A NEW OR IMPROVED MODE AND APPARATUS FOR ELIMINATING A PORTION OF THE AZOTE IN FURNACES AND FIRE-PLACES, AND FOR UTILIZING THE OXYGEN AND HYDROGEN OF WATER AS FACILITATORS OF COMBUSTION AND AB FUEL, OR AS REDUCERS, AND IN SOME CASES AS DECARBURATORS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by César Long at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd January
1868. A communication from abroad by Charles Louis Klein aud
Jules Vallée, both of Naples.
I, CÉSAR LONG, of Naples, Italy, but now of Knightsbridge, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A NEW OR IMPROVED MODE AND APPARATUS FOR ELIMINATING A PORTION
OF THE AZOTE IN FURNACES AND FIRE-PLACES, AND FOR UTILIZING THE OXYGEN
AND HYDROGEN OF WATER AS FACILITATORS OF COMBUSTION AND AB FUEL, OR AS
REDUCERS, AND IN SOME CASES AS DECARBURATORS," to be as follows:-
The main object of this Invention is to avoid or greatly diminish
the loss of caloric from furnaces and fire-places, and to introduce
therein a supplementary combustible matter which is one of the most
powerful as well as being one of those largely supplied by nature. The
Invention applies not only to combustion in the ordinary and limited
acceptation of the word, but to a new metallurgical system, which is
herein-after described, and which I term "normal metallurgy."
The loss of caloric in furnaces and fire-places is caused to a great
extent by the presence of a large amount of azote, which, introduced
into the fire-places with the atmospheric air, escapes after having taken

page_text: the temperature in the midst of which it has been. This gas does
not combine directly with the carbon in the fire-places. If a combi-
nation were possible it would be in the fire-places of great temperature
employed in metallurgy, it would then furnish azotide of carbon (C³,
AZ, or CY), but analyses of the gases from the different superposed
layers of blast furnaces have proved that if the production of cyanogen
took place it was only in very small quantities. The presence of this
useless gas will therefore simply absorb some of the ambient caloric.
By the employment of water or steam the loss of caloric is much
diminished. If water could have been economically and commercially
decomposed hydrogen would long since have been substituted for coal
in most industrial fire-places, but its regular decomposition has only
been obtained in an imperfect manner and in small quantities.
has however been proved that water mechanically divided and suffi-
ciently held or controlled when put in contact with incandescent fuel
becomes decomposed, the oxygen combines with the carbon to form
oxide of carbon (CO) or to form carbonic acid (CO2), the hydrogen
set free combines again with oxygen in a quantity equal to that it
lost, and forms a weight of water also equal to that the decomposition
of which set it free. Now by its combustion hydrogen gives caloric
in the proportion of 4.74 to 1 to that given by carbon; viz., nearly 4
as much as carbon.
It
According to the construction of the apparatus hereafter described the
production of oxide of carbon will take place in all fire-places in which
the production of heat is the sole object, in other cases the production of
carbonic acid will take place.
The application of the Invention to boiler furnaces will be understood
by the description hereafter given of Fig. 1 of the accompanying
Drawings.
I proceed to describe the Invention as applied to metallurgy, and first
I will speak of cast iron made with wood (fonte au bois). According
to the analyses of Ebelmen the gases issuing from the mouth of blast
furnaces give the following result:-
Carbonic acid
Oxide of carbon
12.9
23.5

page_text: It will thus be seen that the fuel consumed is about half of that
which in the form of gas escapes from the furnace. At some works
this gas is employed for heating blowing apparatus; at others it is
employed for refining cast iron in reverberatory furnaces. The azote
being fixed, about the same quantity ought to be found as was injected
with the atmospheric air, thus :-

page_text: peroxide of iron pure, the gangue being unknown neither the weight
nor the nature of the flux can be determined. However, whatever
be the removal produced by this hypothesis, it is certainly evident
that not a half is removed, and supposing this extreme point there
are still rds less than the consumption of the blast furnaces, which
is clearly owing to a faulty construction of the apparatus.
The Bessemer system usually employed to produce steels at a low
price has one great fault. The air introduced into the liquid metal
oxidizes the iron; the oxides of this metal are brought to the surface
of the bath, partly by the mechanical force of the current of air, and
partly by their difference in density, and are volatilized.
The loss is
that shown at A, B, C, D,
Each of the tuyeres has a
thus sometimes 45 or even 50 per cent. of the metal employed.
My process remedies the greater part of these inconveniences. It
is sufficient to construct a furnace such as
Fig. 2; it may have one or several tuyeres.
pipe which contains water or preferably steam which is under a greater
pressure than that of the current of air. The difference of pressures
can be calculated so as to regulate the section of the passage of the
pipe to give a certain quantity of steam. The steam introduced should
always be 25 per cent. at least of the weight of the air; this amount
of water should not diminish that of the air injected. The gaseous
product of the air and steam injected consists of azote, oxygen, and
hydrogen, in about the respective proportions of 20, 11, and ; these
gases will form a considerably larger quantity when they have combined
with the carbon and the oxygen of the oxides of iron in the furnace.
The mouth of a furnace of this kind gives :-
CO. Carbonic acid
CO. Oxide of carbon
AZ. Azote
-
$ 10-7
- 29.5
-
43.1

page_text: The carbon of the iron combines with the carbonic acid to form
an oxide of carbon CO3 + C=200%; the iron is therefore completely
decarburetted.
By employing my process, if care be taken to add the flux in such
manner that it forms a fusible neutral silicate, the cast iron does not
contain silicium. The sulphur and phosphorus are completely removed
by the hydrogen, the arsenic forms with this body an arsenious hydrogen
which volatilizes. The iron contained will thus be quite pure if the
ore does not contain manganese; this substance does not injure the
quality of the iron, and all irons manufactured by the ordinary
method contain a certain quantity of it when they are made from
manganesiferous ores. Steel may be obtained by my process by stopping
the injection of the gas before complete decarburation.
Regarding irons made with coke (fers au coke) with the exception
of the height of the furnace, which should be about a fifth more than
that employed for irons made with wood, all the qualities of iron made
with wood are obtained from irons made with coke or with coal by
the employment of my process.
I now proceed to speak of the reduction of titaniferous ores, which
may be effected by my process. The peroxide or protoxide of iron is
reduced at a sufficiently low temperature by hydrogen or carbon in
the state of oxide. It is the same with the oxides of titanium, but
they are not reduced except at a higher temperature. The reduction
of the oxides of iron having been obtained, we must ascertain the
quantity of titanium which the grate bars have caused to pass in the.
state of peroxide, and of the body which accompanies it. The necessary
reaction for this latter material is made by adding a sufficient quantity
of a melting body or flux to produce the form of silicates of alumina
or calcium in the state of scum, which will remain in the furnaces
and float with the peroxide of titanium, the density of which is much
less than that of metallic iron. A suitable tool dipped in the mixture
will remove the former, the tapping of the iron in fusion to completely
separate it, the latter. The peroxide of titanium still in the state of

page_text: To
spongy lumps will then remain in the lower part of the furnace.
obtain metallic titanium it is necessary to proceed as follows:-The
iron should be dosed to give the quantity of peroxide of titanium re-
maining. This quantity being known, the peroxide of titanium plays
the part of an acid; it is sufficient while maintaining the elevated
temperature to add the desired quantity of chloride of calcium and of
salammoniac in order that the oxygen may form hydrochloric acid
with the chlorine of the chloride and be disengaged. The metal will
then be deposited in thin flakes on the sole of the furnace, from which
it may be withdrawn without inconvenience. Its fusion in a like case.
would require a fresh expense of fuel, and would again form a certain
quantity of titanic acid which would diminish the quantity of metal
produced.
In furnaces having continuous fusion the lumps of peroxide of
titanium should be removed at each tapping to be treated in a special
reverberatory furnace as before described.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 represents a vertical section
of a boiler provided with my economical apparatus; A, B, is the grate
or fire-place composed of metal tubes pierced at their upper side with
small holes to give passage to the steam which enters at B, where
a pipe is fitted communicating with the boiler; C, D, is a pipe for
conducting air, it draws in the air from below the grate to conduct
it to the point C under the boiler where it burns the oxide of carbon.
Fig. 2 is a vertical section of a blast furnace for the fusion of ores.
A, B, C, D, is the furnace; c, d, is a plate forming the mouth"
hermetically and only being displaced when the charge placed under
the cap c, h, d, should fall into the furnace; P, A, G, O, is a pipe
for disengaging or carrying off the gases from the furnace; a, b, is a
valve or cock to close this pipe to prevent in case of stoppage the
gases returning to the furnace; P is the inlet for the gases into the
pipe; and O is the outlet therefrom; 1, 2, 3, are tuyeres; i, j, are inlets
for the blowing in of air; 4, 5, are pipes for conducting steam.
Figure 3 is a vertical section of the apparatus for receiving the gases
from the furnace. E, F, G, H, is a reservoir containing water;
J, K, L, I, is a gas reservoir containing a column of water, the pressure
of which should be a little below that of the gases introduced by the
pipe. I represents one or more escape orifices for the water in order

page_text: that the gases may fill the reservoir; g is an outlet for the carbonic
acid gas intended for refining iron; e is an outlet for the gases for
heating the steam blowing apparatus; is an outlet for the hydrogen
for refining or for the tuyeres of the furnace; f is an outlet for the
gases for the tuyeres of the furnace.
Figure 4 shows a metallic crucible or retort for refining cast iron and
for producing steel. M is an inlet for the gases injected by the pump
or forcing apparatus; N is an inlet for the material to be refined
and an outlet for the refined material; 8, 9, are pivots on which the
crucible is movable.
In conclusion I may state that the main features of this Invention
are the employment of water in furnaces and fire-places, and the
elimination of a part of the azote, as well as the production of oxide
of carbon without a special receiver, operations having for their object,
together or separately, economy of fuel.
Secondly. The employment of water as a reducer in metallurgy in
general, as well as the employment of carbonic acid and hydrogen
for the reduction of sulphurets, arsenurets, and phosphurets; also the
use of the first, of these gases as a decarburator to effect the partial
or complete decarburation of the carburets of iron in order to produce
steel, iron, and malleable cast iron.