AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON;
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
CRANE, of Yniscedwyn Iron Works, near Swansea, Iron Master, send
grecting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the
Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of September, in the
seventh year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Crane, His especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said George Crane, my exors, aduiors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Crane, my exors, admors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said George Crane, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Crane, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof (that is to say) :-
According to the ordinary practice of obtaining iron from iron stone, mine,
or ore in this country, the iron stone, mine, or ore, either calcined or in the raw
state, according to its respective qualities, is put into suitable furnaces with
coke produced from bituminous coal, formerly called pit coal, in contradistinction
to charcoal produced from wood, which was the fuel employed in this country
previous to the introduction of pit coal in the smelting and manufacture of
iron. Now as there are districts in which are to be found large quantities of
iron stone, mine, or ore, in the immediate neighbourhood of what is known as
stone coal or anthracite coal, it has long been considered as a desirable object
to employ such coal for the smelting and manufacture of iron; and although
attempts have been made to apply such description of coal in the smelting and
manufacture of iron, the same have failed, and have been abandoned. In
addition to such advantages to be obtained from the using of anthracite or
stone coal in the districts where such coal is found, together with iron stone,
mine, or ore, from the practice I have had I am induced to believe such coal
from its properties will be found to produce a quality of iron more nearly
resembling iron obtained by the aid of vegetable charcoal. Now the object of
my Invention is the-application of such anthracite or stone coal combined with
a hot-air blast in the smelting'or manufacture of iron from iron stone, mine, or
ore; and in order to give the best information in my power for enabling a
workman to carry out my Invention, I will describe the process or means pur-
sued by line, and in doing so I will suppose the 'furnace of an ordinary con-
struction to be in blast; and that the machinery and apparatus are adapted for
the application of hot-air blast, as is well understood and extensively applied in
many places where the ordinary fuel (coke of bituminous coal, or the coal: in
a raw state,) is employed in the manufacture of iron from iron stone, mine, or
ore, and. I have found that a furnace having suitable apparatus for heating
the blast to about six" hundred degrees of Falirenheit a good arrangement for
carrying out my Invention, though so high a degree of temperature is not
indispensably necessary, but I believe preferable: In charging such a furnace,
I throw in about three hundredweight of anthracite or stone coal or culm to

page_text: each five hundredweight of calcined árgillaceous iron stone, with a proper
quantity of flux, as if working with the coke of bituminous coal; such charging
of the furnace and the general working, -with the exception of. the using.of
anthracite or stone coal, 'is 'to be pursued as if working with coke of bituminous
coal; and I would remark that the quantities above given are such as 'I have
hitherto employed in making the best qualities of pig iron, videlicet, No..1 or
No. 2, at my works, from the anthracite stone coal or culm found in the
neighbourhood of the Yniscedwyn Iron Works; but those quantities may be
varied according to local circumstances and the refractory nature of the iron
stone, mine, or ore, or otherwise, to be reduced, and the quality of iron desired
to be obtained, as is the case in ordinary working, and at the judgment and
discretion of the manager, as heretofore. And I would remark that the anthra-
cite or stone coal or culm may be coked in like manner to bituminous coal
before charging the furnace; but from my experience I have not (so far as my
practice goes in working with the coal obtained in my neighbourhood) found
that such coking is necessary, or that a more advantageous result is obtained
than in applying the anthracite or stone coal directly from the mine. And it is
desirable to observe, I have found it of advantage that the blast of hot air should
be as free and unimpeded as possible, and from that account I have hitherto
used only anthracite or stone coal the smaller parts of which would not pass
through a sieve of an inch mesh, but where the pillar or volume of blast is
considerable, say two pounds and upwards on the square inch, this precau-
tion is not necessary.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of car-
rying the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not claim the
using of a hot-air blast separately in the smelting and manufacture of iron as
of my Invention when uncombined with the application of anthracite or stone
coal and culm, nor do I claim the application of anthracite or stone coal in the
manufacture or smelting of iron when uncombined with the using of hot-air
blast.
But what I do claim as my Invention is the application of anthracite or
stone coal and culm combined with the using of hot-air blast in the smelting
and manufacture of iron from iron stone, mine, or ore, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Crane, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.
GEORGE (L.s.) CRANE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-seventh day of March,
in the year of our Lord 1887, the aforesaid George Crane came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-seventh day of March,
in the year
of our Lord 1887, the aforesaid George Crane came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.
Inrolled the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.