IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR AND IN THE MODE OF MANUFACTURING IRON, STEEL, AND OTHER METALS AND SUBSTANCES, GASEOUS AND SOLID FUEL BEING THERETO APPLIED AS THE HEATING, REDUCING, CEMENTING AND OXIDIZING AGENTS
Year: 1860

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frederic Yates at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th September
1860.
I, FREDERIC YATES, Engineer, of Parliament Street, London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR AND IN THE MODE OF MANUFACTURING IRON, STEEL, AND OTHER METALS AND
SUBSTANCES, GASEOUS AND SOLID FUEL BEING THERETO APPLIED AS THE HEATING,
REDUCING, CEMENTING AND OXIDIZING AGENTS," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist, firstly, in the construction and general
arrangements of furnaces and apparatus, as applicable to the reduction and
cementation of iron, and the reduction and oxidation of other ores, metals,
and substances, as lead, copper, zinc, & prussiate of potash.
Secondly, in the application of gaseous fuel, as the heating, reducing, and
cementing agent conjointly, with solid carbonaceous matter in treating iron
and other metals, ores, and substances.
Thirdly, in an improved oscillating furnace for smelting the products of
reduction, cementation, and oxidation, and for puddling the cast iron.
And fourthly, an improved apparatus for feeding the gas generators or fire-
places for the production of the gaseous fuel, the generators being similar to
those patented by me on the 25th of January 1860, No. 185.
It is well known that many years ago Patents were taken out for the
reduction of iron ores by mixing them with solid carbon and heating them
in retorts.
The furnace I use for the reduction and cementation of iron and other ores
is composed of two upright oval shafts made of refractory materials about
30 feet in height, the bottom part of the shafts being slightly curved towards

page_text: keep up the
the outside or face of the furnace, forming a cooling chamber; the top as well
as the bottom of the shafts is fitted with a double-acting hopper, and doors, so
constructed that ore can be filled in at the top, or the products withdrawn at
the bottom without admitting air into the shafts at either point, or causing
any suspension in the operation. Each shaft is worked with two generators,
these being placed opposite to the longer axis of the oval shafts, the gaseous
fuel from them entering and being burnt or consumed outside and at about
10 feet from the bottom of the shaft. Below the point of combustion and
leading out of the flue, which conveys the chief portion of the gases to the
point of combustion, is a branch flue for admitting a portion of the reducing
agents created in the generators into the interior of the shaft, in order to
establish a slight but constant current, and so to assist and
reducing and cementing action going on in the shaft, where a small portion
of carbon is mixed with the matters to be operated upon. The products
of combustion after circulating round the outside of the shafts pass off through
small flues at the top of them. These products, together with the warm ones
from the inside of the shafts or reducing and cementing chambers, in passing
down a space between the two shafts to the atmosphere, heat the air for the
combustion of the gases by means of a series or nest of cast or wrought-iron
pipes placed perpendicularly in it. The action of the furnace is continuous,
the burden travelling downwards at a given rate according to the nature of
the ores or matters to be treated, or the state in which the products are
required, these being either cemented, reduced, or oxidized, as the case may be.
The furnace for cementing iron into steel is in general arrangement and
construction similar to the one above described. The shaft, however, being of
an oblong section instead of oval, divided horizontally into two parts. The
iron bars to be cemented occupying the upper part, the lower one being devoted
to cooling the steel after it is let down from the upper or cementing chamber.
The top of the cementing chamber is supplied with an air-tight moveable cover.
The burden of iron and carbonaceous matter is supported during the process of
conversion by moveable bars of cast iron. The lower chamber is of cast iron
fitted with a long narrow perpendicular air-tight door for the extraction of the
cemented bars of iron. The furnace has two cementing chambers, and four gas
generators or fire-places. The ignited gases impinge upon the shaft at about
the middle or a little above the cast-iron bearers, which support the burden.
The waste products of combustion pass off similarly to those of the furnace
above described, and perform the same functions in their passage out.
Reducing gases from the generators are also here introduced inside the shaft
for the purpose mentioned above.

page_text: The furnace for melting the reduced or cemented iron metals and substances,
and for puddling pig iron, has a cylindrical or elyptical section, the inside or
body being in form as nearly like a common puddling furnace as possible.
The casing of the body of the furnace is formed of rings of flat iron of unequal
depths fitting with their flat sides close to one another, each alternate ring
having less depth than the adjoining one. These are kept together with bolts
running through them parallel to the long axis of the furnace. The arch for
about 90° is made of fire-brick, and in this part of the body of the furnace is
the working door, the lining is formed of the ordinary refractory slags used in
the common puddling furnace for making the bottom and melted in in like
manner; at either end of the body are round cast iron plates with flanges cast
on at right angles to them for holding the body and its component parts
firmly together. The outside of these flanges rests on friction rollers or other
similar contrivance to allow the body to oscillate freely. The body of the
furnace is supplied with a lever, which is worked by a crank and connecting
rod or other simple means actuated by any motive power. At one end of the
furnace is a circular inlet for the flame, and at the opposite end a circular outlet
for the products of combustion. The fire-place is fixed and stationary, as also
the chimney end; at the latter a heating chamber is affixed, and above or
near this is the chimney, in which are placed iron pipes to heat the air for
burning the gases or flame used for melting the objects placed in the
furnace.
The filling apparatus for supplying the fuel to the gas generators is of iron
of a square, or any other section, and has a conical hopper on its upper side.
This apparatus or box is fitted with a moveable slide working air-tight inside
it. The upper side of this stopper or slide consists of a plate fitting air-tight
against the under side of the top part of the box; on the under part of
the plate or tail of the stopper is a rack, which works into a small pinion
fixed on a shaft working through the sides of the box, thereby enabling the
slide by means of a wheel or handle to move backwards and forwards in
a horizontal plane, and in this way pushing the fuel into the generator, and
keep it air-tight all the time.