Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel and of Alloys of Iron.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Nov., 1858
Complete Specification Left, 15th Aug., 1889-Accepted, 21st Sept., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel and of Alloys
of Iron.
We, WILLIAM CHANDLER ROBERTS-AUSTEN, Esquire, Assayer, of Blackheath,
Chilworth. in the County of Surrey, EDWIN JENNINGS BALL, Metallurgist, of 39,
Aynhoe Road, Hammersmith, London, W., and ARTHUR WINGHAM. Metallurgical
Chemist, of 3 Villa Road, Brixton, London, S.W., do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
Our improvements relate to the elimination of impurities and more especially of
sulphur from iron or from steel or from alloys of iron. The metal to be purified is
brought into contact when in a molten stare with the cyanide ferrocyanide or ferri-
cyanide of potassium or sodium or with mixtures of these or with any other suitable
compound or compounds containing the chemical radical cyanogon or with any
compounds or mixtures which by reaction may yield either at the temperature of the
furnace in which the operation is performed or otherwise any suitable compound con-
taining the chemical radical cyanogen. The cyanogen compound or compounds may
be either used alone or they may be mixed or used in conjunction with carbonate
of sodium or any other suitable compound or mixture. The metal under treatment
may be first purified by bringing into contact with it the carbonate or hydrate of
sodium or potassium or mixtures of these substances or any other suitable com-
pound or compounds of the alkalies or alkaline earths such for instance as basic
silicates containing much sodium or potassium a deoxidising atmosphere being
preferably maintained in the furnace or other receptacle in which the operation is
performed. After such preliminary purification the purification of the metal may if
necessary be further perfected by a similar treatment with potassium or sodium
cyanide or ferrocyanide or with other suitable similar compounds or mixtures as
mentioned above.
All or any of these compounds or mixtures may be either thrown on the surface
of the molton metal introduced into or among the molten metal or brought into
contact with the metal or ferruginous substance under treatment in any other
suitable way and in any suitable form of furnace or other appliance and with or
without the simultaneous agitation of the metal by deoxidising gases or otherwise.
Dated this Sixteenth day of November 1888.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel and of Alloys
⚫of iron.
We WILLIAM CHANDLER ROBERTS-AUSTEN Assayer of Blackheath, Chilworth
in the County of Surrey, EDWIN JENNINGS BALL, Metallurgist of 39 Aynhoe Road
Hammersmith London W. and ARTHUR WINGHAM of 3 Villa Road Brixton
London S.W. do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statenient :-
Our improvements relate to the elimination of impurities and more especially of
sulphur from pig iron, ingot iron, steel or alloys of iron such as ferromanganese and

page_text: For this purpose we bring the molten metal in contact with a mixture of the
carbonate or hydrate of soda or lime and any suitable cyanide or ferrocyanide.
In practical working we find it preferable to use a mixture containing carbonate of
soda, lime, and ferrocyanide of potassium, the lime however may be omitted, or it
may be advantageously replaced by fluorspar.
When pig iron is to be purified we prefer to carry out the operation in a refinery
which should be lined with basic material. The pig iron may be either used molten
or in the form of pigs. The mixture of carbonate and cyanide is placed on the bottom
of the refinery and allowed to melt and pass up through the molten metal.
It is essential in the refining of pig iron that the slag produced should not be too
infusible. For the purpose of the refinery a mixture of carbonate of soda (five parts)
lime (four parts) and cyanide or ferrocyanide of potassium (one part) gives good
results.
The amount of this mixture to be used varios with the percentage of sulphur to be
removed from the pig but from three to five times as much of the mixture should bo
added as there is sulphur to be removed. When the slag is thoroughly melted in the
refinery it is well to agitate the metal by rabbling or otherwise so as to intimately mix
the slag and metal together.
In the Bessemer process we apply our invention as follows. The charge must be
blown in a basic lined vessel in the usual way, when the blow is finished the slag is
poured off as completely as possiblo, the mixture of carbonate and cyanide is then
thrown in, and the vessel rocked to agitate the charge, but we do not find it
advantageous to continue the blowing, we prefer to let the metal remain in the vessel
a few minutes and then to pour the alkalino slag and metal into the ladle.
The ferro manganese can be very advantageously added simultaneously with the
alkaline mixture. We find a considerable reduction in the amount of ferro manganese
or spiegel can be made when our alkaline mixture is added in the vessel, which is
possibly due to the formation of sodium, which causes the reduction of the oxygen
in the blown metal as well as the removal of the sulphur the metal contains.
We do not find it very advantageous to employ the alkaline mixture in the open
hearth furnace, partly because the sulphur is already largely removed in the basic
process and partly because by its volatilization, the alkaline salts attack the silica work
of the roof and ports. It can however be added in the ladle and the charge run
in upon it, and this method of procedure may also be used in connection with the
Bessemer process, but it is not so efficacious as the method of procedure we have
above described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is
The purification of pig iron, ingot iron, steel or alloys of iron by bringing the
molten metal into contact with an alkaline mixture containing a cyanide or ferro-
cyanide of the alkalies.
DL LL
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
5 & 56, Chancery Lane, London, Agent for the Applicants.