IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF TITANIFEROUS IRON SANDS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Richard Dawson, of Windsor Chambers,
Great Saint Helen's, in the City of London, Gentleman, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF TITANIFEROUS IRON SANDS
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Richard Dawson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 9th August 1867.
I, WILLIAM RICHARD DAWSON, of Windsor Chambers, Great Saint Helen's,
in the City of London, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF TITANIFEROUS IRON SANDS
FOR SMELTING," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object the preparation of titaniferous iron sands
for the blast furnace in order to extract iron therefrom. For this purpose I
take sawdust or wood in small pieces or particles, and iron sand, and mix
them together, using if required a small quantity of tar to cause the sawdust
or wood to adhere better to the sand; to this I add sufficient small. coal,
either with or without pitch, to cause the sawdust or wood when heated in a
retort or coking oven to the point of converting the said sawdust or wood into
charcoal to form an agglomerated mass containing within it the titaniferous
iron sand. I prefer to wash the coal previous to its mixture with the above-
mentioned substances in order to free it from sulphur and other impurities.
The substance produced in the manner above stated is then ready for the
ordinary operation of smelting in a blast furnace.-

page_text: The proportions of wood or coal employed in obtaining the above-named
product may be varied according to the facilities of obtaining wood or coal
respectively, and the quality of the iron eventually produced will greatly
depend upon the larger proportion of wood to that of coal employed. If saw-
dust or wood in small particles alone be used then the proportion would be in
about four tons of wood to one of sand, with about 10 per cent. of pitch or tar;
then for every ton of coal used in substitution for wood two tons less of saw-
dust or wood in small particles would be required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Richard Dawson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th February 1868.
- TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
RICHARD DAWSON, of Windsor Chambers, Great. Saint Helen's, in the City of
London, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by. Her Letters,
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven; in the thirty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Richard Dawson, Her special licence that I, the said William
Richard Dawson, 'my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Richard Dawson, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF TITANIFEROUS IRON SANDS FOR
SMELTING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Richard. Dawson, 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 William Richard Dawson, 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) :-

page_text: My Invention of "Improvements in the Preparation of Titaniferous Iron
Sands for Smelting" has for its object the preparation of titaniferous iron
sands for the blast furnace in order to extract iron therefrom. For this
purpose I take sawdust or wood in small pieces or particles, and iron sand, and
mix them together, using if required a small quantity of tar to cause the saw-
dust or wood to adhere better to the sand; to this I add sufficient small coal,
either with or without pitch, to cause the sawdust or wood when heated in a
retort or coking oven to the point of converting the said sawdust or wood into
charcoal, to form an agglomerated mass containing within it the titaniferous
iron sand. I prefer to wash the coal previous to its mixture with the above-
mentioned substances in order to free it from sulphur and other impurities.
The substance produced in the manner above stated is then ready for the
ordinary operation of smelting in a blast furnace.
The proportions of wood or coal employed in obtaining the above-named
product may be varied according to the facilities of obtaining wood or coal
respectively, and the quality of the iron eventually produced will greatly
depend upon the larger proportion of wood to that of coal employed. If saw-
dust or wood in small particles alone be used then the proportion would be in
about four tons of wood to one of sand, with about ten per cent. of pitch or
tar; then for every ton of coal used in substitution for wood two tons less of
sawdust or wood in small particles would be required.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that what I claim as of
my Invention is, the use of sawdust or wood in small pieces or particles, either
with or without small coal in or about in the proportions herein-before stated,
for the purpose of preparing titaniferous iron sands for smelting, as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof I, the said William Richard Dawson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
WILLIAM SPENCE,
8, Quality Court,
Chancery Lane.
W. R. DAWSON. (L.S.).