AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR CASTING STEEL
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Haseltine, of the "International Patent
Office," Southampton Buildings, London, Doctor of Laws, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR CASTING
STEEL." A communication from abroad by William Dougherty, of
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Haseltine at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 14th March 1873, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HASELTINE, of the "International Patent Office," Southampton Build-
ings, London, Doctor of Laws, send greeting. .
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR CASTING STEEL," and have petitioned Her
Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn
Declaration that it has been communicated to me from abroad by
William Dougherty, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of
America.

page_text: declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the follow-
ing statement:
Steel cast in the ordinary method is rarely free of seams and soft
flakes, and consequently when manufactured into tools, machinery, and
the like, is liable to break in hardening. And if the defectiveness of the
metal is not discernable before the steel is worked, in consequence of the
crack, flaw, or soft place being in the inside, frequently a large amount of
work is expended before it is discovered, thus involving considerable loss
to the manufacturer in having to throw the tool or other article away as
worthless. Often the imperfection is not discovered until the article
has got into the purchaser's hands, involving often a serious loss, as well
as inconvenience. Frequently flaws or soft places are not discovered in
the plates prepared for engravers until they get into their hands, and as
a uniformity of the metal is indespensable, the plates are unfit for the
purposes intended. The cause of the streaks, soft places, and flaws in
the steel, are traceable to the following causes:-The ingots frequently
have streaks running some distance through them, or holes running into
the body of the metal, technically called honeycomb, and sometimes
extended to the surface of the ingot, and during the time the ingots lie
in the fire heating, preparatory to being rolled or hammered, the air
passes into these holes and oxidizes the metal, forming scales which
prevent the welding up of the holes, and thus forming seams.
To remedy these difficulties is the object of the Invention, and it
consists of the following means: -I cast the ingots in sheet metal molds
of such forms and sizes as the ingots are required to be. The steel thus
incased when put into the furnace for heating having its surface
completely protected from the atmosphere by the cases, retains the
carbon in its imperfect places as well as in the solid parts of the metal,
and consequently when it is subjected to the action of the rollers or
hammers a complete welding is produced, and a homogeneous mass of
the metal is the result. A portion of the metal mold or case is burnt or
wasted away during the process of the heating of the steel. The balance
being thin is taken off in the working of the metal so that no incon-
venience results from the steel being encased.

page_text: To enable others skilled in the art to which my improvement apper-
tains, to apply the same to practice, I will now give a full description
thereof.
In the accompanying Drawings which make a part of this Specifi-
cation, Figure 1 is an isometrical view of a sheet metal case A, such as
I use for casting a square bar of steel, and sufficiently illustrates the
operation so far as it relates to the formation of the molds; Figure 2 is
a like view of the ingot B and the case A after the casting; Figure 3
is a like view of the case or mold A, having a slot 6 for the insertion of
the bent piece of sheet metal E; Figure 4 is a like view of the piece E.
Like letters in all the Figures indicate the same parts.
As has been already stated the cases or molds A are made of forms
and sizes the ingots are required to be; I usually make them of soft
steel or iron. They are set on end, and after the filling in of the steel
and cooling of the same, they present the appearance represented in
Figure 2, showing soundness even to the extreme end of the ingot.
When the case or mold is thin, the heat of the steel causes a complete
welding of the steel to it. But if the metal of the case is thick the
welding will not take place. Consequently in casting small bars of
steel, say 2 or 3 inches in diameter, the sheet metal should be thin, not
more than the sixteen wire gauge thick. For larger ingots of steel the
thickness of the metal of the cases may be proportionably thicker. By
taking the precaution to not have the metal of the case so thick as to
overcome the action of the heat in the steel a complete welding is
effected.
In the usual method of casting ingots in thick cast-iron molds, the
mold chills the surface of the ingot, causing a shell, and as the metal
cools it settles down in the centre of the ingot causing a deep hole,
which is technically called piping, which occasions the necessity of
breaking off the end of the ingot, causing a loss of from to 10 to 25 per
centum of the metal.
In casting in my process, the mold being thin does not cool the
melted steel, but is brought to a welding heat by the heat of the latter,
and cools slowly and uniformly with it, closing on to the centre of the
ingot, causing a solid homogeneous mass throughout the whole ingot.
For the purpose of facilitating the breaking off of a small portion of
an end of a bar of steel to ascertain its quality, I form a slot 6 across

page_text: the mold at one end, about one-third the thickness, as seen in Figure 3,
and before the casting of the ingot insert a piece of sheet metal E folded
together as seen in Figure 4. When it is desired to examine the steel,
a chisel or other tool is inserted between the folds, and a blow being
given to the tool the end of the bar is readily broken off.
What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,―
First. The method of casting steel in wrought iron or other metallic
cases when the latter is of such thickness as to admit of the steel
completely welding itself to the case, substantially in the manner and
for the purpose herein-before set forth.
Second. The cross slot 6 near one end of the mold A, in combination
with the metallic piece E, substantially in the manner and for the
purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Haseltine, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
JAMES EDWARDS,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
GEORGE HASELTINE. (L.S.)