IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Victor Gallet, of Lavausseau de Benassais, Depart-
ment of the Vienne, in the Empire of France, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL."
Sealed the 28th May 1867, and dated the 12th December 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Victor Gallet at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th December 1866.
I, VICTOR GALLET, of Lavausseau de Benassais, Department of the Vienne,
in the Empire of France, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention..
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of steel.
In order to prepare cast steel I take iron, by preference such as has been
submitted to one rolling operation only, in which state it is termed "puddle
bar," and I coat the iron with a paste made by mixing water with the following
ingredients :-
Limestone
Vegetable mould
Carbonate of potash
Oxide of manganese
Resin
Soot
Charcoal -
Common salt
'
30 parts.
3
"
00
8
"
6
"
6
"
-
10
"
34
"
3
"
100

page_text: The iron coated with this composition is melted in a crucible and cast steel
is in this way obtained from iron in one operation.
. In the composition above set forth the quantities may be varied and the
vegetable mould and the soot may be omitted. In order to prepare steel by
the process of cementation I employ the same composition in a dry state
and conduct the process in the manner usually practised in preparing steel by
by cementation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Victor Gallet in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th June 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, VICTOR
GALLET, of Lavausseau de Benassais, Department of the Vienne, in the Empire
of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Victor
Gallet, Her special licence that I, the said Victor Gallet,, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Victor Gallet, my
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 THE MANU-
FACTURE OF STEEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Victor
Gallet, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
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
was 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 I, the said- Victor Gallet, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of steel.

page_text: In order to prepare cast steel I take iron, by preference such as has been
submitted to one rolling operation only, in which state it is termed " puddle!
bar," and I coat the iron with a paste made by mixing water with the following:
ingredients:-
:
Limestone (carbonate of lime)
37 parts.
ני
Vegetable mould (or clay)
Carbonate of potash
Oxide of manganese
Resin
Soot
Wood charcoal
Common salt
13
"
10 to 20
"
8
:. 2
"
3
"
10
"
40
1 to 3
"
The iron coated with this composition is melted in a crucible and cast steel:
is in this way obtained from iron in one operation
In the composition above set forth the quantities may be varied and the
vegetable mould and the soot may be omitted. In order to prepare steel by
the process of cementation I employ the same composition in a dry state
(or it may be moistened) and conduct the process in the manner usually
practised in preparing steel by cementation. The quantity of cement*
necessary to coat the fragments of iron varies from two to seven per cent.
of the weight of the iron according to the nature of the iron and the quality
of the steel that it is wished to obtain.
The object of this Invention in the case of cast steel is to supercede
cementation in furnaces to purify the iron, and to combine it chemically with
wood charcoal by the cementation which takes place in the vessel in which.
I make the steel.
Charcoal having very little affinity for iron requires to cause it to enter into.
intimate combination with it (1) to be increased at a stated time, (2) to
be aided in its combination by numerous electric currents; these conditions
are entirely fulfilled by my process.
(1). The mutual reaction of the carbon and the carbonates produces a
greater proportion of carbon and takes a smaller determined proportion.
(2). The change of the carbon and the carbonates, the action of the hot
iron upon the resin and the aluminous oxides of potash at a stated time,
engenders or produces numerous sources of electric currents, ultimately
the alkaline metals appear at a stated time and absorb with avidity phosphorous
sulphur and the other metaloids. The alkaline and earthy bases pass to the
scoria.
The reactions of the substances which I employ produce the following

page_text: effects (1) electric currents; (2) complete reduction of the manganese with
the steel; (3) the reduction of injurious matters, and the alkaline metals with
the absorbents and the metaloids; (4) the disengagement and elimination of
azotic gases, since calcined potash reduced in the presence of steel and
charcoal at a given moment absorbs nitrogen to form cyanides of potassium
and of calcium.
I claim as the principle of my process the action of wood charcoal and of
soot upon carbonates to carbonize iron uniformly and remove the metaloids
that it contains.
I also claim cementation in a crucible, and the action of resin which binds
together the carbon and the carbonates. and facilitates the electric currents.
I also claim the mixture of the cement composition with water so that all
the pieces of iron may be effectually coated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Victor Gallet, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
V.
GALLET. (.)