IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Allcock Jones, of Middlesborough, in the
County of York, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
Sealed the 28th October 1868, and dated the 8th May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Allcock Jones
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 8th May 1868.
I, JOHN ALLCOCK JONES, of Middlesborough, in the County of York,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of cast steel and iron from
pig or cast iron.
The object of this Invention is to enable cast iron so to be cleansed
or partially cleansed of impurities, such as sulphur and phosphorus, and
to obtain it in such a condition that it may when removed from the
operating furnace be melted in a furnace into steel or be balled up,
hammered, and rolled into iron bars without the necessity of being
submitted to a puddling process.

page_text: I melt into a liquid state in an air furnace, cupola, or other
furnace the pig or cast iron to be operated upon, and run or pour the
required quantity into a reverberatory furnace, such, for example, as are
now in use for puddling, or into a gas puddling furnace or a puddling
furnace having a rotatory motion and known as mechanical puddling.
The pig or cast iron may be placed in the furnace cold and be allowed
to melt there, but this obviously is a waste of time, and I prefer to melt
it in a separate furnace, as before described. The inside of the operating
furnace I line or "fettle" with oxide of iron, such, for example,
as hematite ore, Swedish ironstone, well washed purple ore, or other
similar fettling, or with mill tap cinder and "bull dog." It is desirable
that these should be as free from sulphur and phosphorus as possible
with a small per-centage of silica and large proportion of iron. The
metal having been run in or poured upon the hearth of the operating
furnace a high temperature is employed, and the metal being now in a
thin and liquid condition the damper is lowered or the temperature of
the furnace is much reduced and the mass allowed to thicken. A small
quantity of oxide of manganese and salt and nitrate of soda may at this
stage of the operation be added to the thickening mass if desirable, and
these must be then mixed up and be incorporated with the metal by
stirring; the damper may now be raised, and a higher temperature
applied until the iron settles to the bottom and the liquid cinder swims
on the surface; this cinder is now tapped off the iron, and the latter is
raised from the bottom of the furnace and plunged hot into water or
otherwise manipulated as may be desired. The iron thus obtained is
subsequently melted into steel as hereafter described, or it may be balled
up, hammered, and rolled into bars in the usual way. In order to effect
its conversion into steel I gradually introducė it after having been
heated to a red or white heat in or upon the hearth of a gas furnace,
such as a Siemens' gas furnace, as at present used for melting steel on the
open hearth, first placing blast furnace or other slag into the furnace so
as to form a bath into which the material to be melted is placed. Or
instead of employing slag or cinder melted cast iron may be used.
When a portion of the crude iron is melted into steel, and it is
desirable to remove a portion of the cinder or slag, this may be done by
tapping it off, and as the process advances this 'may be done from time
to time. If more carbon is required in the steel pig or cast iron may be
added, and at the end of the process when the molten materials are
ready for teeming a portion of spiegel eisen may be added. The metal is

page_text: then run into a ladle and thence into moulds, or it may be run into
moulds direct.
It is stated that phosphorus exists in cast iron as a phosphide of
iron; if this be the case it may be inferred that in the preparatory
operation for cleansing as first described, and also during; the process of
conversion into steel, that by allowing the melted metal to. remain at
a:high temperature, the phosphide being lighter than the crude iron or
steel will separate and rise to the surface whilst the iron or steel will
gravitate to the bottom.
In the preparatory process as decarbonisation takes place the grains
of iron aggregate and sink to the bottom, whilst the phosphide remaining
liquid at that elevated. temperature will float in the cinder and be tapped
off with it..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Allcock Jones in. the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th November 1868..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL. COME, I, JOHN
ALLCOCK JONES,. of Middlesborough, in the County of York, Engineer,
send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-cight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did,. for Herself,. Her heirs and successors,.
give and grant unto me, the said John: Allcock Jones, Her special.
license that I, the said John Allcock Jones, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Allcock.
Jones, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," upon the condition.
(amongst others) that I, the said John Allcock Jones, my executors.
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and.
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the saidă

page_text: 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 John Allcock Jones, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what-manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the manufacture of cast steel and iron
from pig or,,cast iron.
The object of the Invention is to enable cast iron to be cleansed or
partially cleansed of impurities, such as sulphur and phosphorous, and to
obtain a product in such a condition that it may when removed from the
operating furnace be melted in a furnace into steel, or be balled up,
hammered, and rolled into iron bars without the necessity of being
submitted to a puddling process.
In order to carry out my Invention I first bring the pig or cast iron
into a liquid state by melting the same either in an air furnace, cupola,
or other furnace, and run or pour the required quantity thereof into a
reverberatory furnace, such, for example, as those which are now in use
for puddling, or into a gas puddling furnace, or into a puddling furnace
having a rotatory motion and known as mechanical puddling. The pig or
cast iron may be placed in the furnace cold and be allowed to melt
there, but this obviously is a waste of time, and I prefer to melt it in a
separate furnace as before described. The inside of the operating furnace
I line or "fettle" with oxide of iron, such, for example, as hematite ore,
Swedish iron stone, well washed purple ore, or other similar "fettling,"
or with mill tap cinder and "bull dog." It is desirable that these should
be as free from sulphur and phosphorous as possible with a small per-
centage of silica and large proportion of iron. The metal having been
run in or poured upon the hearth of the operating furnace or placed
there cold in lumps or pieces and allowed to melt a high temperture is
employed, and the metal being now in a thin and liquid condition the
damper is lowered or the temperature of the furnace is much reduced, or it
may be reduced by other means than that of the damper, and the mass
allowed to thicken, or the temperature may be kept up, but I prefer it
lowered. A small quantity of oxide of manganese and of salt, and also of
nitrate of soda may at this stage of the operation be added, if desirable,

page_text: to the thickening mass, and these must be then mixed up and be
incorporated with the metal by stirring. The damper may now be raised,
and a higher temperature applied until the iron settles to the bottom and
the liquid cinder swims on the surface. The cinder is now tapped off
the iron and the latter is raised from the bottom of the. furnace and
plunged hot into water or otherwise manipulated as may be desired.
The iron thus obtained is subsequently melted into steel, as hercafter
described, or it may be balled up, hammered, and rolled into bars in the
usual way.
The crude metal or iron will contain variable proportions of carbon
varying from about 0.5 to 1-5 per cent. for steel melting, but I prefer it
to contain about 1 per cent. For wrought iron it will contain the usual
proportion. Previous to the crude metal being plunged into water or
melted into steel it may be pressed or hammered to rid it of its cinder
or of a portion of the same, and when thus pressed or hammered it is
unimportant how unsound the crude iron or metal may be, as such
condition is of no consequence in steel melting. In order to effect
the conversion of the metal into steel I gradually introduce it after
having been heated to a red or white heat in or upon the hearth of
a gas furnace, such as a Siemens' gas furnace, as at present used for
melting steel on the open hearth, first placing blast furnace or other
slag in the furnace, so as to form a bath into which the material to be
melted is placed. Or instead of employing slag or cinder melted cast
iron may be used. When a portion of the crude iron is melted into
steel and it is desirable to remove a portion of the cinder or slag this
may be done by tapping it off, and as the process advances this may be
done from time to time. The melted mass will continue to give out a
portion of its carbon, but at each successive charge of crude iron or
metal there will be added a further supply of carbon and should leave
the mass previous to the introduction of the spiegel eisen.with carbon
somewhat less than what is contained in serviceable steel. If, however,
by reason of the mass showing a tendency to thicken or to lose a
portion of its fluidity it should be apparent that more carbon is
required cast iron may be added. At the end of the process when
the molten materials are ready for teeming a portion of spiegel eisen
may be added equal to five per cent. of the melted steel, the exact
quantity depending upon the temper required in the steel. The metal
is then run into a ladle and thence into moulds, or it may be run
into moulds direct.

page_text: Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
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 production of steel by the preparation of a crude metal
or iron from pig or cast iron and melting the same into steel
without such pig or cast iron being submitted to a puddling process,
substantially as herein-before described.
Second. The preparation of wrought iron for ordinary purposes from 1
the pig or cast iron in the manner described, so as to obviate the
necessity of submitting such pig or cast iron to a puddling process,
substantially and for the purpose as herein-before described.
Third. The preparation and use of a bath of slag or cinder into which
the first few loads of material resulting from the processes herein referred ]
to are placed as and for the purposes herein-before described..
In witness whereof, I, the said John Allcock Jones, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of
October, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.