IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND VAPOUR, AND IN APPLYING SUCH GAS AND VAPOUR IN MANUFACTURING AND REFINING IRON AND OTHER METALS, AND IN RECOVERING CERTAIN PRODUCTS THEREPROM
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Webster, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND VAPOUR, AND IN APPLYING SUCH GAS AND VAPOUR
IN MANUFACTURING AND REFINING IRON AND OTHER METALS, AND IN
RECOVERING CERTAIN PRODUCTS THEREPROM."
Sealed the 26th January 1869, and dated the 28th July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Webster at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th July 1868.
I, JAMES WEBSTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND VAPOUR, AND IN APPLYING SUCH
GAB AND VAPOUR IN MANUFACTURING AND REFINING IRON AND OTHER METALS, AND
IN RECOVERING CERTAIN PRODUCTS THEREFROM," to be as follows:-
In carrying out the first part of my Invention I force atmospheric air
through or over hydrocloric acid for the purpose of taking up hydro-
cloric acid gas or vapour with the atmosphere for applying such gas or

page_text: vapour in the manufacture or refining of iron, steel, copper, or nicol and
the like while such metals are in a fluid or molten condition.
In carrying out the second part of my Invention I cause atmospheric
air, in a cold or heated state, to be forced into or over hydrocloric acid,
and then through wood naptha, or mineral turpentine, or volatile spirit,
for the purpose of taking up hydrogen and carbon gas or vapour, or
hydrogen and a portion of the carbon, from the volatile spirit. I then
force such gas or vapour through, into, or over the metals while the
latter are in a molten state during the manufacture or refining thereof
for the purpose of taking up sulphur, phosphorous, silica, or carbon, or
other impurities which the metal may contain. In carrying out this
part of my Invention I also cause atmospheric air mixed with steam in
about equal proportions to be forced through or over hydrocloric acid,
and then through or over wood naptha or volatile spirit, as before stated,
then through or over water, and then cause the gas or vapour to be
forced into or over the said metals while in a molten state for the purpose
of refining them by taking up the sulphur, phosphorous, carbon, silica,
or other impurities therein. In carrying out this part of my Invention
(in its application to articles of wrought iron, finished or partially
finished, which require to be case-hardened or their surfaces steeled or
hardened to a certain depth) I place such articles in a closed receptacle
capable of being heated to a red heat; the articles and receptacle being
then so heated I cause the gasses or vapours before mentioned to be forced
into and through the said receptacle and over and amongst the articles
therein for a greater or less length of time according as the thickness of
the hardened skin may require.
In carving out the said improvements I recover certain of the
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Webster in the Great Seal Patent Office on 3
the 28th January 1869.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Webster, Her special licence that I,
the said James Webster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said James Webster, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS
AND VAPOUR, AND IN APPLYING SUCH GAS AND VAPOUR IN MANUFACTURING AND
REFINING IRON AND OTHER METALS, AND IN RECOVERING CERTAIN PRODUCTS THERE-
PROM," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Webster,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Webster, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
In carrying out the first part of my Invention I draw or force
atmospheric air through or over hydrochloric acid for the purpose of
taking up hydrochloric acid gas or vapour with the atmosphere for
applying such gas or vapour in the manufacture or refining of iron, steel,
copper, or nickel, and the like while such metals are in a fluid or molten
condition.
In carrying out the second part of my Invention I cause atmospheric
air, in a cold or heated state, to be forced into or over hydrochloric acid
and then through wood naphtha, or mineral turpentine, or volatile spirit,
for the purpose of taking up hydrogen and carbon gas or vapour, or
hydrogen and a portion of the carbon, from the volatile spirit. I then
force such gas or vapour through, into, or over the metals while the
latter are in a molten state during the manufacture or refining ther.of

page_text: for the purpose of taking up sulphur, phosphorus, silica, or carbon, or
other impurities which the metal may contain. In carrying out this
part of my Invention I also cause atmospheric air mixed with steam in
about equal proportions to be forced through or over hydrochloric acid,
and then through or over wood naphtha or volatile spirit, as before stated,
then through or over water, and then cause the gas or vapour to be
forced into or over the said metals while in a molten state for the
purpose of refining them by taking up the sulphur, phosphorus, carbon,
silica, or other impurities therein. In carrying out this part of my
Invention in its application to articles of wrought iron, finished or
partially finished, which require to be case-hardened or their surfaces
steeled or hardened to a certain depth, I place such articles in a closed
receptacle capable of being heated to a red heat; the articles and recep-
tacle being so heated I cause the gases or vapours before mentioned to
be forced into and through the said receptacle and over and amongst
the articles therein for a greater or less length of time according as the
thickness of the hardened skin may require.
I also recover certain of the products, such as precipitated carbon and
other condensed liquors.
In carrying out my Invention in practice, first, for drawing or forcing
atmospheric air in a cold or heated state (by preference heated) through
or over hydrochloric acid, I use a closed vessel or crock charged with
coke, pumice-stone, or other like or porous substances saturated with the
acid and pass the air through it by a vacuum or force pump for the
purpose of taking up hydrochloric acid gas or vapour with the atmosphere.
Secondly. Through a similar closed vessel connected with the first,
also charged with porous matter and supplied with wood naphtha or
volatile spirit, for causing the air, now mixed with hydrochloric acid
gas, to take up hydrogen and a portion of carbon.
Thirdly. Through another vessel or vessels (connected with the second
and with each other when more than one are used) charged in the same
way and saturated with petroleum or like spirit for causing the air and
gas or vapour to take up more hydrogen and carbon if necessary, and
thence pass it through a fourth vessel, also connected with the others,
charged as before mentioned and supplied with naphtha diluted with
water, the latter being in the proportion to the former as two to one,
more or less, for taking up any acid which may remain undecomposed
in the air or vapour thus heated. The air enters the top of the first

page_text: crock and passes out at or near the bottom thereof, and thence up and
down the series alternately, and is finally drawn off by the vacuum of
the pump, which causes the air to pass or be forced through the several
vessels in the manner herein-before described, and is thence driven into
high-pressure receivers, into the molten metal, into converters, retorts,
or the like, for converting, refining, or the case-hardening processes or
uses.
For regulating the temperature of the air and gas or vapour
treated as herein-before described the pipe which conducts it into the
receiver or metal is fitted with a branch pipe through which jets of
steam are admitted as required. At a short distance from the bottom
of each of the crocks I fit a grate, dividing the interior into upper and
lower compartments, the upper one being charged with coke or other
porous matter, and the lower one serving for the receiver for the col-
lection of the precipitated matter, which is drawn off by taps fitted
thereto. The acids, spirits, and water are supplied by means of funnels
and regulating taps at the top.
For carrying out the refining process still more effectively, or where a
greater amount of carbon has to be taken up, and where more oxygen is
required, I substitute in the first vessel or crock nitrous acid for the
hydrochloric acid. In some cases I use both acids mixed in about equal
proportions.
For refining copper, nickel, iron, and the like I also propose to use in
place of these acids the spent dipping liquor or pickle (aquafortis liquor)
used for washing metals in chandelier manufactories, brass foundries,
and other similar works, and which is well known in such places as
spent aqua" or spent dipping liquor " and "pickle," under the
general term of "ackie." This liquor contains besides the acids above
mentioned copper and zinc in a state of solution, which metals will be
recoverable in the bottom compartment of the first crock, while the
whole of the acids will be taken up by the air and gases passing through
the upper compartment. The copper and zinc being left as a residuum
upon the porous material therein, and which may be recovered by
washing the same with boiling water, or steam may be passed through
and cold water used to wash out the copper and zinc left upon or in the
porous material.
In carrying out the said improvements I recover certain of the
products, such as precipitated carbon and other condensed liquors.

page_text: Having thus described the nature and object of my said Invention,
and the means whereby the same may be carried into effect in practice,
I hereby further declare that what I more particularly claim and desire
to secure by the before-mentioned in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The passing of hot or cold air with or without steam through or
over hydrochloric acid, then through or over wood naphtha or volatile
spirit, for the purpose of refining and manufacturing iron, steel, and
other metals.
Secondly. The passing of hot or cold air with or without steam through
nitrous acid or nitrous acid and hydrochloric acid, seperately or combined,
for the same purposes.
Thirdly. The utilization of for the same purposes the waste pickle and
dipping liquids from chandelier manufactories, brass foundries, and
other similar works, and recovering therefrom copper, zinc, and other
metals.
And, lastly. The recovery of the carbon, bi-products, and other con-
densed matter in the processes herein described at the bottoms of the
crocks or vessels used therein.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Webster, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.