AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST STEEL;
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
VICKERS, of Firs Hill, in the County of York, Steel Manufacturer, send
greeting..
WHEREAS in consequence of a communication from a Foreigner residing
abroad, I am in possession of an Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF CAST STEEL;" and whereas Her present most Excellent
Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of
Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of June,
in the third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant, unto me, the said William Vickers, Her especial license
that I, the said William Vickers, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Vickers, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
"the said Invention ;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said William Vickers, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to
cause the same to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto-had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Vickers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention to consist
in the manufacture of cast steel at one process out of borings or turnings of
wrought iron (a cheap and refuse material not heretofore used for that
purpose), or out of small wrought-iron scraps, such as old horseshoe nails,
broken bits of wire, and the like, by the introduction of oxide of manganese
and carbon.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said William
Vickers, do hereby describe the manner in which the said Invention is to be
performed by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
In order to make cast steel on the said improved plan; the ordinary furnaces
and crucibles, heats and moulds, may be used (I prefer, however, a slightly
increased temperature); but instead of melting in these crucibles broken pieces
of the bar steel commonly called blister steel, as heretofore, from which to
make the cast-steel ingot, I melt the following ingredients together in the
following proportions, that is to say-1. of ordinary wrought-iron turnings or
borings or scraps, 100 lbs.; 2. of black oxide of manganese, 2 lbs.; 3. of best
ground charcoal, 3 lbs., or, instead of the ground charcoal, cast-iron turnings
or borings or other small particles of cast iron may be used, in which case the
following will be the proper proportions, that is to say -1. of ordinary. wrought-
iron borings or turnings or scraps, 100 lbs. ; 2. of black oxide of manganese,
2 lbs. 3 oz., 8. of cast-iron turnings or borings or other such very small
particles of cast iron, 28 lbs. Now. whereas it is evident that the foregoing
proportions may be in both cases susceptible of some slight. variation,
dependent on the quality of the ingredients used, and it is only necessary
further to observe, that if. turnings are used, they should be pounded into
small pieces before they are put into the crucible.
But I claim, as the Invention aforesaid, the manufacturing of cast steel at
one process from borings of wrought iron, or from turnings of wrought iron,
or from wrought-iron small scraps, melted up with. oxide of manganese,
and also with carbon, or with cast-iron turnings or borings, or other such
very small particles of cast iron, instead of. the charcoal, as herein-before
mentioned,
And such Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief, entirely
new, and never before used within that part of Her.said Majesty's United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her said Dominion
of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, nor in any of Her said
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, I do hereby declare this to be my
Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said Specifi-
...

page_text: cation doth comply in all respects fully, and without reserve or disguise, with
the proviso in the said berein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained.
Wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to the
said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Vickers, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twentieth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.
WILLIAM (L.S.) VICKERS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1839, the aforesaid William Vickers came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.