IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STOPPERS USED FOR CLOSING THE NOZZLES OF 'BESSEMER' LADLES, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES, AND IN THE METHOD OF ATTACHING THE SAME TO THE STOPPER RODS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Melling, of Sheffield, in the County of
York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
STOPPERS USED FOR CLOSING THE NOZZLES OF 'BESSEMER' LADLES, AND FOR
OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES, AND IN THE METHOD OF ATTACHING THE SAME TO
THE STOPPER RODS "
Scaled the 20th December 1875, and dated the 3rd August 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Melling at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 3rd August 1875
I, JAMES MELLING, of Sheffield, in the County of York, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF STOPPERS USED FOR CLOSING THE NOZZLES OF BESSEMER' LADLES,
AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES, AND IN THE METHOD OF ATTACHING THE SAME
TO THE STOPPER RODS," to be as follows.
-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of fire-clay stoppers, such
as are employed for closing the nozzles of the ladles employed for con-
veying the molten "Bessemer" metal from the "converter," and

page_text: Junning it into the ingot moulds Similar stoppers are also used in the
Siemens process, and also in smelting furnaces for plugging the opening
through which the molten metal is run.
These plugs have hitherto been bored through the centre and secured
to the stopper rod by a pin cottered on to the end of the rod, and with
its head sunk in a recess formed in the end of the stopper, which recess
was then filled in with loam or "gannister" This stopping in the
bottom of the plug was very liable to become dislodged, and the plug
or stopper to become detached from the stopper rod by the burning off
of the head of the pin, thus occasioning a great loss of metal and also
of time.
1 make the fire-clay. stoppers of a slightly tapered form with a solid
rounded end, and borc or form a hole or recess the diameter of the end
of the stopper rod, and only extending about three-fifths through the
fire-clay, and I make a cotter hole at right angles to the axis through
the plug and a corresponding cotter hole through near the end of the
stopper rod
Having inserted the latter into the plug I drive in a short cotter
through the plug and the rod, and then fill in the holes at the side plug
with loam or "gannister." Stoppers thus made and fixed are not liable
to come off, but can be easily removed and replaced by others when
requirod
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Janics Melling in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd February 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MELLING, of Sheffield, in the County of York, send greeting
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of August, in the year
of our Loid One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth ycar of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Melling, Her special license,
that I, the said James Melling, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such otheis as I, the said James Melling, my executors,

page_text: 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, tho
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STOPPERS USED FOR CLOSING THE NOZZLES OF BESSEMER'
LADLES, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES, AND IN THE METHOD OF ATTACHING THE
SAME TO THE STOPPER RODS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James Melling, 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
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 James Melling, 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 and accompanying Drawings (that is to
say)
-
Thus Invention relates to the manufacture of fire-clay stoppers, such
as are employed for closing the nozzles of the ladles employed for con-
veying
the molten "Bessemer" metal from the "converter," and
running it into the ingot moulds Similar stoppers are also used in the
Siemens process, and also in smelting furnaces for plugging the opening
through which the molten metal is run
These plugs have hitherto been bored through the centre and secured
to the stopper rod by a pin cottered on to the end of the rod, and with
its head sunk in a recess formed in the end of the stopper, which recess
was then filled in with loom or "ganister." This stopping in the
bottom of the plug was very liable to become dislodged, and the plug
or stopper to become detached from the stopper rod by the burning off
of the head of the pin, thus occasioning a great loss of metal and also
of time. It is to remedy these defects that my piesent Invention is
designed.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention I will now
proceed to describe in detail the manner in which the same is to
be or may be performed or carried into into practical effect, and in order

page_text: that the same may be clearly understood I have annexed hereunto a
Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the samo
with figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in the
following explanation thereof.
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawing is a side elevation, Fig. 2, a ground 5
plan; Fig. 3, a vertical section, and Fig 4, a horizontal section of one
of my improved stoppers, showing clearly the form and construction of
the same, and the improved method of fixing it on to the stopper rod.
I make the fire-clay stopper a, a, of a slightly tappered form, sce
Fig 1, with a solid rounded end b; b, and bore or form a hole or 1
recess c, c, the diameter of the end of the stopper rod d, d, and only
extending about three-fifths through the fire-clay, and I make a cotter
hole e, e, at right angles to the axis through the plug, and a corre-
sponding cotter hole through near the end of the stopper rod d, d.
-
Пlaving inserted the latter into the plug a, a, I drive in a short
cotter f,, through the plug and the rod, and then fill in the holes at
the side plug at e, e, with loam or "ganister." Stoppers thus made
and fixed are not liable to come off, but can be easily removed and
replaced by others when required.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention, a
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed
or carried into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I claim
as my Invention the peculiar construction of fire-clay stoppers for such
purposes as herein-before described and represented on the Drawing
annexed and the method of attaching the same to the stopper rods by a
means of a cotter, substantially as described.
In witness whercof, I, the said James Melling, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-
A
Witness,
WILLIAM ALFRED SAWYER.
JAMES MELLING (L.S.)