AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING STEEL AND IRON PREPARED BY THE PNEUMATIC PROCESS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Mushet, of Coleford, in the County of
Gloucester, Metallurgist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING STEEL AND IRON PREPARED BY THE PNEUMATIC
PROCESS."
Sealed the 2nd September 1863, and dated the 26th March 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Musbet at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
March 1863.
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 TREATING STEEL AND IRON PREPARED BY THE PNEUMATIC
PROCESS," to be as follows:-
When pig iron or cast iron is treated by the pneumatic process for the
purpose of refining and decarbonizing the said pig iron or cast iron in order
thereby to convert the said pig iron or cast iron into steel or malleable iron it
is usual to add to the said pig iron or cast iron, when decarbonized and in a
melted liquid state, a portion of melted manganesic pig iron, commonly called
spiegel eisen, in order to render the said steel or malleable iron ductile and to
prevent it from cracking when subjected to the action of the rolls or hammers
employed to extend the said steel or malleable iron into sheets, bars, rods, or
other articles. Other alloys of iron with other metals, as, for instance, an
alloy of iron and titanium, or iron and tung-ten, when added in a melted

page_text: state to the said melted steel or malleable iron prepared by the pneumatic
process from pig or cast iron, improve the quality of the said steel or malleable
iron for various purposes. It is desirable to effect the mixture of the said
melted steel or malleable iron and of the manganesic pig iron or spiegel eisen,
or of the alloys of iron and titanium, or of tungsten and iron, as the case may
be, or of these substances jointly, in the most effective manner.
As the process is at present practised it is customary to pour the melted
alloy into the melted steel or malleable iron obtained from the melted pig or
cast iron which has been decarbonized by the pneumatic process, the said
melted steel or malleable iron being contained in the pneumatic vessel or
furnace. Before pouring in the melted alloy, whether spiegel eisen or other
alloy, the pneumatic vessel is turned upon its axis, so that the blast of air
employed can be turned off, and when the melted alloy has been poured into
the melted steel or malleable iron contained in the pneumatic vessel the blast
is again turned on for a short time, in order that the commotion it produces
may mix the melted alloy with the melted steel or malleable iron.
But by
the oxidizing effect of the blast when so employed a portion of the metallic
manganese, tungsten, or titanium contained in the particular alloy employed
is oxidized and combined with the slag, and the beneficial effect of the alloy
or alloys is consequently impaired. In order to avoid this loss or waste of
manganese, tungsten, or titanium, or of these metals jointly, when alloys of all
of them are employed, or separately when only one alloy is used, I proceed as
fallows I employ two pneumatic vessels, and I construct and place the said
pneumatic vessels so that the pig iron or cast iron contained in one of them
may, when decarbonized and in the state of melted steel or malleable iron, be
poured into the other pneumatic vessel, containing likewise a charge of melted
steel or malleable iron prepared by decarbonizing pig or cast iron by the said
pneumatic process. For the sake of brevity and perspicuity I call the upper
pneumatic vessel, whose contents are to be poured into the other or under
pneumatic vessel, "No. 1 vessel," and the other or under pneumatic vessel,
"No. 2 vessel." When the melted pig iron or cast iron contained in each of
the said pneumatic vessels, No. 1 and No. 2, has been decarbonized and is in
the state of melted steel or malleable iron, I add the requisite quantity of the
melted spiegel eisen or other melted alloy which it is intended to employ, to
the melted steel or malleable iron contained in each vessel No. 1 and No. 2,
the blast having been previously withdrawn from each of the said vessels, and
I then pour the melted metallic contents of the No. 1 pneumatic vessel into
the No. 2 pneumatic vessel. The violent agitation and commotion caused by
the melted metal from No. 1 pneumatic vessel falling into the melted metal

page_text: contained in the No. 2 pneumatic vessel will thoroughly intermix the melted
siegel eisen or other melted alloy employed with the melted steel or malleablo
iron, and it will therefore be unnecessary to turn on the blast again in order
to effect a proper mixture of the alloy with the said steel or malleable iron.
In place of introducing the requisite quantity of melted spiegel eisen or other
alloy into each pneumatic vessel separately, the said spiegel eisen or other
alloy may be all introduced into either of the said vessels, and the contents of
No. 1 vessel may then be poured into No. 2 vessel in the manner I have
described. Three or more pneumatic vessels may be employed, and the con-
tents of two such vessels may be poured into a third vessel, the mixture of the
melted spiegel eisen or other alloy with the melted steel or malleable iron
being effected in a manner similar to that I have herein-before described.
When only two pneumatic vessels are employed I am careful to construct the
pneumatic vessel No. 2, into which the contents of No. 1 pneumatic vessel aro
poured, of sufficient capacity to admit of No. 2 vessel, containing its own
charge of melted steel or malleable iron and melted alloy, together with the
charge of melted steel or malleable iron and melted alloy contained in No. 1
vessel, without overflowing the blast orifices or tuyeres when the said No. 2
vessel has been turned upon its axis so as to admit of the blast being with-
drawn. In place of decarbonizing a charge of melted pig or cast iron in each
pneumatic vessel, one of the said vessels only may be thus employed, the other
pneumatic vessel being used as a ladle or mixing receptacle wherein to receive
the charge of melted steel or malleable iron poured from the first-mentioned
vessel, in order to mix tho said melted steel or malleable iron with the melted
spiegel eisen or other melted alloy employed. In this case I shall, for the
sake of brevity and perspicuity, term the first-mentioned pneumatic vessel the
"working pneumatic vessel," and the other pneumatic vessel the "pneumatic
ladle." I fix the "pneumatic ladle" in such a position that the melted con-
tents of the working pneumatic vessel may be poured into the said pneumatic
ladle, and I proceed as follows:-I introduce from five to ten tons, more or
less, of melted pig or cast iron into the working pneumatic vessel, according
to the size of the said vessel, and I treat it in the usual manner, by forcing a
blast of air through the melted pig or cast iron until the said melted pig or
cast iron has been decarbonized and is in the state of melted steel or malleable
iron, and I then withdraw the blast in the usual manner. In the meanwhile
I intensely heat the pneumatic ladle by introducing into it a few hundredweights
of melted pig or cast iron, and decarbonizing the said pig or cast iron in the
said pneumatic ladle by means of a blast of air passed through the said pig or
cast iron. I then withdraw the blast from the pueumatic ladle and introduce

page_text: into the said intensely-heated pneumatic ladle the melted alloy which it is
intended to add to the melted steel or malleable iron in the working pneumatio
vessel; and I then pour the melted steel or malleable iron from the working
pneumatic vessel into the pneumatic ladle containing the melted spiegel eisen
or other alloy employed. The large body of melted steel or malleable iron
falling from the working pneumatic vessel upon the melted spiegel eisen or
other alloy in the pneumatic ladle will become thoroughly incorporated and
mixed with the said melted spiegel eisen or alloy. The melted spiegel eisen
or other alloy may be introduced into the working pneumatic vessel, and the
said alloy and the melted steel or malleable iron contained in the said working
pneumatic vessel may then be thoroughly mixed by pouring both into the
intensely heated pneumatic ladle. In either case the thoroughly-mixed steel
or malleable iron and spiegel eisen or other alloy is to be poured from the
pneumatic ladle into suitable moulds or ladles prepared to receive it in the
usual manner. In place of only one working pneumatic vessel being em-
ployed, two or more may be made use of when very large castings of steel or
malleable iron are required to be produced, and the contents of two or of a
greater number of working pneumatic vessels may be poured into the pneu-
matic ladle in the manner I have herein-before described when one pneumatic
working vessel only is employed.
The essence of my said Invention consists of the improvement or improve-
ments herein-before described, in thoroughly mixing, without the agency and
deteriorating effects of the pneumatic blast, melted spiegel eisen or other
melted alloys, such as alloys of tungsten and iron, or of titanium and iron,
with melted steel or malleable iron prepared by the pneumatic process from
melted pig iron or cast iron, and this I effect either by the use of two pneu-
matic or decarbonizing vessels, both containing melted steel or malleable iron
made by the pneumatic process, to the steel or malleable iron in one or both
of which two vessels the melted spiegel eisen or other melted alloy has been
added, the contents of one vessel being poured into the other vessel, so as to
intimately mix and make the whole of uniform composition. Or by the use
of one working pneumatic vessel, or of two or more working pneumatic vessels,
in which the steel or malleable iron to be operated upon has been produced by
decarbonizing pig or cast iron by the pneumatic process, and another or sup-
plementary pneumatic vessel or pneumatic ladle which, previous to use, has
been intensely heated by having had pig or cast iron decarbonized in it by the
pncuric process, the melted spiegel eisen or other melted alloy with which
the steel or iron in the working pneumatic vessel or vessels is to be mixed
being introduced into and placed in the heated pneumatic ladle, and the

page_text: melted steel or malleable iron in the working pneumatic vessel or vessels
being poured into the pneumatic ladle, and thereby intimately mixed with the
melted spiegel eisen or other melted alloy contained in the said pneumatic
ladle. Or the whole of the melted spiegel eisen or other melted alloy may,
after the blast has been withdrawn, be introduced into one of the said working
vessels, or may be divided amongst two or amongst several such vessels, each
containing melted steel or malleable iron prepared from pig or cast iron by
the pneumatic process, and the contents of the one pneumatic working vessel,
or of the several pneumatic working vessels, may then be poured into the
intensely-heated pneumatic ladle, whereby the melted steel or malleable iron
and the melted spiegel eisen or other melted alloy will, by the commotion of
their particles, become thoroughly and uniformly mixed without the oxidizing
and injurious effect produced when a blast of air is employed to effect a mixturo
of the before-mentioned melted substances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Mushet in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd September 1863.
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 Twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth 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 agreo
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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS
IN TREATING STEEL AND IRON PREPARED BY THE PNEUMATIC PROCESS," 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 scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and causo

page_text: 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 following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
When pig iron or cast iron is treated by the process commonly called the
pneumatic process for the purpose of refining and decarbonizing the said pig
iron or cast iron in order thereby to convert the said pig iron or cast iron into
steel or malleable iron, that is to say, by passing a blast or current of air
through the said pig or cast iron while the said iron is in a melted state, it is
usual to add to the said steel or malleable iron, immediately after the decar-
bonizing process by which it has been produced, and while the steel or iron is
still in a melted liquid state, a portion of melted manganesic pig iron, commonly
called spiegel ei-en, in order to render the said steel or malleable iron ductile,
and to prevent it from cracking when subjected to the action of the rolls or
hammers employed to extend the said steel or malleable iron into sheets, bars,
rods, or other articles. Other alloys of iron with other metals, as, for instance,
an alloy of iron and titanium, or iron and tungsten, when added in a melted
state to the said melted steel or malleable iron prepared by the pneumatic
process from pig or cast iron, improve the quality of the said steel or malicable
iron for various purposes. It is desirable in using any of the said alloys for
the purpose described, to effect the mixture of the melted steel or malleable
iron and of the manganesic pig iron or spiegel eisen, or of the alloys of iron
and titanium, or of tungsten and iron, as the case may be, or of these sub-
stances jointly, in the most effective manner.
As the process is at present practised it is customary to pour the melted
alloy into the melted steel or malleable iron obtained from the melted pig or
cast iron which has been decarbonized by the pneumatic process, the said
melted steel or malleable iron being contained in the pneumatic vessel or
furme in which it has been decarbonized. Before pouring in the melted alloy,
whether spiegel eisen or other alloy, the pneumatic ve-sel is turned upon its
axis, so that the blast of air employed can be turned off, and when the melted
alloy has been poured into the melted steel or malleable iron contained in the
pneumatic vessel, the blast is again turned on for a short time, in order that
the commotion it produces in passing through the melted metal may effect the
the mixture of the melted alloy with the melted steel or malleable iron. But by
the oxidizing effect of the blast when so employed, a portion of the metallic
manganese, tungsten, or titanium contained in the particular alloy employed

page_text: is oxidized and combined with the slag, and the beneficial effect of the alloy or
alloys is consequently impaired. In order to avoid this loss or waste of man-
ganese, tungsten, or titanium, or of these metals jointly, when alloys of all of
them are employed, or separately when only one alloy is used, I proceed
as follows:-I employ two pneumatic vessels, in which I simultaneously decar-
bonize separate portions of melted pig or cast iron contained in the said two
vessels respectively, and I construct and place the said pneumatic vessels so
that the melted pig iron or cast iron contained in one of them may, when
decarbonized and in the state of melted steel or malleablo iron, be poured into
the other pneumatic vessel containing the other charge of melted steel or
malleable iron prepared by decarbonizing pig or cast iron by the said pneu-
matic process. For this purpose I place one of the pneumatic vessels at a
bigher level than that at which I place the other. For the sake of brevity
and perspecuity I call the upper pneumatic vessel, whose contents are to be
poured into the other or under pneumatic vessel, "No. 1 vessel," and the other
or under pneumatic vessel "No. 2 vessel." When the melted pig iron or cast
iron contained in each of the said pneumatic vessels No. 1 and No. 2 has been
decarbonized and is in the state of melted steel or malleable iron, I add the
requisite quantity of the melted spiegel eisen or other melted alloy which it is
intended to employ to the melted steel or malleable iron contained in each
vessel No. 1 and No. 2, the blast having been previously withdrawn from each
of the said vessels, and I then pour the melted metallic contents of the No. 1
pneumatic vessel into No. 2 pneumatic vessel. The violent agitation and com-
motion caused by the melted metal from No. 1 pneumatic vessel falling into
the melted metal contained in the No. 2 pneumatic vessel will thoroughly
intermix the melted spiegel eisen or other melted alloy employed with the
melted steel or malleable iron, and it will thereforo be unnecessary to turn
on the blast again in order to effect a proper mixture of the alloy with the
said steel or malleable iron. In place of introducing the requisite quantity
of melted spiegel eisen or other alloy into each pneumatic vessel separately,
the said spiegel eisen or other alloy may be all introduced into either of
the said vessels, and the contents of No. 1 vessel may then be poured into
No. 2 vessel, in the manner I have described. Three or more pneumatic
vessels may be employed, and the contents of two such vessels may be poured
into a third vessel, the mixture of the melted spiegel eisen or other alloy
with the melted steel or malleable iron being effected in a manner similar
to that I have herein-before described when only two pneumatic vessels
are employed. I am careful to construct the pneumatic vessel No. 2, into
which the contents of No. 1 pneumatic vessel are poured, of sufficient

page_text: capacity to admit of No. 2 vessel, containing its own charge of melted steel or
malleable iron and melted alloy, together with the charge of melted steel or
malleable iron and melted alloy contained in No. 1 vessel, without overflowing
the blast orifices or tuyeres, when the said No. 2 vessel has been turned upon
its axis so as to admit of the blast being withdrawn. In place of decarbonizing
a charge of melted pig or cast iron in each pneumatic vessel, one of the said
vessels only may be thus employed, the other pneumatic vessel being used
simply as a ladle or mixing receptacle to receive the charge of melted steel or
malleable iron poured from the first-mentioned vessel into the said ladle, in
order by the said pouring and commotion thereby produced to mix the said
melted steel or malleable iron with the melted spiegel eisen, or other melted
alloy contained in the said ladle. In this case I shall, for the sake of brevity
and perspecuity, term the first-mentioned pneumatic vessel the "working
pneumatic vessel," and the other pneumatic vessel the " pneumatic ladle,"
I fix the "pneumatic ladle" in such a position that the melted contents of
the working pneumatic vessel may be poured into the said pneumatic ladle
and conduct the mixing process as follows:-I introduce from five to ten tons,
more or less, of melted pig or cast iron into the working pneumatic vessel,
according to the size of the said vessel, and I treat it in the usual manner by
forcing a blast of air through the melted pig or cast iron until the said melted
pig or cast iron has been decarbonized, and is in the state of melted steel or
malleable iron, and I then withdraw the blast in the usual manner. In the
meanwhile I intensely heat the pneumatic ladle by introducing into it a few
hundredweights of melted pig or cast iron, and decarbonizing the said pig or
cast iron in the said pneumatic ladle by means of a blast of air passed through
the said pig or cast iron. I then withdraw the blast from the pneumatic
ladle, and introduce into the intensely heated pneumatic ladle the melted
allow which it is intended to add to the melted steel or malleable iron in the
working pneumatic vessel, and I then pour the melted steel or malleable iron
from the working pneumatic vessel into the pneumatic ladle containing the
melted spiegel eisen or other alloy employed. The melted steel or malleable
iron falling from the working pneumatic vessel upon the melted spiegel eisen
or other alloy in the pneumatic ladle will by the commotion produced by its
descent become thoroughly incorporated and mixed with the said melted
spiegel eisen or alloy. Instead of putting the melted spiegel eisen or other
alloy into the pneumatic ladle, it may be introduced into the melted steel or
malleable iron contained in the working pneumatic vessel, and the mixture of
the melted alloy and the melted steel or malleable iron may be thoroughly
mixed and incorporated by being poured into the intensely heated pneumatic

page_text: ladle. In either case the thoroughly mixed steel or malleable iron and
spiegel eisen or other alloy is to be poured from the pneumatic ladle into suitable
moulds or ladles prepared to receive it in the usual manner. In place of
only one working pneumatic vessel being employed, two or more may be
made use of when very large castings of steel or malleable iron are required to
be produced, and the contents of two or of a greater number of working
pneumatic vessels may be poured into the pneumatic ladle in the manner I
have herein-before described when one pneumatic working vessel only is
employed.
The pneumatic vessels which I employ in carrying my Invention into effect
are those commonly employed in the manufacture of steel and malleable iron,
and the construction of the said pneumatic] vessels is well understood by
persons engaged in the manufacture of steel by the process commonly called
the pneumatic process. I therefore do not consider it necessary to describe
the said pneumatic vessels.
The essence of my said Invention consists of the improvement or improve-
ments herein-before described, in thoroughly mixing without the agency and
deteriorating effects of the pneumatic blast, melted spiegel eisen or other melted
alloys, such as alloys of tungsten and iron, or of titanium and iron, with
melted steel or malleable iron prepared by the pneumatic process from melted
pig iron or cast iron, which mixing I effect either by the use of two or more
pneumatic or decarbonizing vessels, each containing melted steel or malleable
iron made by the pneumatic process to the steel or malleable iron, in one or both.
of which two vessels the melted spiegel eisen or other melted alloy has been
added, the contents of one vessel being poured into the other vessel, so as to inti-
mately mix and make the whole of uniform composition. Or by the use of
one working pneumatic vessel, or of two or more working pneumatic vessels,
in which the steel or malleable iron to be operated upon has been produced
by decarbonizing melted pig or cast iron by the pneumatic process, and
another or supplementary pneumatic vessel or pneumatic ladle, which previous
to use has been intensely heated by having had pig or cast iron decarbonized
in it by the pneumatic process, the melted spiegel eisen or other melted
alloy with which the steel or iron in the working pneumatic vessel or vessels
is to be mixed being introduced into the heated pneumatic ladle, and the
melted steel or malleable iron in the working pneumatic vessel or vessels
being poured into the pneumatic ladle, and thereby intimately mixed with
the melted spiegel eisen or other melted alloy contained in the said pneu-
matic ladle. Or the whole of the melted spiegel eisen or other melted alloy
may, after the blast has been withdrawn, be introduced into one of the said

page_text: working vessels, or may be divided amongst two or amongst several such
vessels, each containing melted steel or malleable iron prepared from pig or
cast iron by the pneumatic process, and the contents of the one pneumatic
working vessel or of the several pneumatic working vessels may then be
poured into the intensely heated pneumatic ladle, whereby the melted steel or
malleable iron and the melted spiegel eisen or other melted alloy will, by
the commotion of their particles, become thoroughly and uniformly mixed
without the oxidizing and injurious effect produced when a blast of air is
employed to effect a mixture of the before-mentioned melted substances.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Mushet, havo hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
1
Witnesses,
EDW. M. MUSHET,
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
B. MUSHET,
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
ROBT. MUSHET. (L.S.)