IMPROVEMENTS IN THE. TREATMENT OF CAST IRON
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Heaton, of Langley Mills, in the County
of Derby, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE.
TREATMENT OF CAST IRON."
Sealed the 3rd November 1868, and dated the 31st July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Heaton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,, on the
31st July 1868.
I, JOHN HEATON, of Langley Mills, in the County of Derby, Engineer, -
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS.
IN THE TREATMENT OF CAST IRON," to be as follows:-
My improvements relates to the purification of pig. or cast iron, and
consist in subjecting pig or cast iron contained in a suitable furnace or
converter, by preference converters such as those described in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to me on the 17 March 1866,
No. 798, and the 3rd May 1867, No. 1295, or in any other arrangement
either with or without the conjoint employment of a blast to the action.
of nitrate of soda, or nitrate of potash, or other suitable nitrate in such
quantity as that the impurities contained in the pig or cast iron. shall be

page_text: partially or wholly removed with the abstraction of the smallest pro-
portion of carbon practicable, my object being to purify the pig or cast
iron, and not to convert it into steel or malleable iron.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Heaton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HEATON, of Langley Mills, in the County of Derby, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-second
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the, said John Heaton, Her special license that I,
the said John Heaton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Heaton, 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 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 TREATMENT OF CAST
IRON," upon the condition. (amongst others) that I, the said John
Heaton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause tlie 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.
J
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Heaton, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say :-
+
My improvements relate to the purification of pig or cast iron, and
consist in subjecting pig or cast iron' contained in a suitable furnace or
converter, by preference converters such as those described in the
Specifications of Letters Patent granted to me on the Seventeenth March,

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, No. 798, and the Third
May, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, No. 1295, or in any
other arrangement either with or without the conjoint employment of a
blast to the action of nitrate of soda, or nitrate of potash, or other mix-
tures of the same in such quantity as that the impurities contained in the
pig or cast iron shall be partially or wholly removed with the abstraction
of the smallest proportion of carbon practicable, my object being to
effect the purification of the pig or cast iron, and not to convert it into
steel or malleable iron.
In carrying out my Invention I take either the molten cast iron
direct from the blast furnace, or I remelt pig iron in a cupola or other
furnace, and I convey the same into a converter, such, for example, as
either of those before referred to, or in any other suitable arrangement.
When I employ such converting apparatus as is described in my
Specification of Letters Patent, No. 1295, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-seven, which I prefer, I place in the said converter either
nitrate of soda, or nitrate of potash, or mixtures of the same in such
quantity as that the impurities contained in the pig or cast iron, and
which consist, as is well known, principally of silicon, sulphur, and
phosphorus, shall be wholly or partially removed with the abstraction
of the smallest proportion of carbon practicable, my object being the
purification of the cast iron and not the direct conversion of the same
into steel or malleable iron.
The proportion which I have found to give good results with some
qualities of cast iron is about six parts by weight of nitrate of soda to
one hundred parts by weight of cast iron, but these proportions will vary
with the quality of pig iron operated upon.
What I claim is the production of refined or of purified cast iron by
the employment of nitrate of soda, or nitrate of potash, or mixtures of
the same either alone or in conjunction with a blast, in the manner and
for the purposes substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Heaton, have to this my Specifi-
cation set my hand and scal, the Twenty-eighth day of October
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JOHN HEATON. (L.S.)