CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Second day of November, in the twelfth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, niy exors, adiñiors, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my exors,
adiňors, 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 mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark,
and Man, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
STEEL," being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad; in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the-same-is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings-hereunto-annexed,_and_to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, will
be clearly understood from the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawing forming a part of this my Specification.
The apparatus employed in carrying out this Invention is shewn in side
elevation and partial section at Fig. 1, and in plan view, the same being partly
in section, at Fig. 2.
In these Figures, A is the furnace, and a the front opening of the same; B
is the stack or chimney, and 6 a flue in the chimney; c is a valve or damper
for regulating the draught of the flue; and d an iron door for closing the front
of the furnace; it is suspended by a balance weight and chain passing over a
pulley eff, are notches in the front plate of the furnace to support the bars
when working the metal; 9, 9, 9, are holes in the front plate for tapping out
the cinder; is a tuyere pipe entering the furnace A, and to preserve it
from sustaining injury from the fire, it is surrounded by water conveyed
through pipes i; C, C, are receptacles or reservoirs made of iron, and lined
with fire brick; they are each provided with a cover at top, in which
is a moveable door. j, j, are fire bars forming the bottom of the reservoirs,
below which ash-pits are made; D is a blast pipe, having three branches
1, 2, 3, two of which (1 and 3) enter respectively the ash-pits of the
receptacles C, C; E is a similar blast pipe, two branches of which (1 and 3)
proceed from near the top of the receptacles C, C, and joining at E, form
with the tuyere pipe ha passage into the furnace A; m are valves in the
blast pipes. The interior of the furnace A is lined with side plates a*, a*,
made of cast iron or fireproof plumbago and clay tiles; d is a cast-iron
hearth in front of the furnace door. The furnace is enclosed by plates of
irone, and the stack or chimney B is made secure by iron bolts f*f*. The
central branch 2 of the blast pipe D is continued under or between the
receptacles C, and enters the pipe E, see Fig. 2.
The process of making steel is as follows:-The iron (after having been
prepared, as will hereafter be described) is placed in the bed of the furnace A,
Fig. 2, and covered with charcoal. The receptacles or reservoirs C, C, are
then filled with charcoal, or in some instances, when the iron is easily con-
verted, a mixture of charcoal and peat coal, and when ignited the lids are

page_text: put on and luted down, so as to prevent an escape of gas; an air blast, which
must be regulated by the will of the operator, is then to be applied at the
aperture D, Figs. 1 and 2. This blast, by passing through the receptacles,
creates a gaseous oxide of carbon, which is driven upon the iron in the
furnace A, through the pipe E and tuyere h. In addition to this current of
gaseous carbon there must be another air blast passing into the furnace
through the branch 2 of the pipe D (regulating by its damper m), so that
atmospheric air may be admitted, if necessary, to aid in producing the com-
bustion required to melt the metal. This last blast should be used very
sparingly, and only in quantities sufficient to enable the operator to bring the
metal to nature. When melted, the metal is to be worked somewhat after
the ordinary process for refining iron, which will hereafter be more fully
described. An important part of the process consists in so graduating, by
means of the valves m, the proportions of gaseous carbon and of atmospheric
air thrown into the furnace, as at the same time to bring the metal to nature,
and carbonize it, so as to convert it into steel. No definite rules can be given
in all cases to determine the exact proportions of gaseous carbon and atmo-
spheric air requisite to produce this conversion, for much depends upon the
quality and quantity of iron to be converted, and upon the judgment and skill
of the operator in conducting the process, which should be continued until the
metal is properly brought to nature, that is, sufficiently refined to ball, when it
should be taken out and carefully forged into blooms. Skill is required to
enable the operator to treat the metal in the furnace, and to determine that
precise degree of refinement and carbonization which is requisite to produce
the best steel. This can be obtained by practical experience only. To reduce
the blooms into bars they should be heated in a close furnace with charcoal,
peat coal, or a mixture of charcoal and peat coal.
During the working of the metal in the furnace A it should be carefully
covered with charcoal, and excluded as much as possible from external air by
means of the door d, Fig. 1.
Previous to submitting the iron to the process above described, it is neces-
sary (if pig iron is used) to melt it over once by the aid of the hot carbonic
oxide blast, or (when wrought iron is used,) to melt it over once in plumbago
crucibles, having previously stratified the metal with powdered charcoal or
other combustible material abounding in carbon.
The first of these preparatory methods may be accomplished by attaching to
a common cupola furnace (which is to be charged in all respects after the
ordinary method of melting pig iron) two receptacles or reservoirs, similar to
those in the accompanying Drawing, of sufficient size to hold a quantity of

page_text: charcoal which shall not be all consumed- until the iron is melted. The
receptacles, which are to be attached to the cupola furnace in the same
manner as they are joined to-the-furnace-in-the-Drawing, are to be charged
with charcoal; and which is to be thoroughly ignited by the time the fuel in
the cupola furnace is ready for the blast. Now, instead of applying the air
blasts directly to the cupola furnace, they are to be applied to the receptacles,
as represented in the Drawing, and the iron is melted by the aid of the hot
carbonic oxide blast somewhat after the manner-first described.
The second preparatory method may be accomplished by making use of the
best kind of plumbago crucibles (the Inventor employs those made by Joseph
Dixon, of New Jersey, in the United States of America). The wrought iron
should be stratified with carbonaceous materials, and then melted in these
crucibles with anthracite or other coal urged by an air blast. By either of
these two last described processes the metal acquires steely properties, and
becomes so modified in its character as to facilitate very materially its farther
refinement and improvement by the process first described.
What I claim as the Invention secured to me under the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent is, the arrangement or combination of the several
parts, as above described, of the apparatus, by which the operator is enabled
at the same time to refine the metal in the furnace, and to force upon it
currents of gaseous carbon and atmospheric air, in the manner and in such
proportions as above explained, so as to convert it into steel. Also, I claim
the process of making steel by forcing upon metal placed in a furnace, as
herein described, by means of the above described or any other suitable
apparatus, currents of gaseous carbon and atmospheric air, in such proportions
as will keep up the requisite combustion in the receptacles and the furnace to
enable the operator to bring the metal to nature, while at the same time
gaseous carbon is constantly forced upon it in such quantities and in such
a manner as to effect and keep up that peculiar combination of iron and
carbon which forms steel. I also claim as new the previous preparation
of the metal by melting it with the hot carbonic oxide blast or in plumbago
crucibles, as above described, so as to modify its character, and render it
capable of being more easily converted into steel by the process first above
'described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.
(L.S.) A. V. NEWTON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the First day of May, in the year
of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid Alfred Vincent Newton came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her 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.
Enrolled the Second day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-nine.