AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONVERSION OF IRON INTO BLOOMS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Hammond Bentall, of Heybridge, near
Maldon, in the County of Essex, Agricultural Implement Manufacturer,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONVERSION OF IRON INTO
BLOOMS."
Sealed the 4th April 1868, and dated the 26th November 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Hammond
Bentall at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition,
on the 26th November 1867.
I, EDWARD HAMMOND BENTALL, of Heybridge, near Maldon, in the County
of Essex, Agricultural Implement Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONVERSION OF IRON INTO
BLOOMS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the utilization of the cuttings produced in work-
shops where boring, turning, planing, and other cutting or fashioning tools
are used by the conversion of those cuttings which have hitherto possessed
little commercial value into blooms at a cost considerably below the cost of

page_text: ordinary wrought iron. Blooms thus formed may be reduced in the usual
manner to bar or angle iron, or rods or plates as desired. To this end I form
cases of sheet iron of any approved capacity, say, of a size equal to receiving
1 cwt. of the cuttings. In these cases I pack as much of this waste material as
they will contain, and submit the whole to the heat of a reverberatory furnace.
When the packed case is brought to a white heat or thereabouts I remove it
from the furnace and subject it to the action of stampers or other severe
pressure, which, owing to the highly heated and partially softened state of
the metal, will convert it into a solid plastic mass or bloom possessing a fair
grain and capable of being employed for a variety of purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Hammond Bentall in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th May 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
HAMMOND BENTALL, of Heybridge, near Maldon, in the County of Essex,
Agricultural Implement Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edward Hammond Bentall, Her special licence that I, the said
Edward Hammond Bentall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Edward Hammond Bentall, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONVERSION OF IRON INTO BLOOMS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Hammond
Bentall my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Hammond Bentall, 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 Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
:-
This Invention relates to the utilization of the cuttings of iron produced in
workshops where boring, turning, planing, and other cutting or fashioning
tools are used by the conversion of those cuttings which have hitherto possessed
little commercial value into blooms at a cost considerably below the cost of
manufacturing ordinary wrought iron. In order to attain this end I forni
cases of sheet iron of any approved capacity, say, of a size equal to receiving
one hundredweight of the cuttings, and in these cases I pack as much of the
waste material or turnings, borings, planings, and filings of iron as they will
contain. The packed cases I submit to the heat of a reverberatory furnace,
and when brought to a white heat or thereabouts I remove them from the
furnace and subject them to the action of stampers or other severe pressure,
which, owing to the highly heated and partially softened state of the metal,
will convert them into solid plastic masses or blooms possessing a fair grain
and capable of being employed for a variety of purposes.
The sheet-iron cases it will be understood are to be worked up into the
bloom with the cuttings, and therefore they must be of a very inexpensive
character. A simple way of manufacturing them is to take a piece of sheet
iron, say, about twenty-eight inches by twenty inches, and to bend the same
into a cylindrical form, lapping the edges of the plate, and securing the lapped
joint by means of rivets. To close the ends discs of sheet iron are fitted to
the cylinder and secured in position by notching the ends of the cylinder and
bending the ends over the applied discs. A case baving been prepared with
one closed end the turnings or other cuttings of iron are placed therein, and
rammed down tight so as to fairly fill the case to the brim; the second disc is
then applied and secured by bending over it the notched edge of the upper
end of the case. The charged case thus closed is now ready for insertion in
the reverberatory furnace, from which, when heated to the required degree as
above stated, it is removed and submitted to stampers or other pressure to
reduce it to a solid mass or bloom.
It will be understood that blooms thus made may be converted in the
usual way into bar or angle iron, or into rods or plates as desired.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improve-
ment in the Conversion of Iron into Blooms," and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above

page_text: in part recited Letters Patent I claim, utilizing the cuttings of iron produced
in boring, turning, planing, and analogous workshop operations in the manner
and for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Hammond Bentall, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
E. H. BENTALL. (L.S.)