AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF UNITING OR WELDING TOGETHER WROUGHT IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Odile Joseph Wilmart, of Schaerbeek, Brussels,
in the Kingdom of Belgium, Civil Engincer, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF UNITING OR WELDING TOGETHER WROUGHT IRON
AND STEEL."
Sealed the 11th May 1875, and dated the 24th March 1875.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Odile Joseph Wilmart
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 24th March 1875, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ODILE
JOSEPH WILMART, of Schaerbeek, Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium,
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
PROCESS OF UNITING OR WELDING TOGETHER WROUGHT IRON AND STEEL," and
have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have

page_text: made solemn Declaration that I am the first and true Inventor thereof,
and that the same is not in use by any other person or persons to the
best of my knowledge and belief.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Odile Joseph Wilmart, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :—
My Invention consists of the improved process herein-after described
of uniting or welding together wrought iron and steel, which process is:
applicable to the manufacture of iron and steel rails and other articles
of iron and steel, which when in use require to be hard on one side and
tough on the other.
Hitherto in attempts made to manufacture rails of iron and steel the
foot and part of the head of the rail (were made of ordinary rolled iron,
and the rolling surface of rolled bar steel, which steel was applied to the
iron in a solid state and the two were heated together, but when a pile
or faggot of iron and steel prepared as hercin-before described is sub-
jected to the action of fire for the purpose of communicating to it the
required temperature for welding together the two distinct metals of
which the rail is to be composed it is found that the bar steel, which by
its nature is essentially hard and dense, requires to be heated for a much
longer time than ordinary iron before it attains a welding heat, whilst
iron heats much more quickly. It follows that when iron and steel
are heated together, as herein-before described, the steel does not attain
a good welding heat till the iron has been burnt and has lost its essential
qualities. If on the other hand to obviate this defect the heating
operation is arrested when a mean heat has been attained other defects
are produced, the rails thus manufactured exfoliate very soon after being
in use on a railway, and the head gets detached in different parts from
the defective welding of the iron and steel.
Now the object of my Invention is to obviate these defects and to
produce articles made of iron and steel intimately united together of
great strength and durability.
According to my Invention I heat the iron to be welded to the steel
in a heating furnace, and I take the steel in a molten state by preference
directly from the converter or vessel in which it is produced. In all

page_text: cases I heat the two metals separately, each to the temperature at which
it is capable of being welded, and so that the degree of heat imparted to
one of the metals shall not injure the nature of the other.
The wrought iron I use in my process may be either rolled iron or any
other suitable description of wrought iron. I make it up into piles or
faggots composed of the required qualities of iron, the part which is to
form the surface to be welded to the steel should however be of granular
or soft iron. The said iron piles or faggots are heated to a welding heat
in a suitable furnace, and are then rolled each into the form of a block
of rectangular section with a longitudinal rib or projection, or several
such ribs or projections on that side which is composed of granular or
soft iron, and which is to be welded to the steel. The said block of iron
thus formed when brought to a welding heat in a heating furnace will
be ready for use in my process.
The steel I use may be produced by the well-known Bessemer process
or the Martin process, or by any other suitable process for making steel
When the steel is in a melted state, and is consequently at a proper
welding heat, I run into a suitable mould a quantity of such steel,
sufficient to entirely cover the ribs or projections on the iron block
herein-before described, so that there may be no vacant space between
the said iron and steel, and that the necessary depth or thickness of steel
may be left between the ribs or projections and the mould when the said
block is immersed in such steel. The mould or vessel with the melted
steel therein is now conveyed close to the door of the heating furnace,
in which the iron block herein-before described has been brought to a
welding heat. I then take out the iron block from its heating furnace,
and having scraped off any cinder or slag adhering between its ribs or
projections I immerse the said block in the liquid steel in the ingot
mould or vessel, so that the side on which are the said ribs or pro-
jections dips into and comes into immediate contact with the steel,
which thus becomes intimately welded and united to the iron. The iron
and steel are then left to cool until the steel has hardened sufficiently
and the union or welding is complete. The mass may then be removed
from the mould or vessel, and may be hammered if required and then
rolled into the shape it is required to assume.
Two or more portions of steel may be welded to the same block of iron
hy youeating the

page_text: Having now explained the nature of my said Invention I will proceed
to describe with reference to the accompanying Drawing my improved
process of welding together iron and steel in its application to the
manufacture of iron and steel rails, which rails I call compound rails,
the head or rolling surface of such rails being made of steel and the foot
of fibrous iron.
In the manufacture of my compound rails the iron faggots or piles
used for the iron part of the rail are composed of fibrous iron on the side
intended for the formation of the foot of the rail, and granular or soft
iron on the side to be in contact with the steel. The piles or faggots
thus composed are heated in a furnace, and are then rolled or hammered
into blocks shaped as represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the accom-
panying Drawings, Figure 1 being a plan view of the said block of iron,
Figure 2 a side elevation of the same, and Figure 3 a transverse section
of the same through the line C, D, Figures 1 and 2.
It will be seen that the block F is formed with two longitudinal ribs
or projections G, G, on its lower surface. The object of the said ribs or
projections is to cause the iron and steel to cross or take into each other
in order to effect a perfect union or welding of the two.
The steel to be united or welded to the block F I run into moulds, by
preference such as are represented in Figures 4, 5, and 6 of the accom-
panying Drawing, Figure 4 being a plan view of the said mould,
Figure 5 a longitudinal section of the same taken on the line A, B,
Figure 4, and Figure 6 a transverse section of the same taken on the
line C, D, Figures 4 and 5.
a is the shell of the mould; b, the inner part of the same, into which
the liquid steel is run; and J, J, are lugs or side plates to guide and
maintain in position the iron block when immersed in the bath of steel.
I run the liquid steel into the said mould until the said steel has reached
the level indicated by the red line E, E, in Figure 5, or such a level as
will entirely cover the ribs or projections on the block F when the said
block is immersed in the liquid steel. The ingot mould a is then con-
veyed to the heating furnace in which the block F is being heated, which
heating furnace should be as near as possible to the place where the
steel has been run into the said mould so as to prevent any cooling or
solidifying of the said steel. The block F is then removed from the
furnace, and having been cleansed from any slag or cinder which may

page_text: adhere to it is immersed in the bath of liquid steel, as shown in transverse
section in Figure 7, in which a represents the ingot mould; b, the bath
of liquid steel; H, the iron block to be united or welded to the said
steel; and h, h, the longitudinal ribs or projections upon the said block;
J are the lugs or guide plates to insure the correct position of the block
in the bath. When allowed to cool sufficiently for the steel to solidify
it will be found that the iron and steel have become perfectly welded
and intimately united one to the other. The mass thus produced is then
removed from the mould and may be rolled into rails, the steel con-
tained in the mass forming the head of the rail and the fibrous iron the
foot of the said rail.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be distinctly understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my said Invention, but I claim as
my Invention,-
Firstly. The process of uniting or welding together wrought iron and
steel, herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, that is to say, immersing a heated block of iron formed with a
rib or projection, or several ribs, or projections upon it in molten steel
contained in a suitable mould or vessel, so that those parts of the iron
which are to be united or welded to the said steel shall be in contact
therewith.
Secondly. The use of the compound bars or blocks of iron and steel
produced by the welding or uniting process herein-before described for
the manufacture therefrom of railway rails and other articles of iron and
steel.
In witness whereof, I, the said Odile Joseph Wilmart, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
ODILE JOSEPH WILMART. (D.s.)