A NEW MODE OF MAKING STEEL
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, OR. BE MADE
KNOWN, I, JOHN HOLLAND, of No. 2, Larkhall Rise, in the Parish of
Clapham, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,.
the Eighteenth day of July, in the thirteenth year of Her said Majesty's reign,.
did give and grant unto me, the said John Holland, my exors, admors, and
assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,.
the said John Holland, my exors, admors, and assigns, and every of us, by
myself and themselves, or by my and their deputy or deputies, servants or
agents, or such others as I, the said John Holland, my exors, adññiors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of Her said
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, called England, Her
Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in Her said
Majesty's Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also.
in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of
"A NEW MODE OF MAKING STEEL;" in which said Letters Patent there is con-

page_text: tained a proviso, that I, the said John Holland, shall particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of. my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar. months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and
at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Holland, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are described and ascertained
as follows (that is to say):-
The chief ingredient which I use is the silkworm cod or ball, being the
remnant of the cocoon with the chrysalis contained in it after the silk has
been taken from it by winding off the skein; this material or substance is
thrown away at present and buried on account of the bad smell which it emits.
Every description of silk wastings, bits and remains of cocoons, or of the silk-
worm cods or balls, clippings and remnants of old or new pieces, whether
large or small, of all kinds of silk stuffs of any color may also be made use of.
For the purposes of preservation and transport the chrysallides, the bits or
remains of the cocoons or silkworm cods or balls, and the cocoons themselves
when employed, are to be torrefied or highly dried, but not carbonised, and
then reduced to powder by means of a vertical millstone or otherwise. I
will here observe, that silk, old or new, raw or manufactured, and all sorts
and kinds of waste silk can be employed, torrefied or not torrefied, but I prefer
their being torrefied, as in that state they can be better preserved and are
more portable. The cocoons, however, or silkworm cods or balls with their
chrysallides, should be torrefied in order to preserve them from- putrefaction,
and afterwards reduced to powder as before stated. This powder is to be
put into barrels or other vessels so as to be preserved from damp. This sub-
stance, so torrefied, I find it most convenient to employ for my Invention, and
will describe it as performed with such torrefied substance:-To convert bars
of malleable iron, such as railway rails, partially into steel, it will be enough to
place a layer of the thickness of an inch of dry coal dust, coal slack, powdered
coke or plumbago, or a mixture of any of these substances on the bottoms of
the ovens, cases, or furnaces, such as are ordinarily used for cementation. On
this layer is to be placed a layer also an inch thick of the torrefied substance;
upon this the bars of iron are then to be-laid. The surface, if any, which is
not to be made into steel should be covered with a layer or coating of clay, or

page_text: of slack lime, or similar substance; the cases, ovens, or furnaces are then
to be filled up by alternate layers one upon another; the whole is to be sub-
jected to the same degree of heat as is used in the ordinary cementation
process; the time.required for this operation will be fixed or regulated by the
depth to which it is required to convert the iron into steel; the which will be
known or ascertained by the usual tests, but executed in a much shorter
period than by the usual process. The transformation of bars of half an inch
thickness wholly into steel is effected by the above process for the partial
conversion of larger bars; and if such large bars be required wholly of steel,
then smaller bars may be forged up after conversion into larger ones of the
size required, and ingots of steel may be made from the smaller bars by the
usual process. The transformation partially or wholly into steel of manu-
factured iron articles, such as ploughshares or tools, is produced by means of
the same preparation used in the same manner as above described, covering
the surface of the article with the torrefied substance, and varying the quan-
tities and time according to the thickness of the iron, and the depth to which
it is required to convert it into steel.
For the conversion of iron ore into steel, the ore should first be roasted
in the usual manner, then broken into small pieces of the size of nuts,
walnuts, or even of eggs, then well washed by means of a sieve, or otherwise
to clear off the earth and sand; it is then to be mixed with a vitrifiable
flux prepared and composed of half equal parts of powdered clay and slack
lime, making together or amounting to five per cent. of the weight of ore.
The whole must then be mixed together with water so as to form a paste
which will serve for envelopeing the ore and securing it so that the metal
may not be oxidised afresh by contact with the atmospheric air. The ore
thus coated, together with what remains of the paste or flux, is to be
dried or allowed to dry, and then. alternated in closed crucibles or similar
vessels with layers of torrefied substance of equal thickness with the enveloped
ore, and the whole is then to be melted and run into plates; these plates, when
broken into pieces, should be melted into ingots with a mixture of five per
cent. malleable iron in order to be refined by the usual processes, and be
delivered to the trade in the state or form of ingots of steel. I may observe
that in all the above processes any portions of torrefied substance which have
not been consumed during previous operations may be re-employed. In
detailing the processes, I have described them as performed with the torrefied
substance, which I prefer, but I do not confine myself to the state of the sub-
stance, or to the precise quantities or times mentioned, or to the details of the

page_text: processes; but I claim as my invention the application of silkworm chrysal-
ides, cocoons, silk, the silkworm, and all its products, and the refuse of the
same in the manufacture of steel.-
processes; but I claim as my Invention the application of silkworm chrysal-
ides, cocoons, silk, the silkworm, and all its products, and the refuse of the
same in the manufacture of steel.-
In witness whereof, I, the said John Holland, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Holland, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of January, in
the year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid John Holland came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Sixteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord One