IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL, STEELY IRON, AND HOMO- GENEOUS METAL, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Griffith Brewer, of 89, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL, STEELY IRON, AND HOMO-
GENEOUS METAL, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."-A communication from
abroad by Fernand Guy Bazault and Isidore Jules Roche, of Paris,
France, Engineers.
Sealed the 12th November 1872, and dated the 14th May 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Griffith Brewer
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th May 1872.
I, EDWARD GRIFFITH BREWER, of 89, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL, STEELY IRON,
AND HOMOGENEOUS METAL, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," (a communication to
me from abroad by Fernand Guy Bazault and Isidore Jules Roche, of
Paris, France, Engineers) to be as follows:-
It has heretofore been attempted to produce steel direct by reaction.
With soft iron the operation is tolerably successful, but it is necessary to

page_text: first take some puddled or other similar iron and consequently to submit
the greater portion of the material employed to a double operation, which
materially increases the ultimate cost, besides the quality of the metal
thus obtained naturally depends upon the quality of the material treated,
for by this means there is a transformation without refining, and good
quality irons can only give steels of good quality. Oxide of iron or
natural mineral has been substituted for soft iron; the result is a refined
cast metal if rich mineral and of special quality is employed; but even
then there is the following objection:-The difference of density which
exists between the liquid cast metal and the mineral makes the latter to
float on the surface; the cast iron is only in contact with it on tho
surface of the bath, which makes the reactions slow and irregular, whilo
the mineral forming a sheet on the surface corrodes by its oxide and
adheres to the sides of the furnace and cuts them. The latter objection
has hitherto been the greatest obstacle to the employment of rich
minerals for the direct transformation from cast iron into steel or homo-
geneous metal.
Instead of employing natural mineral it has been
attempted to treat minerals which have been previously reduced in
special apparatus, and even only to melt the spongey or porous material
thus formed. In practice great difficulty has attended this process,
owing to the regularity required in the necessary mixtures at the reduc-
tion of these spongy materials, for it is difficult to maintain uniformity
in the required proportions of the carburetting and oxidizing materials.
According to this Invention these inconveniences are obviated, steel
and maleable iron, and in general a metal more or less carburetted, are
manufactured by cementing at a low temperature in metal crucibles
intended to be afterwards melted with the contents which are a mixture
of cast iron and of minerals, and by afterwards melting the mixture and
the crucible which contains it either in the same furnace or in a separate
apparatus. This process is based on the property which the rich oxides
of natural or artificial iron possess being completely or partially reduced
to a red temperature by contact with the molten metal more or less
carburetted.
To carry out the operation according to this Invention a mixture
of cast iron and rich mineral, or of oxide of iron with or without
addition of carburetting or other substance, is run into the cast-iron
crucibles, either in successive horizonta layers or intimately mixed
throughout the mass. When the crucibles are thus filled they are

page_text: carried into the cementing furnace, heated to a red heat, and in all cases
to a temperature below that of the fusion of the metal. The mineral
oxide and the carbon of the mixture react at this temperature on one.
another throughout the whole mass, the materials being intimately
mixed. While the mixture is thus brought back to the degree of carbura-
tion desired and previously determined, the mineral has become partially
reduced.
When the cementation has sufficiently advanced, which may be else-
where known by the absence of flames of oxide of carbon burning on the
surface of the crucibles, these are withdrawn and carried either to the
crucible or reverberatory furnace or cupola; the mineral being in a great
measure reduced, its action on the sides of the furnace is not so great,
and even reduced to nothing; besides, the transformation of the substances
being done previously, the completion of the refining does not require
more than the time of fusion. By this new process the withdrawal of
the metal and the skill required therefor in the ordinary modes aro
avoided. It is simply necessary to raise these crucibles to carry them
to the melting furnace without being obliged to pick up the pieces one
by ono, which are more or less reduced in separating them from the
excess of carburetting material, or by adding according to their degree
of reduction; this always constitutes long and tedious operations and
uncertainty in their results.
It will be perceived that by this new means the mixture and the
mineral will be always uniformly mixed without having to dread the
mishaps and irregularities which are often found in reducing apparatus
heretofore and at present used. The desired proportions of cast iron and
of oxide can be determined beforehand and obtained in some way with
a mathematical exactness. Regularity and exactitude in the results
sought for, preservation of crucibles or of the sides and beds of the
reverberatory furnaces in the direct treatment by minerals, economy of
time and fuel, are the principal advantages of this process. Besides the
steely and refining properties of certain minerals, such as titanic,
manganese, or other ores, they can be completely utilized, thereby
improving and steelifying castings of inferior qualities, an object ardently
sought after in the manufacture of a cheap steel-of-good-quality.
The vessels or crucibles are made of any suitable form; for example,
Hound of Bentancula ordine to one armament

page_text: The mineral and cast iron are stratified in alternate layers; according
to another arrangement they are intimately mixed; the mode of
mixing may moreover be varied in several ways.
The cast-iron vessels or crucibles may be replaced by crucibles made
of sheet-iron plates, or in any other metal or fusible material.
The fusible crucibles may sometimes even be completely dispensed
with, and the mixture be made directly in the crucible in which the
operation of the transformation from cast iron into steel is completed.
The crucibles may also be completely dispensed with by stratifying
the mixture with cast iron and mineral on the bed of the furnace, by 1
keeping up the temperature of the furnace at a degree below that of the
fusion of the metal during the time necessary for the cementation.
The Invention therefore essentially consists of a new process of
manufacturing steel and iron, based on the cementation at a lower
temperature than the fusion of a mixture of cast iron and rich mineral 1
or of iron oxide, with or without addition of carburetting or other
material enclosed in fusible crucibles, or stratified in ordinary crucibles,
or even on the bed of a reverberatory furnace, and the ultimate fusion
of this mixture; and especially in the employment of fusible crucibles
or hollow vessels of cast iron or other metal or fusible material intended
to hold during the cementation the mixture of iron oxide or mineral with
the cast iron or other materials, carburetters or others, together or
separately, and to be melted ultimately with the contents.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Griffith Brewer in the Great Seal Patent 25
Office on the 13th November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
GRIFFITH BREWER, of 89, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 30
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give

page_text: and grant unto me, the said Edward Griffith Brewer, Her special licence
that I, the said Edward Griffith Brewer, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Griffith Brewer,
my executors, administrators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL, STEELY IRON, AND HOMOGENEOUS METAL, AND IN
APPARATUS THEREFOR (a communication to me from abroad by Fernand
Guy Bazault and Isidore Jules Roche, of Paris, France, Engineers), upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Griffith Brewer,
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.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Griffith Brewer, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, that is
to say:-
-
It has heretofore been attempted to produce steel direct by reaction.
With soft iron the operation is tolerably successful, but it is necessary to.
first take some puddled or other similar iron, and consequently to submit
the greater portion of the material employed to a double operation, which
materially increases the ultimate cost, besides the quality of the metal
thus obtained naturally depends upon the quality of the material treated,
for by this means there is a transformation without refining, and good
quality irons can only give steels of good quality. Oxyde of iron or
natural mineral has been substituted for soft iron; the result is a refined
cast metal if rich mineral and of special quality is employed; but even
then there is the following objection:-The difference-of-density-which
exists between the liquid cast metal and the mineral makes the latter to
float on the surface; the cast iron is only in contact with it on the
surface of the bath, which makes the reactions slow and irregular, while

page_text: the mineral forming a sheet on the surface corrodes by its oxyde and
silica, and adheres to the sides of the furnace and cuts them. The latter
objection has hitherto been the greatest obstacle to the employment of
rich minerals for the direct transformation from cast iron into steel or
homogeneous metal. Instead of employing natural mineral it has been
attempted to treat minerals which have been previously more or less
reduced in special apparatus, and even only to melt the spongy or porous
material thus formed. In practice great difficulty has attended this
process owing to the regularity required in the necessary mixtures at the
reduction of these spongy materials, for it is difficult to maintain uni-
formity in the required proportions of the carburetting and oxidizing
materials.
According to this Invention these inconveniences are obviated. Steel
and maleable iron, and in general a metal moro or less carburetted, are
manufactured by cementing at a low temperature in metal crucibles
⚫ intended to be afterwards melted with the contents, which are a mixture
of cast iron and of minerals, and by afterwards melting the mixture and
the crucible which contains it either in the same furnace or in a separate
apparatus. This process is based on the property which the rich oxides
of natural or artificial iron possess being completely or partially reduced
to a red heat by contact with the molten metal more or less carburetted.
To carry out the operation according to this Invention a mixture of
cast iron and rich mineral, or of oxide of iron with or without addition
of carburetting or other substance, is run into the cast iron crucibles
either in successive horizontal layers or intimately mixed throughout
the mass. When the crucibles are thus filled they are carried into
the cementing furnace, heated to a red heat, and in all cases to a
temperature below that of the fusion of the metal. The mineral oxide
and the carbon of the mixture react at this temperature on one another
throughout the whole mass, the materials being intimately mixed, a
while the mixture is thus brought back to the degree of carburation
desired and previously determined, the mineral has become partially
reduced.

page_text: a great measure reduced, its action on the sides of the furnace is not so
great, and may even be reduced to nothing; besides, the transformation
of the substances being done previously the completion of the refining
does not requiro more than the time of fusion. By this new process the
withdrawal of the metal and the skill required therefor in the ordinary
modes are avoided. It is simply necessary to raise these crucibles to
carry them to the melting furnace without being obliged to pick up the
pieces one by one which are more or less reduced in separating them
from the excess of carburetting material, or by adding according to their
degree of reduction; this always constitutes long and tedious operations,
and gives uncertainty in their results.
It will be perceived that by this new means the mixture and the
mineral will be always uniformly mixed without having to dread the
mishaps and irregularities which are often found in reducing apparatus
heretofore and at present used. The desired proportions of cast iron and of
oxide can be determined beforehand, and obtained, so to say, in a mathe-
matical. manner. Regularity and exactitude in the results sought for,
preservation of crucibles, or of the sides and beds of the reverberatory
furnaces in the direct treatment by minerals, economy of time and fuel,
are the principal advantages of this process. Besides the steely and
refining properties of certain minerals, such as titanic, manganese, or
other ores, they can be completely utilized, thereby improving and
steelifying cast iron of inferior qualities, an object ardently sought after
in the manufacture of a cheap steel of good quality.

page_text: The fusible crucibles may sometimes even be completely dispensed
with, and the mixture be made directly in the crucible in which the
operation of the transformation from cast iron into steel is completed.
The crucibles may also be completely dispensed with by stratifying
the mixture with cast iron and mineral on the bed of the furnace by
keeping up the temperature of the furnace at a degree below that of the
fusion of the metal during the time necessary for the cementation.
CLAIM.
י
A new process of manufacturing steel and iron based on the cemen-
tation at a lower temperature than the fusion of a mixture of cast 1
iron and rich mineral, or of iron oxide with or without addition of
carburetting or other material enclosed in fusible crucibles, or stratified
in ordinary crucibles, or even on the bed of a reverberatory furnace, and
the ultimate fusion of this mixture; and especially in the employment
of fusible crucibles or hollow vessels of cast iron or other metal or fusible ]
material intended to hold during the cementation the mixture of iron
oxide or mineral with the cast iron or other materials, carburetters, or
others together or separately, and to be melted ultimately with the
contents, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Griffith Brewer, have here- 2
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two...