AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SMELTING AND REFINING OF IRON
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Coope Haddan, of Cannon Row, in the City
of Westminster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SMELTING AND REFINING OF IRON."-A com-
munication.
Scaled the 25th September 1857, and dated the 9th April 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Coope Haddan at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th April 1857.
I, JOHN COOPE HADDAN, of Cannon Row, in the City of Westminster,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SMELTING AND REFINING OF IRON," to be
as follows:-
The Invention has reference to the direct production of malleable iron and
steel from the ore without mixing with the ore any solid combustible, and
consists in the combination and arrangement and in the use in such combina-
tion of a smelting furnace together with a refining furnace or furnaces, in
which the metal is refined by the passage of the air, steam, or gases through it
whilst in a molten state; and in the further combination and arrangement and
use in combination of such furnaces as aforesaid, together with another
furnace or furnaces for generating gases which pass through the refining
furnace or furnaces for reducing the oxides formed therein, or a portion of
them, and thence onwards and into the smelting furnace for reducing or
assisting in the reduction of the ore.

page_text: The manner in which the Invention is to be performed is as follows:-The
broken ore after being roasted is placed in an ordinary smelting furnace, and,
according to its size, from two to four of the above-mentioned description of
refining furnaces are placed around the smelting furnace at such elevations,
that the melted metal when the smelting furnace is tapped will flow to the
desired height in the refining furnaces. On the outer side of the refining
furnaces are placed the gas generating furnaces, which consist of close stoves
capable of being charged at will with fresh combustible matter without
allowing the gases to escape; and when these furnaces are charged with red-
hot fuel to a certain depth, such portions of atmospheric air and steam are
passed through them that the heat is maintained nearly uniform, and the
steam and air are converted into nitrogen; carbonic oxide, and hydrogen.
These gases, before arriving at the smelting furnace, pass through the upper
part of the refining furnaces, where they serve to reduce a portion of the oxides
formed therein, and whilst subjected to the great heat produced by these
furnaces become mixed with the exact equivalent of atmospheric air, also
heated by the same means, and pass at once into the smelting furnace for the
purpose of reducing and fusing the ore.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Coope Haddan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th October 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
COOPE HADDAN, of Cannon Row, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Coope Haddan, Her special licence that I, the said John Coope
Haddan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Coope Haddan, 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 "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SMELTING AND REFINING OF IRON," com-

page_text: municated to me from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Coope Haddan, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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
manuer 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 John Coope Haddan, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
The Invention has reference to the direct production of malleable iron and
steel from the ore without mixing with the ore any solid combustible, and
consists in the combination and arrangement and in the use in such combina-
tion of a smelting furnace, together with a refining furnace or furnaces, in
which the metal is refined by the passage of the air, steam, or gases through it
whilst in a molten state; and in the further combination and arrangement and
use in combination of such furnaces as aforesaid, together with another furnace
or furnaces for generating gases, which pass through the refining furnace or
furnaces for reducing the oxides formed therein, or a portion of them, and
thence onwards and into the smelting furnace for reducing or assisting in the
reduction of the ore.
The manner in which the Invention is to be performed is as follows:-The
broken ore, either with or without previous roasting, is placed in an ordinary
smelting furnace, and, according to its size, from two to four refining furnaces
(similar to Bessemer's patent refining furnaces) are placed around the smelting
furnace at such elevations, that the melted metal (when the smelting furnace is
tapped) will flow into them to the desired height. And conveniently con-
tiguous to the furnaces already mentioned an additional refining furnace of
the reverberatory kind is also placed, into which the melted metal is intended
to be run when the firstly-mentioned refining furnaces are tapped; and,
further, one or more gas generating furnaces are also employed, which consist
of close stoves capablo of being charged at will with fresh combustible matter
without allowing the gases to escape; and when the furnaces are charged
with red-hot fuel to a suitable depth (say three feet) atmospheric air and
steam are passed through them in such proportions that the heat is maintained
nearly uniform, and the steam and air are converted into nitrogen, carbonic
oxide, and hydrogen. These gases, or a considerable portion of them, before

page_text: arriving at the smelting furnace pass through the upper part of the firstly-
mentioned refining furnaces, where they serve to reduce a portion of the oxides
formed therein, and whilst retaining the great heat acquired in their passage
through these furnaces become mixed with the exact equivalent of atmospheric
air, supplied and heated in the manner herein-after described, and then pass
into the smelting furnace for the purpose of reducing and fusing the ore; and
a portion of these gases, together with atmospheric air, is likewise supplied to
the reverberatory refining furnace for the purpose of effecting the still further
refining or conversion of the iron into steel, &c.
The disposition of the several furnaces is shewn in the Diagram (plan view)
Figure 1, of the accompanying Drawing, in which a represents the ordinary
smelting furnace; and b, b, two furnaces, similar to Bessemer's patent refining
furnaces, disposed at such elevations with reference to the furnace a, that the
melted metal in the latter, when tapped, may flow into the refining furnaces b, b,
to the desired height through the channels or passages c, c; d represents the
gas generating furnace or stove; and e, the air feed pipe; and f, the steam
feed pipe to the same; and g, g, the flues or exit channels from same for
carrying the gases into the firstly-mentioned refining furnaces b, b; h is the
reverberatory refining furnace, also supplied with the gases from the flues or
channels g, g; and i, i, channels for the passage of the melted metal into the
same when the furnaces b, b, are tapped; k, k, k, are tuyeres for passing the
gases into the smelting furnace a; and is a flue from the furnace h into the
smelting furnace, entering the same at an elevation somewhat higher than that
of the tuyeres, so as to roast or partially fuse the ore before it is subjected to
the more intense heat arising from the combustion of the gases.
The Figure 2 of the Drawing is a diagram (sectional elevation) on a larger
scale of the gas generating furnace or stove d, and, together with the Figure 1,
shews certain further arrangements necessary to the efficient working or
carrying out of the Invention. The reference letters d, e, f, g, in the Figure
denote the same parts as in Figure 1, and in one or both of these Figures m
is a jacket or casing around the furnace d, for heating the whole or a portion
of the air for supplying the smelting furnace and the tuyeres, as hereafter
mentioned; n is the feed (air) pipe to the jacket; and o, o, o, the exits or
discharges from the same, communicating with the several tuyeres k, k, k, of
the smelting furnace, and likewise of the tuyeres of the reverberatory
refining furnace. One of the tuyeres enters directly into the smelting
furnace from the furnace d, and all of them are surrounded or encased by an
outer tuyere p, so that the gases may be delivered into the smelting furnace in
the interior of an annular column of the atmospheric blast. s is a lifting cover

page_text: over the top of the furnace d, which is to be raised when it is desired to
introduce a charge of fuel; and t is a sliding plate for closing the furnace
whilst the cover s is raised, and on which the fuel rest till it is lowered, when
by withdrawing the said plate the fuel will fall into the interior of the furnace.
The Figure 3 exhibits the arrangement of the tuyeres which is employed in
connection with the reverberatory refining furnace, a number of them being
disposed in a line, and each being double for admitting both gases and air in
the manner above described; but instead of only one row or line of tuyeres, as
exhibited, two or more rows or lines may be used, if preferred.
By the employment of the several combinations and arrangements above
described, in the order and succession hereafter described, and by a judicious
regulation of the relative supplies of air, steam, &c. (by means of the several
taps and valves z, z, z, the ore may be reduced in the smelting furnace without
the admixture therein of any solid combustible, and refined cast iron, or
malleable iron, or steel produced directly from the ore. The mode of working
or using the Invention is as follows:-Supposing the smelting furnace to be
charged with the ore and with the necessary fluxes, as heretofore, but without
any solid fuel, and supposing the furnace d to be generating the gases, as
before explained, these latter, together with the requisite supply of air, are
to be directed on to the charge so as to effect or commence the fusion and
reduction; a portion is then to be drawn off into one of the refining furnaces b,
which are separately worked with an independent blast of air, in the ordinary
mode of working Bessemer's furnaces; besides which, the charge will be
subjected to the action of the gases supplied over or upon its upper surface,
which gases will thereby become greatly heated and pass forward into the
smelting furnace, together with the gases produced or arising from this part
of the process. After the metal has been subjected to the action of the one
furnace for about twenty minutes (when malleable iron is required) it is
to be run off into the refining furnace h, where it is to be subjected to the
further action of the gases in combustion for about five or six minutes, so as to
maintain its high temperature, while it is also further subjected therein to
a raking process for the purpose of ejecting or getting rid of the gases incor-
porated with the mass by the previous part of the process, and also for
producing a grain or fibre in the metal. From this furnace the metal is then
to be drawn off through the taphole y and used as required, or may be rolled
into a ball and withdrawn through the puddling hole x. By this time a
further quantity of metal will have become smelted, which may be drawn off
into the other refining furnace b, and the process may be repeated, as above
described, the alternate use of the furnaces b, b, enabling one gang of workmen

page_text: to work them both. When steel is required to be manufactured, the metal
should be subjected to the process in the furnaces b, b, for a somewhat shorter
time than when malleable iron is required.
I would remark that two of the furnaces b, b, together with one furnace,
each of a capacity equivalent to half a ton, would suffice for a smelting
furnace yielding twenty-four tons in twenty-four hours; and that with larger
smelting furnaces I prefer to employ an additional number of refining furnaces
b, b, in pairs, and each pair with one refining furnace h, so as to obtain an
alternate use of the furnaces b, b, as above described.
And I would further romark that cold air may be supplied to the tuyeres
along with the gases instead of heated air, but that I prefer the use of heated
air, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Coope Haddan, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
זנונ בדדד
J. C. HADDAN
('c་འ)