IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Dyson, of Tudhoe Iron Works, near Ferry.
Hill, in the County of Durham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON."
Sealed the 19th September 1856, and dated the 23rd June 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Dyson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
June 1856.
I, GEORGE DYSON, of Tudhoe Iron Works, near Ferry Hill, in the County
of Durham, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON," to be as follows:-
The conversion of cast iron into malleable iron, as very commonly practised
in Great Britain and other countries, consists of two processes. Firstly,
refining, which is performed by melting the pig iron in a refinery or running-
out fire, under the action of a strong current of air. By this treatment the
iron is supposed to lose all or part of the carbon with which it is combined or
mixed in the state of cast iron, and also to be freed from other impurities.
Secondly, puddling, which is performed by melting the refined metal produced
by the last-mentioned process in a reverberatory furnace, and when melted, by

page_text: continually stirring, raking, and agitating it with iron tools by manual labour,
until it loses its fluidity and becomes malleable. It is then formed into
lumps or balls, withdrawn from the furnace, and by hammering, squeezing,
or rolling, reduced to the shape and dimensions required. It is also. now a
common practise, especially in England, to perform the two processes of
refining and puddling at once in the same furnace, and this is called "pig
boiling." The result is in general nearly the same as when the two processes
are separately performed, with such differences as arise from the description
and qualities of iron used, and the skill of the workmen employed. By a
modification of the manipulation in the puddling or boiling processes, with the
addition of suitable fluxes and the suspension of the operation at a certain
stage, the result is, that what is called "puddle steel" is produced instead
of malleable iron. Either or both the above-described processes may be and
have been partially performed or assisted by the application of mechanical
power as a substitute for manual labour, such mechanical power being
employed to give à reciprocating motion to a rod; rake, or other suitable instru-
ment for stirring of agitating the melted iron, or to give rotary motion to a
tool introduced into the furnace.
Now my Invention consists in giving rotary motion to the bottom of the
furnace itself, or at least to that part of it which contains the melted metal,
and which may be called the basin. The tool or tools introduced are to be
kept stationary, and have such forms and such projections upon them as will
effectually agitate, stir, and continually bring to the surface fresh portions of
the melted metal, until the whole is converted into malleable iron or puddled
steel, as may be desired. My process may either be carried out at one
operation, or it may be divided into two, three, or more, the furnace being
divided into a corresponding number of compartments or chambers, for
instance, melting, refining, and puddling, or boiling, and balling.
The advantages of my Invention I consider to be,―
1. Economy in labour, skilled and unskilled.
2. Diminished waste of iron, from the shortening of the time required.
3. Diminished consumption of fuel.
4. Increased make with a given number of furnaces and men.
5. Greater certainty and uniformity of quality, and the power of producing