IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Gilbert Martien, of Newark, New Jersey,
United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
Sealed the 11th March 1856, and dated the 15th September 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Gilbert Martien at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th September 1855.
I, JOSEPH GILBERT MARTIEN, of Newark, New Jersey, United States of
America, but now residing in London, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL" to be as
follows; and consists in the application of atmospheric air by mechanical
pressure, or of water, vapour of water, or steam (more especially steam),
for the better purification of the liquid or melted metal, and below the sur-
face of the said metal, as it comes from a blast or smelting furnace, as also
from a refining or finery fire; the air and steam to be applied in their
natural or heated state, together or separately, as may be desired, and in such
manner as to completely penetrate and search every part of the said metal as
it comes or after it has flowed from a blast or smelting furnace, and prior to
the congelation of the said liquid or melted metal in the form of pigs or
otherwise. It may be necessary under some circumstances to continue the
heat for a time to the liquid or melted metal, for the more effectual treatment

page_text: by the action of atmospheric air, water, vapours of water, or steam, or either,
in the manner above stated. In treating the liquid or melted metal as stated,
either as it directly comes from a blast furnace or from a finery fire, it is
left in the form of pigs, plates, or in a granulated state, as may be desired; or
it may be conducted after such treatment directly and without material loss
of heat to a reverberatory or other furnace or furnaces, and there subjected
to intense heat and manipulation, and speedily converted into balls of malleable
metal of iron and steel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Gilbert Martien in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th March 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
GILBERT MARTIEN, of Newark, New Jersey, United States of America, but
now residing in London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Gilbert Martien, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph
Gilbert Martien, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Joseph Gilbert Martien, 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 AND STEEL," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Gilbert Martien, 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 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 Joseph Gilbert Martien, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:—

page_text: This Invention has for its object the purifying iron when in the liquid state
from a blast furnace, or from a refinery furnace, by means of atmospheric air,
or of steam, or vapour of water applied below, and so that it may rise up
amongst and completely penetrate and search every part of the metal prior to
the congelation, or before such liquid metal is allowed to set, or prior to its
being run into a reverberatory furnace in order to its being subjected to
puddling, by which means the manufacture of wrought iron by puddling such
purified cast iron, and also the manufacture of steel therefrom in the ordinary
manner, are improved.
.
In carrying out my Invention, in place of allowing the melted iron from a
blast furnace simply to flow in the ordinary gutter or channel to the bed or
moulds, or to refinery or puddling furnaces, in the ordinary manner, I employ
channels or gutters, so arranged that numerous streams of air, or of steam, or
vapour of water may be passed through and amongst the melted metal as it
flows from a blast furnace.
I prefer, in carrying out my Invention, that the ordinary process of refining
iron by the use of a refinery furnace should be dispensed with, and that the
purifying of the iron should be accomplished by subjecting the melted iron
from a blast furnace before it is allowed to congeal to the action of streanis of
air or of steam passed up through and amongst the melted metal; at the
same time I would state, that where it is preferred by others still to resort to
the ordinary refinery process by remelting, then my Invention is to be applied
to the melted metal as it flows from such furnace to a bed or moulds, in like
manner to what I will now describe as applicable to a blast furnace. The
channel or gutter employed may be of any suitable material; but I prefer it to
be of cast iron, the bottom part being made hollow to receive steam or air, or
both. This gutter is perforated with numerous holes, which I prefer to be
inclined, so that the streams of air or steam may be forced through the melted
metal (as it flows along the gutter) in an oblique direction, but, by preference,
in the direction in which the metal flows. This, however, is not essential, as
the streams of air or steam may be passed directly up through the melted
metal, or the holes may be inclined in the opposite direction, so as to oppose
the flow of the melted metal. When hot blast or cold blast is used, I prefer
to connect the hollow bottom of the gutter with the air pipes used for supplying
the blast, and when steam is employed I connect the hollow bottom of the
gutter with the boiler used. By these means, the air or steam introduced in
the hollow bottom of the gutter below the metal will rise up and be forced
through it in numerous streams; or, in place of the gutter being the means
of applying streams of air below the fluid iron as it comes from a blast

page_text: furnace, the moulds or bed into which the melted iron is received may be
arranged with means for introducing air or steam below the melted iron, and
to divide such air or steam into numerous streams, so that the iron may be
purified thereby after it has come from the blast furnace and before the con-
gelation of the liquid metal takes place.
The gutter or channel above mentioned may be covered over for any part
of its length, and it may be arranged in a suitable manner to admit of heat
being applied to the metal therein; and such is also the case with respect to
the moulds or bed, in order that heat may be continued to the fluid metal
after it has left the blast furnace, and whilst the process above described of
purifying the metal is going on. The iron thus purified may be allowed to
cool in the moulds, or it may be run from the gutter, channel, or receiver
into a reverberatory or suitable furnace, to be highly heated therein, and may
be puddled in the ordinary manner.
I would remark that I am aware that it has before been proposed to
use streams of steam in puddling and refinery furnaces in such manner as to
come in contact with the surface of the melted metal therein, and it has also
been proposed to introduce steam below melted iron when puddling the
same. And I mention these cases in order to state that I make no claim
thereto; but what I claim is, the purifying iron from a blast furnace or a
refinery furnace whilst still in a melted state, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Gilbert Martien, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred & fifty-six.
Witness,
JOHN AVERY,
32, Essex Street, Strand,
Patent Agent.
J. G. MARTIEN. (L.S.)