A NEW METALLIC Com- POUND OR ALLOY
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Mushet, of Coleford, in the County of
Gloucester, Metallurgist, for the Invention of "A NEW METALLIC Com-
POUND OR ALLOY."
Sealed the 9th August 1859, and dated the 24th February 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Mushet at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th February 1859.
I, ROBERT MUSHET, of Coleford, in the County of Gloucester, Metallurgist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW METALLIC
COMPOUND OR ALLOY," to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists of a metallic compound or alloy consisting of the
metals tungsten, iron, and manganese. In making the alloy or compound
constituting my Invention, I prefer to proceed as follows:-I take the mineral
substance called wolfram or wolfram ore, and consisting essentially of tungstic
acid, protoxide of iron, and protoxide of manganese. I free the wolfram as
far as possible from the quartz and impurities with which it is mixed in nature
by the processes ordinarily resorted to for dressing or preparing minerals for
smelting. I effect the metallization or reduction of the mineral in a retort or
chamber of the kind (by preference) which is ordinarily used converting
bars of iron into steel by heating the said bars with charcoal. In charging
the retort or chamber, I cover the bottom with a layer of cosely powdered
charcoal; upon this I place a layer of the prepared wolfram, and upon that a
second layer of charcoal, and so on until the retort or chamber is filled with

page_text: alternating layers of charcoal and wolfram, taking care to finish with a layer
of charcoal. The retort or chamber is then closed, so as to prevent access of
air, and raised to a white heat, at which temperature it is maintained until the
deoxidization or reduction of the wolfram has been effected, which will be in
the course of from 72 to 96 hours, according to the size of the retort or
chamber. The deoxydized or reduced wolfram thus obtained is the metallic
compound or alloy constituting my Invention.
Although I prefer the method described of carrying my Invention into effect,
yet I do not confine myself thereto, as instead of stratifying the wolfram with
charcoal, the said wolfram and charcoal may be mixed together, and instead of
charcoal other reducing or deoxidizing agents may be employed. And
although I prefer the use of wolfram, yet an artificial mixture capable of
yielding an alloy of tungsten, iron, and manganese by the treatment described
may be employed instead of the said wolfram. The relative proportions of the
metallic tungsten, iron, and manganese in the metallic compound thus prepared
varies with the nature of the wolfram operated upon, but upon an average the
metallic compound may consist of about seventy equal parts by weight of
tungsten, fifteen such equal parts by weight of iron, and eight such equal parts
by weight of manganese; but I do not in any way limit myself to these
proportions, as they depend upon the relative proportions of tungsten, iron, and
manganese contained in the wolfram operated upon.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Mushet in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th August 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
MUSHET, of Coleford, in the County of Gloucester, Metallurgist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Robert Musbet, Her special licence that I, the said
Robert Mushet, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Robert Mushet, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at s
all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully

page_text: 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
"A NEW METALLIC COMPOUND OR ALLOY," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Robert Mushet, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Musbet, 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 fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say :-
My said Invention consists of a metallic compound or alloy of the metals
tungsten, iron, and manganese. In making the alloy or compound constituting
my Invention, I prefer to proceed as follows:-1 take the mineral called
wolfram or wolfram ore, which said mineral consists essentially of tungstic
acid, protoxide of iron, and protoxide of manganese. I free the said wolfram
as far as possible from the quartz and impurities with which it is associated in
nature by the processes ordinarily resorted to for dressing or preparing minerals
for smelting. I effect the metallization or reduction of the mineral in a retort
or chamber of the kind (by preference) which is ordinarily used for converting
bars of iron into steel by heating the said bars with charcoal. In charging
the retort or chamber, I cover the bottom thereof with a layer of coarsely
powdered charcoal; upon this I place a layer of the dressed or prepared.
wolfram, and upon that a second layer of charcoal, and so on until the retort
or chamber is filled with alternating layers of charcoal and wolfram, taking
care to finish with a layer of charcoal. The retort or chamber is then closed;
so as to prevent access of air, and raised to a white heat, at which temperature
the heat is maintained until the deoxidation or reduction of the wolfram has
been effected, which will be in the course of from seventy-two to ninety-six
hours, according to the size of the retort or chamber. The deoxidized or
reduced wolfram thus obtained is the metallic compound or alloy constituting
my Invention.
Although I prefer the method described of carrying my Invention into effect,
yet I do not confine myself thereto, as instead of stratifying the wolfram with
charcoal, the said wolfram and charcoal may be mixed together, and instead of
charcoal other reducing or deoxidizing agents may be employed, such for
instance as charred peat, or lignite, or clean pure coal or coke dust. And

page_text: although I prefer the use of wolfram, I do not limit myself to the use of the
natural mineral, as an artificial mixture consisting of tungstic acid and oxides
of iron and manganese, capable of yielding an alloy of tungsten, iron, and
manganese by the treatment described, may be employed instead of the said
wolfram. The relative proportions of the metallic tungsten, iron, and man-
ganese in the metallic compound thus prepared vary with the nature of the
wolfram operated upon, but upon an average the metallic compound consists
of about seventy equal parts by weight of tungsten, fifteen such equal parts by
weight of iron, and eight such equal parts by weight of manganese; but I do
not in any way limit myself to these proportions. The composition of the
alloy produced varies with the varying relative proportions of tungsten, iron,
and manganese contained in the wolfram operated upon. The furnace
I employ for reducing the wolfram is an ordinary steel converting furnace,
furnished with converting chests or pots in the usual manner; but I am
careful to construct the said furnace of the most refractory fire-stone or fire-
bricks, in order to enable the said furnace to withstand the intense heat which
I apply in order to deoxidize or reduce the wolfram.
Having described generally the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe in detail the best method with which I am acquainted of carrying
my Invention into effect.
When I prepare the alloy which constitutes my Invention by the use of
wolfram, I prepare the wolfram by breaking it, if in lumps, into pieces of the
size of a walnut and under, and I separate the broken wolfram into from
three to four different sizes by means of sieves or riddles, and which sizes I
terin respectively "rough," "middle sized," "small," and "dust ore." On the
floor of the converting chest or pot I place a layer of coarsely pulverized charcoal
about four inches in thickness, and over this a layer of "rough ore" three
inches in thickness. Upon this I again lay a bed of charcoal four inches
thick, and upon this I place a layer of "middle-sized ore" three inches in
thickness; I again cover this with charcoal to the thickness of four inches, and
place upon this charcoal a layer of "small ore "three inches thick, which I
then cover with a stratum of charcoal four inches thick, and lay upon this a
layer of "dust ore" three inches in thickness. If the chest or pot be not yet
full, I add another layer of charcoal, and another layer of "middle-sized ore,"
and finish the charging of the chest by covering the whole with charcoal to the
depth of four or five inches. I then construct a rough brick arch coated with
loam over the top layer of charcoal, and having closed the furnace carefully I
proceed to heat it in the manner usually practised by steel converters in con-
verting bar iron into steel.

page_text: But it must be observed that I do not limit myself to employ merely that
degree of heat which is sufficient for converting bar iron into steel; on the
contrary,
I heat the furnace to the utmost extent which the brick or stone
materials, of which the said deoxidizing furnace is constructed can safely with-
stand, that is to say, to a temperature ranging from 100 degrees to 140 degrees
of Wedgewood's pyrometric scale, and which temperature is to be maintained
for from seventy-two to ninety-six hours, according to the size of the deoxidizing
furnace and the quantity of wolfram contained in it; that is to say, if the furnace
contains from five to seven tons of wolfram, it will be sufficient to continue the
intense white heat for seventy-two hours; and if the furnace contains from
seven to twelve tons of wolfram, I prefer to continue the intense heat for
about ninety-six hours. I then allow the furnace to cool down, and when
cold I open it and withdraw the deoxidized metallized wolfram, and what
charcoal may remain; and I separate the charcoal from the said metallized
wolfram, which is now an alloy of tungsten, iron, and manganese, by winnowing
the said charcoal away from the alloy by means of a fan blast or other current
of air directed against it. Or the charcoal may be separated by washing it
away from the metallized wolfram with a stream of water, in which case I
subsequently dry the said metallized wolfram upon a stove. When the
wolfram is all in the state of "dust ore," I sometimes mix it with finely pul-
verized charcoal previously to introducing the said wolfram into the deoxi-
dizing furnace. In this case I add to every one hundred pounds of "dust ore,"
from twenty to twenty-five pounds of charcoal dust, ground very fine, and I mix
these substances together thoroughly. I then fill the converting chest or pot
completely with the said mixture of "dust ore " and finely pulverized charcoal,
being careful, however, to lay a stratum about two inches thick of coarsely
pulverized charcoal on the floor or sole of the converting chest or pot; and I
also cover the "dust ore" and charcoal at the top with a layer of coarsely
pulverized charcoal from four to five inches thick, over which I construct a
rough brick arch coated with loam in order to exclude the air.
I then pro-
ceed as I have herein-before described, except that in this case it will not be
necessary to maintain the intense white heat for more than sixty hours, or
thereabouts.
When I employ an artificial mixture consisting of tungstic acid and oxides
of iron and manganese instead of wolfram, I treat the said artificial mixture
in the manner herein described with reference to wolfram in the state of
dust ore."
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the methods by
which it may be carried into effect, I wish it to be understood that the essence

page_text: of my Invention consists in manufacturing a metallic compound or alloy of
tungsten, iron, and manganese.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Mushet, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witnesses,
EDW. M. MUSHET,
Coleford, Gloucestershire.
BROOKLYN MUSHET,
Coleford, Gloucestershire.
ROB. MUSHET.
(L.S.)