CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE WORKING OF IRON
Year: 1817

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANTHONY
HILL, of Plymouth Iron Works, in the County of Glamorgan, Iron Master,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His-
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Fifth day of August, in the fifty-seventh year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Anthony Hill, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial licence,
full power, sole privilege, and authority, that I, the said Anthony Hill, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and
themselves, or by my and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such
others as I, the said Anthony Hill, 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 of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of our United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, our Dominion of Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE WORKING OF IRON;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso, obliging me, the said Anthony Hill, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and scal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and
to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Anthony Hill, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention of
improvements, and the manner of performing the same, are fully described
and ascertained in manner following, that is to say:
My said improvements do consist in causing crude iron while in a fluid
state, howsoever and from whatever substance such fluid crude iron may
have been obtained, to be exposed to and conveyed along with a strong
current of condensed air or blast in such manner that it may be thereby
minutely divided and dispersed, and expeditiously blown and acted upon by
the air. This may be conveniently and advantageously effected by the opera-
tions, processes, and machinery herein-after described, a Drawing of which
machinery appears in the margin hereof, and is referred to in the following
description:-
Figure 1 is drawn to the scale of one inch to a foot; Figures 2, 3, 4, 5,
and 6 are drawn to the scale of one inch and a half to a foot.
In Figure 1, A. is a hollow blast box or pipe, made of cast-iron, about two
feet in diameter and about two feet long, having an aperture of about seventeen
inches in diameter in the top thereof, into which is inserted a cullender O; also
another aperture of about eleven inches in diameter in the bottom thereof, to
which is affixed, concentric with the said aperture, a tube D, made of wrought-
iron, about eight feet long and about thirteen inches in diameter. There is also a
branch pipe B from the blast box A, about ten inches in diameter and about a
foot long. F is a cast-iron pipe, about, two feet in diameter, encircling the tube
D, leaving a space between them at I, I; these pipes are jointed together at the
bottom, so as to be water-tight, and open at top G. H is a pipe of cast-iron
about six inches in diameter; communicating with a reservoir of water at one
end. by means of another pipe K of about eight inches in diameter, and
having its other end. inserted into the pipe F at or near the bottom thereof.
E, E, E, is a well, built of bricks or other materials, made water-tight, about
eight feet in diameter. The well may be built nearly as high as the bottom of
the blast box A, and the whole apparatus may be supported by cast-iron
bearers in different parts of it, as at N, N, N, or by any other known means.
L is an aperture in the side of the well, the bottom whereof is level with
the bottom of the well; it is about one foot square. M is an aperture in
the side of the well about a foot wide and four feet long. Both these
apertures are opened and shut by means of sliding valves v, v, or otherwise,
and they communicate with a conduit for carrying off the whole water from the
well. O is the before-mentioned cullender; it is formed of cast or wrought-
iron in the shape of a common water bucket, being about eighteen inches in

page_text: diameter at top and about ten inches in diameter at bottom, let into the blast
box A through the aperture at the top thereof, and reaching to within about
nine inches of the bottom thereof, having about twelve or fourteen holes
0, 0, 0, in the bottom, of about one half or three quarters of an inch in
diameter each. S is a liner of cast or wrought-iron of the shape of the
cullender, fixed to the inner part of the top of the blast box a, and fitting
tight at the top and bottom of the cullender O; to keep it steady in its place.
Figure 2 represents the cullender O by itself.
Figures 3, 4, and 5, represent the different distinct parts, which when put
together form the blowing apparatus, thus:-Figure 3 represents the liner S,
with a flange a, a, about two inches and a half broad, attached to the bottom
of it. Figure 4 is a cast or wrought-iron pipe about cleven inches in diameter
and about two inches and an half long, having flanges as at b, b, and c, c, about
three inches and an half broad. The flange b, b, being fixed by screws or
studs as at d, d, at a distance of about one-half to three-quarters of an inch
from the flange a, a, of Figure 3, forms an aperture as at P, Figure 6; the
bottoni flange c, c, and the top flange e, e, about four inches and a half broad,
of another similar pipe, Figure 5, by being fixed at the same listanco, by the
same means, form another aperture as at 2, Figure 6; and the bottom flange
ff, and the bottom of the blast box A, form another aperture as at R,
Figure 6. By adding pipes similar to those in Figures 4 and 5, and
lengthening the space C between the bottom of the cullender O and the top of
the pipe D, any required number of apertures may be made or contrived in
the said space C. The last of these pipes is supported from the bottom of the
blast box A by studs or screws, as at g, g, or any other known means. These
pipes and flanges for forming the blowing apparatus may be made of cast or
wrought-iron. Figure 6 represents the blowing apparatus put together in its
proper state and ready for the operation. The same apparatus is represented
in its proper place in Figure 1. I call the apertures P, Q, and R the blowers;
there may be one or more of them, and they may be at suitable or convenient
distances from each other. I use three, at a distance of from two to three
inches apart; the size of these blowers must depend upon the quantity of the
blast intended to be made use of. The space contained between the bottom
of the cullender O, Figure 1, and the top of the tube D, I call the conducting
channel C. In working by the said operations, processes, and machinery the
blast or condensed air is conveyed from the blowing engine by means of pipes,
or otherwise through the branch pipe B, Figure 1, into the blast box A, and
passes thence through the blowers P, Q, and R, into the conducting channel C,
and from thence into the discharging tube D, at the bottom of which it enters

page_text: the well E, E, and, lastly, escapes out of the top of the well, or through such
other openings in the well as may be made convenient for that purpose. As
soon as the blast box A, the conducting channel C, and the discharging tube
D, are thus filled with the blast or condensed air, the fluid iron intended to be
operated upon is run from the blast or other smelting furnace, through the
runner T, into the cullender O, and passing through the holes 0, 0, 0,
at the bottom of the cullender into the conducting channel C, is there
presented to the action of the strong current of blast or condensed air
which should be made to issue through the several blowers P, Q, and R,
during the whole time the metal continues to flow into and through the
said cullender. The iron is in its passage through the conducting channel
blown, divided, and acted upon by the said blast, and the iron and blast
together pass along into and through the discharging tube D. The iron is
collected at the bottom of the well E, and the blast escapes in the manner
before mentioned. The internal surface of the cullender O should be lined
with loam or other substance, to prevent its being burned by the hot iron.
The dimensions of the conducting channel C and of the discharging tube D
should be regulated by the dimensions and number of the blowers; during the
operation a current of water should be made to flow from a stream or
reservoir by means of the pipes K and F into and through the space I, I, and
out at the top thereof at G; the discharging tube D is thus kept cool. I
prefer to have the well E, E, kept filled with water from the pipe K, or
otherwise, up to within about eight or ten inches of the bottom of the
discharging tube D, as at W; keeping a stream of water running into the
well through the aperture i, and flowing over the sliding valve at p, so as to
prevent the water in the well from boiling up. The depth of the water may
be regulated in the well E, E, by means of the apertures L and M, as by
pressing down the valve rod q the aperture M is is opened, and by raising
the valve rods the aperture L is opened; and at the end of the operation
the whole water may thereby be discharged from the well. By the above
means the conversion of crude iron into bar iron will be greatly assisted and
accelerated.
It is to be observed that I do not hereby claim as of my invention the
particular parts of which the above machinery or apparatus is composed;
neither do I confine my claim to the particular form of machinery or
apparatus above described, since it is obvious from the nature of the subject
that the construction of such machinery or apparatus may be considerably
varied, and the same immediate effects and ultimate result be still produced.
I find that that quality of crude iron, commonly called good forge or bright

page_text: grey pig iron, is well acted upon by this operation when the blowers are of an
area of about sixty-six square inches, and the blast is so condensed as to raise
the mercurial guage an inch and an half, and when the conducting channel C
is of an area of about ninety-five square inches and about nine inches long, and
the discharging tube D is of an area of about one hundred and thirty-two square
inches and is about eight feet long and the bottom thereof is about eight or
ten inches distant from the surface of the water in the well E, E. As the
change is effected upon the fluid crude iron by the action of the blast in
manner before mentioned, it must be evident that different qualities of crude
iron will require different quantities of blast; the action of the blast may be
regulated by increasing or diminishing the size of the blowers, by increasing
or diminishing the density of the blast, and by increasing or diminishing the
length of the conducting channel C and also of the discharging tube D.
Having stated the particulars for one quality of crude iron, the manu-
facturer must regulate the operation according to the quality of the crude iron
he may chuse to make use of, it being well known that the greyer the quality
of the crude iron, the more blast will be required. The iron contained in the
well E, after this operation, must be made into bar iron by puddling,
reheating, and rolling, or by any other known means.
In witness whereof, I, the said Anthony Hill, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighteen
5
Signed, sealed, and delivered in the
presence of
GEO. DELMAR, 25, Norfolk Street, Strand.
DAVID MILNE, his Clerk.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Fourth day of February,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Anthony Hill, came before our
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also
the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Fourth day of February, in the year above written.