IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST STEEL, AND IN FURNACES TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Powley Alexander, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST STEEL, AND IN FURNACES TO
BE EMPLOYED THEREIN." - A communication from abroad by Francis
Ellershausen, of Ottawa, in the Dominion of Canada, Metallurgist.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Powley Alexander
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st October 1867.
I, EDWIN POWLEY ALEXANDER, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST STEEL, AND IN FURNACES TO
BE EMPLOYED THEREIN," a communication to me from abroad by Francis Ellers-
hausen, of Ottawa, in the Dominion of Canada, Metallurgist, to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar process and furnace for manufacturing
cast steel direct from iron ore or from iron ore in connection with wrought
iron.
The external shell of the peculiar form of furnace which constituted this
Invention, and which the Inventor calls a "crucible furnace," may be con-
structed in a squaro form of brick or other suitable material. A chimney of
suitable height being carried up from the furnace. The inner side of the
furnace and chimney is Jined with fire-brick, and the inner space is divided

page_text: into two distinct furnaces. one placed over the other, and separated by a bearth
or division plate of some refractory material. The sides of the upper furnace
are expanded outwards to form "boshes." A fire-grate is placed near the
bottom of the lower furnace for the reception of the fuel. The division plate
may be made of plumbago or other refractory material; for the reception of
this plate a check or recess is made in the wall, and a suitable allowance made
for expansion on all sides. The plate will be curved or dished, and possess a
declivity towards the point of discharge of about half an inch. A suitable
aperture is formed through the shell of the furnace about two feet above the
hearth plate; by this aperture is introduced the charge consisting of fuel and
ore into the upper furnace for the blooming process. A blast pipe is fitted to
the upper furnace, entering the same about 10 inches above the hearth plate.
There is another blast pipe for the lower furnace, which pipe enters the same
below the grate bars. A channel is formed under the upper blast pipe for
introducing the molten cast iron or carbonized compounds of iron into the
upper furnace; this channel leads from the hearth of an ordinary blast
furnace; it may be made of clay if desired. A feeding opening or door is
formed in the lower furnace for the introduction of fuel into the same. A
discharge hole or aperture for the molten metal of about one inch in diameter
is placed at the lower end of the bearth plate, and a hole is provided for the
escape of the slag.
The furnace having been arranged in the manner described, the upper
furnace in connection with the hearth plate constitutes a retort which I term
a crucible, to be heated in the inside by charcoal or pure charred peat to a
sufficient extent for the blooming process, and heated underneath the bottom
by the fire of the lower furnace, which is fed with fuel adapted for giving an
intense heat, combustion in both furnaces being maintained by the blast
pipes. After both of the furnaces are heated sufficiently I introduce through
the channel before referred to such a proportion of molten carbonized iron
into the upper furnace as is required to produce a given quantity of cast steel
by the union with wrought iron (for instanco, twenty per cent. of highly
carbonized iron smelted with 80 per cent. of wrought iron will give cast steel
of about 1 per cent. of carbon). The process of blooming iron from iron ore
in the upper furnace is to be commenced, and such a proportion of blooms of
iron have to be sunk in the bath of the cast iron as is required to produce a
given quantity of cast steel by the union with the carbonized iron. Differen
qualities of cast steel may be produced by varying the proportions of cast to
wrought iron. During the operation the lower furnace is to be kept heated
to a sufficient degree to maintain the metal in the upper furnace in a state of

page_text: fusion. After the blooming process is over the metal is drawn off and moulded
into ingots as cast steel. Cast steel may be thus manufactured as cheaply as
wrought iron.
The manufacture of cast steel from iron ore in connection with wrought
iron is as follows:-After the introduction of carbonized iron into the upper
furnace wrought iron is smelted in the same with the addition of pulverized
iron ore in such quantities that the decarbonization of the smelted wrought
iron is effected by the addition of the oxyde of iron (iron ore) before it sinks
into the bath of the carbonized iron first introduced. In this manner worn
out rails of railways may be.converted into. cast steel, which, if desired, may
be again manufactured into steel rails.
Cast steel manufactured by these methods is both superior in quality and
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edwin Powley Alexander in the Great Seal Patent Offico
on the 1st April 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWIN
POWLEY ALEXANDER, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, send greeting...
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent,, bearing date the First day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the 31st year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Edwin Powley Alexander, Her special license that I, the said Edwin Powley,
Alexander, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Edwin Powley Alexander, my executors, administrators, or 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 "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST STEEL, AND IN FURNACES TO BE EMPLOYED
THEREIN," a communication from abroad by Francis Ellershausen, of Ottawa,
in the Dominion of Canada, Metallurgist, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edwin Powley Alexander, my executors and adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
'

page_text: 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 Edwin Powley Alexander, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, and to the letters and figures inarked thereon, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to a peculiar process and furnace for manu-
facturing cast steel direct from iron ore, or from iron ore in connection with
wrought iron.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall
refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same
letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a vertical section of the improved
furnace, to which the Inventor gives the name of "crucible furnace," taken
along the line 1, 2, in Figure 3; Figure 2 is a vertical section of the same
furnace taken along the line 3, 4, Figure 3; and Figure 3 represents a hori-
zontal section taken along the line 5, 6, in Figure 2.
O. represents the external shell of the furnace which may be constructed in
a rectangular form, as shewn in Figure 3, of brick or other suitable material.
A chimney O' of suitable height is to be carried up from the furnace; the
inner side of the furnace and chimney is lined with fire-brick E arranged in
the peculiar form shewn in the Drawings. The inside of this furnace is
divided into two distinct furnaces A and B, one placed over the other and
separated by a hearth or division plate D of any good refractory material.
C is a fire-grato placed near the bottom of the lower furnace A for the
reception of the fuel. The division or hearth plate D may be made of plumbago
or other refractory material, and for the reception of this plate a check or
recess is made in the wall, and a suitable allowance made for expansion on all
'sides. The plate will be of a curved or dished form, as shewn in Figures 1
'and 2, and will incline downwards about half an inch towards the point of
discharge. F is an aperture formed through the shell of the furnace and
situate about two feet above the hearth plate D; through this aperture is
introduced the charge, consisting of fuel and ore, into the upper furnace B for
the blooming process.
G is the blast pipe of the upper furnace entering the
same about ten inches above the hearth plate D. H is the blast pipe for the

page_text: lower furnace, which pipe enters the furnace below the grate, as shewn in
the Drawings. J is à pipe or channel for introducing the molten cast iron or
carbonized compounds of iron into the upper furnace B; this channel leads
from the hearth of an ordinary blast furnace and may be made of clay. K is
the feeding opening or door of the lower furnace for the introduction of fuel
into the same. L is a discharge hole or aperture for the molten metal, of
about one inch in diameter, situate at the lower end of the hearth plate D.
M is a hole for the escape of the slag.
Having thus described the construction of the said improved furnace I will
now proceed to describe the mode of working the same.
די
The furnace having been arranged in the manner described the upper
furnace B in connection with the hearth plate D forms a retort which I term
a crucible, to be heated in the inside by charcoal or pure charred peat to a
sufficient extent for the blooming process whilst it is also heated on the out-
side or beneath the bottom, or hearth D, by the fire of the lower furnace 'A,
which is fed with fuel adapted for giving an intense heat. Combustion in
both furnaces is maintained by the blast pipes; after both of the furnaces are
heated sufficiently I introduce through the channel J such a proportion of
molten carbonized iron into the upper furnace as is required to produce a
given quantity of cast steel, by the union with wrought iron (for example,
twenty per cent. of highly carbonized iron smelted with eighty per cent. of
wrought iron will give cast steel of about one per cent. of carbon); the
process of blooming iron from iron ore in the upper furnace is now to be
commenced, and such a proportion of blooms of iron have to be sunk in the
bath of the cast iron as is required to produce a given quantity of cast steel
by the union with the carbonized iron. Different qualities of cast steel may
be produced by varying the proportions of cast to wrought iron. During the
operation the lower furnace is to be kept heated to a sufficient degree to
maintain the metal in the upper furnace in a state of fusion. After the
blooming process is over the metal is drawn off and moulded into ingots as
cast steel.
The manufacture of cast steel from iron ore in connection with wrought
iron is as follows:-After the introduction of carbonized iron into the upper
furnace wrought iron is smelted in the same with the addition of pulverised
iron ore in such quantities that the decarbonization of the smelted wrought
iron is effected by the addition of the oxide of iron (iron ore) before it sinks
into the bath of the carbonized iron first introduced. In this manner worn
out rails of railways may be converted into cast steel, which if desired may bo
again manufactured into steel rails.

page_text: Cast steel manufactured by the methods herein-before described is both
superior in quality and is produced at a much less cost than by any of the
systems heretofore made use of..
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is, or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,.-
First. The constructing of furnaces with a refractory heart or division
which divides the internal space into two chambers, forming an upper and a
lower furnace, for the purpose herein-before described.
Second. The combination of an upper and lower furnace chamber A, B;
refractory hearth D; blast pipes G, H; conduit or channel J ; lower grate C,
and discharge apertures L and M, arranged and operating substantially as and
for the purpose herein-before described and illustrated by the Drawings
annexed.
Third. The peculiar mode or method of manufacturing cast steel direct
from iron ore, or from iron ore in connection with wrought iron as herein-
before described..
In witness whereof I, the said Edwin Powley Alexander, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, this First day of April, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
EDWIN P. ALEXANDER. (L.S.)