IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Davie Morries Stirling, of the Larches,
Camphill, near Birmingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF STEEL."
Sealed the 5th May 1854, and dated the 16th February 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Davie Morries Stirling
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th February 1854.
I, JOHN DAVIE MORRIES STIRLING, of the Larches, Camphill, near Birming-
ham, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF STEEL." to be as follows:-
:
This Invention consists, first, of making steel from cast iron by melting it
with successive quantities of oxides, preferring those of iron, and reducing the
quantity of oxides each time of melting; and the steel thus produced is modified
in its character by melting with zinc, tin, antimony, arsenic, or bismuth, or
with oxides of metals, or with the oxides of the bases of the earths. .
Secondly, the Invention consists of modifying the character of cast steel
made by melting blister steel by melting therewith zinc, tin, antimony, or
bismuth.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Davie Morries Stirling in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th August 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
DAVIE MORRIES STIRLING, of the Larches, Camphill, near Birmingham, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in 'the seventeenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Davie Morries Stirling, Her special licence that I, the said
John Davie Morries Stirling, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Davie Morries Stirling, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Davie Morries Stirling, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 John Davie Morries Stirling, 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):-
This Invention consists, first, of making steel from cast iron by melting it
with successive quantities of oxides, preferring those of iron, and reducing the
quantity of oxides each time of melting; and the steel thus produced is inodified
in its character by melting with zinc, tin, antimony, arsenic, or bismuth, or
with oxides of metals, or with the oxides of the bases of the earths.
Secondly, the .Invention consists of modifying the character of cast steel
made by melting blister steel by melting therewith zinc, tin, antimony, or
bismuth.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed to describe
the manner of performing the same.

page_text: The first part of the Invention consists of melting cast iron in combination
with successive quantities of oxides of iron, or it may be with the carbonates
of the oxides of iron, and the classes or qualities of cast iron preferred are
the mottled and grey pig iron and iron of a steely character, more especially
when made from ores containing manganese. The oxides necessary for
converting a given quantity of cast iron are not. introduced all at one' melting,
but at several meltings, the product in such case being run into ingots or other
forms after each melting, and, when cold, broken to ascertain whether the
degree of change or conversion desired has been arrived at, which will
readily be judged of by a workman acquainted with the quality of cast steel.
The cast iron about to be converted is to be melted in a furnace, preferring
an air or reverberatory one, or in a crucible, and the oxides, crushed or in
a state of powder, are to be stirred in till well incorporated or mixed, and
the heat is to be continued or raised, if necessary, till the oxide be decom-
posed, and till the whole be quite fluid. The charge is then to be run into
moulds, and allowed to become cold; and I have found that from seven
to about five per cent. of the oxides is a suitable quantity for the first melting,
and a less and less per-centage of the oxides is to be added for the succeeding
meltings, till the appearance of an ingot, when broken, indicates that the degree
of change desired from cast iron to cast steel has been obtained. The descrip-
tion of oxides of iron which are preferred are magnetic iron and hæmatite ores,
but other oxides of iron may be used, and such iron ores as contain oxides
of iron and manganese tolerably pure, and without much foreign matter, are
suitable."
very
In the successive meltings above mentioned, or in some of them, oxides of
other matters may be used, in order to produce peculiar effects, such as oxides
of tin, antimony, arsenic, bismuth, or the metals themselves, or the oxides of
the bases of the earths, or of the alkaline bases, may be employed; but the
quantities of these metals or of their oxides, or of the oxides of the earths, or of
the alkaline bases, which can be used, are exceedingly small, and I consider
from one to half a per cent. rather a large proportion. In like manner cast
steel made in the ordinary manner may be modified in its character by being
melted with the oxides or matters last above mentioned, and the effects which
these matters have in modifying the character of the steel are as follow:-
Zine, its oxides and suitable combinations, strengthening or toughening, closing
the grain, and brightening the lustre, from th to th. Tin, its oxides and
suitable combinations, giving increased hardness and closer grain, from a both
to a roth. Antimony, arsenic, bismuth, their oxides and suitable combina-
tions, producing effects analogous to those produced by tin, and in about the

page_text: same proportions. Calcium, its oxides (lime), and suitable combinations,
softening and toughening from ath to a 16th. The other earthy and
alkaline bases, their oxides and suitable combinations, are also employed in
similar quantities, and in the same way as lime. I have named what I have
found and believe to be the most suitable proportions of the oxides of iron, of
other oxides, and metals, but I do not confine myself thereto..
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the quantities or details here described; but what I claim is,-
. The manufacture of cast steel by melting cast iron with successive quantities
of oxides of iron.
And I also claim the use of the other matters herein described in modifying
the character of cast steel.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Davie Morries Stirling, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
J. D. MORRIES STIRLING. (L.S.)
Witness,
J. HOWARTH,
Butler to Mr. Morries Stirling.