IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
Year: 1854

page_text: Sealed the 22nd August 1854, and dated the 15th June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Davie Morries
Stirling at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th June 1854.
I, JOHN DAVIE MORRIES STIRLING, of Blackgrange, in the County of
Clackmannon, Scotland, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON " to be as follows:-
Heretofore it has been usual in some cases to run melted iron into the
refinery furnace, and also into boiling and puddling furnaces; part of this
Invention consists of causing the beds of such furnaces to be covered with or
have applied thereon oxides of iron, or of some other metal, or of some of the
earthy bases, with sawdust, or other ligneous or resinous, tarry or oily, and
such like matters, and running the molten iron thereon, by which material
changes in the quality as well as improvement in the manufacture result. And
my Invention consists of applying or introducing such matters into such
furnaces, and there mixing them with the melted iron, and running the melted

page_text: iron thereon. And the Invention further consists of using a mixture of oxide
of iron (or compounds of oxides) and cinder (puddling or boiling furnace
cinder being preferred) in a state of fusion, and adding thereto a quantity of
cast iron in a fluid state, and as soon as the ebullition (consequent upon such
addition and upon the chemical action which results) is finished or nearly so,
introducing a piece of wrought iron, to which the newly formed resulting
wrought iron will attach itself, and to which it is to be gradually pressed by
any convenient instrument. Other metallic oxides and their combinations may
be used along with the oxide of iron, and so may the earthy bases, their
oxides, and suitable combinations.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Davie Morries Stirling in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th Décember 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
DAVIE MORRIES STIRLING, of Blackgrange, in the County of Clackmannon,
Scotland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Davie Morries Stirling, Her special licence that I, the said
John Davie Morries Stirling, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Davie Morries Stirling, 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," (partly
a communication from Monsieur Leon Talabot,) upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Davie Morries Stirling, by an instru-
ment 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 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Davie Morries Stirling, 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):
Heretofore it has been usual in some cases to run melted iron into the
refinery furnace, and also into boiling and puddling furnaces; part of this
Invention consists of causing the beds of such furnaces to be covered with or
have applied thereon oxides of iron, or of some other metal, or of some of the
earthy bases, with sawdust, or other ligneous or resinous, tarry or oily, and such
like matters, and running the molten iron thereon, by which material changes
in the quality as well as improvement in the manufacture result. And the
Invention consists of applying or introducing such matters into such furnaces,
and there mixing them with the melted iron, and running the melted iron
thereon. And the Invention further consists of using a mixture of oxide of
iron (or compounds of oxides) and cinder, (puddling or boiling furnace cinder
being preferred), in a state of fusion, and adding thereto a quantity of cast
iron in a fluid state, and as soon as the ebullition (consequent upon such
addition and upon the chemical action which results) is finished, or nearly so,
introducing a piece of wrought iron, to which the newly formed resulting
wrought iron will attach itself, and to which it is to be gradually pressed by
any convenient instrument. Other metallic oxides and their combinations may
be used along with the oxide of iron, and so may the earthy bases, their oxides,
and suitable combinations.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
In carrying out the first part of the Invention, I employ at the rate of about
five per cent. by weight of the iron about to be run into a boiling and
puddling furnace of oxide of iron, with or without a small quantity of the oxide
of tin or other metal, or of an earthy base (known to produce peculiar,qualities
of iron when combined in small quantities), using such other oxides when the
quality of iron is desired to be varied from its natural state; and such oxides,
that is to say, the oxides of iron or combined oxides, are mixed with a like
measure or bulk of wood sawdust, and this mixture is laid on to the bed of the
furnace as the melted iron is being run on to the bed, placing the mixture as
much as possible under the melted iron, and when the ebullition has ceased
the puddling is to be conducted in the ordinary manner. In place of sawdust,
other ligneous or resinous, tarry or oily, matters may be used, or in conjunc-
tion with the sawdust; but in those cases where such matters give off much
gas, then a less quantity should be used. I would remark that I am aware

page_text: that oxides of iron have been employed in making the beds of puddling
furnaces, but such and other oxides have not been used in combination with
wood sawdust, ligneous, resinous, oily, or tarry matters, as herein explained,
and it is the combined using of such matters that constitutes the peculiarity of
this part of the Invention.
And when carrying out the second part of the Invention, and when about
to commence working into a puddling furnace (which I prefer to be deeper
and smaller than usual), as it is considered better to work small quantities at
a time, I place a certain quantity of ball furnace or other suitable cinder of iron
works, such quantity depending on the size of the furnace, and the charge of
iron to be worked therein; but I find eighty pounds of the cinder, or there-
about, to be a convenient quantity. I apply heat in the usual way as in
melting iron, and I add to the cinder, either before or after it is melted,
preferring the latter, about a fifth of its weight of oxide of iron, preferring
hæmatite (as free as possible from clayey matter). The heat is then to be
continued until the whole is melted; about 1 cwt. of melted cast or refined
iron is then added, upon which an ebullition or effervescence ensues, in conse-
quence of chemical action taking place; and in a very short period, varying
according to the nature of the iron and other circumstances, small particles of
malleable iron are observed to be forming, at which period I find it advan-
tageous to throw in a piece of wrought iron, thin, and offering as much surface
as its weight (2 or 3 lbs.) will allow. The spiral is a convenient form for such
piece of iron. This iron forms a nucleus, on which the workman with a
suitable staff or rod presses the forming and formed malleable iron. The
operation is then finished, and usually occupies about twenty minutes when
the above-named quantities are used. The blooni or mass of iron so formed
is submitted to hammering, and the further processes employed in bar or plate
iron making. The above is for commencing for a first charge; but after having
completed the process with one charge in a furnace, the subsequent charges
will only require about seven to ten per cent. of their weight of the oxide of
iron, removing the excess of cinder from time to time; and it is found desirable
that the melted cinder and oxide should at all times be sufficient to cover the
charge of melted iron run into the furnace. When it is desired to change the
character of iron, by combining therewith metals or earthy bases in small
quantities, I apply a small quantity of their oxides with the oxide of iron.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the details or quantities here given; and I would state that I am aware that
oxides of iron and cinder have been used in puddling furnaces in making the

page_text: beds thereof, but not to produce a fluid bath of the two combined, in order to
receive the melted iron, as herein described; and it is this mode of using
oxides and cinder in making wrought iron which constitutes the peculiarity of
this part of the Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Davic Morries Stirling, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
GEO. PITT,
4, Old Square.
J. D. MORRIES STIRLING. (L.S.)