IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURE OF STEEL, AND IN FURNACES USED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Moser, of 2, Upper Bellevue, Southampton,
in the County of Hants, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MANUFACTURE OF STEEL, AND IN FURNACES USED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE."
-A communication from abroad by Jules Paulis, residing at Liége,in
2L Kingdom of Belcium
Sealed the 14th November 1865, and dated the 27th May 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Moser at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
May 1865.
I, LOUIS MOSER, of 2, Upper Bellevue, Southampton, in the County of
Hants, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL, AND IN FURNACES USED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of steel,
and in furnaces used in such manufacture. In order to convert wrought iron
into steel the bars or pieces of iron are placed in a case of iron, or it may be
of fire-brick or other material, and they are surrounded with animal excrement
in a dry and powdered state, the iron bars and the dry excrement being
ונס

page_text: arranged in alternate layers within the case. When the cover of the case has
been luted on so as to close the case air-tight the whole is raised to a strong
red heat, and is kept at this temperature for say twenty-four or thirty hours.
The case has one or two small holes bored in it at the front through which
the ends of sample rods are put into the case, and they can be drawn out
from time to time to see how the operation is progressing. The animal
excrement should be thoroughly dry, and to ensure this it may be slightly
carbonized, it may be deodorized if desired. This material during the process
produces nitrogenous and carbonaceous gases of a description most suitable
for the production of steel.
The furnace employed is constructed in the following manner-In the
centre is a bed or sole on which the case is supported on bearers at distances
apart, so that the heat may have free access to its under side. On each side
of the sole there is a fire-grate with a fire-door in front, and a single arch is
turned in fire-brick over the two fire-grates and over the sole. Thus the
flames from each of the fires are able to play over the top of the case. There
is a chimney in the centre of the arch to carry off the smoke and produce a
draft through the fires, or in some cases when the case is long two chimneys
are constructed, one near each end of the furnace.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Moser in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th
November 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
MOSER, of 2, Upper Bellevue, Southampton, in the County of Hants, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Louis Moser, Her special licence that I, the said Louis Moser,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Louis Moser, 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

page_text: Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL, AND IN FURNACES USED IN SUCH MANU-
FACTURE," a communication to me from abroad by Jules Paulis, a person
resident at Liége, in the Kingdom of Belgium, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Louis Moser, 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 Louis Moser, 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,
and in furnaces used in such manufacture. In order to convert wrought iron
into steel the bars or pieces of iron are placed in a case of iron, or it may
be of fire-brick or other material, and they are surrounded with animal
excrement in a dry and powdered state, the iron bars and the dry excrement
being arranged in alternate layers within the case. When the cover of the
case has been luted on so as to close the case air-tight the whole is raised
to a strong red heat, and is kept at this temperature for say twenty-four or
thirty hours. The case has one or two small holes bored in it at the front,
through which the ends of sample rods are put into the case, and they can
be drawn out from time to time to see how the operation is progressing.
The animal excrement should be thoroughly dry, and to ensure this it may
be slightly carbonized, it may be deodorized if desired. This material
during the process produces nitrogenous and carbonaceous gases of a
description most suitable for the production of steel.
The furnace employed is constructed in the following manner:-In the
centre is a bed or sole on which the case is supported on bearers at distances
apart so that the heat may have free access to its under side. On each side
of the sole there is a fire-grate with a fire-door in front, and a single arch is
turned in fire-brick over the fire-grates and over the sole. Thus the flames
from each of the fires are able to play over the top and round the cementing
There is a chimney in the centre of the arch, and there are one or
more openings into it to carry off the smoke and produce a draft through
the fires which can be regulated by means of dampers.
case.

page_text: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a furnace for the manufacture of steel
constructed according to this Invention; the external walls are shown with
parts removed to allow the interior of the furnace to appear; the other Draw-
ings show the different parts separately. A, A, is the bed or sole of the
furnace which is intended to support the case containing the metal to be
converted; B, B, are the ash-pits of furnaces on each side of the bed ;
C, C, are the fire-grates enclosed with doors at the front; D, D, are
the side walls of the furnace, and E is a fire-brick arch enclosing the top
of the furnace; F, F, are apertures in this arch communicating with a
chimney; G is masonry built over the arch E to give it greater solidity;
I, I, is the case for containing the articles to be converted; it is constructed
of fire lumps very carefully fitted together so as to be quite tight and allow
no escape of gas from it; K, K, are refractory blocks on which the case I
is supported; L is a moveable slab for closing the end of the case I;
M, M, are dwarf walls partly dividing or separating the furnaces on each
side of the case in order to equalize the heat.
The process is conducted in the following manner:-At the bottom of the
case I there is laid a layer of the converting material consisting of animal
excrement in a dry and powered state. This material suitably prepared and
deodorized is known in commerce as "poudrette," and in this form it is pre-
ferred to employ it. The iron bars or articles to be converted into steel are
laid on the layer of prepared excrement with which the bottom of the case is
covered, then they are covered with a second layer of the prepared excrement,
and another course of iron bars or articles are introduced, and so on until the
case is full, as it is shown in section in Figure H; the ends of the case are
then put in and luted so as to make it perfectly tight, the fires are then
lighted, and the case is heated to a red heat, which will generally take about
8 or 9 hours, and this temperature is maintained during the operation. It
will be seen that the slab L which closes the case has a number of small
holes N, N, in it, and through these iron rods or eprouvettes are thrust; these
rods or eprouvettes enter some distance into the case, and are surrounded by
the converting materials it contains. One of these rods or eprouvettes is
drawn out say every 10 or 12 hours during the operation, and by examining

page_text: it the workman judges whether the conversion has been carried sufficiently
far. In this manner the bars or articles may be entirely converted into
steel, or they may be steeled only to a certain depth as may be required.
What I claim is the use of animal excrement as a converting material
for making steel, and also the constructing converting furnaces in the
manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Moser, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
LOUIS MOSER. (L.S.)