IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL AND IN FURNACES AND APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE SAID MANUFACTURE, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS MAY ALSO BE APPLIED TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Callender Hinde, of Fownhope, near
Hereford, Colliery Proprietor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL AND IN FURNACES AND APPARATUS TO
BE USED IN THE SAID MANUFACTURE, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS MAY ALSO
BE APPLIED TO OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 7th March 1871, and dated the 25th November 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Callender Hinde
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 25th November 1870.
I, THOMAS CALLENDER HINDE, of Fownhope, near Hereford, Colliery
Proprietor, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
" IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL AND IN FURNACES
AND APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE Said Manufacture, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVE-
KENTS MAY ALSO BE APPLIED TO OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
I will describe the manufacture of iron or steel as conducted according
to my Invention, which description will comprise both the nature of my
improvements in the said manufacture and in the furnaces and apparatus
I employ.

page_text: In preparing the ores from which the iron or steel is to be manu-
factured I employ the ordinary grinding and washing processes, or I
subject dry crushed ore to agitation without water, by which agitation
the lighter carthy matters are wholly or chiefly separated from the
denser parts constituting the true ore. I prefer to conduct these pre-
paratory processes at a high level, so that the prepared ore may bo
transferred to the chambers or furnaces herein-after described by falling
therein or without having to be lifted.
When steel is to be manufactured I avoid the use of orcs which are
not free or cannot be artificially freed from sulphur or phosphorus or 1
compounds of sulphur and phosphorus.
When iron has to be manufactured the quality of the ore is of loss
importance. The prepared ore is subjected in succession to the processes
of drying, calcining, reducing, and when necessary carbonizing and
finally smelting, or blooming and welding. These processes are con-
ducted in a furnace consisting of a series of connected chambers, or in
one chamber different parts of which are devoted to these processes
respectively, or in a chamber which is in succession used for these
several processes.
]
In connection with the reduction and smelting chambers are generators :
in which combustible heated reducing gases are produced by the burning
under the requisito conditions of coke or other fuel. The hot reducing
gases from the gas generators are either passed direct into the smelting
or reducing chambers or are superheated before entering the said
chambers by being passed through a labyrinth or reticulated mass of
brickwork, which by the burning of a portion of the said gases has
been raised to a high temperature, the reducing gases in passing through
this heated labyrinth becoming superheated before entering the reducing
chamber. Or the current of reducing gases may be superheated by
being passed through flues, tubes, or pipes heated externally by the
waste heat from the smelting chamber or by the combustion of a portion.
of the gases themselves, or they may be superheated by being part.
ignited and burnt, and then again passed through coke or other suitable
fuel. Or the current of heated gases may be divided, one portion passing.
into the body of the reducing chamber and the other being passed under
the sole or hearth of the reducing chamber and there burned with
atmospheric air, so as to heat the reducing chamber by external heat.
The current of heated gases is supplied under pressure by fans or other

page_text: blowing apparatus, so as to prevent the entrance of atmospheric air from
without. The current of heated reducing gases may first pass into the
smelting chamber, next into the reducing and carbonizing chamber, next
into the calcining chamber, and lastly into the drying chamber, or the
current of heated reducing gases may be divided, one portion going into
the smelting chamber, and another into the reduction and calcining
chambers. On arriving at the calcining chamber a portion of air is
introduced and the heated reducing gases are burned and produce an
oxidizing atmosphere. The prepared ore passes through the series of
chambers in a direction contrary to that in which the combustible gases
pass through them. In the first chamber the oro is dried, in the second
chamber where the gases are burned the ore is roasted or calcined, in
the third or reducing chamber it is reduced to metallic iron in a fine
state of division. From this chamber the iron particles are passed to tho
smelting chamber.
When the smelting or balling together of the particles of iron is
conducted in a separate chamber from the scries of chambers hercin-
before described, the said separate smelting chamber may be furnished
with a separate gas generator and placed at a lower level than the
reduction chamber, and a communication opened between the two to
allow of the passage or transmission of the charge from the upper to the
lower chamber, the passage or opening being kept full of reducing gases
under pressure to prevent re-oxidation of the iron particles. The heat of
the smelting chamber may be increased by burning a portion of the
heated combustible gases therein, but in no case to such an extent as to
re-oxidize the iron particles. Such fluxes as the chemical constitution
of the ores shows to be requisite for fusing any earthy impurities are
applied either in the solid state in the reduction chamber or in a solid
or fused state in the smelting chamber.
When cast iron is to be produced an excess of carbonaceous matter is
mixed with the ore in the reducing chamber and the operation prolonged
until the requisite degree of carbonization is reached. The carbonized
iron particles are passed into the smelting chamber, where they are fused
under a layer of vitreous flux, by which means any remaining earthy
matter is separated as cinder, the carbonized melted cast iron falling
to the bottom. When steel is to be produced a sufficient quantity of
the uncarbonized iron particles from the reducing chamber may bo
introduced into the smelting chamber and dissolved in the bath of

page_text: cast iron to bring the composition of the mixture to that of steel.
Or the reduced iron particles may be carbonized in the reducing chamber
to the cast steel forming point at once in the same manner as the cast
iron, but limiting the time and degree of carbonization, and then melted
under the virtcous flux.
For making pure malleable iron the iron particles are passed into tho
smelting chamber in the reduced metallic, but non-carbonized or very
slightly carbonized state. Spiegal ciscu may be mixed with the steel for
the purpose of introducing manganeso into it. Nitrogenous matters
mixed with alkaline bases may be introduced into the reducing chamber 1
for the purpose of generating cyanogen compounds. The ore in the
different stages of its treatment may be kept in motion by rakes or
rabbles, either worked by hand or by mechanical means. Or the
reducing chamber may rotate on a horizontal axis, so as to turn over
the orc during the whole course of its treatment in the said reducing 1
chamber. In this case the heating of the reducing chamber must be
effected by the labyrinth or other methods already described instead
of by external heat. The temperature of the reducing and calcining
chambers is kept below the point at which the ore or the reduced iron
would melt or agglutinate as it is desirable that the iron shall pass
from the reducing chamber in a non-coherent state. The drying and
calcining chambers may be placed above the reducing chamber, so
that the calcined ore may fall into the reducing chamber.
When I employ but one chamber the different parts of it are made to
possess the necessary reducing, calcining, and heating properties by the 2
introduction at the required places of atmospheric air to combine with
tho reducing gases. Or a single chamber may be first employed as a
drying chamber by the use of a small quantity of reducing gas from
the gas generator mixed and burned with atmospheric air. Afterwards
the supply of mixed air and gases may be increased to convert the
chamber into a calcining chamber, and subsequently the atmospheric air
being shut off the chamber is converted into a reducing chamber.
The arrangement of apparatus described or modifications thereof, but
essentially the same in principle, may be applied to smelting ores other
than iron ores, to generating steam, and to metallurgical purposes 3
generally.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Lotters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Callendor Hindo in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th May 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
CALLENDER HINDE, of Fownhope, near Hereford, Colliery Proprietor,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date tho Twenty-fifth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Callender Hinde,
Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Callender Hinde, my
exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Callender Hinde, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, tho Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND
STEEL AND IN FURNACES AND APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE SAID MANUFACTURE,
PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS MAY ALSO BE APPLIED TO OTHER PURPOSES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Callender,
Hinde, 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 Offico within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Callender Hinde, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
I will describe the manufacture of iron or steel as conducted according
to my Invention, which description will comprise both the nature of my
improvements in the said manufacture and in the furnaces and apparatus
I employ.

page_text: In preparing the ores from which the iron or steel is to be manu-
factured I employ the ordinary grinding and washing processes, or I
subject dry crushed ore to agitation without water, by which agitation
the lighter carthy matters are wholly or chiefly separated from the
denser parts constituting the true ore. The crushing and washing or
separating may be done at the mine, thereby saving carriage. If
donc at the smelting works I prefer to conduct these preparatory pro-
cesses at a high level so that the prepared ore may be transferred to
the chambers or furnaces herein-after described by falling therein or
without having to be lifted. When steel is to be manufactured I avoid
the use of orcs which are not free or cannot be artificially freed from
sulphur or phosphorus or compounds of sulphur and phosphorus or
other injurious substances. When iron has to be manufactured the
quality of the ore is of less importance, as by this Invention pure or
nearly pure infusible malleable iron is obtained in the first instance
from the ore, while the impuritics being either fusible by themselves or
rendered fusible by the action of the fluxes liquate out from the infusible
malleable iron in the intense heat of the smelting chamber. The
prepared ore is subjected in succession to the processes of drying,
calcining, reducing, and, when necessary, carbonizing and finally smelting
or blooming and welding. These processes are conducted in a furnace
consisting of a series of connected chambers, or in one chamber different
parts of which are devoted to these processes respectively, or in a chamber
which is in succession used for these several processes. In connection
with the reduction and smelting chambers are generators in which com-
bustible heated reducing gases are produced by the burning under the
requisite conditions of coke or other fuel. The hot reducing gases from
the gas generators are cither passed direct into the smelting or reducing
chambers or are superheated before entering the said chambers by being
passed through a labyrinth or reticulated mass of brickwork, which by
the burning of a portion of the said gases has been raised to a high
temperature, the reducing gases in passing through this heated labyrinth
becoming superlicated before entering the reducing chamber. Or the
current of reducing gases may be superheated by being passed through
flues, tubes, or pipes heated externally by the waste heat from the
smelting chamber or by the combustion of a portion of the gases
themselves, or they may be superlicated by being ignited and burnt
and then again passed through coke or other suitable fuel. Or the
current of heated gases may be divided, one portion passing into the

page_text: body of the reducing chamber and the other being passed under the sole
or licarth of the reducing chamber, and there burned with atmospheric
air so as to heat the reducing chamber by external heat. The current
of heated gases is supplied under pressure by fans or other blowing
apparatus so as to prevent the entrance of atmospheric air from without.
The current of heated reducing gases may first pass into the smelting
chamber, next into the reducing and carbonizing chamber, next into the
calcining chamber, and lastly into the drying chamber; or the current
of heated reducing gases may be divided, one portion going into the
smelting chamber and another into the reduction and calcining chambers.
On arriving at the calcining chamber a portion of air is introduced and
the heated reducing gases are burned and produce an oxydizing atmo-
sphere. The prepared ore passes through the series of chambers in a
direction contrary to that in which the combustible gases pass through
them. In the first chamber the ore is dried, in the second chamber
where the gases are burned the ore is roasted or calcined, in the third or
reducing chamber it is reduced to metallic iron in a fine state of division.
From this chamber the iron particles are passed to the smelting chamber..
When the smelting or balling together of the particles of iron is
conducted in a separate chamber from the series of chambors heroin-
before described the said separate smelting chamber may be furnished
with a separato gas generator and placed at a lower level than the
reduction chamber, and a communication opened between the two to
allow of the passage or transmission of the charge from the upper to the
lower chamber, the passage or opening being kept full of reducing gases
The heat of
under pressure to prevent reoxidation of the iron particles.
the smelting chamber may be increased by burning a portion of the
heated combustible gases therein, but in no case to such an extent as to
reoxidize the iron particles. Such fluxes as the chemical constitution of
the ores shows to be requisite for fusing any earthy impurities are applied
either in the solid state in the reduction chamber or in a solid or fused
state in the smelting chamber.
When cast iron is to be produced an excess of carbonaceous matter is
mixed with the ore in the reducing chamber and the operation prolonged
5 until the requisite degree of carbonization is reached. The carbonized iron
particles are passed into the smelting chamber, where they are fused under
a layer of vitreous flux, by which means any remaining earthy matter is
separated as cinder, the carbonized melted cast iron falling to the bottom.

page_text: When steel is to be produced a sufficient quantity of the uncarbonized
iron particles from the reducing chamber may be introduced into the
smelting chamber and dissolved in the bath of cast iron to bring the
composition of the mixture to that of steel. Or the reduced iron
particles may be carbonized in the reducing chamber to the cast steel
forming point at once in the same manner as the cast iron, but limiting
the time and degree of carbonization and then melted under the vitreous
flux.
In making pure malleable iron the iron particles are passed into the
smelting chamber in the reduced metallic, but non-carbonized or very
slightly carbonized state. Spiegel-cisen may be mixed with the steel
for the purpose of introducing manganese into it. Nitrogenous matters
mixed with alkaline bases may be introduced into the reducing
chamber for the purpose of generating cyanogen compounds. The ore
in the different stages of its treatment may be kept in motion by rakes
or rabbles cither worked by hand or by mechanical means. Or the
reducing chamber may rotate on a horizontal axis so as to turn over
the ore during the whole course of its treatment in the said reducing
chamber. In this case the heating of the reducing chamber must be
effected by the labyrinth or other methods already described instead
of by external heat. The temperature of the reducing and calcining
chambers is kept below the point at which tho ore or the reduced iron
would melt or agglutinate, as it is desirable that the iron shall pass from
the reducing chamber in a non-coherent state. The drying and calcining
chambers may be placed above the reducing chamber so that the
calcined ore may fall into the reducing chamber. When I employ but
one chamber the different parts of it are made to possess the necessary
reducing, calcining, and heating properties by the introduction at the
required places of atmospheric air to combine with the reducing gases.
Or a single chamber may be first employed as a drying chamber by the
use of a small quantity of reducing gas from the gas generator mixed
and burned with atmospheric air. Afterwards the supply of mixed air
and gases may be increased to convert the chamber into a calcining
chamber, and subsequently the atmospheric air being shut off the
chamber is converted into a reducing chamber.
The arrangement of apparatus described or modifications thereof, but
essentially the same in principle, may be applied to treating ores other
than iron ores and to generating steam.

page_text: I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying
Drawings the manner in which I carry my Invention into effect.
Figure 1 represents in sido elevation, Figure 2 in plan, Figure 3 in
end elevation, and Figure 4 in cross section taken one the line a, Figure 2,
furnaces and apparatus which I employ; Figure 5 represents in vertical
longitudinal section, and Figure 6 in horizontal section, the calcining
and reducing chamber of the same detached; and Figuro 7 represents
in vertical longitudinal section, and Figure 8 in horizontal section the
smelting chamber of the same detached. The same letters of reference
indicate the same parts in Figures 1 to 8.
•
The said furnaces consist of two horizontal chambers situated parallel
to one another and marked respectively A, B. The chamber B is
situated at a lower level than the chamber A (sce the cross section,
Figure 4), the said chambers being connected together by the inclined
passage c, which passage is opened and closed by the fire-brick sliding.
door d. Each of the chambers A, B, is provided with an independent
gas generator marked respectively e, f, the blast forced through the
ignited coke or carbonaceous matter in the said gas gencrators being
supplied under pressure to the tuyeres h, h, in any convenient way.
The coke or carbonaceous matter is fed to each of the gas generators
so as to prevent the escape of gas by a hopper i at the top of the said
generator, the said hopper being provided with a hand slide k at top
and a slide 7 at bottom, worked by the lever m. When the lower slide
is withdrawn the coke in the hopper falls into the generator, the hopper
being closed at top by the hand slide k. When the bottom slide / is
pushed inwards the hopper can be filled, the gas generator being closed
by the said bottom slide 2. Both of the slides k, l, may be worked by a
lever. The lever in this case turns on a centre midway between the
two slides. With some descriptions of fucl inconvenience may occur
by small particles of the fuel in the gas generator being carried over
with the gases. This is prevented where necessary by placing an
intercepting or filtering bed of coke or fire-bricks so placed that the
gases have to pass through it on their way from the generator to the
reduction or smelting chambers. The ashes and clinker in the gas
generators are fluxed out in the usual way, but means of access to the
interior of the said generators are provided for removing any clinker
that may be formed in the said generators. The reducing chamber A
consists of a long furnace provided with a reverberatory arch and bed,

page_text: the prepared ore being supplied to the said chamber by the hopper p›
closed by the valve arrangement at q. In the sides of the chamber A. is
a series of holes n, n, through which the workman passes his rabble to:
push the ore towards the top of the chamber, as herein-after explained.
Across the said chamber A are air pipes ",", for admitting air blast to,
tho interior of the said chamber for burning tho gases therein. Theso
air pipes r, r, are supplied by the main pipe t, the quantity of air
supplied to the chamber being regulated or the supply entirely cut off
by the stop cocks u, u. To the cross pipes r; r; a series of jets 8, 8, are con-
nected (see Figure 5). The heated reducing gases from the generator e 1
enter the chamber A by the passage at a³, and after passing through
the said chamber the said gases and products of combustion descend to
the flues u³, u³, under the bed of the said chamber, and from thenco
escape by the flue to the chimney w.
chamber A is regulated by the slides v, v.
the gases has not been wholly effected in the chamber A it may bo
completed in the flues u², u³, by micans of atmospheric air admitted at æ
under pressure or by the draught of the chimney w,
The draught through the
Where the combustion of ]
The lower or smelting chamber B resembles an ordinary heating
furnace with a reverberatory arch and bed, an air pipe 1, provided with
jets 2 conveying air blast to the said chamber for burning the gases.
The heated reducing gases from the gas generator f enter the smelting
chamber at 3, and after passing through the said chamber the said
gases and products of combustion escape by the chimney 4. Both tho
upper
and lower chambers A, B, are worked with such a pressure of gas 2
as to exclude the entrance of atmospheric air, the object of excluding
the atmospheric air by this internal pressure being to prevent the re-
oxidation of the reduced iron; means however are provided as before
described for admitting air for the purpose of burning the gases to any
required degree. In working the upper chamber A when one portion is a
used for reduction and the other for calcining and heating blast is forced
into the chamber by the jets at 8, 8, and the gas burnt.
The prepared
ore fed by the hopper p into the part marked C of the chamber A is
thereby heated, and the ore oxidized, and water, and carbonic acid, and
other volatile impurities driven off. The iron ore is heated at the part C
of the chamber as highly as practicable without its becoming agglo-
merated or commencing to melt. It is then moved by the workman by
a rabble or other tool passed through the holes n, n, nearer to the top
of the chamber, that is, to the part marked D, where it is turned over

page_text: '
and exposed to the action of the heated reducing gases until its complete
deoxidation or reduction is effected. At the said part D of the chamber A
owing to the less quantity of air mixed with the gases the said gases
have a reducing action. In some cases the air is wholly shut off from
the pipor and jets 8. situated near the passage, a³, and when air is
admitted at the said pipe and jets it is necessary that its quantity be so
limited as not to impair the 'reducing character of the gases at. the, part D
of the chamber. By the treatment described the ore is reduced to
metallic iron in a fine state of division. If desired the metallic iron
dust or particles are carbonized to the required degree by means of puro
powdered carbonaceous matter passed into the chamber through one of
the openings n, or through an opening in the arch of the chamber.
When the reduction chamber A is used successively for heating and
calcining and then for reducing and carbonizing the whole of the said
chamber A is filled with the prepared ore and blast is forced into tho
chamber by the jets 8, 8, and the gas ignited and burnt. The charge of
ore in the chamber A is turned over by the rabbles passed through the
holes n, n, until the whole has been heated to a point which it will bear
without incipient fusion. The air blast is now shut off and the heated
iron ore turned over in the heated reducing atmosphere of the gas alono
and reduced to a metallic powder or dust, and if needed carbonaceous
matter. is added to carbonize the metallic particles to the required
degree. The metallic powder or reduced iron ore produced in, either
of the ways described is now transferred to the smelting chamber B by
opening tho fire-brick slide or door d, and drawing the said powder or
reduced iron ore by a rabble or other tool down the inclined passage c,'
the rabble or tool being introduced at the door . In the smelting
chamber B the metallic dust or particles are smelted and bloomed or
welded together, a limited quantity of air to burn the gases being
admitted into the said chamber by the pipe and jets 1, 2. Lime or
other flux may either be added dry in the reducing chamber 4, cither
separately or with tho ore, or a bath of vitreous cinder may be employed
in the smelting chamber B. The bath of vitreous cinder in the smelting
chamber into which the iron particles from the reduction chamber.aro.
transferred is of such chemical composition as will flux the earthy
matter mingled with the reduced iron particles. When a welding heat
is reached in the smelting chamber B the workman gathers up the iron
particles into a ball or bloom which is taken to the hammer or squeezer,
and the carthy matter which has fused and become cinder-by-the flux.
!

page_text: is expelled from the ball or bloom by its compression under the hammer
or squeezer.
When instead of malleable iron, cast iron is to be produced an excess
of carbonaceous matter is mixed with the ore in the reducing chamber A
and the operation prolonged until the requisite degree of carbonization
is reached. The carbonized iron particles are then transferred by the
inclined passage c between the two chambers into tho smelting
chamber B, where they are fused under a layer or bath of vitreous flux
by which means any remaining earthy matter is separated as cinder, the
carbonized melted cast iron falling to the bottom.
When cast steel is to be produced a sufficient quantity of the uncar-
bonized iron particles from the reducing chamber A may be introduced
into the smelting chamber B, and dissolved in a bath of cast iron
prepared in the manner last described to bring the composition of the
mixture to that of steel. Or the reduced iron particles may be car-
bonized in the reducing chamber to the cast steel forming point at once
in the same manner as the cast iron, but limiting the time and degree
of carbonization, and then molted under vitreous flux. The cast iron or
cast steel produced in the manner described is removed from the
chamber B by tapping the said chamber and running the cast iron or
cast steel into ingot or other moulds as is well understood. Tho
working of the smelting chamber B is so regulated by valves or stop-
cocks for the admission of blast into the gas generator f for forming the
gases and by valves or stop-cocks for admitting the air blast into the
said chamber B for burning the gases that at no period of the operation
is there such an excess of free oxygen or of carbonic acid as to rcoxidizo
the iron.
Instead of using a horizontal smelting chamber a vertical reducing
and smelting chamber combined with a horizontal calcining chamber
may be employed. The heated reducing gases in this case may first pass
through the vertical chamber, and then into the horizontal chamber.
In using this arrangement the calcined ore is transferred from the
calcining chamber to the vertical reducing and smelting chamber below
it, and after the said vertical chamber has been filled with the heated
calcined ore, the heated reducing gases from the gas generator or gas
generators are forced up and through the ore until its reduction in the
form of metallic particles is effected, and if malleable iron be required
the reduced metallic particles are welded together and removed through

page_text: an opening for the purpose in the breast of the chamber. If cast steel
or cast iron is desired carbonaceous matter is introduced into the
calcined ore and the operation prolonged until the requisite degree of
carbonization is attained, and the cast steel or cast iron fused and tapped
out at the lower portion of the chamber. Lime or other flux may be
added either in a calcining chamber or in the vertical portion of the
furnace. In the last-described arrangement of furnace the gases after
effecting the reduction of the ore in the vertical smelting chamber pass
to the calcining chamber and are burnt.
Although I prefer to arrange the smelting chamber separate from the
calcining and reduction chamber (except when the vertical smelting
portion is combined with the calcining chamber), yet a single furnace or
chamber or series of chambers connected together in which the processes
of drying, calcining, reducing, carbonizing, smelting, or blooming and
welding are effected may be employed.
The smelting chamber may be worked with superheated gases, and
the blast of air forced into the smelting chamber for burning tho gases
may also be heated. When the gases are superheated the superheating
apparatus is arranged by preference between the gas generator and the
entrance to the smelting chamber.
In order to prevent the burning or melting of the filling hoppers of
the gas generators, especially when blowing out the generators for
repairs or other purpose, I prefer to construct the said generators with
fire-brick arched tops, the filling hoppers being placed at the side.
Figure 9 represents in vertical longitudinal section, and Figure 10
in transverse vertical section this modification of the gas generator.
5 is the body of the gas generator; 6, its arched top of fire-brick;
7, the inclined feeding passage by which it is supplied with fuel;
8 and 9 represent respectively two slides or valves by which the feeding
passage 7 is opened and closed; 10 is the tuyere; 11, a door at the
bottom of the generator 5, by which door any ash or clinker may bo
removed which will not flow from the tapping hole 12. By means of
the hooks 13, 13, bars may be supported across the generator, thus
forming a grate for the fuel, while the door 11 is opened for the removal
of ash or clinker. 14, 15, are air or blast pipes opening into the gas
passage 16; 17 is a second or supplementary fuel chamber for feeding
coke into the gas passage 16. The coke so fed into the gas passage 16
constitutes a filter which obstructs any particles of carbon or dust which

page_text: may be carried over by the gases from the generator 5. The said coke
in the gas passage 16 also serves by its partial combustion to maintain
the gases at their highest state of reducing power as well as to super-
heat them. The use of the said coke in the gas passage 16 is optional,
that is, generators of the construction represented may be employed
without the supplementary fuel chamber 17. Or when constructed with
the said chamber 17 they may be employed as though constructed
without it by the non-supplying of coke to the said chamber 17. By a
carcful regulation of the blast introduced by the pipes 14, 15, the exact
chemical character of the gases passing out of the passage 16 may be
determined and their temperature within considerable limits controlled.
For heating the blast for forming the gases and for superheating the
said gases as well as for heating the blast for burning the gases an
apparatus may be used consisting of a hollow cylinder of brickwork
provided internally with a helical fluc running from bottom to top, and
surrounded externally by a similar helical flue. These helical flues and
the hollow cylinder of brickwork are encased in another hollow cylinder
of brickwork strongly hooped with iron binders, or entirely cased with
rivetted iron plates. This apparatus may be placed vertically or hori-
zontally. The heated products of combustion enter at the bottom of one
of the helical flues, and after traversing round the cylinder make their
exit at the top of the fluc, while the blast or gases to be heated entering
at the top traverse the other helical flue in the reverse direction. The
heat imparted to the central cylinder of brickwork by the gases in one of
the helical flues is transmitted through the said brickwork to the blast
or gases in the other helical fluc. By this construction of heating
apparatus very high temperatures may be attained, and the whole of the
apparatus is so bound together that the expansion and contraction of
the brickwork is prevented from causing serious leakages. The brick-
work suffers much less than when the so called regenerative systems are
employed, as in my arrangement the brickwork is simply transmitting a
uniform temperature from one side to the other through its substance,
whereas in the regenerative systems the brickwork is alternately subjected
to violent heating and cooling action. With these high temperatures I
employ wrought-iron tubes lined with fire-brick for conveying heated
gases or blast.

page_text: and the reducing chamber A represented in Figures 1 to 8 of the accom-
panying Drawings is applicable to the calcining or roasting of the orcs of
copper and zinc..
".
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as
the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention,-
Firstly. Treating iron ores for the manufacture of iron and steel in
the manner or by the series of processes herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, whereby. the said ores are.
completely reduced without fusion, or agglutination in the form of finc
metallic particles or dust before being bloomed or welded into wrought
iron or melted into cast iron or steel, substantially as described.
Secondly. The general, arrangement or combination of parts of
the furnaces and apparatus herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawings to be used in the manufacture of iron and
stcel.
Thirdly. The application of the gas generator or furnace herein-
before described and illustrated in Figures 9 and 10 of the accompanying
Drawings to the generation of steam and heating purposes generally,
and the application of the furnaces and apparatus herein-before described
and illustrated in Figures 1 to 8 both inclusive of the accompanying
Drawings to the roasting or calcining of ores other than iron ores..
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Callender. Hinde, have.
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
.1
THOMAS CALLENDER HINDE. (L.S.)
0 Witness,
EDWARD ROBERTS,
"
Cashier,.
Yniscedwyn Iron, Steel, & Coal Works,
near Swansea.
D