IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SEMI-STEEL AND OF RAILWAY BARS COMPOSED PARTLY OF WROUGHT IRON AND PARTLY OF SEMI-STEEL
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION. left by William Edward Newton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th July 1873. A communication from abroad by Cyrille Jean
Caumon, of Toulouse, France, also known as John Absterdam, now
residing in New York City, in the United States of America.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF SEMI-STEEL AND OF RAILWAY BARS COMPOSED PARTLY OF WROUGHT IRON AND
PARTLY OF SEMI-STEEL," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in producing a bar, plate, sheet, or slab of
semi-steel of cementation by subjecting unrefined wrought-iron bars,
puddled bars, scrap bars, muck bars, or rough flats of old rails to a
process of cementation, and then refining the metal by welding the same
together into a merchantable article in such a manner that a product is
obtained which can be manufactured cheaply, and combines certain pro-
perties of steel with other properties of iron, whereby the same is
rendered fit for a great many manufacturing purposes.

page_text: Also in producing a railway bar made of wrought iron and semi-steel
of cementation by subjecting the crude unrefined iron to a process of
cementation, and finishing the metal after cementation into a head bar
by welding under the hammer or by the action of rolls, then welding the
head bar to a rail pile in finishing the whole into a merchantable
railway bar.
In carrying out the Invention I commence by submitting to the
process of cementation puddled bars, muck bars,
bars or
unrefined scrap
rough flats of old rails cut in suitable lengths according to the pile or
fagot to be made. By this process crude converted bars or crude
blistered steel are obtained, and from these crude converted bars piles.
or fagots are formed corresponding to the bars or plates to be produced,
and by introducing these piles or fagots into a suitable furnace they are
heated so that they can be welded and rolled into merchantable bars,
plates, sheets, or slabs. By subjecting the piles or fagots to the welding
and rolling process the metal is refined after conversion and the product
obtained is a semi-steel of cementation, which combines certain pro-
perties of steel with other properties of iron. The piling or fagoting,
heating, and rolling is done in the iron rolling mills by the same rolls
and in the manner usually employed in rolling iron bars, plates, sheets,
or slabs, with the exception that a small quantity of flux may be used
between the bars in the pile to insure a more uniform structure of
metal.
In manufacturing railway bars, cemented bars of crude iron are piled
and a small quantity of flux is sprinkled between the bars. The pile is
then heated and rolled into a head bar of the requisite thickness, sawing
the same in pieces of the required length while the metal is yet hot, the
length being measured according to the weight of the rails to be pro-
duced. Having thus produced a head bar of semi-steel of cementation,
the iron bars are placed thereon and the rail pile finished as now
practised in piling iron with the exception of sprinkling the surface of
the head bar to be welded with a small quantity of flux. My pile is
passed through the same rolls which are generally used in rolling iron
rails.