IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Morgan, of Witton Park Iron Works, near
Darlington, in the County of Durham, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON."
Sealed the 1st April 1859, and dated the 15th December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Morgan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on. the
15th December 1858.
I, WILLIAM MORGAN, of Witton Park Iron Works, near Darlington, in
the County of Durham, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON," to be as follows:--
This Invention relates to the smelting iron ores, in which the quantity of
alumina present is equal to or exceeds one half the quantity of silica, and the
Invention consists in employing as a flux in the blast furnace, when. smelting
such ores, sandstone, sand, or other matter containing silica in a comparatively
pure form, that is to say, containing at least 70 per cent. of that substance. In
this manner the quality of the iron obtained from such ores is much improved.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Morgan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th
June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MORGAN, of Witton Park Iron Works, near Darlington, in the County of
Durham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Morgan, Her special licence that I, the said William Morgan,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Morgan, 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 MANUFACTURE OF IRON," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Morgan, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu-
larly 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 Morgan, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to the smelting iron ores in which the quantity of
alumina present is equal to or exceeds one half the quantity of silica, and the
Invention consists in employing as a flux in the blast furnace when smelting
such ores, sandstone, sand, or other matter containing silica in a comparatively
pure form, that is to say, containing at least seventy per cent. of that substance.
In this manner the quality of the iron obtained from such ores is much
improved.
In carrying out my Invention, the ore I have employed is known as the
Cleveland ironstone. This ore is found by analysis to contain:―

page_text: Protoxide of iron
Peroxide of iron -
Protoxide of mangan
Alumina
Lime
Magnesia
Potash
Carbonic acid
Phosphoric acid
Silica
Sulphuric acid
Bisulphide of iron
Water combined
Organic matter
Titanic acid
The following are the proportions in which I have found it most advan-
tageous to charge the materials into the blast furnace :-
Calcined ironstone
Sandstone, containing 93 per cent. silica
Limestone, containing 53 per cent. lime
-
11 cwts.
-
1
"
The fuel I have employed is coke, in a proportion varying from 6 cwts. to
7 cwts., according to the quality of iron to be produced and other cir-
cumstances, as is well understood by iron makers.
When iron ores are employed which contain proportions of silica and
alumina differing from those of the Cleveland ironstone, of which the analysis
is given above, the quantity of sandstone should be adjusted so that the
silica and alumina in the charge may bear to each other the same or
nearly the same proportion as they do in the charge above given. Other
silicious material may be substituted for sandstone, as, for example, sand; the
material employed should, however, be rich in silica, and the nearer it approaches
to pure silica the better. A substance containing a smaller proportion of
silica than 70 per cent. is altogether unsuitable for use as a flux according to
my Invention in consequence of the increase of fuel it necessitates, and the
large quantity of impurities introduced by it into the furnace. When ores
containing silica in a quantity less than double that of the alumina are
smelted in the ordinary manner, the alumina renders the slag infusible and

page_text: thick, and the working of the furnace becomes imperfect and the iron
deteriorated.
Now, it will be seen that my Invention consists in adjusting the proportion
of the silica and alumina in the charge, by the addition of silica when ores of
this description are employed, that is to say, ores which do not contain such a
quantity of silica as (when combined with lime to form a slag) will carry down
the alumina which the ore contains, and at the same time produce a sufficiently
fluid slag. In this manner I am able to smelt ores of this description as
advantageously as ores which naturally contain silica and alumina in such
proportions as to produce fluid or fusible slag.
I would remark that I am aware that silica has before been used as a flux in
the blast furnace when smelting iron ores, but heretofore when silica has been
employed it has been with ores which do contain sufficient silica to carry down
the alumina, that is to say, at least two of silica to one of alumina, but which
nevertheless do not contain silica enough to make sufficient slag to protect the
iron from the blast and for the proper working of the furnace.
I do not, therefore, claim generally the use of silica in a pure or nearly
pure form as a flux in the blast furnace when smelting iron ores, but only
when it is used together with ores in which the quantity of alumina present
is equal to or exceeds one half of the quantity of silica.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Morgan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
WILLIAM MORGAN. (L.S.)