IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF DECOMPOSING THE SULPHURETS OF IRON IN ORES, COAL, COKE, AND OTHER MINERAL PRODUCTS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT, to Bristow Hunt, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's
Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF DECOMPOSING THE SULPHURETS OF IRON
IN ORES, COAL, COKE, AND OTHER MINERAL PRODUCTS, AND IN
APPARATUS THEREFOR." -A communication from abroad by Edmond
Grandidier and Marcel Rue, of Paris, France.
Sealed the 12th January 1869, and dated the 17th August 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bristow Hunt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th August 1868.
I, BRISTOW HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF DECOMPOSING THE SULPHURETS OF
IRON CONTAINED IN ORES, COAL, COKE, AND OTHER MINERAL PRODUCTS, AND IN
APPARATUS THEREFOR," (a communication to me from abroad by Edmond
Grandidier and Marcel Rue, of Paris, France,) to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the application of heat and compressed air,
of heat and compressed steam. to the decomposition of the sulphurets

page_text: of iron contained in various mineral products, such as ores, coal, coke,
and other substances.
The accompanying Drawing represents one of the forms of apparatus
by aid of which the said Invention may be carried into effect.
A is a cylinder of the required strength and capacity mounted on a
furnace of any suitable description; C, C, are conduits by which the air
or steam is admitted from a force pump or from a boiler as the case may
be, an effective pressure of, say, two atmospheres being generally sufficient
for the desulphurisation; A', A', are openings similar to man-holes for
the introduction of the materials to be treated, which are withdrawn on
the completion of the operation by the ports B, B, at each end of the
cylinder; D, D, are valves for the discharge of the compressed air or
steam previous to the withdrawal of the contents of the cylinder. When
the desulphurising operation is performed in the vicinity of blast or other
furnaces the waste heat of the latter may be utilised for the purpose of
this Invention.
It will be understood that the apparatus above described may be
replaced by any other so constructed and arranged as to permit the
simultaneous application and constant renewal of air, heat, and pressure,
or of steam, heat, and pressure to the substances under treatment.
Among the more important applications of the Invention may be
noted the desulphurisation of the coke used in the manufacture of iron
and other metallurgical operations.
.)..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bristow Hunt in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th January 1869.
TO
10) "
O ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRISTOW
HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight; in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, 'did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Bristow Hunt, Her special licence that I,

page_text: the said Bristow Hunt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Bristow Hunt, 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 Gretat Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF DECOMPOSING
THE SULPHURETS OF IRON CONTAINED IN ORES, COAL, COKE, AND OTHER MINERAL
PRODUCTS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," a communication from abroad by
Edmond Grandidier and Marcel Rue, of Paris, France, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Bristow Hunt, 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 Bristow Hunt, 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 figures of the
accompanying Drawing, and to the letters marked thereon, that is to
say:
This Invention consists in the application of heat and compressed air,
or of heat and compressed steam, to the decomposition of the sulphurets
of iron contained in various mineral products, such as ores, coal, coke,
and other substances.
The apparatus employed for this purpose may be composed of a
cylinder provided with moveable covers at each end, and placed horizon-
tally on a furnace of suitable construction, by which it is heated to, say,
about one half of its length. This cylinder communicates with a pump,
by which air may be forced in to a pressure of, say, from two to four atmo-
spheres, or when so required it may be connected with an ordinary
boiler for the introduction of steam at the same pressure. The top of
the cylinder is provided with valves of the section and charge required
to maintain the pressure within, and to give issue to the products of
the reaction and to the surplus air or steam. The materials to be treated
may be introduced through man-holes, but should preferably be carried

page_text: by trucks into the cylinder, which is provided for this purpose with a
line of rails. These trucks are formed of bars of iron set horizontally at
equal distances from each other, and connected at their extremities by
perforated iron discs for the admission of the air or steam, the whole
arrangement forming a circular vehicle, corresponding as closely as
possible in form and dimensions with the interior of the cylinder.
The accompanying Drawing represents one of the forms of apparatus
by which the Invention may be carried into effect.
In this Drawing Figure 1 is an elevation and partial longitudinal
section of the desulphurising cylinder; Figure 2 is a cross section of the
same, containing the truck; Figure 3 represents the truck separate from
the cylinder.
In these Figures A is the cylinder of the required strength and
capacity to be mounted on a furnace of any suitable description. a, a,
are conduits by which the air or steam is admitted from the force
pump or from the boiler as the case may be, an effective pressure of say,
two atmospheres being generally suflicient for the desulphurisation.
Openings similar to man-holes may be formed at the top of the cylinder
for the introduction of the materials to be treated, but in working on a
large scale preference should be given to the arrangement shewn in the
Drawing, by which the materials are carried in at one end of the су linder
on the truck E, which travels on the rails b, b, and egresses at the oppo-
site end on the completion of the operation. B, B, are the covers by
which the extremities of the cylinder are opened and closed at will.
D, D, D, are valves weighted to the required pressure, and giving issue
to the products of the reaction and to the excess of air or steam. The
charged trucks being run into the cylinder the covers B, B, are
firmly screwed down, and the air or steam is admitted, the result
being that the sulphurets of iron contained in the substances under
treatment are decomposed throughout the entire mass into sulphurous
acid which escapes by the valves, and oxide of iron which remains in the
material, the time occupied being of course variable according to the
nature of the latter. When coke is treated by this process its porosity is
considerably increased; it should therefore be immersed for a short time
in water on its withdrawal from the apparatus instead of being allowed
to cool in the open air. By the use in blast furnaces of the coke thus
desulphurised (which constitutes one of the most important objects of
this invention) the quality of iron produced is almost if not quite equal

page_text: When con-
to that obtained by the employment of wood charcoal.
venient the waste heat of blast or other furnaces may be utilised in the
execution of the process above described.
It will be understood that the apparatus shewn in the Drawing may
be replaced by any other to so contrived as to permit the simultaneous
application and constant renewal of air, heat, and pressure, or of steam
heat and pressure to the materials under treatment.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of the said improve-
ments, and the manner in which they may be practically carried into
effect, I would repeat that I do not confine myself to the precise details
of construction and arrangement herein laid down, as these may obviously
be modified according to circumstances without deviating from the
principle or main features of the Invention; but what I claim and
desire to protect by Letters Patent is, the application of heat and com-
pressed air, or of heat and compressed steam, to the decomposition of the
sulphurets of iron contained in ores, coal, coke, and other mineral pro-
ducts, by means of apparatus constructed and arranged substantially as
above set forth and shewn in the Figures of the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bristow Hunt, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
BRISTOW HUNT. (L.S.)