IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED:
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Warner, of Westbourne Crescent, Hyde
Park, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of>
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED:
33
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Warner at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th March 1874.
I, ARTHUR WARNER, of Westbourne Crescent, Hyde Park, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of tho
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON, AND IN-
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an improved mode of treating and purifying-
iron by causing refining ingredients such as are herein-after mentioned
to operate upon the molten metal in the manner which I will now
proceed to describe.

page_text: Much difficulty has hitherto been experienced in treating molten cast
iron with the view of removing impurities from it by the agency of
infusible materials used for refining, such as oxide of iron, oxide of
manganese, lime or limestone, and other purifying agents of a like nature
owing to the fact that the molten iron only acts upon a very thin layer,
and consequently a sufficient quantity cannot be used to have the
necessary purifying effect; but I find that by mixing with these or
similar infusible agents fusible materials that melt at a comparatively
low heat a sufficiently large quantity of the refining agents can be used
as the fusible material melts gradually away and exposes constantly a 1
fresh surface to the molten iron instead of baking to a hard cake as does
the infusible material when used alone.
I am aware that many of the agents which I propose to employ in
treating iron by my method have been before proposed to be used, but
they have not been used with practical success nor have they produced
the beneficial results which I have succeeded in obtaining for reasons
which I will now give.
In some cases they have not been used in the right proportions, the
quantities being too small; in others they have not been used with
apparatus of the proper construction.
Now the mode in which I treat the molten iron is as follows:-I take
ordinary pig iron either as it runs from the blast furnace or when it is
melted in a cupola or other furnace, and I allow the molten metal to
run into a receiver, which I make of the required shape and dimensions
of wrought iron lined with fire-brick. At the bottom of the receiver Is
place a layer of the purifying agents, using them in a finely ground
state, and when a mixture of different agents is used, taking care that
they are well ground together or otherwise intimately mixed. Of these
agents I employ, as will be found, quantities much larger than it has
been hitherto considered possible to use with advantage.
i.
By employing a receiver made of considerable depth, and allowing the
molten metal to fall directly upon the surface of the purifying agents, I
find that the metal itself keeps down the purifying agents below its
surface a sufficient time to allow them to act properly without the
assistance of any partition or case or vessel to separate the agents from
the molten metal. I also find that while I in all cases employ, as above
mentioned, comparatively large quantities of the purifying agents, these

page_text: little clay, oxide of iron, oxide of zinc, fluor spar, or other such material
in order to form a more complex silicate, as a complex silicate is always
more fusible than a simple silicate. I prefer to use as the cheapest and
most effectual common yellow or any other clay in the proportion of
about 1 part by weight of clay to 10 parts by weight of the mixture of
limestone and carbonate of soda, and I generally add an extra part of
carbonate of soda to make sure of this mixture melting by the heat of
2
parts by go sow asi,
وو
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وو
"
slaked powdery lime.
And for acting upon a ton of molten iron about 85 lbs. of this mixture
should be used for every 1 per cent. of silicon found in the iron.
When it is desired to use fluor spar, which in general we do not find
to be advantageous, it would be necessary to use about 1 part by weight:
of soda ash and 2 parts by weight of fluor spar.
3

page_text: .. If it is wished to mix any of the ingredients together, such as say
limestone and oxide of manganese, the quantity of carbonate of soda
must be proportioned to the quantity of the respective ingredients in
the mixture; for example,-
2
دو
"
,, oxide of manganese
would require 3 parts of soda ash.
Any proportions can be safely used where the soda ash is in excess of
what I have given, and the quantity of soda ash may be occasionally
reduced when very hot metal is to be acted upon or when a small
quantity of purifying agents only is used, or when a receiver wider at the
bottom than at the top is employed.
I also find that carbonate of soda may be used alone, and that it
successfully removes the silicon, but its use is expensive, as from 60 to
80 lbs. of carbonate of soda are used for each 1 per cent. of silicon found
in a ton of iron, 2½ tons of molten metal being acted upon in the
receiver above referred to.
The quantity of the fusible ingredients may also be reduced when a
decrepitating material such as common rock or bay salt is mixed with
it, and a mixture formed of these decrepitating salts and non-fusiblo
materials may be employed when only a small quantity of silicon has to
be removed. The salt will disperse the powder and cause it to pass up.
through the iron when subjected to the heat of the molten iron, but I do,
not prefer them; however for the sake of cheapness it may sometimes,
be desirable to use such substances, as it is evident that the more the.
proportion of carbonate of soda or other fusible salt is reduced tho,
cheaper will be the mixture.
When employing the purifying agents above mentioned I use a form
of receiver that enables them to act efficiently. Those hitherto employed;
have been straight-sided, or if anything, larger at the top than at the,
bottom. I prefer to make the receiver larger at the bottom than at the
top, by means of which I expose a larger surface of purifying agents to
the action of the iron, and in order that skulls and slag may be easily.
removed I make the bottom loose, that is, the bottom plate upon which.
the receiver stands is cottared up to an angle iron flange fixed to the

page_text: bottom end of the cylinder, and when required for work common loam
is thrown in and rammed down, which will make it perfectly secure.
The receiver may with advantage be mounted on wheels or connected
with a carriage, and when charged with the purifying agent may be
placed under or in connection with a chimney and be disconnected when
the operation is complete. Hydraulic machinery may be used for
moving the receiver. Modifications of this apparatus also may be
employed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Arthur Warner in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
WARNER, of Westbourne Crescent, Hyde Park, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself; Her heirs, and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Arthur Warner, Her special license that
I, the said Arthur Warner, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Arthur Warner, my executors, admini-
strators, 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, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,' upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Arthur Warner, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument 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 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 Arthur Warner, 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 :-
My Invention relates to an improved mode of treating and purifying
iron by causing refining ingredients, such as are hercin-after mentioned,
to operate upon the molten metal in the manner which I will now proceed
to describe.
Much difficulty has hitherto been experienced in treating molten cast
iron with the view of removing impuritics from it by the agency of
infusible materials used for refining, such as oxido of iron, oxide of
manganese, lime or limestone, and other purifying agents of a like
nature owing to the fact that the molten iron only acts upon a very thin
layer, and consequently a sufficient quantity cannot be used to have the
necessary purifying effect; but I find that by mixing with these or
similar infusible agents fusible materials that melt at a comparatively
low heat a sufficiently large quantity of the refining agents can be used
as the fusible material melts gradually away and exposes constantly a
fresh surface to the molten iron instead of baking to a hard cake as docs
the infusible material when used alone.
I am aware that many of the agents which I propose to employ in
treating iron by my method have been before proposed to be used, but,
they have not been used with practical success nor have they produced
the beneficial results which I have succeeded in obtaining, for reasons
which I will now give.
In some cases they have not been used in the right proportions, the
quantities being too small; in others they have not been used with
apparatus of the proper construction.
Now the mode in which I treat the molten iron is as follows:-I take
ordinary pig iron either as it runs from the blast furnace or when it is
remelted in a cupola or other furnace, and I allow the molten metal to
run into a receiver, which I make of the required shape and dimensions
of wrought iron lined with fire-brick. At the bottom of the receiver I
place a layer of the purifying agents, using them in a finely ground
state and when a mixture of different agents is used, taking care that
they are well ground together or otherwise intimately mixed. Of these

page_text: that is to say, upon 3 tons in the same receiver, I in this case caused
the agents to pass through a column of metal 4 feet 9 inches deep, and
I found that they in this case purified 3 tons of metal to about the
same degree, as with the lesser depth of metal 3 feet 6 inches they
purified 2 tons.
When using this mixture of limestone and soda ash the slag formed is
very stiff and does not run easily out of the receiver after the iron, this
can be altered by the addition of another base in the form of a little
clay, oxide of iron, oxide of zinc, fluor spar, or other such material in
order to form a more complex silicate, as a complex silicate is always
more fusible than a simple silicate. I prefer to use as the cheapest and
most effectual common yellow or any other clay in the proportion of
about 1 part by weight of clay to 10 parts by weight of the mixture of
limestone and carbonate of soda, and I generally add an extra part of
carbonate of soda to make sure of this mixture melting by the heat of
the molten metal.
When oxide of iron; oxide of manganese, or fluor spar, or other oxides
of the heavy metals are used nothing is required, as the slag is already
sufficiently fusible..
When oxide of iron is used the proportion's arc,-
2 parts by weight of soda ash or thereabouts,
3 „
وو.
'oxide of iron.
"
"
}
And for acting upon a ton of molten iron about 90 lbs. of this mixture
should be used for every 1 per cent. of silicon found in the iron.
These proportions are calculated upon the use for the oxide of
haematite iron ore, but if slags or more fusible oxides are used the pro-
portions will vary, and the quantity of oxide required must be ascertained
by trial, as may be readily done.
When oxide of manganese is used the proportions are,
1 part by weight of soda ash, or thereabouts,
2”
"
"
"
oxide of manganesc.
And for acting upon a ton of molten iron about 90 lbs. of this mixture.
should be used for every 1 per cent. of silicon found in the iron.
1

page_text: have been straight sided, or if anything. larger at the top than at the
bottom. I find it more advantageous in some cases to make the receiver
larger at the bottom than at the top, by means of which I expose a
larger surface of purifying agents to the action of the iron, and in order
that skulls and slag may be casily removed I make the bottom loose,
that is, the bottom plate upon which the receiver stands is cottared up
to an angle iron flange fixed to the bottom end of the cylinder, and when
required for work common loam is thrown in and rammed down, which
will make it perfectly secure.
The receiver may with advantage be mounted on wheels or connected
with a carriage, and when charged with the purifying agent may be
placed under or in connection with a chimney and be disconnected when
the operation is complete. Hydraulic machinery may be used for moving
the receiver. Modifications of this apparatus also may be employed.
Having now described the nature of my improvements in the manu-
facture of iron, together with the means and apparatus employed in
carrying the same into practice, I claim the process of purifying iron by
employing the purifying agents herein mentioned, substantially in the
proportions indicated and in the manner herein described.
I claim the use as and for the purpose herein described of mixtures
so formed of fusible and infusible materials that the latter are made
active by the agency of the former, the agents being such as are known
to act upon the iron and upon other agents that will so act, and the pro-
portions being substantially such as are hercin-before indicated.
I also claim the use of receivers for the purpose of holding compara-
tively thick layers of purifying agents and receiving upon them the
charge of molten metal, and so effecting its purification, such receivers
being constructed wider at the bottom than the top, substantially as
herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Warner, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-