IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OR MANUFACTURE OF STEEL AND IRON OF A STEELY QUALITY
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Attwood, of Tow Law Ironworks, in the
County of Durham, Ironmaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PRODUCTION OR MANUFACTURE OF STEEL AND IRON OF A STEELY QUALITY."
Scaled the 15th August 1862, and dated the 15th May 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Attwood at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
May 1862.
I, CHARLES ATTWOOD, of Tow Law Ironworks, in the County of Durham,
Ironmaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OR MANUFACTURE OF STEEL AND IRON OF A STEELY
QUALITY," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the production of steel, and of a kind of iron
approximate to steel, and which may be called steely iron, by the simple com-
bination and liquefaction by the means of heat to a degree of sufficient fluidity,
and perfect or nearly perfect interfusion of component parts of certain propor-
tions of malleable iron of such kinds as in themselves are capable of producing
good or serviceable steel and steely iron, combined with certain proportions of
certain kinds of non-malleable or crude cast iron, such, for instance, as the
kind usually designated by the German name of spiegel eisen, which are also
by their own nature capable of being made into good and serviceable steel, by

page_text: which mixture and which liquefaction such materials are brought directly and
at once into the condition of steel or steely iron, as one or other may be
intended, and of such qualities as such several ingredients may, according to
their own several superior or inferior qualities or natures, and according to
their several proportions, be adapted to afford.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Attwood in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th November 1862.
i
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
ATTWOOD, of Tow Law Ironworks, in the County of Durham, Ironmaster,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Attwood, Her special license that I, the said Charles Attwood,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Attwood, 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,
excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PRODUCTION OR MANUFACTURE OF STEEL AND IRON OF A STEELY QUALITY,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Attwood, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my band
and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, 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 Charles Attwood, 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 state-
ment, that is to say :-
My Invention essentially consists in the production of steel and of iron of a
quality approximate to steel, which may be called stcely iron, simply by bringing

page_text: into a state of liquefaction by means of heat a mixture of malleable iron of
such kinds as in themselves are capable of producing good or serviceable steel
and steely iron, and of a certain kind or kinds of non-malleable or crude cast
iron, such, for instance, as are usually called spiegel eisen, which are also by
their own nature capable of being made into good and serviceable steel, in
certain proportions to each other, as herein-after specified; by which mixt :ro
and liquefaction of those materials hard steel or soft steel or steely iron are
respectively produced, according to the different proportions in which such two
several materials or ingredients may be severally employed, such proportions
also requiring to be varied according to the difference in their quality in
respect of the greater quantity of carbon contained in each, and to their
greater or less tendency in consequence thereof to make such steel or steeley
iron of harder or softer quality.
But in order to more fully describe my said Invention, and the manner in
which it may be most successfully practised or employed, I will now proceed
to describe or specify the kinds and qualities of malleable iron and of crude
cast iron respectively which I employ in mixture as aforesaid, and also the
modes in which the operations may be carried out.
And, first, as it regards such malleable iron it is desirable that it should be
such as by whatsoever method or process it may have been produced has been
as well and uniformly as may be deprived of that excess of carbon which is
the cause of the non-malleable quality in the several kinds of what is commonly
described by the names of pig iron, crude iron, or cast metal. And in this
respect I find such malleable iron as is produced by what is called the
puddling process is, if well and uniformly puddled, very suitable, although if
well and uniformly decarburetted any other sort or kind of malleable iron of
quality in other respects as good may equally well be employed.
And, secondly, as regards such crude cast metal or cast iron as is to bo
employed in such mixture as aforesaid, I have found the kind best fitted for
iny purpose to be that variety of bright and white cast iron of a crystalline and
highly lamellar structure and almost silvery whiteness which is called in
England specular iron, or by its equivalent German name "spiegel eisen," as
that iron is remarkably uniform as respects the proportion of carbon it contains,
and generally of highly superior quality, containing a less proportion than
most other sorts of the other matters or ingredients which are injurious to the
quality of malleable iron or steel respectively. And for the fuller information
of persons who may hereafter make use of my Invention, I may mention that
I have not in general found any sensible difference between good samples of
this kind of iron as made in Germany and such as has been made in England,

page_text: or as is or has been made in the United States or North America, from an ore
there called franklinite.
Where excellence and uniformity of quality in the steel or steely iron
intended to be produced is especially desirable, I prefer to use in the working
of my said process or Invention the said specular crude iron or "spiegel
eisen" to any other kind or sort with which I am acquainted.
But I have also found that the description of white cast metal or crude
iron, which is commonly called by English ironmasters "refined metal," as
made from other kinds or sorts of either grey or white crude metal, by the
process which they call the "finery process," in well known kinds of furnaces,
by aid of blast or otherwise, is for the most part pretty nearly in the same
condition in respect of the proportion of carbon contained in it, as such
specular crude iron or "spiegel eisen," and in so far as it may be in other
respects of good quality for steel making generally may be used in substi-
tution for such specular iron in making steel or steely iron according to my
process. And I have also found that besides such specular iron or "spiegel
eisen," and such refined metal, other sorts of white crude iron in general, such
as that which is frequently produced from ores in the blast furnace sinelting
process, which were not too impure in other respects, and therefore unfit in
its own nature for being converted into serviceable steel, may also be used in
substitution for such specular crude iron or "spiegel eisen," although with more
difficulty and uncertainty as to the proportion in which it should be used
from its containing more varying proportions of carbon; and there are some
instances in which such white pig iron where smelted from ores and by
means of fuel of superior purity may, though rarely so uniform in respect of
its proportion of carbon as would be desirable, bo used in substitution for such
specular iron in not very dissimilar proportions with great or perhaps equal
or nearly equal advantage. And particularly such white pig iron as is made
by means of charcoal or other vegetable fuel from such ores, as several of
those of Sweden, of India, of Canada, and to a smaller extent of England,
may thus be used very serviceably. Crude refined metal which may have
been produced by other means or processes than that of the refinery already
mentioned (as, for instance, by blowing atmospheric air, or steam, or both, into
or under the surface of molten crude iron of any kind), may, wherever it may
have been decarburetted to near about the same degree, as such other refined
metal, be also used in substitution for such specular crude iron in nearly
similar proportions, and in so far as it may be otherwise of equal quality or
purity with the effect of producing steel or steely iron of equal or nearly equal
quality. In like manner it will be found that crude white or grey metal

page_text: produced by the remelting of malleable iron scraps or other malleable iron in
contact with fuel, as, for instance, in cupola furnaces, or such as may be pro-
duced by so remelting it in contact with fuel in any other manner may also,
in so far as it may have been brought to a nearly similar state as regards
its quantity of carbon to such specular iron may also be used in substitution
for it, in so far as fitness in other respects for making steel of the required
quality according to any other method may be found to belong to it. But
though I have so far described my said Invention in so far only as relates
to the production of steel or steely iron by melting together into one mass
certain proportions of white crude or non-malleable metal of proper quality
with certain proportions of malleable iron, also of proper quality, yet I have
also found that grey crude iron, whether as it comes in that state directly from
the blast furnace, or as it may be produced by any other mode, and even that
the sort of grey iron which is usually called mottled iron, as being visibly
composed of a mixture of crude grey and crude white metal, may each of
them, so long as in other respects of a quality good enough for making
serviceable steel by other processes, be similarly used in substitution for such
sorts of crude white metal in mixture with malleable iron for making steel
or steely iron according to my process, proper care being taken to use tho
same in due proportion to the different quantities of carbon which such grey
or mottled metal may contain, as compared with such sorts of white metal,
but with the disadvantage upon one hand of being liable to supercarbonize
such steel if used in even a small excess of due proportion, and to thereby
injure or destroy its malleability, and also with the disadvantage upon the
other hand of increasing somewhat the difficulty of melting the materials from
the smaller proportionate quantity, in which it may sometimes or generally
bave to be employed. And on this account I prefer when using it to take
the less rich kind of such grey iron instead of such as ironmasters usually
describe as Number One or Number Two, but such as is more generally used
in forges for puddling, and even in some cases to take such mottled iron as
containing still less of carbon. And I may here remark that whereas the
specular white metal or speigel eisen is sometimes found to have passed in
the blast furnace, or in certain remelting processes, as by remelting in contact
with the fuel in founders' cupola furnaces into a kind of mixed or mottled
iron, this mixed or mottled iron may also be employed in similar proportions.
And in general I would indicate that from six to ten parts of grey crude iron,
with from ninety to ninety-four parts of puddled malleablo iron, will make a
soft steel or a steely iron, whilst for making hard steel as much as from thirty
to forty parts of grey crude iron to from sixty to seventy parts of malleable

page_text: iron may be employed. And as regards the proportion in which white specular
crude metal should be used to the malleable iron in the working of my
process, I have found that for making soft steel or steely iron, by which last
I mean a kind of steel partaking so far of the nature of iron as to be more
or less readily capable of being welded, that about six or eight parts of such
specular metal to about ninety or ninety-two parts of such malleable iron
may be successfully employed, whilst for making steel of greater hardness,
such, for instance, as is fit for tools for the turning of chilled cast-iron rolls,
as much as from thirty to forty parts of such white specular crude metal to
from sixty to seventy parts of such malleable iron may be sometimes used;
but if required for any purpose where still greater hardness is desired or
unobjectionable, as much as nearly fifty parts of such white specular crude
metal to from fifty to sixty parts of malleable iron may sometimes be made
uso of without entirely or too far impairing or destroying its malleability, or
rendering it incapable of being forged or rolled. But these proportions may be
varied when using this or other sorts of crude and malleable iron, according
to their own difference as to their quantities of contained carbon, in order to
produce a steel or steely iron in which the hardness (which is dependant
mainly on its quantity of carbon) shall be such as in each case is required.
When the refined or finers' metal is employed in carrying out my Invention,
in substitution for the specular crude metals berein-before mentioned, such
refined or finers' metal may be employed in the same or nearly the same
proportions to the malleable iron, as herein-before directed with respect to the
specular white crude metal.
In carrying out my said Invention the above described materials are to be
melted into steel or steely iron, either in covered pots or crucibles of such
size as are usually employed in making cast steel by the common methods,
and such pots or crucibles may be used in the ordinary cast steel melting
furnaces, or my materials may be melted in large pots similar or nearly similar
to such as are used by glass makers, but of smaller size, and especially of much
lower height, in order to prevent their bursting by the weight of metal; which
larger pots when such are used may be tapped at their bottoms, if that should
be preferred to their removal from the furnace, as is usual in the case of
smaller pots, or the materials may be melted in an open hearth or chamber
of the furnace itself, and of course in that case in much larger masses than
can well be done in single pots embedded in the fuel in the ordinary furnaces,
and it may be conveniently drawn out by tapping from such hearth or chamber
into ladles or directly into ingots, or other moulds, or may be removed from
such furnaces by any other convenient means that may be preferred, such mode

page_text: of melting my materials in such bearths or chambers of the furnace itself
having great and special advantages, especially in cases where the metal is
required in large quantities or masses. But when my materials are thus
melted in such hearths or chambers they should, as far as may be, be protected
from casual or other contact with the fuel, as it is entirely by contact therewith
that it happens that when melted in common refinery furnaces, or in what
are called founders' cupolas, both steel and malleable iron usually take up or
retain so much of carbon as to always alter the quality of the resulting metal,
if not in every case to render it unmalleable. The materials should therefore
be melted in some one or other of the many sorts of air or blast reverberating
furnaces in which by due precaution the contact of the metal with the fuel,
or with some portion of it, and with its dust or ashes, as also its contact with
the uncombined oxygen, which may in such cases be injuriously present in
the gases of the furnace may be sufficently if not totally prevented, and as
I consider furnaces in which blast is used, or air furnaces in which there is
a strong draft of air, are more difficult to be managed in these respects than
is desirable, I prefer and recommend the use of reverberating furnaces in
which the draft of air into or through its grate and other openings may be
as small as is conveniently practicable, and that it is better to depend for
the production of the high degree of heat required in the heating such furnaces
in great part or altogether upon the combustion of gases; a point which
persons conversant with such operations and furnaces would easily attain to
and effect by one or more of several simple and easy constructions and con-
trivances.
And with reference to these objects I prefer and recommend the use of
melting furnaces in which the heat is so drawn from gases constructed
according to the plan or plans now well known as Siemens' Patent furnace
or furnaces, which I regard in the above-mentioned respects as extremely
suitable to be used for making steel by my Invention, whether such steel
is to be melted by the use of pots placed in such furnaces, especially if used
without covers, or in an hearth or chamber of such furnaces. But it will in
general be found advisable when melting my materials in hearths or chambers
of such furnaces, or in uncovered pots, which may be placed in them, to cover
the materials with a thin or superficial coating of melted glass, which may
consists of such broken glass as is obtained from ordinary sheet or crown
glass, or even from common black bottles, both of which are purchaseable
at a low rate under the name of cullet, and either of which will be found both
cheap and suitable.
I further desire to intimate that the crude metal and the malleable iron

page_text: may be mixed in the first instance either cold or after being heated, or one or
both of them, especially the crude metal, may be either entirely or nearly
melted before being mixed with the other material. The steel or steely iron
may be cast when melted into ingots, moulds, or other moulds of any size or
form suitable for the uses for which such metal is intended, or according as
the produce may be intended to be forged or rolled, or otherwise manipulated
in any particular manner, or for any special object.
And I desire it may be also noted that the addition of scrap steel or steely
iron of suitable or proper quality, whether produced by my process, or
obtained from any other source or means, may be made in larger or smaller
quantities to my materials, not only without any actual or material injury or
disadvantage, but also to the effect of facilitating the fusion thereof by forming
as it were a bath for their more ready liquefaction.
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 admixture and fusion together in suitable vessels or apparatus of
malleable bar or scrap iron, and of white specular iron or "spiegel eisen,"
for the purpose of producing steel or steely iron, as herein-before mentioned.
Second, the admixture and fusion together of malleable bar or scrap iron
with that description of white cast metal or crude iron more commonly called
refined metal or finers' metal, and made from other kinds of either grey or
white crude metal by the process called the finery process, for the purpose of
producing steel or steely iron, as herein-before mentioned.
Third, the admixture and fusion together of malleable bar or scrap iron
with white crude iron of the kind called white pig iron, and by preference
with such as is produced by the employment of charcoal, or other vegetablo
fuel in the smelting thereof in the blast or other furnaces, for the purpose of
producing steel or steely iron, as herein-before mentioned.
Fourth, the admixture and fusion together of malleable bar or scrap iron
with crude refined metal, obtained by other means than that usually adopted
in the ordinary refining process, or by the finery furnace, for the purpose of
-producing steel or steely iron, as, for instance, by the blowing in of atmospheric
air into or below the surface of crude melted metal, for the purpose of
producing steel or steely iron, as herein-before mentioned.
Fifth, the admixture and fusion together of malleable bar or scrap iron
with such white or grey crude metal as may have been produced by any re-

page_text: melting of malleable bar or scrap iron in contact with the fuel in cupola or
other similar furnaces, for the purpose of producing steel or steely iron
as berein-before mentioned.
Sixth, the admixture and fusion together of malleable bar or scrap iron
with grey cru le iron and mottled iron, for the purpose of producing steel or
steely iron as berein-before mentioned.
In witness whereof, 1, the said Charles Attwood, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-two.
CHAS. ATTWOOD. (L.S.)

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Attwood, of Tow Law Iron Works, in the
County of Durham, Iron Master, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PRODUCTION OR MANUFACTURE OF STEEL AND IRON OF A STEELY QUALITY."
Sealed the 15th August 1862, and dated the 15th May 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Attwood at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
May 1862.
I, CHARLES ATTWOOD, of Tow Law Iron Works, in the County of Durham,
Iron Master, do hereby declare the naturo of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OR MANUFACTURE OF STEEL AND IRON OF A STEELY
QUALITY," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the production of steel and of a kind of iron
approximate to steel, and which may be called steely iron, by the simple com-
bination and liquefaction by the means of heat to a degree of sufficient fluidity,
and perfect or nearly perfect interfusion of component parts of certain propor-
tions of malleable iron of such kinds as in themselves are capable of producing
good or servicable steel and steely iron, combined with certain proportions of
certain kinds of non-malleable or crude cast iron, such, for instance, as the
kind usually designated by the German name of spiegel eisen, which are also
by their own nature capable of being mash into good and serviceable steel, by

page_text: which mixture and which liquefaction such materials are brought directly and
at once into the condition of steel or steely iron, as one or other may be
intended, and of such qualities as such several ingredients may according to
their own several superior or inferior qualities or natures, and according to
Aboin coveral proportions, be adapted to afford.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Attwood in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th November 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
ATTWOOD, of Tow Law Iron Works, in the County of Durham, Iron Master, 1
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of May, in the year of. our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Ier heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Attwood, Her special license that I, tho said Charles Attwood,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Attwood, 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 PRODUCTION OR MANUFACTURE OF STEEL AND IRON OP A STEELY QUALITY,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Attwood, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, 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 Charles Attwood, 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 state-
ment, that is to say :-
My Invention essentially consists in the production of steel and of iron of a
quality approximate to steel which may be called steely iron, simply by bringing

page_text: nto a state of liquefaction by means of heat a mixture of malleable iron of
uch kinds as in themselves are capable of producing good or serviceable steel
and steely iron, and of a certain kind or kinds of non-malleable or crude cast
ron, such, for instance, as are usually called spiegel eisen, which are also by
their own nature capable of being made into good and serviceable steel, in
certain proportions to each other, as herein-after specified; by which mixture
and liquefaction of those materials hard steel or soft steel or steeley iron are
respectively produced, according to the different proportions in which such two
several materials or ingredients may be severally employed, such proportions
also requiring to be varied according to the difference in their quality in
respect of the greater quantity of carbon contained in cach, and to their
greater or less tendency in consequence thereof to make such steel or steeley
iron of harder or softer quality.
But in order to more fully describe my said Invention, and the manner in
which it may be most successfully practised or employed, I will now proceed
to describe or specify the kinds and qualities of malleable iron and of crude
cast iron respectively which I employ in mixture as aforesaid, and also the
modes in which the operations may be carried out.
And, first, as it regards such malleable iron it is desirable that it should be
such as by whatsoever method or process it may have been produced has been
as well and uniformly as may be deprived of that excess of carbon which is
the cause of the non-malleable quality in the several kinds of what is commonly
described by the names of pig iron, crude iron, or cast metal. And in this
respect I find such malleable iron as is produced by what is called the
puddling process is, if well and uniformly puddled, very suitable, although if
well and uniformly decarburetted any other sort or kind of malleable iron of
quality in other respects as good, may equally well be employed.
And, secondly, as regards such crude cast metal or cast iron as is to be
employed in such mixture as aforesaid, I bave found the kind best fitted for
my purpose to be that variety of bright and white cast iron of a crystalline and
highly lamellar structure and almost silvery whiteness which is called in
England specular iron, or by its equivalent German name "spiegel eisen," as
that iron is remarkably uniform as respects the proportion of carbon it contains,
and generally of highly superior quality, containing a less proportion than
5 most other sorts of the other matters or ingredients which are injurious to the
quality of malleable iron or steel respectively. And for the fuller information
of persons who may hereafter make use of my Invention, I may mention that
I have not in general found any sensible difference between good samples of
this kind of iron as made in Germany and such as has been made in England,

page_text: or as is or has been made in the United States of North America from an oro
there called Franklinite.
Where excellence and uniformity of quality in the steel or steely irou
intended to be produced is especially desirable, I prefer to use in the working
of my said process or Invention the said specular crude iron or "spiegel
eisen" to any other kind or sort with which I am acquainted.
But I have also found that the description of white cast metal or crude
iron, which is commonly called by English ironmasters "refined metal," as
made from other kinds or sorts of either grey or white crude metal, by the
process which they call the "finery process," in well known kinds of furnaces,
by aid of blast or otherwise, is for the most part pretty nearly in the same
condition in respect of the proportion of carbon contained in it, as such
specular crude iron or "spiegel eisen," and in so far as it may be in other
respects of good quality for steel making generally may be used in substitu-
tion for such specular iron in making steel or steely iron according to my
process. And I have also found that besides such specular iron or "spiegel
eisen," and such refined metal, other sorts of white crude iron in general, such
as that which is frequently produced from ores in the blast furnace smelting
process, which were not too impure in other respects, and therefore unfit in
its own nature for being converted into serviceable steel, may also be used in
substitution for such specular crude iron or "spiegel eisen," although with more
difficulty and uncertainty as to the proportion in which it should be used
from its containing more varying proportions of carbon; and there are some
instances in which such white pig iron where smelted from ores and by
means of fuel of superior purity may, though rarely so uniform in respect of
its proportion of carbon as would be desirable, be used in substitution for such
specular iron in not very dissimilar proportions with great or perhaps equal
or nearly equal advantage. And particularly such white pig iron as is made
by means of charcoal or other vegetable fuel from such ores, as several of
those of Sweden, of India, of Canada, and to a smaller extent of England
may thus be used very serviceably. Crude refined metal which may have
been produced by other means or processes than that of the refinery already
mentioned (as, for instance, by blowing atmospheric air or steain or both into
or under the surface of molton crude iron of any kind), may, wherever it may
have been decarburetted to near about the same degree, as such other refined
metal, be also used in substitution for such specular crude iron in nearly
similar proportions, and in so far as it may be otherwise of equal quality or
purity with the effect of producing steel or steely iron of equal or nearly equal
quality. In like manner it will be found that crude white or grey metal

page_text: bc
produced by the remelting of malleable iron scraps or other malleable iron in
contact with fuel as, for instance, in cupola furnaces, or such as may pro-
duced by so remelting it in contact with fuel in any other manner may also,
in so far as it may have been brought to a nearly similar state as regards
its quantity of carbon to such specular iron may also be used in substitution
for it, in so far as fitness in other respects for making steel of the required
But
quality according to any other method may be found to belong to it.
though I have so far described my said Invention in so far only as relates
to the production of steel or steely iron by melting together into one mass,
certain proportions of white crude or nou-malleable metal of proper quality
with certain proportions of malleable iron, also of proper quality, yet I have
also found that grey crude iron, whether as it comes in that state directly from
the blast furnace, or as it may be produced by any other mode, and even that
the sort of grey iron which is usually called mottled iron, as being visibly
composed of a mixture of crude grey and crude white metal may each of
them, so long as in other respects of a quality good enough for making
serviceable steel by other processes be similarly used in substitution for such
sorts of crude white metal in mixture with malleable iron for making steel
or steely iron according to my process, proper care being taken to use the
same in due proportion to the different quantities of carbon which such grey
or mottled metal may contain, as compared with such sorts of white metal,
but with the disadvantage upon one hand of being liable to supercarbonize
such steel if used in even a small excess of due proportion, and to thereby
injure or destroy its malleability, and also with the disadvantage upon the
other hand of increasing somewhat the difficulty of melting the materials from
the smaller proportionate quantity, in which it may sometimes or generally
have to be employed. And. this account I prefer when using it to take
the less rich kind of such grey iron instead of such as ironmasters usually
describe as number one or number two, but such as is more generally used
in forges for puddling, and even in some cases to take such mottled iron as
containing still less of carbon. And I may here remark that whereas the
specular white metal or speigel eisen is sometimes found to have passed in
the blast furnace, or in certain remelting processes, as by remelting in contact
with the fuel in founders' cupola furnaces into a kind of mixed or mottled
iron, this mixed or mottled iron may also be employed in similar proportions.
And in general would indicate that from six to ten parts of grey crude iron,
with from ninety to ninety-four parts of puddled malleable iron, will make a
soft steel or a steely iron, whilst for making hard steel as much as from thirty
to forty parts of grey crude iron to from sixty to seventy parts of malleable
.on

page_text: iron may be employed. And as regards the proportion, in which white specular
crude metal should be used to the malleable iron in the working of my.
process, I have found that for making soft steel or steely iron, by which last
I mean a kind of steel partaking so far of the nature of iron as to be more
or less readily capable of being welded, that about six or eight parts of such
specular metal to about ninety or ninety-two parts of such malleable iron
may be successfully employed, whilst for making steel of greater hardness,
such, for instance, as is fit for tools for the turning of chilled cast iron rolls,
as much as from thirty to forty parts of such white specular crude metal to
from sixty to seventy parts of such malleable iron may be sometimes used;
but if required for any purpose where still greater hardness is desired or
unobjectionable, as much as nearly fifty parts of such white specular crude
metal to from fifty to sixty parts of malleable iron may sometimes be made
use of without entirely or too far impairing or destroying its malleability, or
rendering it incapable of being forged or rolled. But these proportions may be
varied when using this or other sorts of crude and malleable iron, according
to their own differenco as to their quantities of contained carbon, in order to
produce a steel or steely iron, in which the hardness (which is dependant
mainly on its quantity of carbon) shall be such as in each case is required.
When the refined or finers' metal is employed in carrying out my Invention,
in substitution for the specular crude metals herein before mentioned, such
refined or finers' metal may be employed in the same or nearly the same
proportions to the malleable iron, as herein-before directed with respect to the
specular white crude metal.
In carrying out my said Invention the above described materials are to be
melted into steel or steely iron, either in covered pots or crucibles of such
size as are usually employed in making cast steel by the common methods,
and such pots or crucibles may be used in the ordinary cast steel melting
furnaces, or my materials may be melted in large pots similar or nearly similar
to such as are used by glass makers, but of smaller size, and especially of much
lower height, in order to prevent their bursting by the weight of metal; which
larger pots when such are used may be tapped at their bottoms, if that should
be preferred to their removal from the furnace, as is usual in the case of
smaller pots, or the materials may be melted in an open hearth or chamber
of the furnace itself, and of course in that case in much larger masses than
can well be done in single pots embedded in the fuel in the ordinary furnaces,
and it may be conveniently drawn out by tapping from such hearth or chamber
int ladles or directly into ingots, or other moulds, or may be removed from
such furnaces by any other convenient means that may be preferred, such mode

page_text: of melting my materials in such hearths or chambers of the furnace itself
aving great and special advantages, especially in cases where the metal is
But when my materials are thus
required in large quantities or masses.
meited in such hearths or chambers, they should, as far as may be, be protected
from casual or other contact with the fuel, as it is entirely by contact therewith
that it happens that when melted in common refinery furnaces, or in what
are called founders' cupolas, both steel and malleable iron usually take up or
retain so much of carbon as to always alter the quality of the resulting metal,
if not in every case to render it unnalleable. The materials should therefore
be melted in some one or other of the many sorts of air or blast reverberating
furnaces, in which by due precaution the contact of the metal with the fuel,
or with some portion of it, and with its dust or ashes, as also its contact with
the uncombined oxygen, which may in such cases be injuriously present in
the gases of the furnace may be sufficiently if not totally prevented, and as
I consider furuaces in which blast is used, or air furnaces in which there is
a strong draft of air, are more difficult to be managed in these respects than
is desirable, I prefer and recommend the use of reverberating furnaces, in
which the draft of air into or through its grate and other openings may be
as small as is conveniently practicable, and that it is better to depend for
the production of the high degree of heat required in the heating such furnaces.
in great part or altogether upon the combustion of gases; a point which
persons conversant with such operations and furnaces would easily attain to
and effect by one or more of several simple and easy constructions and con-
trivances.
And with reference to these objects I prefer and recommend the use of
melting furnaces, in which the heat is so drawn from gases constructed
according to the plan or plans now weil known as Siemen's patent furnace
or furnaces, which I regard in the above-mentioned respects as extreme
suitable to be used for making steel by my Invention, whether such stes
is to be melted by the use of pots placed in such furnaces, especially if used
But it will in
without covers, or in an hearth or chamber of such furnaces.
general be found advisable when melting my materials in hearths or chambers
of such furnaces, or in uncovered pots, which may be placed in them, to cover
the materials with a thin or superficial coating of melted glass, which may
5 consists of such broken glass as is obtained from ordinary sheet or crown
glass, or even from common black bottles, both of which are purchaseable
at a low rato under the name of cullet, and either of which will be found both
cheap and suitable.
I further desire to intimate that the crude metal and the malleable iron

page_text: may be mixed in the first instance either cold or after being heated, or one or
both of them, especially the crude metal, may be either entirely or nearly
melted before being mixed with the other material. The steel or steely iron
may be cast when melted into ingots, moulds, or other moulds of any size or
form suitable for the uses for which such metal is intended, or according as
the produce may be intended to be forged or rolled, or otherwise manipulated
in any particular manner, or for any special object.
And I desire it may be also note l, that the addition of scrap steel or steely
iron of suitable or proper quality, whether produced by my process, or
obtained from any other source or means, may be made in larger or smaller
quantities to my materials, not only without any actual or material injury or
disadvantage, but also to the effect of facilitating the fusion thereof by forming
as it were a bath for their more ready liquefaction.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which tho samo 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 tho herein-
beforo in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First, the admixture and fusion together in suitable vessels or apparatus of
malleable bar or scrap iron, and of white specular iron or "spiegel eisen,"
for the purpose of producing steel or steely iron, as herein-before mentioned.
Second, the admixture and fusion together of malleable bar or scrap iron
with that description of white cast metal or crudo iron more commonly called
refined metal or finers' metal, and made from other kinds of either grey or
white crude metal by the process called the finery process, for the purpose of
producing steel or steely iron, as herein-before mentioned.
Third, the admixture and fusion together of malleable bar or scrap iron
with white crude iron of the kind called white pig iron, and by preference
with such as is produced by the employment of charcoal, or other vegetable
fuel in the smelting thereof in the blast or other furnaces, for the purpose of
producing steel or steely iron as herein-before mentioned.
Fourth, the admixture and fusion together of malleable bar or scrap iron
with crude refined metal, obtained by other means than that usually adopted
in the ordinary refining process, or by the finery furnace, for the purpose of
producing steel or steely iron, as for instance by the blowing in of atmospheric
air into or below the surface of crude melted metal, for the purpose of
producing steel or steely iron as herein-before mentioned.
Fifth, the admixture and fusion together of malleable bar or scrap iron
with such white or grey crude metal as may have been produced by any re-