IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND TREATMENT OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN THE WELDING THEREOF
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th October 1871.-A communication from abroad by
William W. Wickes, of the City, County, and State of New York,
United States of America.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND TREATMENT OF
IRON AND STEEL, AND IN THE WELDING THEREOF," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the employment, in combination with the
metal to be improved while in a molten stato in the furnace, of another
ore or composition containing silicic acid, magnetic iron, and peroxide
of iron substantially as herein-after described, whereby the metal is
improved in respect to its malleability, strength, homogenity and
hardness. The said ore or composition may also be employed as a
flux for welding as herein-after set forth. The said ore or composition
may likewise be employed in the form of a bath for imparting hardness
resembling steel to iron and articles made of iron. The metal made by
this process possesses superior welding properties and is highly magnetic.

page_text: •
Various ingredients have been heretofore used as a flux in the
manufacture of iron and steel for the purpose of improving the quality.
After experimenting with various ingredients it has been found that the
following serves the desired purpose in an admirable manner, and that
by adding it to the iron or steel as herein-after described the quality of
the metal is greatly improved.
.
To prepare the composition artificially I take silicic acid about thirty-
eight parts, magnetic iron about forty parts, peroxide of iron about ten
parts. An ore or composition containing the above ingredients I find
to answer a good and useful purpose, but ordinarily I prefer to add other
ingredients, and find that an ore or composition made up about as
follows to be the best for general use, to wit:-Silicic acid about thirty-
eight parts, alumina about three parts, magnesia about five parts, potash
about two parts, magnetic iron about forty parts, peroxide of iron about
ten parts, lime about two parts. The proportions of these several
ingredients may be varied as circumstances may require; they should
be thoroughly pulverized and mixed to form a flux. These ingredients
exist in proper proportions in a certain iron ore known as Codorus ore,
which is found in York County in the State of Pennsylvania, United
States of America.
Any other ore containing like ingredients and possessed of similar
propertics may be used. In manufacturing wrought iron or steel I
charge the furnace with pig metal in the usual manner, and to every
one hundred pounds of the pig metal I add about twenty pounds of the
composition or flux, working it in thoroughly with the iron.
In making cast iron I add the composition or flux to the charge in
the cupola in the proportion of about one hundred and sixty pounds to
the ton of metal.
In all cases the proportions must be varied to suit the quality of the
iron or ore used. The poorer the iron the more of the composition or
flux should be added. If it be desirable to produce a very hard quality
of cast iron a larger proportion of the composition or flux should be
used.
It has been found by experiments that iron or steel of all kinds when
made with the addition of this composition is greatly improved in
quality, the grain being finer in cast iron while the wrought iron and

page_text: steel are very strong, the tensile strength of the two latter being greatly
increased. A vitreous covering is formed over the molten metal-in the
furnace by the melting of the surplus silicon in the composition, which
protects the molten metal from engaging the oxygen of the atmosphere,
and at the same time collects and holds any impurities contained in the
composition.
The improved composition may also be used as a flux for welding iron
and in lieu of borax or other flux. The use of the improved composition
gives a perfect weld, and will be found highly useful.
Another way in which the improved composition may be used is to
melt the composition or ore, reducing it to a liquid state in a suitable
furnace, thus forming a hot bath, in which I then place the bars or
pieces of iron that are to be treated, which bars or pieces may be either
cold or hot placed in the batlı, keeping the heat of the bath at such a
temperature as not to melt the iron but to start the cinder. The effects
of the bath is to remove the impurities of the iron and to convert it into
a low grade of steel. The bath must be sufficient in quantity to cover
the iron completely.
When.it is desired to impart great hardness to the iron with toughness
and ductility, I take the iron from the hot bath after treatment as
described and plunge it into cold water; I thus produce a steely metal
very desirable for shovels, boiler plates, and many articles of general use.
Old, damaged, shattered rail road bars or rails when treated in this bath
to a white heat and then passed through the rolls will be found to have
been converted into semi steel, and all flaws or breaks will be found to
have been welded and the character of the iron greatly improved.