A NEW PROCESS FOR MAKING STEEL
Year: 1825

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
MACINTOSH, of Crossbasket, in the County of Lanark, in Scotland, Esquire,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Fourth, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourteenth day of May now last past,
did give and grant unto me, the said Charles Macintosh, His especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles Macintosh, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Charles
Macintosh, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and all times thereafter during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of
A NEW PROCESS FOR MAKING STEEL;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said Charles Macintosh, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
.

page_text: after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Macintosh, declare my said Invention to consist in bringing such
gases or vapours as contain and are capable of imparting carbon into contact
with malleable iron at an elevated temperature, by which means steel is
formed more effectually and expeditiously than by the means hitherto used
in the manufacture of steel.
in
By this Invention every kind of malleable iron may be converted into steel,
but the quality of the steel will be more or less perfect, according to the
quality of the iron so combined with carbon. The gases or vapours suitable
for this purpose may be those obtained by the well-known means of producing
gas by the distillation or decomposition of pit coal, oil, or such other substances,
whether of a mineral, vegetable, or animal kind, as are capable of affording
carburetted hydrogen in its various forms; but I claim as my Invention the
employment of all gases or vapours of the kind above specified, in whatever
way produced, my Invention consisting in bringing such gases or vapours
contact with malleable iron at a high temperature, and which may be accom-
plished by the meaus hereafter specified, as employed by me in preference.
The tubes, pots, or chests, or whatever other kinds of vessels may be used for
containing the iron to be converted into steel, may be of any convenient form,
but must be composed of such materials as are capable of enduring an elevated
temperature, and yet remain almost or altogether air-tight. I give a
preference to vessels made of such materials as are used in making crucibles
or glasshouse pots, and other utensils that are intended to endure high degrees
of heat; but with a view more effectually to prevent any loss of gas or vapour
by the cracking of the vessel, a cylinder, or other vessel of malleable iron,
lined internally with such substances as have been already mentioned, and
protected from the direct action of the fire by a casing of firebrick, may be
used if thought necessary. The vessel so constructed must have one or more
openings for the introduction of the iron, capable of being completely shut,
and also fitted with such tubes and stopcocks as may be found necessary for
the introduction and escape of the gases or vapours, or of such materials as are
capable of affording such gases or vapours by being let into the vessel. The
process I use is as follows:-Let a vessel or vessels, as above described, be
placed in a suitable furnace, and, having introduced the necessary quantity of
iron, shut the opening made use of; for this purpose a fire being applied, the
temperature of the vessel is to be raised to a bright white heat. Convey

page_text: gas
through a proper aperture or apertures in the said vessel a portion of
or vapour, or such substances as are resolvable into the gases or vapours
before specified, and let this be continued, taking care to provide for the
escape of such portion of the gas or vapour as shall already have served its
purpose. The temperature of the vessel, and an uniform supply of the
materials being kept up, the iron will in time be converted into steel, and
this may be determined by the attendant operator, who may find it neces-
sary to withdraw from time to time a portion of the product, in order to
examine whether it has been sufficiently converted.
In witness whereof I, the said Charles Macintosh, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of October, in the year
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
said Charles Macintosh, in the
presence of
CHARLES (L.s.) MACINTOSH.
MALCOM M'COIG,
Of the City of Glasgow,
in the County of Lanark,
in North Britain.
Charles Denny, of the City of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, in North
Britain, maketh oath, and saith, that the annexed Deed Poll, Instrument, or
Specification,was signed, sealed, and in due form of law delivered, by Charles
Macintosh,of Crossbasket, in the County of Lanark, Esquire, the party thereto,
in the presence of Malcolm M'Coig, of the said City of Glasgow, and of him,
this Deponent, and saith, that the name or character "Charles Macintosh,"
set and subscribed opposite the seal affixed to the foot of the said annexed
Deed Poll, Instrument, or Specification,as the party executing the same, is of
proper handwriting of the said Charles Macintosh; and that the names
or characters "Malcom M'Coig" and "Charles Denny," thereto also set and
subscribed as witnesses to the execution thereof, bythesaid CharlesMacintosh,
the

page_text: are of the respective proper handswriting of the said Malcom M'Coig and of
this Deponent.