An Improved Converter Furnace.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Aug., 1897-Accepted, 27th Nov., 1897
An Improved Converter Furnace.
I, ALFRED ERNEST THOMAS of Ormesby near Middlesbrough-on-Tees in the County
of York, Steel Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be perforined, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
My invention is that of a Convertor for cleansing Iron in a molten state, as
discharged from a Furnace or Cupola, from its impurities such as Phosphorous,
Sulphur, & Silicon & converting the Iron into Refined Iron, or Malleable Iron or
Steel in such qualities as may be required by the Manufacturer.
In
I will in describing my invention refer to the annexed sheet of drawings in which
is illustrated a converter furnace of the kind to which iny invention is applicable
together with apparatus embodying in its application the essential features thereof
and illustrating by way of example what is practical and suitable therefor. But it
will be readily understood from the drawing and the following description that such
apparatus may be modified in various details of construction or in general
arrangement to adapt it to the particular form of furnace or to other conditions
affecting its installation in particular cases. In the drawing Fig. 1 is a vertical
sectional view taken through the centre of the furnace and Fig. 2 a sectional plan
view taken on line x x of Fig. 1. The form of the converter is that of an iron furnace
lined inside with fireproof material and provided with the usual tapping hole.
connection with the converter is a main blast pipe a from which the blow pipes 6 lead
directly to the charge within the converter. These blow pipes are arranged in such
positions as may be necessary to treat the charge in the converter in the manner
required for the purposes of my invention. To this end one or more receptacles c
are provided for the purpose of holding or containing such fluxes, oxides, or carbons
as may be necessary for the purpose of cleansing the iron from its impurities or to
manufacture the same into refined iron, malleable iron or steel. These receptacles
or hoppers are provided in any required number and are placed at intervals along the
main blast pipe with which they communicate, so that when the blast pressure is
turned on the blast passes or circulates through the receptacles or hoppers c and so
disturbs and becomes charged with the pigments contained therein in a condition
suitable for the purpose and which are accordingly discharged with the blast into the
iron contained in the converter. It will now be seen that the object and result of my
invention is to discharge blasts of air directly into the mass of molten iron in the
converter, the blast of air being charged with and diffusing through the said mass of
molten metal ingredients or pigments which purify or otherwise affect the said iron
in the manner required. But in order to make the apparatus do its work properly it
will he necessary to make provision, for the following requirements vis: that the
blast shall become charged only with the particular ingredients or pigments required,
so that the molten iron under treatment may be de-carbonized or re-carbonized,
de-siliconized or purified from sulphur and phosphorous as the case may be by the
skill of the person in charge of the furnace: that the molten metal be prevented from
entering the blow pipes when the blast is turned off and that the charge in the
furnace is agitated through its whole mass when the blast is put on. Accordingly the
hoppers or receptacles care each furnished with a taper plug d worked from a lever

page_text: as shown in Fig. 1. By this means anyone such hopper can be opened or shut to the
main blast pipe, and it is therefore only necessary to allot to each such hopper a
particular pigment or ingredient or mixture of these as its charge and to select the
right hoppers to be opened to the blast according to the particular process in hand.
Each blow pipe terminates in the usual tapered tuyere or nozzle e. f is a plug for
plugging the blow pipe up when the blast is shut off. This is requisite to prevent
the inolten material inside the furnace from entering and injuring the blow pipe.
Each blow pipe is furnished with a cock g by which it can be closed to the passage
of the blast independently of the rest of the apparatus. The nozzle of the turned
off blow pipe being of course stoppered by the plug fat the same time. In order to
provide for an effective agitation of the charge in the furnace throughout the whole
mass the tuyeres e of the blow pipes are preferably set on the skew more or less as
shown with a view of imparting a rotary or whirling movement to the charge in the
furnace and so bringing the charge under the action of the several blow pipes. in
succession. This also tends to a more equal diffusion of the different pigments
supplied through the several blow pipes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
(1). The manufacture of refined iron, malleable iron and steel from the molten iron
as obtained from a blast furnace or cupola with the arrangement of apparatus
substantially as herein described by which the various pigments or ingredients
required in the process are mixed up with the blast and so charged into the
converter.
(2). In combination with a converter furnace the apparatus constructed and arranged
substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by which various pigments can
be selected and mixed with the blast to be charged into the furnace under pressure in
the manner and for the purpose as hereinbefore specified.
Dated this 8th day of Novembar 100%
G. J. CLARKSON,
Chartered Patent Agent, Stockton-on-Tees and Hull,
Agent for the Applicant.