IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF STEEL OR IRON INGOTS AND IN THE APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Philip Middleton Justice of Southampton Buildings in the
County of Middlesex Patent Agent for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE TREATMENT OF STEEL OR IRON INGOTS AND IN THE APPARATUS THEREFOR
Communicated to him from abroad by Arthur Cooper of Middlesbrough in
the County of York but temporarily of the City of Vienna in the Empire of
Austria
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Philip Middleton Justice at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st September 1882.
PHILIP MIDDLETON JUSTICE of Southampton Buildings in the County of
Middlesex Patent Agent IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF STEEL OR IRON
INGOTS AND IN THE APPARATUS THEREFOR A communication to me from abroad by
Arthur Cooper of Middlesbrough in the County of York but temporarily of the
City of Vienna in the Empire of Austria
This Invention relates to the treatment of hot steel or iron ingots before they
are hammered or rolled and consists in an improvement in the apparatus used in
that method of working in which the ingot is allowed to cool slowly in closed
chambers till it is in a fit state for mechanical treatment without being placed in a
reheating furnace
By my invention I take the hot ingot so soon as the mould is stripped off and
instead of placing it in an underground pit or under an ordinary cover on the
ground I place it on a bogey or trolley the bottom of which or bottom and sides of
which are covered with a non conducting layer of firebrick or sand or on a suitably
covered stand or dish which can be carried on a revolving table, an endless chain or
similar contrivance, to the rolls The bogey or traversing stand is supplied with an
air tight cover, the joint being made by sand or otherwise, which is immediately
placed over the hot ingot and the trolley or traversing stand is moved on towards
the rolls or hammer When the ingot is sufficiently cooled to be worked the cover
is removed by a crane and the ingots shot or lifted onto the rollers or anvil thus

page_text: avoiding more than one handling of the ingot from the pit to the rolls Another
and sometimes preferable form of carrying out my invention is as follows. From
the casting pit to the neighbourhood of the rolls or hammer I construct a firebrick
tunnel with very thick non conducting walls and roof
The tunnel may be either below ground which I prefer or above ground The
cross section of the tunnel must be somewhat larger than the section of the largest
ingots it is intended to cast Inside this tunnel there run very low bogeys or
carriages or trays which can be traversed along the tunnel by endless chains or
other similar device The platform of one bogey or tray overlaps that of the other,
an air tight joint being preferably made by a projection on the front edge of one
bogey dropping into a groove in the back of the platform of the next, the joint
being covered thickly with sand In the same way a more or less tight joint
should be made between the sides of the bogey platforms and a projection in the
sides of the tunnel, the object of this is to keep the heat from the wheels or rollers
and the endless chain or other device by which the ingots are moved along In
that part of the tunnel nearest the pit and also near the rolls or hammers openings
are left by which ingots can be inserted or taken out These openings when not in
use are closely covered by air tight covers
I prefer that the bogeys should return to the pit after the ingots are removed,
through a similar tunnel so that the platforms are always kept bot The tunnel
may for this purpose form a circle

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Philip Middleton Justice in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st March 1883.
"
PHILIP MIDDLETON JUSTICE of Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex
Patent Agent "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF STEEL OR IRON INGOTS AND IN
THE APPARATUS THEREFOR a communication to me from abroad by Arthur Cooper
of Middlesborough in the County of York but temporarily of the City of Vienna in
the Empire of Austria
This invention relates to the treatment of hot steel or iron ingots, immediately
after casting and before they are hammered and rolled. At present the ingots after
removal from the moulds are usually heated in heating furnaces It has however
been proposed to allow of the heat of the ingots being equalized by placing them for
some time in separate cells either fixed or moveable, lined with fire-brick, into which
they are dropped by a crane and from which they are lifted for transfer to the
rolls when the heat is sufficiently equalized It has also been proposed to place
the hot ingot on the ground and surround it with a casing or cover till it is ready
for rolling, and since the date of filing of my provisional application I have learned
that it has been further proposed to place said ingots in moveable covered soaking
pits as also to place them in long flue like chambers in which they are carried upon
rollers mounted in bearings driven by cogged gearing toward the Blooming Mill
and I would have it understood that I do not claim the foregoing arrangements as
part of my invention, but confine myself to the treatment of the ingots in and by
the improved arrangement and apparatus hereinafter described which enables the
equalization of the heat to be effected. In carrying out my invention, instead of a
pit or chamber divided into compartments I construct one or more tunnels which
may be either above or below the ground level In the accompanying drawings
which form part of this specification Fig 1 represents in side elevation an advan-
tageous arrangement when the tunnel is made below the ground or surface level
Fig 2 represents a plan of same Fig 3 represents a sectional elevation of the
tunnel at the part at which the ingots are removed
Fig 4 represents an overground tunnel for a single row of ingots
Fig 5 represents a plan of same
Fig 6 represents a sectional elevation of Figure 5 and
Fig 7 represents a tunnel in which the ingots are laid upon their sides therein
To prevent the radiation of heat, the walls and roof should be very thick The
lining is preferably of the best firebrick The tunnel or tunnels run from the
casting pit to the immediate neighbourhood of the cogging or blooming mill or
hammer. They may be either straight or return by a curve to the casting pit If
a straight tunnel is used, which is always preferable, particularly when the distance
between the casting pit and the mill is a short one a second or return tunnel is
desirable, or if a large make of ingots has to be dealt with, even three or more such
tunnels may be constructed side by side, and these may be used alternately.
The tunnels have easily removeable and closely fitting firebrick doors or dampers b.
dividing thein into several sections as shown It is preferred that each section
should be just large enough to take one cast. The doors or dampers may be opened
either by raising them vertically as ordinary furnace doors or they may be
arranged to move horizontally and they may be made in either one or more parts
There are several modes in which the ingots can be inoved along from the casting

page_text: pit to the mill This transference in my system being always accomplished inside
the tunnel without exposure to the air The method I prefer is that of running the
ingots through the tunnel to the mill on very low bogies of either wrought or cast
iron running on wheels on a tramway as shown at c Figs 1. 3. 46 and 7. the wheels
being protected from the heat of the ingots and the upper part of the tunnel by
the bogie platforms which are sheeted with fire brick, and so arranged that they
form a joint more or less air tight with the sides of the tunnel for this purpose I
prefer that the sides of the bogie platforms project into channels or grooves
formed in the tunnel sides see Figure 3 or the bogie top and sides may be in
the form of an inverted box sheeted with firebrick on the outside the
wheels running underneath as in Figures 4 and 6. c The bogies which I prefer
should be of such a length that one or more will just fill a section of the
tunnel between two of the firebrick dampers so that the platforms will form a
continuous surface protecting the carriage body and wheels from the heat, are
moved along the tunnel by a chain or rope of iron or steel and a winch or by an
endless chain. The ingots may be placed on the bogies either vertically as in
Figs 1. 3. 4 and 6 or horizontally and lengthwise as in Fig 7. or they may be
placed crosswise on the bogies, the tunnels in each case being built so as to give a
clearance in cross section of about 3 inches round the ingot. I find that the system
of casting which when used in conjunction with my tunnel equalizing chambers
gives the best results is that in which the ingots are cast on trolleys or bogies
which after removal of the mould can be run with the hot ingots directly into the
hot tunnel When the casting is conducted in longitudinal pits below the ground
the hot tunnels may be made as continuations of the pits of which a complete
arrangement is shown in Figs 1 and 2 where E represents the converters, f, the
centre crane for transferring the ladle g to carriage h from. which the ingots are
cast in longitudinal pits i i after the ingot moulds j are removed by cranes kk, the
damper b is raised and the bogie of hot ingots is passed direct into the hot tunnels,
a, a and if the tunnel consists of two sections as shown, or more than two sections,
it is immediately passed forward to that one adjacent to the cogging rolls, and as
soon as the heat in the ingots has become sufficiently equalized for rolling, the
closely fitting stoppers or covers are removed from the apertures which I make
in the roof of that part of the tunnel and the ingots are lifted out by crane m and
transferred to cogging till rollers n When the tunnels are constructed above the
ground as shewn in Figs 4. 5 and 6 the ends near the cogging mill as well as the
ends near the casting pit are closed with easily removeable and closely fitting doors
or dampers As soon as the ingots forming a cast or a part of a cast have been
passed into the tunnel at the casting shop end O, the damper or door b is closed
and when the heat has become sufficiently equalized for rolling, the door b at the
cogging inill end P is raised and the bogie or bogies of ingots are moved forward until
the first ingot stands just outside the tunnel in such a position that the door may
be shut down on the top of the bogie between the first and second ingots, thus
preserving the heat in the tunnel whilst the first ingot is being rolled. As soon as
this is done the door is again raised, and the bogies moved forward until the second
ingot appears outside the tunnel, when the door is shut down between the second
and third ingots, whilst the second is being rolled the other ingots remaining are
dealt with in a similar manner The ingots can be lifted from the bogies to the
rolls or bammers by an ordinary ingot crane as shown in Figs 1 and 2
This
arrangement of doors or dampers and mode of working the ingots from the tunnels
above ground is equally efficient when applied to underground tunnels, but it will
be apparent that in this latter case it will be necessary to make a longitudinal pit
as a continuation of the tunnels at the cogging mill end of sufficient length to hold
the bogie or bogies after the last ingot forming the cast has passed out of the end
of the tunnel.
Having thus described the nature of my invention and how the same may be
practically employed What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is
1st The hereinbefore described process for treating hot ingots so as to equalize

page_text: their heat which consists in casting or otherwise placing said ingots upon trucks or
bogies and then passing both the ingots and the trucks through tunnels formed of
refractory material substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth
2nd In the treating of hot ingots the combination with a tunnel of refractory
material of moveable doors or slides, dividing said tunnel into two or more chambers
or sections substantially as and for the purposes set forth
3rd In the treating of hot ingots the combination with the tunnel of refractory
material of one or more trucks or bogies adapted to make a loose fit with the sides
and to form a more or less continuous platform between the hot ingots and the floor
of the tunnel all substantially as and for the purposes set forth. In Witness
whereof I the said Philip Middleton Justice have hereunto set my hand and seal
this twenty first day of March A D 1883
Signed sealed and delivered
in presence of
HENRY B HATCHWELL
53 Chancery Lane
London W.C.
PHILIP M. JUSTICE (L.S.)