IMPROVEMENTS IN BLAST FURNACES, AND IN SMELTING IRON ORE
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Archibald Slate, of Adelaide Road, Haverstock Hill.
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BLAST FURNACES, AND IN SMELTING IRON ORE."
Sealed the 28th January 1859, and dated the 14th August 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Archibald Slate at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
August 1858.
I, ARCHIBALD SLATE, of Adelaide Road, Haverstock Hill, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BLAST FURNACES, AND IN SMELTING IRON ORE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in blast furnaces, and in
smelting iron ore. In smelting iron ore the usual practice has been to feed in
the whole of the materials together at the mouth of the furnace, that is to
say, throwing in first a barrow load of fuel, then one of ore, afterwards one of
lime or flux, and so on according to the proportions in which the different
materials are employed.
Now, according to my Invention, I make the mouth of the furnace much
wider than usual, and I place a bridge supported by iron girders across it ;
from this bridge a cast-iron pipe descends vertically into the furnace, and is
continued a considerable distance downwards beneath the surface of the
materials in the furnace. In working the furnace, the greater portion of

page_text: the fuel is fed in through this pipe, and the other materials are fed into the
open mouth of the furnace, as heretofore, exterior of the pipe, and all round
it. Into the top of the descending pipe a weighted valve fits, which prevents
the draft passing through the pipe; the valve rests on the top of the fuel, and
descends with it. In this manner the fuel is protected by the pipe from the
draft until it approaches the part of the furnace where the developement of
the heat is desirable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Archibald Slate in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARCHIBALD
SLATE, of Adelaide Road, Haverstock Hill, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Archibald Slate, Her special licence that I, the said Archibald Slate,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Archibald Slate, 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
BLAST FURNACES, AND IN SMELTING IRON ORE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Archibald Slate, 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 Inven-
sion, 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 Archibald Slate, 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 follow-
ing statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in blast furnaces, and in

page_text: smciting iron ore. In smelting iron ore the usual practice has been to feed
in the whole of the materials together at the mouth of the furnace, that is to
say, throwing in first à barrow load of fuel, then one of ore, afterwards one:
of lime or flux, and so on, according to the proportions in which the different
materials are employed.
Now, according to my Invention, I make the mouth of the furnace much
wider than usual, and I place a bridge supported by iron girders across it;
from this bridge a cast-iron pipe descends vertically into the furnace, and is
continued a considerable distance downwards beneath the surface of the
materials in the furnace. In working the furnace, the greater portion of
the fuel is fed in through this pipe, and the other materials are fed to the
open mouth of the furnace, as heretofore, exterior of the pipe, and all round
it. Into the top of the descending pipe a weighted valve fits, which prevents
the draft passing through the pipe; the valve rests on the top of the fuel,
and descends with it. In this manner the fuel is protected by the pipe from
the draft until it approaches the part of the furnace where the developement
of the heat is desirable.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is an elevation of a blast furnace constructed according to my
Invention Figure 2 is a vertical section; Figure 3 is a plan; and Figure 4
is a horizontal section taken at the line A, A, Figure 1.
a, a, are arched
girders passing across the mouth of the furnace, and from them are suspended
by the bars a', a', the bridge b; from it descends into the furnace the cast-iron
pipe c, which for convenience I make in two parts, so that the lower portion,
which is most exposed to heat, may when it becomes worn be readily removed
without interfering with the upper portion of the pipe. The lower portion of
the pipe is lined with fire-brick, as is shown. It contains within it a valve d,
which is furnished with a rod, and by a chain attached to the rod, and passing"
over the pulley e, the valve may be raised when desired. Round the top of
the furnace is a gallery f, and there is a
Round its inner
edge h, h, are scuttles or passages, by which the materials are introduced into
the top of the furnace exterior to the pipe c. In working the furnace I
introduce into it by the side scuttles h, h, the ore and the lime or flux together,
with, by preference, about one quarter of the whole of the fuel employed, and
this either in the form of coke, or it may be of raw coal. The remainder of
screen wall g.

page_text: the fuel is fed into the pipe.c, by preference in the form of small coal, and
after each barrow load has been tipped into the pipe, the valve d is raised to
allow the fuel to descend. When this valve is closed it prevents the draught
of the furnace ascending the pipe c, and compels. it to pass up all round
through the ore and lime.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I do not claim generally
the introducing the fuel and the ore into a blast furnace by separate passages;
but what I do claim is the constructing a blast furnace with a bridge b,
descending pipe c, and valve d, and in working the same; the feeding the
ore into the furnace exterior of the pipe c, and the fuel or part thereof down
through the said pipe.
In witness whereof, I, the said Archibald Slate, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
ARCHP. SLATE. (L.S.)
Witness,
WILL O'BRIEN,
Clerk to Mess". Bell, Stewart, & Lloyd,
49, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
London.