A CEMENTING POWDER OR MIXTURE, AND PROCESS FOR CEMENTING, CONVERTING, REPINING, STRENGTHENING, AND STEELIFYING IRON
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, E.C., Patent Agent, for the Invention of "A
CEMENTING POWDER OR MIXTURE, AND PROCESS FOR CEMENTING, CONVERTING,
REPINING, STRENGTHENING, AND STEELIFYING IRON."-A communication from
abroad by Job Johnson, of East Brooklyn, Long Island, in the State of
New York
Sealed the 4th January 1860, and dated the 4th July 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 4th July 1859.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, E.C., Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "A CEMENTING POWDER OR MIXTUBE, AND PROCESS FOR CEMENTING, CON-
VERTING, REFINING, STRENGTHENING, AND STEELIFYING IRON," (communicated to
me from abroad by Job Johnson, of East Brooklyn, Long Island, in the State
of New York), to be as follows:-
I take quick or caustic lime, free from earthy or foreign substances, and add
to it an equal quantity of bone dust or baked bones finely divided, and a like
quantity of charcoal, of which I prefer oak. I then mix these ingredients

page_text: intimately, and expose them to the influence of the weather for one, two, or
more days, according to the hygrometric condition of the atmosphere, dry
weather being most favorable. I then take any convenient form of cementing
or converting furnace of brick, iron, or other material, and commence by
spreading a layer of the mixture on the bottom, and interstratify the articles
of iron to be operated upon with the mixture till the furnace is charged, taking
care to assort the various articles, so as to insure the required uniformity of
I then close and lute with fire clay, so as to prevent access of air
and apply heat externally, testing from time to time by means of trial pieces,
which can be removed at pleasure. When I find that the process has well
commenced, I study to regulate the external heat, so as to preserve an equable
and not too elevated temperature. By this means and process I am enabled
to give to iron entirely new properties and qualities, as well as to convert, or
partially convert it, into steel at pleasure. Iron subjected to this treatment
assumes great rigidity and hardness without losing its property of malleability
and ductility. Shafting, piston rods, axles, journals, and such like, may be
hardened and strengthened by an exterior coating of steel, possessing all the
In
properties of cast steel, whilst the interior retains all its fibrous structure.
like manner, railway bars, wheels, chains, anchors, anvils, and large articles
generally may be hardened and strengthened to any required extent, whilst
smaller articles, such as axes, hammers, files, rivets, wire rods, horse shoes,
keys, &c., may be finished in irou and then converted, or partially con-
verted into steel, without impairing their forms or requiring reconstruction.
This process also gives to iron the property of resisting oxidation in a high
degree, and amongst other things is most important in its application in
preparing plates for ship building, boilers, bridges, and other like purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 4th January 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, E.C., Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of July in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,

page_text: did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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
"A CEMENTING POWDER OR MIXTURE, AND PROCESS FOR CEMENTING, CONVERTING,
REPINING, STRENGTHENING, AND STEEL FING IRON," (communicated to me from
abroad by Job Johnson, of East Brooklyn, Long Island, in the State of New
York,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Archibald
Brooman, 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 Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 :-
I take quick or caustic lime, free from earthy or foreign substances, and add
to it an equal quantity of bone dust or baked bones finely divided, and a like
I then mix these ingredients
quantity of charcoal, of which I prefer onk.
intimately, and expose them to the influence of the weather for one, two, or more
days, according to the hygrometric condition of the atmosphere, dry weather
being most favorable. I then take any convenient form of cementing or con-
verting furnace, of brick, iron, or other material, and commence by spreading
a layer of the mixture on the bottom, and interstratify the articles of iron to
be operated upon with the mixture till the furnace is charged, taking care to
assort the various articles, so as to insure the required uniformity of treatment.
I then close and lute with fire clay, so as to prevent access of air, and apply
heat externally, testing from time to time by means of trial pieces, which can
be removed at pleasure. When I find that the process has well commenced,
I study to regulate the external heat, so as to preserve an equable and nut
too elevated a temperature. By this means and process I am enabled to give to
iron entirely new properties and qualities, as well as to convert or partially

page_text: convert, it into steel at pleasure. Iron, subjected to this treatment, assumes
great rigidity and hardness without losing its property of malleability and duc-
tility. Shafting, piston rods, axles, journals, and such like, may be hardened
and strengthened by an exterior coating of steel, possessing all the properties of
cast steel, whilst the interior retains all its fibrous structure.
In like manner,
railway bars, wheels, chains, anchors, anvils, and large articles generally may
be hardened and strengthened to any required extent, whilst smaller articles,
such as axes, hammers, files, rivets, wire rods, horse shoes, keys, &c., may be
finished in iron, and then converted, or partially converted, into steel, without
impairing their forms or requiring reconstruction. This process also gives to
iron the property of resisting oxidation in a high degree, and amongst other
things is most important in its application in preparing plates for ship building,
boilers, bridges, and other liko purposes.
The Inventor states he believes the rationale of the process to be capable of
explanation upon well-known scientific facts and grounds; the important part
that carbon plays in the conversion of iron into steel is at the bottom of all
existing modes of operating, and in making use of quicklime, he has discovered
a ready means of fixing this element in its purest and most convenient form,
namely, the absorption of carbonic acid from the atmosphere; at all events he
finds that no other substance with which he is acquainted is capable of
supplying this agent with such successful results, and lime, therefore, in its
purest and most active condition is an essential ingredient of this process.
The Inventor further states that it is a well known fact that the Danemora
iron of Sweden, which furnishes the best steel, contains a notable quantity of
phosphorus, to such an extent indeed, that when bent or twisted at a dull red
heat, it gives out a strong odour of phosphorus. From this and other facts,
Brande and other practical chemists maintain that the presence of phosphorus
is essential to the production of first-rate steel, and the Inventor's own
experience leads him to the same conclusion. For this reason he adds to the
mixture bone dust, in which the phosphorus exists in the form of basic
phosphate, and either enters into combination with the iron, or by catalytic
action aids in accomplishing the desired result. It is deserving of notice that
the mixture may be used again and again, caro being taken to expose it to the
influence of the atmosphere after every operation, in order that the carbonic
acid may be restored. Lime is usually added.
I do not limit myself to any definite proportions of lime, bone dust, and
charcoal, but vary them according to the nature of the operations and the
desired results.

page_text: And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the cementing
powder or mixture produced by the combination of lime, bone dust, and char-
coal, and the employment of such powder or mixture in the manner and for
the purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of January One thousand
eight hundred and sixty.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.B.)