IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON.
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Cowper, of 20, Southampton Build-
ings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
IRON. A communication.
Sealed the 20th October 1853, and dated the 26th May 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Cowper at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th May 1853.
I, CHARLES COWPER, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
follows:-
The iron ores are smelted with schist, or a mixture of schist and coal
or coke, in lieu of with coal or coke only. Or a mixture of schist with
both coal and coke may be employed. By this means the rich ores
which are now frequently mixed with poorer ones, to adapt them for
being smelted, may be smelted without such admixture, as the siliceous
or other earthy ingredients of the schist produce a sufficient quantity
of slag to serve as a substitute for that which would otherwise be
Limestone, or any
supplied by the earthy matter of the poor ores.
other ordinary flux, may be employed with the schist.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Cowper in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 25th November 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
CHARLES COWPER, of 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Charles Cowper, Her special licence that I, the
said Charles Cowper, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Charles Cowper, my executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein ex-
pressed, 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," communicated to me from abroad, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Cowper, by an in-
strument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly de-
scribe 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 Charles Cowper, do hereby de-
clare 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 ordinary mode of manufacturing iron from the ore it is
usual to charge the blast furnace with a mixture of coal or coke, and
limestone, and ironstone, or other ore of iron; and if a very rich ore of
iron is to be so treated, it is usual to mix it with poorer ores or iron-
stones, so as to produce a proper quantity and quality of slag from

page_text: the combination of the lime with the silica and alumina, and other
impurities in the ore.
Now this Invention consists in manufacturing iron by charging the
blast furnace with a mixture of iron ore and lime or limestone with
schist and coal or coke, so that the silica and alumina, or other impu-
rities required for forming slag with the lime, may be derived in a
great measure from the schist instead of from the ore. The relative
quantities of the schist and other materials must be proportioned in
each case according to the quality of the schist, and the nature of
the ores to be snielted, and the quality of iron required to be pro-
duced, and the best proportions can therefore only be ascertained
by experiment in each case, although an analysis of the schist
and other materials will serve as a guide to indicate the proportions
approximatively. The carbonaceous shale or schist, which is found in
considerable quantity in coal mines, and which is now of little or no
use, may thus be turned to account; and by smelting the rich ores in
this manner, without the addition of poor ores, a larger daily produce
of iron may be obtained from a furnace than when it is charged with
the poorer ores or ironstones.
Having now described the nature of the Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that
what I claim is, the application of schist in the manufacture of iron
from its ores, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Cowper, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of November,
Eighteen hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
FREDERIC JOSEPH CLOWES,
Cold Harbour Lane,
Camberwell.
CHARLES COWPER. (L.S.)