IMPROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING IRON AND IN PUDDLING FURNACES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James John Harrop, of the City of Manchester,
Lead Manufacturer, and William Corbett, of Bradford, in the
County of Lancaster, Iron Manufacturer, for the Invention of
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James John Harrop
and William Corbett at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 7th June 1872.
We, JAMES JOHN HARROP, of the City of Manchester, Lead Manu-
facturer, and WILLIAM CORBETT, of Bradford, in the County of
Lancaster, Iron Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING IRON AND IN PUDDLING FURNACES,"
to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to reduce the cost of oxidising the
impurities in pig iron in the puddling process, which is accomplished by
the use and application of a blast of cold atmospheric air or a mixture

page_text: of air and steam, or air and superheated steam introduced into the
furnace down a tube formed on or in the puddler's tool or rabble, in
order that as the puddler moves such tool or rabble about in the furnace
the blast proceeding from it will oxidise the impurities which the pig
iron contains, and so effect a saving by dispensing with a large pro-
portion of the oxide of iron or its equivalent usually employed for
eliminating such impurities by being melted or mixed with the pig iron,
and also used for fettling the furnace.
This Invention further relates to improvements in the construction of
puddling furnaces for the purpose of more effectually economising fuel
and saving time in puddling operations, and consists in arranging two
puddling furnaces together, and in having one fire-grate to serve for
both. In each of these two furnaces the "heats" are so timed that
when one damper is open the other is closed, and vice versa, by which
arrangement the fire-grate is alway kept clear and free from coke, and
the consequent waste of time and fuel which takes place when only one
furnace is employed from the temperature having to be reduced during
one portion of the process is entirely obviated, the fie-grate in this case
being always alive and full of flame, so that an intense heat is available
immediately upon raising the damper.
With this arrangement of furnace and method of working it is cal-
culated that two charges of iron may be puddled with the same
quantity of fuel which has hitherto been necessary for one charge.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James John Harrop and William Corbett in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th December 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
JOHN HARROP, of the City of Manchester, Lead Manufacturer, and
WILLIAM CORBETT, of Bradford, in the County of Lancaster, Iron
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-fifth

page_text: year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said James John Harrop and William Corbett, Her
special license that we, the said James John Harrop and William Corbett,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
James John Harrop and William Corbett, our 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 PUDDLING IRON AND
IN PUDDLING FURNACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said James John Harrop and William Corbett, our executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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 is 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 we, the said James John Harrop and William
Corbett, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The object of this Invention is to reduce the cost of oxidising the
impurities in pig iron in the puddling process, which is accomplished by
the use and application of a blast of atmospheric air introduced into the
furnace down a tube formed on or in the puddler's tool or rabble, in
order that as the puddler moves such tool or rabble about in the furnace
the blast proceeding from it will oxidise the impurities which the pig
iron contains, and so effect a saving by dispensing with a large pro-
portion of the oxide of iron or its equivalent usually employed for
eliminating such impurities by being melted or mixed with the pig iron,
and also used for fettling the furnace.
This Invention further relates to improvements in the construction of
puddling furnaces for the purpose of more effectually economising fuel
and saving time in puddling operations, and consists in arranging two
puddling furnaces together, and in having one fire-place to serve for
both. In each of these, two furnaces the licats" are so timed that
46
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page_text: when one damper is open the other is closed, and vice versa, by which
arrangement the fire-grate is always kept clear and free from coke, and
the consequent waste of time and fuel which takes place when only one
furnace is employed from the temperature having to be reduced during
one portion of the process is entirely obviated, the fire-grate in this case
being always alive and full of flame, so that an intense heat is available
immediately upon raising the damper.
With this arrangement of furnace and method of working it is
calculated that two charges of iron may be puddled with the same
quantity of fuel which has hitherto been necessary for one charge.
And in order that this our Invention may be more thoroughly under-
stood, and more readily carried into effect, we will now proceed to describe
the same, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, in which
Fig. 1 is a side view; Fig. 2, a plan; and Fig. 3, a rear or back view of
a puddler's rabble with our improvements applied thereto drawn to a
scale of about 1½ inches to the foot.
Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation; and Fig. 5, a sectional plan of our
improved double puddling furnace drawn to a scale of about a ¼ of an
inch to the foot; and Fig. 6 is an elevation, and Fig. 7 a plan of a
portion of Fig. 4 drawn to an enlarged scale.
Similar letters of reference refer to similar parts in all the views.
In Figs. 1, 2, and 3 A is the head, and B the shaft of an ordinary
puddler's rabble; C is a metal pipe or tube firmly secured to the shaft B
by the clips D. To the end of this pipe or tube C next to the head A of
the rabble we fix two nozzles E and F; the one (E) on the outside, and
the other (F) on the inside of the head A, so that the blast escaping
from them when in use impinges on to that portion of the mass of metal,
being moved about and agitated by the puddler. The other end of this
pipe C next to the handle G we turn up or otherwise prepare it to
receive one end of a flexible pipe or tube H, which we make of such a
length, and so connect it to the main for supplying the blast of air,
as to allow of the puddler freely moving the rabble about in the furnace
in the usual manner, the supply of air to the rabble being controlled by
a cock or valve placed within convenient reach of the workman. The
introduction of a blast of atmospheric air in this manner from the end
of the puddler's rabble amongst the mass of metal undergoing agitation
greatly assists in oxidising the impurities which the pig iron contains,

page_text: and so effects a saving by dispensing with a large proportion of the
oxide of iron or its equivalent usually employed for eliminating such
impurities by being melted or mixed with the pig iron. The application
of a blast of air issuing from the puddler's rabble, as described, also
greatly reduces the labor in puddling, as we find that the blast blowing
into the mass' of metal in front and behind the head of the rabble blows
the metal from the rabble in all directions, and consequently makes it
easier for the workman to pull or push the rabble through the mass.
Although we have described the shaft of the rabble as a solid rod, and
the tube for conveying the blast bolted upon it, it will be obvious
that the shaft itself could be made hollow by forming it of a piece of
iron or other metal tubing with similar provision for the inlet and
outlet of the air, but this we should regard as a modification of our
intention.
As applied to our improved double puddling furnace herein-after
described and illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, we show another method
which we sometimes use of introducing a blast of atmospheric air into
the furnace at the required time for oxidising the impurities, which
consists of a metallic tube or pipe a passing through a hole 6 of suitable
size left for that purpose in the crown of the furnace. We connect this
pipe or tube a to a metallic plate c, so that when such tube or pipe a is
inserted through the hole the said plate rests upon and closes the
opening in the crown of the furnace, and enables us to regulate and
maintain one end of this pipe or tube a at a suitable distance from the
sole of the furnace. To the end of the pipe or tube, or within the
furnace, we fix a double T head d, seen best and upon an enlarged scale
in Figs. 6 and 7, which acts as a spreader to the blast of air coming
down the pipe a. To the end of the pipe or tube a outside the furnace
we connect a flexible pipe or tube e of suitable length, so that we can
readily withdraw such blast pipe or tube a from the furnace when not
required, the other end of such flexible tube being connected to one
of the two main pipes ƒ and g for supplying the blast of atmospheric air
to their respective furnaces. In using this arrangement for supplying
the blast of air for oxidising purposes the puddler works the metal up
from every part of the furnace around the spreader d from which the
blast is issuing, which has an effect in oxidising the impurities in the
irou similar to the arrangement previously described.

page_text: It will be readily apparent that the methods herein-before described
of introducing a blast of air are equally applicable to puddling furnaces
of the ordinary construction.
Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation, and Fig. 5 a sectional plan of our
improved double puddling furnace in which F is the fire-grate, which it
will be seen is common to both the furnaces G and H; I is the chimney
stack for the furnace G; and J, the chimney stack for the furnace H,
both of which chimney stacks are provided at the top with the usual
dampers K. In construction these furnaces differ in no material respect
from those in ordinary use, except in the important particular that they
are so arranged, as shown, that one fire-grate serves for both furnaces.
In working this double furnace the "heats" are so timed that when one
furnace requires the full force of the flame from the grate F the other
does not, and vice versa, the fuel in the grate always being in a vivid
state of combustion, and in use by one furnace or the other. By this
arrangement an intense heat is available immediately on raising the
damper in either furnace, at pleasure, and the consequent waste of time
and fuel and inconvenience arising from the grate being filled with coke
when it should be filled with flame as the result of lowering the tcm-
perature in one part of the process of puddling on the old plan is avoided.
This lowering of the temperature in our furnace being obtained by simply
turning the flame on to the other furnace, care being taken that the
"Licats are so timed that the other furnace is ready to receive it.
"
With this arrangement of furnace, and method of working it, it is
calculated that two charges of iron may be puddled with the same
quantity of fuel which has hitherto been necessary for one charge. A
considerable saving of labor is also effected in stoking, as by the old
plan of one furnace to one grate one man and his assistant had to stoke
the grate for 6 heats in the day; but it will be seen that there are by
our process two men and two assistants to one grate, so saving them
one-half the labor.
Having thus particularly described the nature of our Invention,
together with the best methods with which we are acquainted for
carrying the same into practical effect, we declare that we do not confine
ourselves to the precise details, relative proportions, or dimensions, as
the same may be considerably varied without departing from the
Invention; but what we do claim is,―

page_text: First. The introduction of a blast of atmospheric air into a puddling
furnace, as and for the purposes described and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawing.
Secondly. So arranging two puddling furnaces that one fire-grate
shall be common to and supply both, as and for the purposes described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Corbett, for and on behalf
of myself and the said James John Harrop, have hereunto set
hand and seal, this Sixth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
my
Witness,
JOHN J. ROYLE,
Clerk with John G. Wilson,
Patent Office,
71, Market Street,
Manchester.
WILLIAM CORBETT. (L.S.)