IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Palmer Budd, of Ystalyfera, near Swansea,
in the County of Glamorgan, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Palmer Budd
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th November 1869.
I, JAMES PALMER BUDD, of Ystalyfera, near Swansea, in the County
of Glamorgan, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON," to be as follows:-
In the Specification of a Patent granted to me, and dated 8th March
1869, No. 699, I describe the process of preparing molten iron for
puddling by refining it in shallow vessels by means of nitrate of soda,
hematite ore, or other oxide of iron, or either of these materials separately,
a paste being made of them with water, which is to be dried on the
bottom and sides of the iron moulds into which the fluid iron is run.
The object to be attained by making the material into a paste is to
retain it on the bottom and sides and allow of the iron running over it,

page_text: otherwise from the smaller specific gravity of these materials compared
with iron, especially when they are pulverized, they would float on the
surface of the flowing metal and produce little effect. I have found
however that the materials employed in the refining process, such as.
nitrate of soda, oxide of manganese, the oxide of iron called purple ore,
hydrated and other hematites, spathoze ore, and similar substances
yielding oxygen can be used in a loose state in the bottom of shallow
moulds without being made into a paste if they are well rabbled into
and mixed with the fluid iron whilst flowing into them, and that when
so mixed together a similar effect is produced as when the fluid iron
runs over the same substances adhering as a paste to the bottom and
sides of the receiving vessel; and with this modification a greater
quantity of these materials can be employed and a greater depth of
iron can be run into the moulds than when the same materials are
employed as a paste.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Palmer Budd in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I, JAMES
PALMER BUDD, of Ystalyfera, near Swansea, in the County of
Glamorgan, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, in the year
of our Lord One. thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Palmer Budd, Her special licence
that I, the said James Palmer Budd, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Palmer Budd, 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
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James Palmer Budd, my executors or administrators, by

page_text: 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 James Palmer Budd, 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 :-
In the Specification of a Patent granted to me, and dated 8th March
1869, No. 699, I describe the process of preparing molten iron for
puddling by refining it in shallow vessels by means of nitrate of soda,
hematite ore, or other oxide of iron, or either of theso materials
separately, a paste being made of them with water, which is to be dried
on the bottom and sides of the iron moulds into which the fluid iron is
run. The object to be attained by making the material into a paste is
to retain it on the bottom and sides and allow of the iron running over.
it, otherwise from the smaller specific gravity of these materials com-
pared with iron, especially when they are pulverized, they would float on
the surface of the flowing metal and produce little effect. I have found,
however, that the materials employed in the refining process, such as
nitrate of soda, oxide of manganese, the oxide of iron called purple ore,
hydrated and other hematites, spathozo ore, and similar substances
yielding oxygen can be used in a loose state in the bottom of shallow
moulds without being made into a paste if they are well rabbled into and
mixed with the fluid iron whilst flowing into them, and that when so
mixed together a similar effect is produced as when the fluid iron runs
over the same substances, adhering as a paste to the bottom and sides
of the receiving vessel; and with this modification a greater quantity
of these materials can be employed and a greater depth of iron can be
run into the moulds than when the same materials are employed as a
paste.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the method in which
I prefer to conduct the manufacture.
+
I cause cast iron as it is tapped from a blast furnace to run into cast-
iron moulds or pans of about the same dimensions as to length and

page_text: breadth as those described as most convenient in the Complete Specifica-
tion of my former Patent of the 8th of May 1869, No. 699 (videliċit,
79" by 2' 2" at the top and 7' 4" by 1'9" at the bottom), but I
increase the depth from four inches to six inches. The object of the
increased depth of the mould is that as the molten iron has to be rabbled
and stirred as it flows into the mould so as to be mixed intimately with
the refining materials it may not splash over the sides of the mould.
The moulds are arranged on the pig bed of the furnace in such manner
that the metal may with as little loss of heat as possible be directed into
them in succession, and so that the workmen may be able conveniently
to stir the metal in the moulds until it sets. I strew the refining
materials loosely in a pulverulent state on the bottoms of the moulds,
laying the materials thicker on the top of the mould where the iron
flows in and thinner at the lower end, as the fluid iron has a tendency
to carry forward with it the loose refining materials. As soon as the
molten cast iron begins to run into the mould a man with a suitable
iron rabble or hoe stirs and mixes it with the loose refining materials.
At first the iron is clogged and becomes pasty, but as the process of
rabbling is continued and the oxides are reduced by contact with the
cast iron there is a restoration of fluidity, and the process of rabbling
and mixing can be continued for a considerable time; it is to be carried
on as long as the iron retains sufficient heat and fluidity to allow of it.
There is considerable agitation and ebullition of the mass during the
process of rabbling, and the plate of refined iron which results when it
is removed from the mould presents a homogeneous appearance and is
honeycombed throughout. The metal is now taken to the puddling
process, which is greatly facilitated by the refining operation to which it
has been subjected. I prefer to puddle it together with about one-third
the quantity of pig iron.
I use as refining material the various oxides of iron, such as the
common hematites, the hydrated hematites, spathic and spathose
iron ores, purple ore, and other such like varities. Sometimes if I
wish to push the refining operation as far. as possible I add to the
above nitrate of soda or nitrate of soda and black oxide of manganese,
or the manganese alone. 1 also vary the quantity of the different
refining materials according to the quality of the cast iron; the greyer or
more carburized the cast cast iron is the greater is the quantity of the
refining material that is required for the process. Generally with
fluid white cast iron I find about sixty pounds of oxide of iron in a

page_text: pulverulent state sufficient to refine the contents of a mould, say, about
fourteen hundred weight of cast iron. Sometimes I use twenty pounds
of nitrate of soda and forty pounds of the oxides of iron to each mould, and
rabble the whole together, as before described. I rarely use the black
oxide of manganese, and then in small proportion, in the mixture.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I
claim is, stirring or rabbling molten cast iron is shallow moulds or pans
with hematite ore, spathose ore, purple ore, or other oxide of iron,
nitrate of soda, oxide of manganese, or other similar oxygen yielding
substances, as above set forth, and puddling the refined metal so
obtained.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Palmer Budd, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
J. PALMER BUDD. (L.S.)