IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Henderson at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th March
1865.
I, JAMES HENDERSON, of the City and State of New York, but now residing
in Leadenhall Street, in the City of London, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND
STEEL," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates, first, to the manufacture if iron in the blast furnace,
and consists in mixing with iron ores or other materials charged into the blast
furnace a given quantity of manganese, or by preference manganiferous iron
ores, such as that known in this country by the names of red oxide of zinc or
franklinite iron ore. These ores are known to exist at the present time in the
greatest quantity in New Jersey. Spathose iron ores may also be used to
great advantage where they are free from sulphur or phosphorus, or any
other iron ores from which the metal known as spiegeleisen may be made.
The object to be gained by thus mixing is, that these ores or materials may
be smelted at the same time as the other ores with which the furnace may be
charged, and there will be found combined with the smelted molten iron in the
state of fusion in the hearth of the blast furnace all the properties of spiegeleisen
in the same relative proportions as to the ore charged into the furnace. The
molten iron in this state, that is, with the component parts of spiegeleisen
combined in a proper quantity, is in the proper state or condition to be made
iuto steel by any or either of the processes for making steel in the blast
'

page_text: furnace, or it may be run out in a state of fusion direct from the blast
furnace into pots, crucibles, or vessels, and heated by the Bessemer process,
thereby avoiding the cost of re-melting the pig iron and the use of spiegeleisen
as proposed by R. Mushet.
The operation of making steel from the iron prepared by my process can
be regulated by a skilful workman, who can determine the proper amount of
carbon to be retained in the metal while the operation is being carried on, or
in the other process in the same manner that will determine it were they to
introduce fused spiegeleisen into the molten iron. The iron prepared as
before described can. be used in the Bessemer process for making steel, and
will effect a great saving of labour and fuel, there being no necessity for
re-melting the pig iron in order to charge it again with spiegeleisen; the fuel
that would otherwise be consumed in re-melting the pig iron and spiege-
leisen, as is now done in the Bessemer process, will thus be saved. The
amount of ore required for this purpose will vary from 5 to 10 per cent. yield
of spiegeleisen to the whole of the molten iron in the furnace.
The franklinite ore or red oxide of zinc of New Jersey may be smelted to
advantage with iron ores, or coal containing a moderate amount of sulphur.
As the sulphur has a greater affinity for zinc than for iron, it will pass off in
combination with zinc as sulphuret of zinc at a red heat, thereby improving
the character of the result in the furnace, and products can be thus obtained
from iron ores, which otherwise would be unfit for this purpose. Iron ores
containing an appreciable quantity of phosphorus cannot be used to
advantage.
The Invention also consists in introducing the manganese, manganiferous
or other ores, or other materials in a finely divided state into the molten
metal while it is being operated upon by the blast used in producing Bessemer
steel. To this end double tuyeres are used for the purpose of blowing in the
pulverized ore with the decarbonizing blast. The fine particles of ore or
other materials thus become intimately mixed with the molten metal, and will
thereby effect the desired change therein. The manganiferous or other ores
or materials in a pulverized state may also be introduced into the blast
furnace at or near the fusing or melting point, to which end the tuyeres which
supply the blast are each surrounded by a tube, so as to form an annular
chamber, which is supplied from above with a regulated quantity of the pul
verized ore or other material. A valve of suitable construction in the supply
pipe allows the proper quantity of ore to enter the annular chamber, from
whence it is blown into or on to the molten metal in the furnace. Instead of
carrying the pulverized materials into the molten metal by means of a blast

page_text: of air, they may be forced in under the surface by mechanical or other
pressure.
From the above explanation it will be seen that the principle upon which
the Invention is founded is the application of manganese, or ores, or other
materials to be operated upon or smelted with iron ores in the furnace, or
such materials may be introduced into fused or molten iron either in the blast
furnace or other receptacle, so that when in the state of fusion in the hearth
of the blast furnace, or in a separate receptacle, crucible, or vessel, the metal
may be treated by any of the processes for refining iron or for making steel
in the molten state.