IMPROVEMENTS IN THE, MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Wright, of Mostyn, in the County
of Flint, Copper Smelter, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE, MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
Sealed the 28th October 1868, and dated the 29th April 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Wright,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 29th April 1868.
I, WILLIAM WRIGHT, of Mostyn, in the County of Flint, Copper
Smelter, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," to be as follows:-
In the manufacture of malleable iron from pig iron in an ordinary
puddling furnace, I find a very great economy is obtained by using a
quantity of spongy iron together with the pig iron, and that a better
yield is obtained than can be got from either of them separately. I
obtain the spongy iron from. artificial or natural oxide of iron, and
especially from the residues of burnt copper ores; the oxide is reduced
to the spongy metallic state by any of the well known direct processes.

page_text: The mode of proceeding is as follows:-A quantity of the spongy
iron is thrown round the sides of the furnace and the pig iron charged
as usual; when the latter is melted the sponge is raked into it and
well stirred, and the balls hammered and rolled into bars as usual;
or the spongy iron may be charged from the receiver as it comes from
the reducing furnace (hot) direct into the melted pig. I have found
that half pig and half sponge work very well together, but the pro-
portions will vary with the quality of pig as well as the class of iron
it is wished to produce.
Puddled steel is produced in a similar manner, the puddling operation
being so conducted as to leave a portion of the carbon combined with
the iron,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Wright, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 29th October 1868,
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WRIGHT, of Mostyn, in the County of Flint, Copper Smelter, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Wright, Her special licence
that I, the said William Wright, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Wright, 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 AND STEEL," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Wright, 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,

page_text: 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 Wright, 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 :-
In the manufacture of malleable iron from spongy iron I find a very
great economy is obtained by using a quantity of pig iron together
with the spongy iron, and that a better yield is obtained than can be
got from either of them separately. I obtain the spongy iron from
artificial or natural oxide of iron, and especially from the residue of
burnt copper ores; the oxide is reduced to the spongy metallic state
by any of the well known direct processes.
The mode of proceeding is as follows:-A quantity of the spongy.
iron is thrown round the sides of the furnace and the pig iron charged
as usual; when the latter is melted the sponge is raked into it and
well stirred, and the balls hammered and rolled into bars as usual; or
the spongy iron may be charged from the receiver as it comes from
the reducing furnace (hot) direct into the melted pig. I have found
that half pig and half sponge work very well together, but I do not
bind myself to this or any proportion, as it will vary with the quality
of pig as well as the class of iron it is wished to produce.
Puddled steel is produced in a similar manner, the puddling operation
being so conducted as to leave a portion of the carbon combined with
the iron.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wright, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-cighth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.