AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND COMPOSITION FOR HARDENING COMMON OR GREY CAST IRON, AND FOR CONVERTING ARTICLES OF IRON INTO STEEL, OR IMPARTING THERETO A STEELY CHARACTER
Year: 1869

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 "AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND COMPOSITION FOR
HARDENING COMMON OR GREY CAST IRON, AND FOR CONVERTING ARTICLES OF
IRON INTO STEEL, OR IMPARTING THERETO A STEELY CHARACTER."—A
communication from abroad by Byron Wilkinson Nichols, of Canton,
in the State of Ohio, United States of America.
Sealed the 6th May 1869, and dated the 10th May 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 10th May 1869.
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 "AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND COMPOSITION
FOR HARDENING COMMON OR GREY CAST IRON, AND FOR CONVERTING ARTICLES OF
IRON INTO STEEL, OR IMPARTING THERETO A STEELY CHARACTER," to be as
follows:-
In the process of converting iron castings into steel the Inventor

page_text: takes of black oxide of manganese, peroxide of iron, and common resin,
or their chemical equivalents, about in the following proportions, viz.,
twenty-five parts of manganese, fifteen parts of peroxide of iron, and
sixty parts by weight of common resin. The manganese, peroxide of
iron, and resin should be ground or pulverized and intimately mixed.
The whole is then put into a suitable vessel and subjected to a gentle
heat sufficient to melt the resin and to reduce the mixture to a semi-
fluid state. The articles or castings to be converted are then dipped
or plunged into the melted compound, and when withdrawn will be
found to have a coating of the same of the thickness of about one six-
teenth of an inch (more or less). The castings are then placed in
saggars or suitable annealing cases and surrounded with pulverized
charcoal. The annealing cases are then sealed with fire-clay or other
suitable material for excluding the air as perfectly as possible, and are
then submitted to a red heat in an annealing kiln or oven for from one
to ten hours, according to the thickness of the articles operated upon.
For simply hardening castings of common or grey iron the composition
and process are varied somewhat from the foregoing, and are as follows,
viz., the composition consists of black oxide of manganese, twenty
parts (by weight); common salt, ten parts; sulphate of iron, ten parts;
common resin, sixty parts. The resin is first melted in a suitable vessel,
after which the other ingredients are added slowly, carefully stirring and
keeping the vessel over a gentle fire until the mass is thoroughly mixed.
When cold the compound becomes hard, not unlike pitch in appearance.
To harden the iron whatever the form into which it has been previously
cast it is first heated in any convenient way to a red heat; the compound
is then rubbed over its surface thoroughly, after which the iron is again
slowly heated to redness and then plunged into cold water or any of the
solutions commonly known and used for hardening purpose. The last-
named compound is modified as convenience may require by softening
or liquefying it by an addition of fish oil or its equivalent, so that the
heated casting may be plunged into it where it is found more convenient
thus to treat them. The proportions given are such as are regarded
best suited to the purpose set forth, but they may be varied according to
the quality of the iron operated 'upon or the degree of hardness it is
desired to produce.

page_text: 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 10th November, 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 Tenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 makc, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND COMPOSITION FOR HARDENING COMMON OR GREY
CAST IRON AND FOR CONVERTING ARTICLES OF IRON INTO STEEL, OR POR IMPARTING
TO SUCH ARTICLES OF IRON A STEELY CHARACTER," being a communication to
me from abroad by Byron Wilkinson Nichols, of Canton, in the State
of Ohio, United States of America, 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 Scal
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 ascertained in and
by the following statement (that is to say):
:-
In the process of converting iron castings into steel the Inventor
takes of black oxide of manganese, peroxide of iron, and common resin,

page_text: or their chemical equivalents, about the following proportions, viz.,
twenty-five parts of manganese, fifteen parts of peroxide of iron, and
sixty parts (by weight) of common rosin. The manganese, peroxide of
iron, and rosin should be ground or pulverized and intimately mixed.
The whole is then put into a suitable vessel and subjected to a gentle
heat sufficient to melt the rosin and to reduce the mixture to. a semi-
fluid state. The articles or castings to be converted are then dipped or
plunged into the melted compound, and when withdrawn will be found
to have a coating of the same of the thickness of about one-sixteenth of
an inch (more or less). The castings are then placed in saggers or
suitable annealing cases and surrounded with pulverized charcoal. The
annealing cases are then sealed with fire-clay or other suitable material
for excluding the air as perfectly as possible, and are then submitted to
a red heat in an annealing kiln or oven for from one to ten hours,
according to the thickness of the articles to be operated upon.
For simply hardening castings of common or grey iron, the composition
and process are varied somewhat from the foregoing, and are as follows,
viz., the composition consists of black oxide of manganese, twenty
parts (by weight); common salt, ten parts; sulphate of iron, ten parts;
common rosin, sixty parts. The rosin is first melted in a suitable vessel;
after which the other ingredients are added slowly, carefully stirring
and keeping the vessel over a gentle fire until the mass is thoroughly
mixed. When cold the compound becomes hard and not unlike pitch
in appearance. To harden the iron (whatever the form into which it
has been previously cast) it is first heated in any convenient way to a
red heat; the compound is then rubbed over its surface thoroughly, after
which the iron is again slowly heated to redness and then plunged into
cold water or any of the solutions commonly known and used for
hardening purpose. The last named compound is modified as con-
venience may require by softening or liquefying it by an addition of fish
oil or its equivalent, so that the heated castings may be plunged into
it where it is found more convenient thus to treat them. . The pro-
portions given are such as are considered best suited to the purpose set
forth, but they may be varied according to the quality of the iron
operated upon or the degree of hardness it is desired to produce.
What is claimed as new and sought to be secured by Letters Patent is
the employment of the ingredients herein named or their chemical
equivalents in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

page_text: Also, the employment of the peroxides of manganese and iron in
the process of converting into steel articles of iron that have previously
been cast or wrought into the desired form for use.
Also, the employment of a combination of manganese and rosin, as
herein set forth, for hardening iron castings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)