IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL, THE SMELTING OF ORES, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR, THE SAID IMPROVEMENTS BEING ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE REFINING OF IRON AND STEEL."
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Ellinor at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 26th June 1880.
GEORGE ELLINOR, of Sheffield, in the County of York. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL, THE SMELTING OF ORES, AND IN
APPARATUS THEREFOR, THE SAID IMPROVEMENTS BEING ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE
REFINING OF IRON AND STEEL."
This Invention relates to improvements in the manufacture and refining of iron
and steel, the smelting of ores, and in apparatus used in the manufacture of iron
and steel and in the smelting of ores.
These improvements consists in the removal of phosphorous and sulphur from
steel and iron, or from the ores from which metallic iron or steel are made (either
during or after the process of conversion of the ores into a metallic state), by the
use, as hereinafter specified, of calcium hydrate or magnetso calcium hydrate, or quick
lime or other forms of lime or its carbonates, in combination with a liquid volatile
hydro-carbon oil, and these improvements further consist in apparatus used in the
said operations, and are applicable to the smelting of ores other than those from
which metallic iron and steel are produced and are further applicable to the refining
of iron and steel.
'
The novelty of my Invention consists, firstly, in the method of operating upon
iron by a combination of calcium or magnetso calcium hydrate, or their carbonates,
or calcium in any intermediate state of hydration, with a volatile hydro-carbon
oil for the purpose of refining it and converting it into steel in any ordinary
apparatus for sinelting, refining, melting, or founding, or in any appliances used in
iron and steel making, refining, or founding; and, secondly, in improved apparatus
used to carry into effect this part of my Invention.
In carrying into effect this part of my Invention in ordinary iron and steel
making or refining apparatus, I employ hydrate of calcium in the form of a fine
powder and introduce it into the furnace or converter, etcetera, with the blast of
air, and in combination with volatile hydro-carbon oil for the purpose of dephospho-
rizing and desulphurizing the metal, the hydrate of lime being introduced into the
tuyeres or the blast pipe in any convenient manner so that it mixes with the
hydro-carbon oil before entering the furnace or converter. My improvements in

page_text: apparatus connected with this part of my Invention consists of chargers, mixers, or
generators, in which the blast of air is charged with the required quantity of
hydro-carbon oil.
The chargers consist of one or more vessels containing perforated shelves, or
perforated shelves and coke combined, or coke alone, or the chargers may contain
rows of wire netting or wire netting and coke, the said chargers being partially
filled with volatile hydro-carbon oil, the perforated plates, wire netting, or coke
being employed to prevent the blast of air from forcing out the said oil from the
chargers in bulk, thus allowing of the current of air taking up only the desired
quantity of oil and carrying it into the converter or other apparatus to which it is
applied. The blast of air may enter the charger at the bottom or lower part and
leave it at or towards the top, and pipes from the upper part of the first charger
may be connected to the bottom or lower part of a second, and in like manner with
the remaining chargers which are required, by which arrangement the current of
air would pass through a series of chargers to sufficiently saturate it with the said
oil; or instead of the above, described arrangement the current of air from the
blowing engine may be split up into two or more currents of less volume and each
pass through a seperate charger or seperate chargers, and meet thereafter or
otherwise before entering the converter or other apparatus to which the improved
apparatus is applied. The blast of air charged with hydrate of calcium and volatile
hydro-carbon oil operating on the molten metal raises its temperature to that point
at which phosphorous is eliminated, partly as phosphatic slag and in combination
with hydrogen in the form of gas, the operation of blowing being carried on without
the metal becoming oxidized, in consequence of the presence of hydrate of calcium
and volatile hydro-carbon oil with the blast of air.
My improvements consist, secondly, in refining molten iron or converting it into
steel in a ladle or other similar or suitable apparatus, without the use of a blast or
current of air. The ladle or other similar appliance is lined with loam, sand, or
ganister, or other fire resisting material or materials, and is prepared for the refining
of molten iron or for the conversion of molten iron into steel by the following
means and materials, that is to say:-For the conversion of molten iron into steel I
place at the bottom of the ladle a layer of spiegeleisen, ferro-manganese, or their
equivalents, and next above a layer of charcoal saturated with a volatile hydro-
carbon oil, or vice versa, next above that a layer of hydrate of lime mixed with a
small proportion (as compared with the proportion of volatile hydro-carbon oil
mixed with the charcoal) of volatile hydro-carbon oil, next above that a layer of
hydrate of lime only (if found necessary), and next above that a plate or plates of
cast iron or wought iron or their equivalents, to ensure the regular and successive
action of the heat of the molten metal on each layer of materials in the ladle and
prevent the irregular action of the chemical agents in the ladle on the molten
iron; upon this plate is poured the molten metal (from a blast furnace, cupola
furnace, air furnace, or other smelting or melting furnace), and the following
described operation is forthwith carried on, that is to say:The plate or, plates are
gradually melted by the molten metal, and the heat strikes down. The hydrate of
lime is first brought into action, and containing one third by weight of water, the
water is given off by the heat in the form of steam and passes off through the
molten metal, and the metal is thereby purified; in the next layer the volatile
hydro carbon oil expands with the heat, and combining with the decomposed water
of the hydrate mixed therewith forms a carburetted hydrogen gas, which by expansive
force causes ebullition and escapes through the molten metal to the top of the
ladle, thus purifying the metal and driving off therefrom the phosphorous and sulphur.
As the heat of the molten metal descends to and into the layer of charcoal
saturated with volatile hydro-carbon oil, the heat of the metal is raised by the
decomposition of the carbonaceous matter, and about the same time the spiegeleisen
or its equivalent at the bottom of the ladle is melted, and assists in carbonising
the molten metal and converting it into steel.

page_text: The quantities of the various materials used and their disposition in the ladle
will vary with the quality of the metal operated upon and the quality of the iron
or steel required to be produced.
In simply refining or purifying iron or steel in a ladle or other similar appliance,
as above described, the spiegeleisen or its equivalent would be omitted, the operation
being otherwise conducted as above described.
As a modification of the improvements next above described, the ladle or other
similar appliance can be fitted with tuyeres and blast pipes, and be connected to a
blowing engine, and the molten metal in the ladle or other appliance be blown as in
the Bessemer steel making process, the said ladle or other appliance being charged
with the materials or chemical agents as above described.
The improvements first above described (the blowing of metal with a current of
air charged with hydrate of lime and volatile hydro-carbon oil) can be used in
combination with my improvements secondly above described (the ladle or other
appliance charged with layers of hydrate of lime, hydro-carbon oil, spiegeleisen,
etcetera), for the purpose of refining iron or converting iron into steel, etcetera.