AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL." IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Mushet, of Coleford, in the County of
Gloucester, Metallurgist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
Sealed the 15th November 1859, and dated the 3rd June 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Mushet at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd June 1859.
I, ROBERT MUSHET, of Coleford, in the County of Gloucester, Metallurgist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in adding to cast iron, or refined iron, which has been
charged into the puddling furnace, an alloy of iron, carbon, and manganese,
for the purpose of improving the quality of the products obtained, whether it
is intended to puddle the charge of pig or cast iron or refined iron into iron
or into steel.
In carrying my Invention into effect, I proceed in the following manner :-
The puddling furnace is charged in the usual manner, with a convenient weight
of pig iron, cast iron, or refined iron, or any mixtures of these. The charge of
iron is thus melted, and brought into the boiling state in the ordinary manner.
When the boiling stage of the puddling process has been so long continued
that the cast iron is about to pass into the condition of granules of steel or

page_text: iron, and is still fluid, I pour into the boiling mass of iron a quantity of melted
compound of iron, carbon, and manganese, amounting to from three per centum
to fifteen per centum by weight of the weight of the pig or cast iron, or
refined iron charged into the puddling furnace; and I thoroughly incorporate
the said melted alloy with the melted iron in the puddling furnace, for which
purpose the workman stirs and agitates the mixture with the ordinary puddling
tools. The operation is further conducted in the usual manner practised by
puddiers, whether their object be to obtain puddled steel or puddled iron.
I do not confine myself to the proportions described, as the proportions may be
varied without departing from the nature of my Invention.
The compound of iron, carbon, and manganese may be added in the solid
state instead of in a melted state along with the charge of pig or cast
iron in the puddling furnace, and melted therewith; or it may be added in
the solid state subsequently, and melted down and combined with the rest of
the charge; but I, nevertheless, prefer to add the said compound to the pig
or cast iron in the melted state, and during that stage of the puddling process
known as the "boil," and shortly before the charge of cast iron begins to pass
into the malleable state, technically termed coming to nature. The compound
of iron, carbon, and manganese which I prefer to use is the white crystalline.
pig iron metal obtained from spathose or other iron ores, containing besides
iron a large proportion of manganese, by smelting them in a blast furnace
with charcoal or coke fuel, and which is called "spiegel" eisen" in Rhenish
Prussia, where this compound is manufactured. This white crystalline
compound contains from one to eight per centum of manganese, the remainder
consists chiefly of iron and carbon; but the said compound may be obtained
by any other convenient method. I prefer to use that white crystalline iron
which contains a large alloy of manganese. The charge of the puddling
furnace, after the addition of the triple compound of iron, carbon, and man-
ganese, is treated in the usual manner practised for converting cast iron into
steel or malleable iron by the process of puddling.
.
The essence of my Invention consists in the addition of a metallic compound
of iron, carbon, and manganese to cast iron, charged into the puddling furnace,
so as to combine and incorporate a portion of metallic manganese during
the process of puddling with the said cast iron charged into the puddling
furnace, in order thereby to obtain an improved product, whether of steel or
of iron, according as it is intended to puddle the charge of cast iron into steel
or into iron.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Mushet in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st December 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
MUSHET, of Coleford, in the County of Gloucester, Metallurgist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Robert Mushet, Her special licence that I, the said Robert
Mushet, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Robert Mushet my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and 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 " AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Mushet, 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 I, the said Robert Mushet, 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 follow-
ing statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in adding to cast iron or refined iron which has
been charged into the puddling furnace an alloy of iron, carbon, and man-
ganese for the purpose of improving the quality of the products obtained,
whether it is intended to puddle the charge of pig or cast iron, or refined
iron, into malleable iron or steel. In carrying my Invention into effect I.
proceed in the following manuer :-
The puddling furnace is charged in the usual manner with a convenient
weight of pig iron, cast iron, or refined iron, or any mixtures of these. The
charge of iron is melted and brought into the boiling state in the ordinary
manner. When the boiling stage of the puddling process has been so long

page_text: continued that the cast iron is about to pass into the condition of granules of
steel or iron and is still fluid, I pour into the boiling mass of iron a quantity
of a melted compound of iron, carbon, and manganese, amounting to from
three per centum to fifteen per centum by weight of the weight of the pig
or cast iron or refined iron charged into the puddling furnace, and I thoroughly
incorporate the said melted alloy with the melted iron in the puddling furnace,
for which purpose the workman stirs and agitates the mixture with the ordinary
puddling tools. The operation is further conducted in the usual manner
practised by puddlers, whether their object be to obtain puddled steel or
puddled iron. I do not confine myself to the proportions described, as the
proportions may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention.
The compound of iron, carbon, and manganese, may be added in the solid
state instead of in a melted state, the said compound when used solid being
added along with the charge of pig or cast iron in the puddling furnace and
melted therewith, or the said compound may be added in the solid state
subsequent to the charging of the furnace with the iron, and melted down and
combined with the rest of the charge; but I nevertheless prefer to add the
said compound to the pig or cast iron in the melted state, and during that
stage of the puddling process known as the "boil" and shortly before the
charge of cast iron begins to pass into the malleable state technically termed
coming to nature. The compound of iron, carbon, and manganese, which I
prefer to use is the white crystalline pig iron metal obtained from spathose,
or other iron ores containing besides iron a large proportion of manganese, by
smelting them in a blast furnace with charcoal or coke fuel, and which is
called "spiegel eisen" in Rhenish Prussia, where this compound is mauu-
factured. This white crystalline compound contains from one to eight per
centum of manganese, the remainder consisting chiefly of iron and carbon;
I
but the said compound may be obtained by any other convenient method.
prefer to use that white crystalline cast iron which contains a large alloy of
manganese. I prepare the compound of iron, carbon, and manganese, for my
process by melting it in crucibles or melting pots, or on the large scale I
prefer to melt it in an air furnace, and when melted, the requisite quantity
of the said compound is tapped into a ladle, which is then emptied into the
puddling furnace amongst the boiling iron. When the puddling furnace is
charged with 400 lbs. of pig or cast iron, and this charge is melted down and
brought into the boiling state, I pour from forty to sixty pounds of the melted
compound of iron, carbon, and manganese into a ladle, and I then empty the
contents of the ladle into the puddling furnace and amongst the boiling iron.
The mixture is then well stirred with a rabble, and the puddling operation is

page_text: continued in the usual manner. The melted compound of iron, carbon, and
manganese may be introduced into the puddling furnace at any time during
the continuance of what is technically termed the "boil," but I prefer to
introduce the said melted compound when the cast iron has been so far boiled,
and thereby decarbonized, as to be about to pass into the state of steel or
malleable iron, but I sometimes introduce the said melted compound of iron,
carbon, and manganese at an earlier period of the "boiling" stage. The charge
of the puddling furnace, after the addition of the triple compound of iron,
carbon, and manganese, is treated in the usual manner practised for converting
cast iron into steel or malleable iron by the process of puddling.
The essence of my Invention consists in the addition of a metallic compound
of iron, carbon, and manganese, to cast iron charged into the puddling furnace,
in order thereby to obtain an improved product, whether of steel or of malleable
iron according as it is intended to puddle the charge of cast iron into steel
or into malleable iron.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Mushet, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witnesses,
EDw". M. MUSHET,
Coleford, Gloucestershire.
BROOKLYN MUSHET,
Coleford, Gloucestershire.
ROB. MUSHET. (L.S.)