IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR IRON AND OTHER METALS, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR OTHER PURPOSES WHERE HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE EMPLOYED, AND ALSO FOR VENTILATION
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Brown Wilson, of 10, Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OR IRON AND OTHER METALS, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR OTHER PURPOSES WHERE HIGH
TEMPERATURES ARE EMPLOYED, AND ALSO FOR VENTILATION."
Sealed the 31st March 1864, and dated the 3rd October 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Brown Wilson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd October 1863.
I, EDWARD BROWN WILSON, of 10, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND OTHER METALS, AND IN THE
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR OTHER
PURPOSES WHERE HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE EMPLOYED, AND ALSO FOR VENTILATION,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of a novel form of furnace and mode of treatment,
by means of which I am enabled to reduce, deoxidate, and purify metalliferous
sands, ores, and metals, especially iron, and, further, to purify or to carbonify,
or convert the iron into steel when iron is under operation. I effect this by
[Price Sd.]

page_text: dividing the furnace into two or more chambers, or portions, separated by
suitable diaphragms. The one chamber is used for reducing purposes, and
this I call the reducing chamber. In this the ore, metallic sands, pig iron, or
other metal, with the necessary reducing agents and materials are placed. By
having a sufficiently high chimney no blast will be required (and I prefer to
have a steam jet in the chimney to assist the current or draught); but other-
wise I close the top of the furnace, and charge the metal through a hopper or
hoppers properly arranged to admit the materials without permitting egress of
air, I then put a blast pipe on the top of the furnace, in the centre in prefer-
ence, through which I blow down air upon and through the materials until
the metal is reduced to a liquid (gases may be sent along with the blast if
desirable), but I prefer occasionally to mingle the blast with a jet or jets of
superheated steam. In some cases the metals may be placed in the bottom
of the chamber, and reduced by the gases without charging the metal with
the fuel. One or more refining chambers may be made round the vessel so
as to keep the operation continuous. When using one chamber divided by a
diaphragm, the metal,after reduction in the upper chamber,descends into the
lower portion through convenient perforations or passages, and along with the
gases. Or the reducing chamber may be so arranged as to tap it at intervals.
The melted metals collected in the refining chamber are exposed to the
action of the flames and heated gases passing from the reducing chamber upon
them; when desirable, a further supply of gases or air may be blown through
the side of the refining chamber upon or through the metal therein. I place
the blow pipe or pipes in an angular direction, blowing well down into the
metal, through a pipe or pipes from a higher level, reaching to within about
two inches from the bottom, and provided with a suitable tap or valve at the
top to throttle the blast. This arrangement of blast pipes is also applicable to
the present puddling furnaces. By this arrangement the metal is stirred, and
put in rotatory motion. Thus, new portions of the metal are constantly
exposed to the action of the gases, or of air alone, and the refinement and
purification is thus greatly facilitated. Sometimes it may be desirable to stop
the top blast or draught, continuing the lower blasts only. The gases, after
completing their work, are allowed to escape by any convenient exit, which
may be provided with a damper to regulate the current or draught, or they
may be used for any purpose desirable before being allowed to make their final
exit, as for instance, calcining ores or metalliferous sands, and for generating
steam in boilers. I have a sight-hole into the lower chamber to view the
metal being operated on; I place mica or talc in a case, I find it withstand the
heat sufficiently to permit me to view the whole operation. I also have a hole

page_text: properly plugged up, through which I can insert anything required during
an operation, or for cleaning the bottom of the chamber.
It is evident that in effecting the decarbonization of the reduced metal, 1
can also by recarbonization to any required point produce any quality of steel
desired, or I can by stopping short of complete decarbonization produce steel,
but I prefer complete refining and recarbonization as a more certain mode of
procceding in order to produce an even quality of steel. The recarbonization
may be effected by adding the substance commonly known as spiegel eisen
into the top furnace when the refining is complete in the lower or refining
chamber, and shortly after the spiegel eisen has run down into the lower
chamber the metal will be ready to tap, or it may be put into the lower
chamber by the side opening, in a molten state or otherwise, or the refined
iron may be recarbonized by any other well-known means. When the opera-
tion is completed, I tap the metal into suitable moulds.
When a very
considerable draught is required, I arrange steam jets in the chimney at
successive heights, so as to maintain the impulse, or give repeated impulses
to the current or draught, and this arrangement will be found particularly
applicable to the ventilation of mines and large buildings, or in lieu of a
number of steam jets being placed at different heights in the chimney, the
top part of the chimney may be filled in with a number of metal or other
heat-resisting pipes placed vertically, and at the bottom of each separate pipe
a small jet of high-pressure steam is injected upwards. Any number of these
groups of pipes and jets may be situate in the chimney at different levels. In
some cases other jets may be introduced into the pipes at higher levels.
For smelting ores and melting pig iron or other metal, I take an ordinary
blast furnace or cupola, and at or near to the present blast holes I take off
the gaseous products of combustion by a flue or flues into a tall chimney,
in which I prefer to have a jet or series of jets of steam when necessary to
increase the draught; I charge the furnace as at present, when the chimuey
alone produces sufficient draught. I provide a damper to regulate the
current or draught, and near the gas exits I provide inlets for air, which
may be forced in, or otherwise, so as to complete the combustion of the
gases before they leave the furnace if thought desirable. Sometimes I have
air holes some feet below the top of the furnace, continuing them at intervals
to the bottom to increase the combustion of the gases. When the chimuey
does not produce sufficient draught I close in the top of the furnace, and I
blow on to the fuel from the top of the furnace by means of a blast pipe
charging the fuel and metals or ore through a hopper or hoppers, tapping
the metal and slag as in the ordinary manner.

page_text: The other purposes to which this Invention is applicable are such as the
manufacture of glass and porcelain, or other processes for which intense
heats are required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Brown Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st April 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
BROWN WILSON, of 10, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Edward Brown Wilson, Her special license that I, the said Edward
Brown Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Edward Brown Wilson, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND OTHER METALS, AND IN THE APPA-
RATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR OTHER PURPOSES
WHERE HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE EMPLOYED, AND ALSO FOR VENTILATION," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Brown Wilson, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, 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 mouths next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Brown Wilson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon:-
Figure 1 (of the accompanying Drawings) represents a longitudinal section

page_text: of a furnace arranged according to my Invention for reducing or melting ores,
metals, or other substances in contact with the fuel.
A is the fuel chamber open to the atmosphere at the top where it is
supplied with fuel and the material to be operated on. The bottom is made
to slope down in all directions to an aperture B, so that the matter, when
reduced by fusion to a liquid state, flows down into a basin-shaped chamber C;
D is an opening for cleaning out, fitted with a door; E is a passage or
channel of which there may be severai sloped so that fuel or other matter
may not readily lodge therein, communicating with the chamber C into
which open numerous ducts G¹ from a chamber G communicating by a
channel G2 with the atmosphere; H is a tapping hole, and L is a flue
leading from the chamber C to a chimney. This flue L, as well as the flue
G2, is fitted with a suitable valve or damper. The chamber A being charged
with fuel and the material to be operated on and kindled is supplied with air
descending through the open top, the products of combustion pass by the
channel or channels E into the chamber C, where they mingle with an
additional quantity of air admitted by the ducts G¹ to complete their com-
bustion, and thence they pass through the basin C, and by the flue L to a
chimney. The melted matter flows by the channel B into the chamber C,
where it can be retained for such time as may be desirable, subject to the
heat of the flames and gaseous products of combustion passing over it, and can
finally be removed by the tapping hole H. The arrows in licate the directions
of the currents of air and gas. I sometimes find it desirable to inject steam
or water along with the air at the top of the chamber A, and by regulating
the supply of air by the ducts G¹ I renderthe gaseous products of combustion
more or less capable of oxydating or deoxydating the matter in the basin C.
J is a slag pit inside the furnace tapped at the hole I; the pit is situated on
one side of the basin C.
Figure 2 represents a longitudinal section of a furnace constructed
according to my Invention for reducing or melting ores, metals, or other
substances not in contact with the fuel. A is a chamber open at the top
where it receives its charge of fuel and air for its combustion; D is an
opening or ash-pit for cleaning, fitted or not with a door, the bottom of the
chamber A being sloped down as at small a towards the opening D for
facilitating the cleaning; E, G, G¹, and G are channels, chambers, and
ducts, of the same character and for the same purposes as those marked by
similar letters described with reference to Figure 1; C is a basin-shaped
chamber with tapping hole H; L is the passage to the chimney, and Mis
a sloping bed on which the matter to be operated on is laid, so that when

page_text: fused by the heat of the flames and gaseous products of combustion passing
over it the melted portions run down into the basin C. If preferred the basin
C may be made at the opposite end of the furnace, in which case the sloping
bed M would incline downwards in an opposite direction to that shewn in
Figure 2. For supplying the matter to be operated upon I find it convenient
to provide several circular openings K,K,K, through the side of the channel
L, each fitted with tight covers which may be readily removed and replaced.
When it is desired to charge at one of these openings I place the materials in
a semi-cylindrical trough, and inserting it through the opening turn it half
round so that the materials drop from it on to the bed M. I then withdraw
the trough and close the opening; J is a slag pit, and I the tapping hole
thereto; or I charge through doors as in ordinary furnaces, or hoppers might
be placed at the top.
Although I have only represented in Figure 1 of my Drawings the
combination of one refining chamberwitha reducing chamber, and in Figure 2
the combination of one melting or reducing chamber with a fuel chamber,
it is obvious that two or more refining or melting chambers may be combined
in a similar manner with one reducing chamber or fuel chamber. And I
sometimes have air-holes situate some feet below the top of the reducing or
fuel chamber w here such chamber is open at the top, continuing them at
intervals to the bottom to increase the combustion of the gases, the same
arrangement being applicable to the blast and cupola furnaces described in
the Specification of my Patent, bearing date the 14th of August 1863, No.
1220. When blast under pressure is used these air holes must be in
connection with such blast,
I further propose in some cases to close the top of the fuel or reducing
chambers A, and to introduce through the cover a blast pipe which shall
direct a blast of air, steam, or gases down upon and through the fuel. In
such case the cover is provided with the well known charging hopper or
hoppers to admit the materials without permitting egress of air, and the air
channels or ducts G are also in communication with the blast pipe. In
special cases, such for example as refining and puddling iroa, I propose to
substitute for the air ducts G¹ one or more blast pipes N, directed downwards
into the basin C, underneath the surface of the metal, and placed in an
angular or tangential direction, as shewn in the sectional plan at Figure 3 by
which means the metal is stirred and put in rotatory motion. In order to
increase the draught in chimnies for these and other furnaces and for purposes
of ventillation I propose to place in the top part of the chimney a number of
vertical pipes, and to inject upwards at or near the bottom of each pipe a jet

page_text: of steam. Any number of these groups of pipes and jets may be situate in
the chimney at different heights, as shewn by the sectional elevation of a
chimney at Figure 4, wherein P, P, represent the pipes, and Q, Q, the steam
jets It is obvious that the arrangement of furnace and chimney herein-
before described and illustrated by Figures 2 and 4 of my Drawings are
applicable for other purposes where a high temperature is required, such as
in the manufacture of glass and porcelain.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Brown Wilson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of March, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four.
EDW. B. WILSON. (L.s.)