IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS FOR THE PUDDLING OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Gustav Albrecht Carl Bremme
at the Office of the Commissoners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th May 1864.
I, GUSTAV ALBRECHT CARL BREMME, of Unna, in the Province of West-
phalia, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS FOR THE
PUDDLING OF IRON AND STEEL," to be as follows (that is to say):-
The puddling of iron and steel as at present performed demands so great
an amount of manual labour for the stirring and balling up" the iron, that in
many cases the constitution of the operative puddler is overtaxed, and in time
his health injured. It may be here remarked, that heretofore puddlers' tools
have been actuated through machinery driven by steam or other motive
power, but which tools it was necessary should closely imitate the motion
given thereto by the puddler when worked by hand, and the fact that the
puddler when operating by hand goes very much by his sense of feeling when
stirring and setting over the iron in order to prevent any part of the mass
adhering to the bottom, shows that this means of applying steam or other
motive power to puddling tools has not been entirely efficient in its principle,
and could only be safely employed in the first or lighter part of the process;
that is to say, the boiling of the iron, and even then great care and attention
is required to insure success in the operation.
Now the object of this Invention is to reduce the labour of the operator
and to obtain more equal and certain results than heretofore, and consists

page_text: mainly in rendering reverberatory furnaces used for the puddling of iron and
steel self or nearly self-acting by giving motion to the bottom or bed of the
furnace, and in using in combination therewith certain mechanical appliances
for actuating or assisting the action of the puddling tools used during the
process. To accomplish these improvements the bed (or) bottom of the
reverberatory furnace which contains the iron to be puddled is mounted on a
vertical axle or on wheels in the manner used in mounting railway turn-
tables, or in any other convenient manner, so that the same can be easily
turned on its centre, or the bottom of the furnace may be so mounted as to
allow of a reciprocating or other suitable motion to be given thereto. It is
preferred to move the bottom round its centre either constantly in one
direction or periodically reverse the motion. This moving bottom is fitted
with a rim, which may be of one piece with the bottom or attached thereto,
so that the rim and bottom constitute a pan or receptacle to receive the iron
to be puddled: When desirable the bottom of the furnace or rim or both
can be kept cool forming them hollow, and passing a current of water or
air therethrough. The furnace bottom may be actuated by steam or other
motive power through any suitable mechanical appliances connected with the
axle, bottom, or side thereof. The moving bottom of the furnace is enclosed
within brickwork or other suitable material in such a way as not to impede
the motion of the bottom. The furnace may be heated by coal, wood, gases,
or in any other convenient manner. The tool used for preventing the molten
iron from sticking to the bottom of the furnace consists of a bar or tool, the
near end of which is attached to a proper framework in such a manner that
its outer end can be introduced through the "working hole" into the furnace,
so as to rest on the bottom thereof and be kept in its proper position, and
moved to and fro, so that the end which rests on the bottom will alternately
touch every point thereof. It is preferred to make the end of the tool, which
is within the furnace, to partake of the contour of the furnace bottom and
rim. This tool when used during the boiling process is made, say, from four
to six inches wide. A similar tool is used in the same frame, but being only
from, say, two to three inches wide, for the purpose of setting over the iron
at that process; when the puddler is now in the habit of using his puddle for
turning the mass over. A dividing tool is used in the same frame, and
actuated in a similar manner to the other tools for the purpose of dividing the
mass into parts for the purpose of balling. The furnace may be charged with
the metal in a cold or molten state; during which time the bottom may be
stationary or in motion, as may be most convinient or suitable for the iron to
be puddled.
When the iron is in a molten state and requires to be stirred

page_text: the bottom is put in motion, when the broad tool is introduced through the
"working hole," and so set that the molteu mass is driven against it until
the iron becomes stiff and gets to the consistency, when the puddler operating
by hand requires to use his paddle; when the broad tool is withdrawn and
the narrow tool substituted, so that a smaller portion of the metal is acted
upon at a time when the metal is sufficiently decarbonised to be ready for
the balling up; the motion of the bottom is stopped to enable the puddler to
operate in the usual way. But, however, as the botton is capable of being
turned on its centre a great facility is afforded to the puddler in this process,
as the puddler may make a cut from the circumference of the mass to the
centre by means of a tool similar to those herein-before described, and then
causing the bottom or pan to rotate a given distance to repeat the cut, and so
on, dividing the whole mass into equal parts, whereby great advantage is
obtained, and less skill required to produce balls of the same weight, and the
necessity of extending the tool entirely across the mass and towards the back
of the furnace is obviated, as the mass to be balled up is brought in front of
the working hole as required to be operated upon.
In using the term "reverberatory furnace," it is not intended to be con-
fined to any particular class of furnaces, but to comprise all furnaces in which
iron for the purpose of puddling is kept on a bed or bottom, and there exposed
to the action of the flame, which flame may be produced by combustion of
coal, wood, gas, and other material.