IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING STEEL BY THE BESSEMER PROCESS
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Davy, of Sheffield in the County of York for.
an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR
MAKING STEEL BY THE BESSEMER PROCESS
}
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Davy at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th May 1883.
ALFRED DAVY of Sheffield in the County of York,
ss IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING STEEL BY THE BESSEMER PROCESS."
The object of this Invention is to enable Cast Iron founders and others to make
steel and steel castings without the costly plant now in use for producing the said
metal:
By means of this Invention cast iron may be tapped out of a cupola or furnace
into á portable vessel which may or may not be specially adapted for the purpose
and there be decarbonised by blowing air through the metal and converted into
steel as in the Bessemer process. I am thus able to dispense with the costly plant
of fixed or tipping converters and steel producing furnaces heretofore used, and.
enable an ordinary iron foundry with the addition of a comparatively inexpensive
blowing apparatus, to produce steel at a very little greater cost than cast iron.
In order to carry my Invention into effect, I provide an ordinary iron foundry
with a blowing apparatus of sufficient capacity to blow through and decarbonise the
quantity of metal intended to be dealt with.
The Invention consists essentially in the employment in combination with a
portable vessel (which may either be an ordinary foundry ladle or other portable
vessel unprovided with any special means of conveying air into it, or a vessel
specially provided with tuyere holes as hereafter described) of stand pipes:
constructed and adapted to discharge the air into the metal in one or other of the:
following ways:-
'
When an ordinary foundry ladle or other portable vessel unprovided with tuyere
holes is used, the air is conveyed into the metal and discharged beneath the surface.
מ

page_text: thereof by a pipe or pipes dipping down into the metal from above. To this end a
movable blow pipe or pipes capable of being lowered into the metal may be
employed or the pipe or pipes may be fixed and the vessel may be raised up to it or
them. In either case I provide in any position convenient for the purpose a stand
pipe in connection with the air main from the blowing apparatus. In this stand 5
pipe may be fitted to slide telescopically up and down another pipe to which is
attached a downwardly extending pipe terminating in nozzles or tuyeres for
immersion in the metal for discharging the air beneath the surface thereof. This
telescopic sliding pipe is partially counterbalanced and a valve is provided in the air
main to cut off or regulate the supply and another in the sliding telescopic pipe.
By means of these valves the pressure of air may be made to raise the telescopic
dip pipe to allow of placing the ladle or vessel in position beneath it, and then by
releasing the pressure, the dip pipe may be lowered by its own weight into its
proper position for blowing, or the telescopic dip pipe may be raised and lowered
by an ordinary windlass or crane, or by hydraulic or steam lifting apparatus. The
air may then be blown through the dip pipe and be discharged at suitable nozzles,
tuyeres, or other orifices at the extremity of the dip pipe beneath the surface of the
metal, the air finding its way up through the body of the metal as in an ordinary
Bessemer converter.
Or the fixed or stand pipe may be mounted in an. inverted position at a con-
venient height above the vessel to be blown, the telescopic dip pipe being in that
case straight, and suitable means being provided whereby it may be raised by the.
air pressure or otherwise and lowered by its own weight.
.
Or the dip pipe may be swivel jointed by two joints at right angles to one
another, or otherwise, to the fixed or stand; pipe to admit of the dip pipe being
swung into or out of position over, and lowered into or raised out of the ladle or
vessel.
Or the dip pipe may be a fixture and hydraulic or steam lifts, cranes, or other
hoisting apparatus be provided for raising the vessel containing the charge to.be
blown until the dip pipe is in position for blowing.
When a portable vessel constructed with one or more tuyere holes is used, the
latter are so arranged that the air shall pass into the metal, but so that when the
vessel is in position for blowing, the metal shall have no tendency to run out
through the tuyeres which terminate externally at a higher level than the surface
of the metal.
The connection of the blowing apparatus with these tuyeres may be made in
various ways. For instance the air pipes or nozzles may be made to slide into the
tuyere holes from a fixed stand pipe or pipes, or a sliding air pipe or pipes may be
used as described herein, to be lowered into the tuyeres which may be made to
terminate vertically, or these tuyere holes may be constructed so that the ladle or
vessel may be lowered, as it were, onto the top or tops of fixed stand pipes.
Portable vessels specially designed for this purpose are deeper than ordinary
ladles used for iron foundry purposes and are of such shape or form as either to
allow the heat and flames or sparks to pass out vertically when blowing or to direct
the same into a flue or stack.
If an ordinary foundry ladle be used, it must be so much larger than if it were
required for the same weight of cast iron in an iron foundry as to allow for the
ebullition of the metal and admit of a thick lining of ganister or fire-brick, o
refractory material instead of the ordinary comparatively thin sand or ganiste
lining of a foundry ladle which would not stand the heat and blowing. If brick
of a refractory material be used for lining an ordinary ladle for this purpose, they
may be continued above the top thereof in such form as to divert the flame and
sparks if found desirable, or this lining may terminate at the top of the ladle and
the latter may, during the process of blowing, be placed under a fixed hood leading
into a flue. This hood would be composed of, or lined with, fire-brick or othe
refractory material. If such a hood is not used, a portable cover lined with th

page_text: same material or one attached to the sliding dip pipe of the blowing apparatus may
be made to answer the same purpose.
The portable vessels or ordinary foundry ladles which I propose to use, may be
made so that the metal, after it is blown, may be poured from the top of the vessel
as in an ordinary foundry ladle, or they may be provided with a pouring nozzle
and stopper to run the metal from the bottom of the vessel, as in the ladles into
which the metal is poured from the converter in the ordinary Bessemer process.
These portable vessels are moved from the cupola or wherever the cast iron is first
tapped or run into them by any ordinary hydraulic, steam, or hand crane, or they
may be mounted on a carriage and run into position for blowing.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alfred Davy in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
November 1883.
ALFRED DAVY of Sheffield in the County of York "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING STEEL BY THE BESSEMER PROCESS
"
The object of this Invention is to enable cast iron founders, and others, to make
steel and steel castings without the costly plant now in use for producing
the same.
By means of this Invention cast iron may be tapped out of a cupola or furnace
into a portable vessel and there be decarbonised by blowing air through the metal,
and converted into steel, as in the Bessemer process. The costly plant of fixed or
tipping converters and steel producing furnaces heretofore used may thus be
dispensed with, and steel may be produced at a very little greater cost than cast
iron in any ordinary iron foundry provided with a comparatively inexpensive
blowing apparatus of sufficient capacity to blow through and decarbonise the
quantity of metal intended to be dealt with.
The Invention consists essentially in the employment in combination with a
portable vessel (which may either be an ordinary foundry ladle or other portable
vessel unprovided with any special means of conveying air into it) of stand pipes
constructed and adapted to discharge the air into the metal beneath the surface
thereof by a pipe or pipes dipping into the metal from above. To this end a
movable blow pipe or pipes capable of being lowered into the metal may be
employed, or the pipe or pipes may be fixed and the vessel may be raised up to it
or them. In either case I provide, in any position convenient for the purpose, a
stand pipe in connection with the air main from the blowing apparatus. In this
stand pipe may be fitted to slide telescopically another pipe to which is attached a
downwardly turned dip pipe terminating in nozzles or tuyeres for immersion in
the metal for discharging the air beneath the surface thereof. This telescopic
sliding pipe is partially counterbalanced, and a valve is provided in the air main
to cut off or regulate the supply and another in the sliding telescopic pipe. By
means of these valves the pressure of air may be made to raise the telescopic dip
pipe to allow of placing the ladle or vessel in position beneath it, after which by
releasing the pressure the dip pipe may be lowered by its own weight into its
proper position for blowing; Or the telescopic dip pipe may be raised and lowered
by an ordinary windlass or crane, or by hydraulic or steam-lifting apparatus. The
air may then be blown through the dip pipe and be discharged at suitable nozzles,
tuyeres, or other orifices at the extremity of the dip pipe beneath the surface of the
metal, the air finding its way up through the body of the metal as in an ordinary
Bessemer converter.
Or the blow pipes may be pendent in an inverted position at a convenient
height above the vessel to be blown, the telescopic dip pipe being in that case
straight and suitable means being provided whereby it may be raised by the air
pressure or otherwise and lowered by its own weight.
Or the dip pipe may be a fixture and hydraulic or steam lifts, cranes, or other
hoisting apparatus be provided for raising the vessel containing the charge to be
blown until the dip pipe is in position for blowing. Portable vessels specially
designed for this purpose are deeper than ordinary ladles used for iron foundry
purposes and are of such shape or form as either to allow the heat and flames or
sparks to pass out vertically when blowing, or to direct the same into a flue or
stack. If an ordinary foundry ladle be used it must be so much larger than if it

page_text: were required for the same weight of cast iron in an iron foundry as to allow for.
the ebullition of the metal and admit of a thick lining of ganister, or fire brick,
or refractory material, instead of the ordinary comparatively thin sand or ganister
lining of a foundry ladle which would not stand the heat and blowing. If bricks
of a refractory material be used for lining an ordinary ladle for this purpose, they
may be continued above the top thereof in such form as to divert the flame and
sparks if found desirable, or this lining may terminate at the top of the ladle and
the latter may, during the process of blowing, be placed under a fixed hood
leading into a flue. This hood would be composed of, or lined with, fire brick or
other refractory material. If such a hood is not used, a portable cover lined with
the same material, or one attached to the sliding dip pipe of the blowing apparatus
may be made to answer the same purpose.
The portable vessels, or ordinary foundry ladles, which I propose to use may be
made so that the metal after it is blown may be poured from the top of the vessel
as in an ordinary foundry ladle, or they may be provided with a pouring nozzle
and stopper to run the metal from the bottom of the vessel as in the ladles into
which the metal is poured from the converter in the ordinary Bessemer process.
These portable vessels are moved from the cupola or wherever the cast iron is first
tapped, or run into them; by any ordinary hydraulic, steam, or hand crane, or they
may be mounted on a carriage and run into position for blowing.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Figure I represents in sectional elevation, and Figure 2 in plan, a stand pipe
provided with a telescopically sliding and laterally swivelling dip pipe which is
raised to allow of the portable vessel being placed in position and is lowered
therein for blowing. Figure 3 represents a sectional elevation of an arrangement
of fixed stand and dip pipes, and wherein the vessel containing the charge to be
blown is raised by a hydraulic or steam lift until the dip pipe is sufficiently
immersed therein for blowing. Figure 4 represents a side elevation and Figure 5
a plan of the same arrangement. Figure 6 is a plan and Figure 7 a part sectional
elevation of an arrangement wherein the dip pipe is pendent from a wall bracket
and the ladle is raised to the position for blowing by means of an ordinary foundry
crane. Figure 8 is a side elevation of the same arrangement, and Figure 9 a plan
of the ladle. The same letters of reference indicate similar parts in all the figures.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2, A is the stand pipe erected upon a suitable
foundation and connected with pipe B leading from the air main supplied with
air, from the blowing engine or apparatus, a suitable valve (not shown) being
provided in pipe B for regulating the supply of air to the stand pipe. C is
a T shaped pipe the leg of which slides telescopically through a stuffing box at the
top of the stand pipe A. To one branch of the T pipe is attached the dip or
tuyere pipe D, the other branch being closed and a counterweight E attached
thereto to balance the dip pipe and admit of the sliding pipe turning freely on its
vertical axis. The whole of this movable portion is partially counterbalanced by
weights attached to a wire rope or chain which is connected by a swivel to
the T head of the sliding pipe and passes over a suitable pulley above or in other
convenient ways. Or the sliding pipe may be attached to a piston rod passing
through a gland in the bottom of the stand pipe, and the balance weights may be
connected to said piston and work in a pit beneath the floor. O is a valve in
the T head between the pipes C and D; by closing this valve and admitting air
to the sliding pipe, the pressure of air may be made to raise the dip pipe sufficiently
to enable it to be brought over the vessel, after which by releasing the pressure it
may be lowered therein into position for blowing.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of the dip pipe on a larger scale showing details of
construction. a is a wrought iron pipe secured to b by a flange as shown, b is a
flanged casting fitting loosely in a coned seat at c. D is a ganister or fire clay,
tube which may either be made in one length as shown, or in two or more lengths

page_text: secured by transverse cotters shorter than the outside diameter of pipe D and
sealed in with ganister to protect them, as shown in Figure 3. The upper end. of
the tube D or of the upper section thereof, as the case may be, is enlarged in the
form of a cone ḍ which is received in a corresponding socket at the lower end of a
short branch pipe leading down from the T pipe C and is bedded therein with
plastic ganister. The whole dip pipe may be removed bodily at an opening above,
closed by a cover e, for renewal when required. The pipe D here shown has an
open mouth at bottom of the full size of the bore, but the lower end, for say
12 inches of its length, may be solid and perforated with a number of smaller
holes all running out of the one pipe, as in Figure 3ª, for ensuring a more uniform
distribution of air through the metal.
Instead of constructing the dip pipe with a wrought iron lining as above
described, it might be moulded solid of ganister or fire clay with a number of
longitudinal passages through it and with a flange at top, above the coned part, to
rest on a corresponding seat in the socket on pipe C. F is the portable vessel in
which the conversion is effected. It is here shown as of special construction being
partially closed in at top, a sufficient opening (of the form shown in Figure 2) only
being left for the dip or tuyere pipe to pass through and for the flames &c to
escape freely during the process of blowing, the form of the upper part of the
vessel and the position of the opening being such as to direct the flames &c away
from the upper part of the dip pipe. The body of the vessel is constructed of an
iron shell lined with ganister, or other refractory material, and the bottom is made
separate to admit of its being renewed when required without disturbing the lining
of the upper part, this refractory bottom being held in a flanged hoop or casing
which is bolted to flanges on the shell of the upper part as shown. Instead, however,
of raising and lowering the dip pipe for the purpose of placing it in the portable
vessel, the latter might be raised up to the dip pipe (either by an air, steam or
bydraulic lift below as in Figure 3, or by an ordinary foundry crane as in Figure 7)
in which case the pipe C would not slide in the stand pipe A but merely turn on
its vertical axis to enable the dip pipe to be swung round out of the way (as shown
in dotted lines in Figure 2) when placing the vessel in position, and brought back
over the vessel before the latter is raised either by the crane which brought it or
by a lift as above mentioned. Whether the dip pipe be made to rise and fall or not,
I may either use the special form of vessel shown in Figures 1 and 2, or an ordinary
foundry ladle as shown in Figures 3 and 7, but in that case I prefer to use a dip or
tuyere pipe provided with a cover G for the ladle furnished with an orifice Ĥ as
shown in Figures 4 and 5.
it.
The pendent form of this apparatus will be readily understood without drawing
as the stand pipe instead of rising from below would descend from an overhead
support and be connected to the air main above, whilst the telescopic pipe would
be straight instead of T shaped and the dip pipe would be a direct continuation of
The latter would be raised and lowered by means of an air, steam, or hydraulic
cylinder on the top of the stand pipe acting on a piston rod connected to the dip
pipe, or an ordinary crane might be hooked onto the piston rod at the top for the
same purpose. The whole of the movable portion would be partially counterbalanced
by weights as will be readily understood."
In Figures 3. 4. and 5 A are the stand pipes connected at B to the air main,
and D is the dip pipe which is, in this case, a fixture. This pipe is constructed as
before described in reference to Figure 1ª, a cover G being added to the branch in
which the dip pipe fits, as shown in detail in Figure 3. This cover is lined with
fire-brick or other refractory material, and is of a size to fit the top of the ladle,
and is provided with one or more discharge orifices H for the escape of the flames, &c.
In this case F is similar to, or may be an ordinary foundry ladle, of suitable size,
lined with ganister or fire brick as above mentioned. It is run on a trolly from
the furnace to the hoisting apparatus immediately under the dip or tuyere pipe D.
The hoisting apparatus whereby the ladle or other portable vessel used is raised
into position for blowing, is here shown as an air cylinder K in which a ram L is

page_text: fitted to slide, on the top of which ram is a table to receive the trolly with the
ladle upon it. The load upon the ram may be partially counterbalanced, or the
ram may be made of such diameter that the pressure of air used for blowing may
be sufficient for hoisting the ladle with its charge into position. To this end the
air is admitted to the cylinder K before being turned onto the stand pipes, and
the ladle having been thereby raised until its top is close up to the cover G, the
table is then secured in the raised position by stop levers fitted on the bed plate or
stand pipes A. The air is then admitted to the stand pipes and passes down through
the dip or tuyere pipe D whence it escapes through the molton iron as before
described, the flame and sparks &c passing out through orifice H.
Referring to Figures 6. 7. 8. and 9, D is the dip pipe fitting as before described
in a socket in a pipe A which is in this case in the form of a wall bracket connected
at B with the air main. G is the cover for the ladle and H the orifice as before.
F is the ladle, similar to an ordinary foundry ladle, lined as above described and
provided with an extra pair of gudgeons f near the top by which it is carried in a..
sling or frame pendent from an ordinary foundry crane.
Having described the nature of my Invention and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention to be protected by the
herein before in part recited Letters Patent is.
1st The employment, in combination, of a portable vessel or ladle and of a tuyere
pipe dipping therein from above, whether the vessel be raised to the tuyere or the
tuyere be lowered into the vessel, substantially as and for the purpose herein
described.
2nd The construction of a portable vessel or foundry ladle for use in making
steel by the Bessemer process with a removable bottom, substantially as herein
described and shown in Figure 1.
3rd The general construction, combination and arrangement of the respective
systems of apparatus herein described and respectively shown in Figures 1 and 2,
3 to 5, and 6 to 9 of the drawings, for making steel by the Bessemer process by
means of portable vessels in combination with fixed or movable tuyere pipes
dipping therein as specified.
In Witness whereof I the said Alfred Davy have hereunto set my hand and
seal this ninth day of November, A.D. 1883.
DIVX7