IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN FURNACES AND APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE SAID MANUFACTURE
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Roper at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th March
1867.
I, THOMAS ROPER, of Ulverstone, in the County of Lancaster, Ironmaster,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN FURNACES AND APPARATUS TO BE USED
IN THE SAID MANUFACTURE," to be as follows:-
My improvements in the manufacture of iron and steel consist in treating
melted cast iron by first forcing high-pressure steam through by means of the
apparatus herein-after described, by which the sulphur contained in it is
wholly or partially removed in the form of sulphuretted hydrogen, or by
passing any other gas through it which will combine with the sulphur and
form therewith a gaseous compound. I afterwards pass through the de-
sulphurised melted iron, by means of the apparatus herein-after described, a
stream of atmospheric air or other gas or gaseous compound, which by
yielding oxygen to the carbon of the melted cast iron will combine therewith,
forming carbonic oxide, and thus effect the partial or complete decarbonization:
of the cast iron, converting it into malleable iron or steel. During the

page_text: treatment of the melted cast iron by steam and air it is not only desulphurized
and decarbonized, but also at the same time partially puddled.
The furnaces and apparatus I employ in treating cast iron in the manner
herein-before described, which furnaces and apparatus constitute part of my
Invention, are constructed as follows:-The cupola in which the pig or cast
iron to be operated upon is melted is constructed or arranged in the manner
herein-after described, and the melted cast iron from the said cupola is run
into a puddling furnace, in which it is treated by the steam and atmospheric
air, and in which it is puddled. The puddling furnace I employ has a bed of
a circular figure, on which circular bed the melted iron is operated upon. The
fire-place and other parts of the furnace are of a figure proper to suit the
circular bed of the furnace. Through the roof of the furnace I pass a hollow
vertical shaft having at its lower end two or more horizontal arms; these
arms have small openings or jets made in them. This hollow vertical shaft is
supported in suitable bearings, and is provided with the requisite gearing
necessary to communicate to it a rotary motion; the said shaft is also capable
of being raised or lowered. The boxes, bearings, and other parts of the
machinery external to the furnace are made hollow, and air is made to
circulate through the said parts to keep them cool. In using this puddling
furnace and apparatus I run the melted cast iron from the cupola into the bed
of the puddling furnace, and I lower the vertical hollow shaft into the melted
iron
a rotary motion is given to the said shaft, and high-pressure steam is
passed down it. The said steam passing along the horizontal arms escapes
by the small holes or jets in the said arms, and by the motion of the said
shaft and arms is carried to every part of the melted iron. The desul-
phurization of the iron is thereby rapidly effected. After the iron has been
sufficiently treated by means of steam I turn off the steam, and immediately
pass air or other gas capable of yielding oxygen at a high temperature down.
the vertical shaft at a pressure suitable to force it through the jets in the
horizontal arms into the melted iron, the rotary motion of the vertical shaft
being kept up during, the passage through it of the air or other gas. The
decarbonization of the iron is thereby rapidly effected, and when it assumes
the pasty consistence which indicates that the decarbonizing process is nearly
complete I raise the vertical shaft, and thereby lift the horizontal arms out of
the furnace, and the puddling of the iron is completed by puddlers; in the
ordinary way.
:
I prefer to erect the puddling furnaces described in groups of two or more,
so situated that the air which has passed through the hollow parts of the
puddling machinery for the purpose of keeping the said parts cool, and which

page_text: air has during its passage through the said parts become heated, may pass
into the air tube or annular pipe which supplies the tuyeres of the cupola in
which cast iron is melted previous to its introduction into the puddling
furnace. I build the said cupola at such a height that the melted iron runs
therefrom into the puddling furnace.