CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SMELTING AND WORKING OF IRON
Year: 1814

page_text: HILL'S
SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANTHONY
HILL, of Plymouth Iron Works, in the County of Glamorgan, Iron Master,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the fifty-fourth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Anthony
Hill, my executors, administrators and assigns, His especial licence, full power,.
sole priviledge, and authority that I, the said Anthony Hill, my executors,.
administrators, and assigns, and every of them, by myself or themselves, or
by my and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the
said Anthony Hill, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times hereafter
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within that part of our United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, our Dominion of Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
SMELTING AND WORKING OF IRON;" in which said Letters Patent there is con-
tained a proviso, obliging me, the said Anthony Hill, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the..
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,.
and to cause the same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Authony Fill, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
manner of performing the same, are fully described and ascertained in manner
following, that is to say:-
My said improvements do consist in the manipulations, processes, and means
herein-after described and set forth, and by which the iron contained in the
several sorts of slags or cinders produced in or obtained from the refinery
furnace, the puddling furnace, and the balling or reheating furnace, and which
are produced in consequence of, or by, or during the operations of rolling, or
by any treatment to which the crude or pig iron of the blast furnace may be
or is usually subjected, in order to improve or alter the quality of the same, is
by smelting and working made into or brought into the state of bar iron,
whether only one of the said several sorts of slags or cinders be used, or
whether all the said sorts of the said slags or cinders, or any of the said several
sorts of them, be mixed together and used, or whether all the said sorts of the
Said slags or cinders, or any one or more of the said sorts of them, be com-
pounded with iron stones or iron ores, or with both of them, whether all the
said several compounds be used together or whether only one or more of the said
several compounds be used, or whether only one of the several sorts of crude
or pig iron, obtained from the said slags or cinders, or the aforesaid mixtures
of them, be used, or whether all or any of the said several sorts of crude or
pig iron be mixed and used together, or whether they or any one or more of
them be mixed with one or more sort or sorts of any other crude or pig iron,
and used, or whether only one of the several sorts of crude or pig iron obtained
from all or any or either of the said compounds of the said slags or cinders
with iron stones or ores be used, or whether all or any of the said last-
mentioned several sorts of crude or pig iron be mixed and used together, or
whether they or any one or more of them be mixed with any one or more sort
or sorts of any other crude or pig iron, and used, or whether all or any or
either of the aforesaid sorts of crude or pig iron be compounded and
used with refined metal, obtained from the said slags or cinders, or from the
said mixtures thereof, or from the said compounds of the said slags or cinders
with iron stones and ores, or with the refined metal of any other iron, or
whether only one of the several sorts of refined metal, obtained from the said
slags or cinders, or from the said mixtures thereof, or from the said last-
mentioned compounds, be used, or whether all or any of the said last-mentioned
refined metals be mixed and used together, or whether they or any one or
more of them be mixed with any one or more sort or sorts of refined metal
of any other iron, and used, or whether only one of the several sorts of

page_text: puddled iron, obtained from the said slags or cinders, or from the said mixtures
thereof, or from the said last-mentioned compounds, be used, or whether all or
any of the said last-mentioned puddled irons be mixed and used together, or
whether they or any one or more of them be mixed with any one or more sort
or sorts of any other puddled iron, and used; and that my said improvements
do further consist in the use and application of lime to iron subsequently to
the operations of the blast furnace, whereby that quality in iron, from which.
the iron is called "cold short," howsoever and from whatever substance such
iron be obtained, is sufficiently prevented or remedied, and by which such iron
is rendered more tough when cold. And I do farther declare, that in the
said smelting and working I do use a mixture of lime or limestone, and of
the substance in which the iron stones are generally found, and which is
known in South Wales by the name of mine rubbish, whether raw or calcined,
consisting by weight of about six parts of good limestone to five parts of raw
mine rubbish, which said mixture I do apply, together with the other materials
operated upon, in the blast furnace, for the purpose of producing a fusible
cinder, and that the proportions of the said limestone and mine rubbish
composing the said mixture may be varied without materially impairing the
beneficial effects thereof. And that in smelting and working by the usual
working of the blast furnace, all or any or either of the said sorts of the
said slags or cinders, or the aforesaid mixtures of them, or all or any or either
of the said compounds thereof with iron stones or ores, when such slags, or
cinders, or compounds last mentioned are known, by assay or otherwise, to be:
capable of affording crude or pig iron to the amount of fifty per cent. or
thereabouts, by weight, I do, in order to make one charge, take and use
eighteen cubic feet by measure, or about four hundred and fifty pounds by
weight, of coke, and from three hundred pounds to four hundred and twenty
pounds of the said slags or cinders, or the said last-mentioned mixtures' or
compounds, and from seventy pounds to ninety-five pounds of the said raw
mine rubbish, and from one hundred and eighty pounds to two hundred and
forty pounds of the said limestone, or from one hundred and ten pounds to one
hundred and forty-five pounds of lime, which charge I do repeat according to
the usual manner of filling and working the blast furnace. But that when the
said slags or cinders, or the said last-mentioned mixtures or compounds, which
are known, by assay or otherwise, to contain respectively either more or less
than fifty per cent. by weight of crude or pig iron, are required to be smelted
and worked by the usual working of the blast furnace, it will be necessary, in
order to produce the best effect, that the quantity and proportions thereof, and
of. the limestone and raw mine rubbish to be made use of in the charge as

page_text: aforesaid, should be varied, and that, as a general rule of practice to be
adopted and followed, I declare that I do mix all or any or either of the said.
sorts of the said slags or cinders with raw mine rubbish, if required, or I do:
mix all or any or either of the said last-mentioned compounds with raw mine
rubbish, if required, until the crude or pig iron contained in either of such
aggregate mixtures shall amount to about forty per cent. or less than forty per
cent. if so wished, and then in order to constitute a charge, I do take from
either or both of such aggregate mixtures from three hundred and fifty pounds
to five hundred and fifty pounds in the whole, and eighteen cubic feet by
measure, or about four hundred and fifty pounds by weight of coke, and I do
flux the whole by adding six parts by weight of limestone for every five of
such parts of the raw mine rubbish as may have been used for the purpose
last before mentioned, and I do add so much more lime or limestone as may
be known, by assay or otherwise, to be required to produce a fusible cinder..
And further, that it will be advisable to reduce the said slags or cinders, or the
said mixtures of the said slags or cinders, or the said compounds of the said slags
or cinders, with the said iron stones and ores, and the limestone and raw mine
rubbish aforesaid previous to their being put into the blast furnace, to about
the size at which materials are commonly used in the blast furnace. And
further I do draw off from the blast furnace the crude or pig iron afforded by
the said slags or cinders, or by the said last-mentioned mixtures or compounds,
and I do make the several sorts of crude or pig iron obtained from the
said slags or cinders, or from the said last-mentioned mixtures or compounds,
into bar iron, by puddling, reheating, and rolling, compressing, or hammering,
or by refining. puddling, reheating, and rolling, compressing, or hammer-
ing, whether only one of the said several sorts of crude or pig iron bé
used, or whether all or any of the said several sorts of crude or pig iron
be mixed and used together, or whether they or any one or more of them be
mixed with any one or more sort or sorts of any other crude or pig iron, and
used, or whether all or any or either of the aforesaid sorts of crude or pig
iron be compounded and used with refined metal obtained from the said slags
or cinders, or from the said mixtures thereof, or from the said compounds of
the said slags or cinders, with iron stones or ores, or with the refined metal
of any other iron, and used, or whether only one of the several sorts of refined
metal obtained from the said slags or cinders, or from the said mixtures
thereof, or from the said last-mentioned compounds, be used, or whether
all or any of the said last-mentioned refined metals be mixed and used
together, or whether they or any one or more of them be mixed with
any one or more sort or sorts of refined metal from any other iron, and

page_text: used, or whether only one of the several sorts of puddled iron, obtained
from the said slags or cinders, or from the said mixtures thereof, or from
the said last-mentioned compounds, be used, or whether all or any of the
said last-mentioned puddled irons be mixed and used together, or whether
they or any one or more of them be mixed with any one or more sort or sorts
of any other puddled iron, and used. And I do further declare, that I have
discovered that the addition of lime or limestone, or other substances consisting
chiefly of lime, and free or nearly free from any ingredient known to be
hurtful to the quality of iron, will sufficiently prevent or remedy that quality
in iron from which the iron is called cold short, and will render such iron
more tough when cold, and I do for this purpose if the iron, howsoever and
from whatever substance the same may have been obtained, be expected to
prove cold short, add a portion of lime or limestone, or of the other said
substances, of which the quantity must be regulated by the quality of the iron
to be operated upon, and by the quality of the iron wished to be produced.
And further, that the said lime or limestone, or other aforesaid substances,
may be added to the iron at any time subsequently to the reduction thereof in
the blast furnace, and prior to the iron becoming clotted or coming into nature,
whether the same be added to the iron while it is in the refining furnace or in
the puddling furnace, or in both of them, or previous to the said iron being
put into either of the said furnaces. And further, that I do in preference add
quick lime instead of limestone or the said other substances (either of which
as to quantity, whensoever and howsoever so used, may be considerably varied)
to the iron in the refinery furnace and in the puddling furnace. And I do
further declare, that I do greatly prefer to mix or add, in the refinery furnace,
about from one-fourth to one-third by weight of the crude or pig iron, which
has been obtained from the slags or cinders, with three-fourths or two-thirds
of the crude or pig iron which has been obtained from the iron stones. And I do
further declare, that for the operation in the refinery furnace I do add the lime.
as it is obtained from the kiln, in the proportion of from one-sixtieth to one-
fortieth part by weight of the whole weight of the crude or pig iron intended to
be worked in the furnace, and I apply about one-half of the said lime together
with the crude or pig iron as it is thrown upon the refinery fire, and the
remainder from time to time during the course of the refinery operation, taking
care not to suffer the slag or cinder which is produced to get too thick, nor to
endanger the stopping up of the furnace. And I do also declare, that in the
puddling furnace 1 further add lime in the proportion of from one-hundredth
part to one-eightieth part by weight of the whole weight of the iron in the
furnace, which lime I previously slake and wet to prevent its being carried off

page_text: by the draft of the furnace, and I do apply the same in the course of that
part of the operation which is known to workmen by the term drying the iron,
and, moreover, I take care that the same, shall be intimately mixed' with and:
minutely dispersed through the iron by the usual operations of puddling.
In witness whereof, I, the said Anthony Hill, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifteen.
ND
IDEALED ԼՈՒԼՆ ՌՈ Same
day January,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Anthony Hill came before our Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also
the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year above written.