IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SLAGS OR CINDERS IN ORDER TO OBTAIN OR PRODUCE CAST STEEL THEREFROM
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Fox, of Deepcar, near Sheffield, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SLAGS OR CINDERS IN ORDER TO
OBTAIN OR PRODUCE CAST STEEL THEREFROM."
Sealed the 28th October 1864, and dated the 2nd July 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Fox at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
July 1864.
I, SAMUEL Fox, of Deepcar, near Sheffield, do hereby declare the nature
of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SLAGS OR CINDERS IN ORDER
TO OBTAIN OR PRODUCE CAST STEEL THEREFROM," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in treating slags or cinders
in order to obtain or produce cast steel therefrom.
In the manufacture of steel by the process of blowing air into melted cast
iron, in the absence of fuel, (now commonly known as the Bessemer process,
although numerous Patents in relation to such process have been granted to
other persons,) slags or cinders are produced, which at present are for the most
part disposed of as refuse, notwithstanding that they contain metal.
Now my Invention consists in reducing such slags or cinders to powder,
and then washing the same with water so as to remove as much of the earthy
and other impurities as can be advantageously removed by washing, and
afterwards, when the product containing the metal has been dried, it is made
into cast steel by introducing it into what is called the converting vessel

page_text: containing melted cast iron; the charge in the vessel is then converted into
cast steel, or, if desired, further converted from steel into iron by the now
well-known process of forcing streams of air through it, or, in place of this, the
dried washed product may be introduced into crucibles or other melting
vessels or furnaces to be re-melted, and then run into suitable moulds, as
when treating other cast steel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Fox in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
Fox, of Deepcar, near Sheffield, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Samuel Fox, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel
Fox, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Samuel Fox, 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 TREATING SLAGS OR CINDERS IN ORDER TO OBTAIN OR PRODUCE
CAST STEEL THEREFROM," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Samuel Fox, 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 Samuel Fox, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in treating slags or cinders
in order to obtain or produce cast steel therefrom.

page_text: In the manufacture of steel by the process of blowing air into melted cast
iron in the absence of fuel, (now commonly known as the Bessemer process,
although numerous Patents in relation to such process have been granted to
other persons,) slags or cinders are produced, which at present are for the most
part disposed of as refuse, notwithstanding that they contain metal.
Now my Invention consists in obtaining the steel or iron contained in slags
above mentioned, by grinding the same to facilitate the removal of the
impurities, and then re-melting the metallic parts, in order to re-manufacture
the steel or iron.
In carrying out my Invention, I reduce such slags or cinders to powder,
and then wash the same with water, so as to remove as much of the earthy
and other impurities as can be advantageously removed by washing. I after-
wards, when the product containing the metal has been dried, convert the
same into cast steel by introducing the dry product into what is called the
converting vessel containing melted cast iron, which has been more or less
subjected to the action of streams of air; the proportion in which the dry
product may be introduced may be greatly varied. I prefer to employ at the
rate of about 20 per cent. of the melted metal in the converting vessel; the
charge in the vessel is then converted into cast steel, or, if desired, further
converted from steel into iron by the now well-known process of forcing
streams of air through it; or, in place of this, the dried washed product may
be introduced into crucibles or other melting vessels or furnaces, to be re-melted
and then run into suitable moulds, as when treating other cast steel.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Fox, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
SAMUEL FOX. (L.S.)