alloy of titanium and
iron, containing also carbon, and is the metallic alloy the manufacture of which
is the object of my Invention.
Although iserine in the state of very pure titaniferous iron sand has hitherto
only been found in large quantities at Taranaki, near the port of New Plymouth
in New Zealand, and for convenience of description I have described the ore
I employ as that particular ore, yet an alloy of tititanium and iron may be
obtained by the process herein described from iserine in the state of titaniferous
iron sand obtained from other localities should it hereafter be found elsewhere
in sufficient quantities for manufacturing purposes, and I wish it to be under-
stood that my Invention is independent of the locality from whence the
materials are obtained.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the methods by
which I prefer to carry the said Invention into effect, I hereby declare that
the essence of my Invention consists in obtaining from iserine or titaniferous
iron sand an alloy of titanium and iron by smelting the said iserine or titani-
ferous iron sand in a blast or cupola heated with coal, coke, or charcoal fuel,
its particles having been previously agglutinated with a portion of it in its
molten state, as herein-before described; but I do not claim the smelting of the
said iserine or titaniferous iron sand in a blast furnace or cupola when the said
ore is previously formed into a cake with bituminous coals, or formed into lumps,
masses, or bricks by previous admixture with clay, or lime, or pitch, or resin,
or tar, or mixtures of these substances, in order to agglutinate the particles of the
said ore, and prevent the said particles from falling down prematurely through
the insterstices of the fuel into the hearth of the blast furnace or cupola, and
thereby disordering and impeding the working or operation of the said blast
furnace or cupola.