IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING METALS FOR THE PURPOSE OF SEPARATING FROM THEM VARIOUS IMPURITIES OR FOREIGN SUBSTANCES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING METALS
FOR THE PURPOSE OF SEPARATING FROM THEM VARIOUS IMPURITIES OR FOREIGN
SUBSTANCES "A communication from abroad by Norman Cutter,
of Cincinnati, in the State of Ohio, United States of America.
Sealed the 9th March 1869, and dated the 30th September 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William
Edward
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 30th September 1868.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING METALS
FOR THE PURPOSE OF SEPARATING FROM THE VARIOUS IMPURITIES OR FOREIGN
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention is especially adapted to the treatment of iron and
steel for the purpose of removing from them phosphorus, sulphur, and
[Price $d.]

page_text: silicon; it is also useful in reducing and separating the silica or silicon
and other impurities from the ores of gold, silver, and other metals.
In applying the Invention to purifying steel made by blowing air
through the molten metal, cyanide of potassium or other fusible com-
pound containing cyanogen is fused in a suitable vessel in combination
with one
or more metals, together with a compound of sodium or
potassium, as the chloride of sodium, the carbonate of soda, the bi-
carbonate of soda, and the bi-borate of soda, or the carbonate of potassa,
the chloride of potassium, and so forth. The cyanide of potassium is
used by preference with the chloride of sodium, say about ninety parts
of the former and about ten parts of the latter. These ingredients are
fused and brought to a red heat; the metal is then submerged in the
liquid and allowed to remain a few hours so as to thoroughly permeate
the metal; the metal is then removed from the vessel, and what adheres
to it is dissolved off in water. By this means every trace of phosphorus
and sulphur will be extracted, and the metal will not only be purified
and refined to a high degree but converted into steel of the most superior
quality. Iron thus treated will take up from the bath in which it is
heated a small amount of carbon, and is especially adapted to be made
into cast steel by the ordinary process of melting it in crucibles or
pots.
The steel thus made either from iron or the Bessemer metal is found
to be uninjured by such a degree of heat as is required to weld it to
iron, as in the case of welding steel heads upon railroad bars.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th March 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME. I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-

page_text: sors, give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton,
Her special licence that I, the said William Edward Newton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Edward Newton, 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING METALS
FOR THE PURPOSE OF SEPARATING FROM THEM VARIOUS IMPURITIES OR FOREIGN
SUBSTANCES," being a communication from Norman Cutter, of Cincinnati,
in the County of Hamilton, and State of Ohio, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-
This Invention is especially adapted to the treatment of iron and steel
for the purpose of removing from them phosphorus, sulphur, and silicon;
it is also useful in reducing and separating the silicia or silicon and
other impurities from the ores of gold, silver, and other metals.
Heretofore no method has been discovered by which the above-
mentioned impurities, especially phosphorus and sulphur, can be sepa-
rated and taken out of iron and steel except by tedious,
exp nsive,
and destructive analysis of the same, or by decomposing them by
electricity, which destroys them for all purposes except for scientific
experiments.
It is well known that the presence of phosphorus in iron or steel so
impairs the cohesive power of the metals as to almost destroy their
strength, rendering them so brittle that a small force applied to a bar
of metal of this description will break or fracture it when cold, although
it might possess a good degree of strength while heated to a red heat;

page_text: therefore iron and steel containing any considerable quantity of phos
phorus is found to be so brittle as to be almost worthless, and is
technically called "cold-short." The reverse of this takes place when
sulphur is present in iron or steel; then the cohesive power of the
metals when heated to redness is so impaired that when a small force is
applied to it it falls to pieces, and in some cases this occurs even by its
own weight, although it may possess a good degree of strength when
cold.
It will be evident that the great usefulness of iron and steel arises
from its susceptibility of being forged and wrought into various sizes and
forms while heated to a high degree, consequently when any consider-
able quantity of sulphur exists in iron or steel it renders them useless.
It will thus be seen that the effect of the presence of sulphur in iron or
steel when the same are heated is to cause them to fly into fragments
when hammered. This condition is technically called "red-short."
I will now describe the method of treating metals for the purpose of
purifying and refining them as especially applicable to what is called
"Bessemer metal." I first construct a suitable furnace with a proper
vessel set therein in which to treat and fuse the material used for this
purpose, which is the cyanide of potassium or other fusible compound
containing cyanogen combined with one or more metals, together with
one or more of the compounds of sodium or potassium, as the chloride of
sodium, the carbonate of soda, the bi-carbonate of soda, and the bi-borate
of soda, or the carbonate of potassa, the chloride of potassium, and so
forth. The cyanide of potassium is used by preference with the chloride
of sodium, say about ninety parts of the former and about ten parts of the
latter; but I do not wish to confine myself to any definite proportions of
these substances. Into the above-mentioned vessel is put this mixture,
and then apply sufficient heat to the vessel to fuse the material and
bring it to a red heat. I then take the metal and submerge it in the
liquid, and let it remain a sufficient period of time to thoroughly
permeate the metal, which is usually accomplished in a few hours; I
then remove the metal from the vessel and dissolve off in water what
adheres to it. It will then be found (upon heating and working this
metal in the ordinary way) that it has not the character of "cold-short "
or "red-short," shewing that every trace of phosphorus and sulphur
has been extracted, and the metal will not only be purified and refined
to a high degree, but converted into steel of the most superior
quality.

page_text: 33
The foregoing description of the treatment of Bessemer, metal
applies also to the treatment of iron for the purpose of purifying it.
Iron thus treated will not only be purified from phosphorus, sulphur,
and silicon, but it will take up from the bath in which it is heated a
small amount of carbon, and will then be especially adapted to be made
into cast steel by the ordinary process of melting it in crucibles or
pots.
The steel thus made either from iron or the Bessemer metal is found
to be uninjured by such a degree of heat as is required to weld it to iron,
as in the case of welding steel heads upon railroad bars.
Having thus fully described the Invention which has been communi-
cated to me as aforesaid, what I claim therein as new and desire to
secure by Letters Patent is, the treatment and purification of iron, steel,
and other metals in the heated bath of cyanide of potassium or other
fusible compound containing cyanogen combined with
or more
metals, together with one or more of the compounds of sodium or
potassium, as and for the purpose herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)