Improvements in the Manufacture of Alloys of Iron or Steel with Nickel.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Apr., 1895-Accepted, 1st June, 1895
[Communicated from abroad by NIVEN MCCONNELL, of Munhall, in the County
of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Superintendent of
Works.]
Improvements in the Manufacture of Alloys of Iron or Steel
with Nickel.
1 JAMES JOHNSON of 4 Clayton Square Liverpool in the County of Lancaster,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
In the manufacture of alloys of iron or steel with nickel various methods have
been adopted of effecting the union of the nickel with the iron or steel, such as
adding the metallic nickel in a solid condition to the molten bath of iron or steel;
or fusing metallic nickel in the furnace with the iron or steel, or making an alloy
of nickel with a comparatively small amount of iron and using this alloy in the
manufacture of steel by adding the alloy to the bath.
Also various other
ingredients have been used to facilitate the operation.
The method of manufacturing nickel steel or nickel iron which I have found to
be the most successful, is to employ the oxide of nickel by introducing it without
previous reduction into the bath or furnace in which the iron is melted or is being
converted into steel and reducing the oxide by means of a suitable quantity of
pulverized carbon in the presence of the iron or steel to be nickelized.
For this purpose the nickel oxide is first ground fine, or otherwise pulverized
before introduction into the hearth or furnace in which the iron or steel is to he
treated. In so doing however, it has been found difficult to prevent the dissipation
of the pulverized oxide and carbonaceous. matter and to secure their admixture
with the molten metal without which the necessary reaction cannot take place, in
consequence of their comminuted condition which renders them liable to be carried.
off by the furnace current, as well as comparative inferior specific gravity, which
renders it very difficult to keep them immersed in the molten iron.
My improved process is susceptible of use in connection with any of the known
apparatus for and methods of manufacturing iron and steel, as the basic open-
hearth, Bessemer or crucible processes and differs from them only in the mode
of introducing the nickel in the condition of its oxide and of effecting the
reduction of the oxide in the presence of the iron or steel with which it is to be
alloyed.
I shall therefore describe my improved process as carried on in connection with
one of the well known methods of conversion of iron, viz., the open-hearth process,
the changes necessary to adapt it to use in other well known processes of
refining crude pig metal or the Bessemer process, or the conversion of wrought
iron to steel by the crucible process, being such as will readily suggest themselves
to those skilled in the art of iron and steel manufacture.
As I have already stated, I use the oxide of nickel in my process, and for this
purpose any of the natural ores of nickel may be employed, or what is commercially
known as "artificial nickel ore" which is preferable on account of the usual
leanness of the natural ores, and the comparative freedom of the artificial nickel
ore from the contamination of foreign substances.

page_text: My improved process is conducted as follows:-The nickel oxide is ground or
otherwise comminuted, and is then mixed with pulverized carbonaceous matter
preferably coke dust, in the proportions (where the artificial ore is used) of ahout
one fifth part by weight of carbonaceous matter and four fifths of nickel oxide.
The requisite or most desirable relative proportions of carbon and ore cannot be
stated with any degree of accuracy, for the obvious reason that as the carbon is
designed to reduce the oxide to the metallic state, it will have to be proportioned
to the richness of the ore in nickel, besides which an addition should be made of
about ten per cent. to compensate for unavoidable waste. Where the natural ore
is used, this proportion must be ascertained by analysis and then the quantity of
carbon necessary for reduction of the ore is easily determined. If the artificial ore
is used, the proportion above stated will ordinarily suffice.
This mixture of ore and carbon may be used in a condition of substantial freedom
from moisture, or may be more or less wet before being used. To this mixture
I add metallic borings, chips, or turnings, preferably of iron or steel and preferably
in the proportion of an equal quantity by weight of the mixed ore and carbon and
of the metallic matter. The exact quantity is unimportant excepting that it
should be sufficient to perform its desired function of giving weight to the mass of
nickel oxide and carbon addition. The carbonaceous matter and oxide should be
intimately mixed together before the metallic matter is added. This mixture of
ore, carbon, and metallic matter, is then placed on the hearth of the furnace
previously heated in the usual manner. The pig metal is then charged into the
furnace in an unmolten condition, being laid on top of the mixture of ore, oxide
and metallic matter so that it may hold down the comminuted mass and prevent
the dissipation of the ore and carbon, the pig metal as it gradually melts trickling
down through the comminuted mass and mingling intimately with the nickel
charge. The result is that the nickel oxide is reduced to a metallic condition and
as reduced is melted and mingled with the melted iron during the conduct of the
opethearth process of steel making which is otherwise conducted in the usual
manner.
The advantage of my process, besides dispensing with the preliminary steps
heretofore used where comminuted ore is employed in order to prevent its
dissipation and secure its admixture with the molten metal, such as forming the ore
into solid masses, to a considerable degree, is that it saves waste of nickel oxide
which would otherwise ensue, either by chemical reaction or by the mechanical
removal of the fine particles of pulverized nickel by means of the gas current in
the furnace; and I also secure a more ready reduction of the nickel oxide in
presence of the metal with which the nickel is to be alloyed.
The result of the process which I have described is the production of open
hearth steel having an admixture of metallic nickel forming nickel steel, the
percentage of nickel in the resulting steel depending of course, on the amount or
quantity of the mixture of ore and carbon added as well as on the percentage of
nickel contained in the ore which is used, so that by varying the amount of the
nickel addition, any desired percentage of nickel in the resulting steel may be
obtained.
When used in connection with processes other than open hearth, as for example,
the Bessemer, or crucible process, the nickel mixture before described is placed in
the furnace before the metal is charged.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. In the manufacture of nickel iron or nickel steel, making a mixture of
pulverized nickel oxide and carbonaceous matter, with the addition thereto of
comminuted metallic matter such as borings, turnings, or chips, preferably of iron
or steel, placing such mixture in a suitable furnace, and charging thereon the iron
or steel to be alloyed, with the use of sufficient heat to effect the reduction of the

page_text: oxide in the presence of the iron or steel with which it is thereby mixed and
alloyed substantially as described.
Second. In the manufacture of nickel iron or nickel steel effecting the admixture
or alloying of iron or steel with metallic nickel in any desired relative proportion
by reducing the oxide of nickel in the presence of the iron or steel to be alloyed
therewith by means of the following process;-mixing pulverized nickel oxide
(either natural oxide or purified oxide) with pulverized carbonaceous matter
sufficient to effect the reduction of the ore in presence of the melted iron or steel,
adding to such mixture of ore and carbon about an equal weight of comminuted
metallic matter, charging said mixture into a heated open-hearth or other suitable
furnace, placing the pig-metal or steel thereon in a solid condition and melting the
same, substantially as described, as a preliminary step to the ordinary process of
refining the iron or conversion of the same into steel.
J.
JOHNSON,
Patent Office, 4, Clayton Square, Liverpool.
J.
JOHNSON,
Patent Office, 4, Clayton Square, Liverpool.