IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION OF IRON AND OF CAST T
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Edwin Sherman, of Bucksport, in the
State of Maine, United States of America, but at present residing
at Norbiton Hall, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
LETTERS PATENT to John Edwin Sherman, of Bucksport, in the
State of Maine, United States of America, but at present residing
at Norbiton Hall, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION OF IRON AND OF CAST
T">
Sealed the 9th April 1874, and dated the 14th October 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Edwin Sherman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th October 1873.
I, JOHN EDWIN SHERMAN, of Bucksport, in the State of Maine,
United States of America, but at present residing at Norbiton Hall,
in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of my said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION OF IRON
AND OF CAST IRON," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the production of iron, and
of cast iron resulting from the reduction of the ores of iron, and consists

page_text: in the employment of iodine or of compounds capable of evolving
iodine when submitted to a high temperature, such, for example, as
iodide of sodium, iodide of potassium, and other well known. alkaline
iodides; also the iodides of the metals such as iodide of silver and of
mercury; also hydriodic acid and iodic acid, in order that the iron or
the cast iron resulting from the reduction of iron ores, either in rever-
beratory, blast, or other furnaces may be brought in contact therewith,
and that the reduced metal may be alloyed therewith, and thereby be
rendered more free from the ordinary impurities.
In carrying out the first part of my Invention I prefer to inject or
admit the iodine or the compounds capable of evolving iodine when the
process for reduction is carried out in a reverberatory or other analogous
furnace at that point or stage when the reduction of the ore has been
effected; this admission or injection may be effected either by the
admission of iodine or of the compounds capable of evolving iodine at the
upper portion, or upon the floor of the furnace, or by the injection of
the same from the inferior or from the lateral parts of the furnace.
The proportions of iodine or of compounds capable of producing iodine
which will give good results, are from 400 to 600 grains for every ton of
iron.
In carrying out the second part of this Invention which has for its
object improvements in the production of cast iron, I prefer to use an
injection pipe below the tuyeres in a blast furnace or cupola in order that
the iodine or the compounds capable of evolving iodine may be brought
in contact with the molten metal, and I prefer to inject such materials
containing iodine at such periods as the metal may have accumulated at
the inferior portion of the furnace.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Edwin Sherman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th April 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
EDWIN SHERMAN, of Bucksport, in the State of Maine, United States

page_text: of America, but at present residing at Norbiton Hall, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in
the 37th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Edwin Sherman, Her
special license that I, the said John Edwin Sherman, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Edwin
Sherman, my executors, administrators, or 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION OF IRON AND OF CAST
IRON," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Edwin
Sherman, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 John Edwin Sherman, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 :—
•
This Invention relates to improvements in the production of iron
resulting from the reduction of the ores of iron, and of cast iron from
the same. It consists, firstly, in the employment of iodine or of any of
the compounds capable of evolving iodine when submitted to a high
temperature, such, for example, as iodide of sodium, iodide of potassium,
and other well known alkaline iodides; also the iodides of the metals such
as iodide of silver and of mercury; also hydriodic acid and iodic acid,
and bringing the same in contact with the iron reduced from the iron
ores, either in reverberatory, blast, or other furnaces; and secondly, in
bringing in contact or alloying the metal so produced and in a molten

page_text: state in a blast furnace or cupola with iodine or any of the compounds
capable of evolving iodine for the purpose in both cases of rendering
the produced metal more free from the ordinary impurities.
In carrying out the first part of my Invention I prefer to inject or
admit the iodine, or the compounds capable of evolving iodine, when
the process for reduction is carried out in a reverberatory or other
analogous furnace, at that point or stage when the reduction of the ore
has been effected; this admission or injection may be effected either by
the admission or injection of iodine, or of the compounds capable of
evolving iodine, or by, through, or at the inferior or lateral parts of the
state in a blast furnace or cupola with iodine or any of the compounds
capable of evolving iodine for the purpose in both cases of rendering
the produced metal more free from the ordinary impurities.
In carrying out the first part of my Invention I prefer to inject or
admit the iodine, or the compounds capable of evolving iodine, when
the process for reduction is carried out in a reverberatory or other
analogous furnace, at that point or stage when the reduction of the ore
has been effected; this admission or injection may be effected either by
the admission or injection of iodine, or of the compounds capable of
evolving iodine, or by, through, or at the inferior or lateral parts of the
furnace, or any other suitable point through the same.
The proportions of iodine, or of compounds capable of producing
iodine, which will give good results, are from about four hundred to six
hundred grains for every ton of iron.
In carrying out the second part of this Invention for improvements 1
in the production of cast iron, I prefer to use an injection pipe below
the tuyeres in a blast furnace or cupola, in order that the iodine, or the
compounds capable of evolving iodine, may be brought in contact with
the molten metal, and I prefer to inject such materials containing iodine
at such periods as the metals may have accumulated at the inferior 2
portion of the furnace; or in some cases instead of injecting the iodine
or its compounds as previously described, I employ a separate or inde-
pendent receiver or retort, into which the metal is first run from the
furnace in a molten state, and then combine the iodine or its compounds
therewith in the said retort or receiver, by which means, owing to the 2
additional heat produced the metal is retained longer in a molten state,
and can be run off to the Bessemer converters, moulds, or other purposes
as required.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used 3
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the combina-
tion, by injection or otherwise, of iodine or of any of the compounds

page_text: iron ores, and with cast iron, substantially as and for the purposes herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Edwin Sherman, have to
this my Specification set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day
of April, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
J. EDWIN SHERMAN. (L.S.)