AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE BEDS OF REVERBERATORY FURNACES USED FOR PUEDLING IRON PROAL
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Boydell, of Anchor Iron Works, Smethwick,
near Birmingham, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE BEDS
OF REVERBERATORY FURNACES USED FOR PUEDLING IRON
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Boydell at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th February
1854.
I, JAMES BOYDELL, of Anchor Iron Works, Smethwith, near Birmingham,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
THE BEDS OF REVERBERATORY FURNACES USED FOR PUDDLING IRON " to be as
follows:-
It is well known in puddling iron that the construction of the beds of the
furnaces is important, and various materials have heretofore been used in the
making of such beds. And I have discovered that certain parts of the refuse
material now obtained when making sulphuric acid or sulphur from pyrites
may with advantage be used for this purpose. And my Invention consists in
employing the refuse product of pyrites, principally composed of iron, in
making the beds of reverberatory furnaces used for puddling iron. For which
purpose the refuse of pyrites is to be picked, so as to exclude as much as may
be any pieces containing a material quantity of sulphur or other impurities,
and the more pure peroxide of iron is employed, in the same manner as
other materials have heretofore been used in making the beds of such
furnaces.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Boydell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th
August 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BOYDELL, of Anchor Iron Works, Smethwick, near Birmingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Boydell, Her special licence that I, the said James Boydell,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Boydell, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE BEDS OF
REVERBERATORY FURNACES USED FOR PUDDLING IRON," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Boydell, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Boydell, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to, be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof (that is to say):
It is well known in puddling iron that the construction of the beds of the
furnaces is important,, and various materials have heretofore been used in the
making of such beds. And I have discovered that certain parts of the refuse
material now obtained when making sulphuric acid or sulphur from pyrites
may with advantage be used for this purpose. And my Invention consists in
employing the refuse product of pyrites, principally composed of iron, in
making the beds of reverberatory furnaces used for puddling iron. For which
purpose the refuse of pyrites is to be picked, so as to exclude as much as may
be any pieces containing a material quantity of sulphur or other impurities,
and the more pure peroxide of iron is employed, in the same manner as
other materials have heretofore been used in making the beds of such
furnaces.

page_text: Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe
the manner of performing the same.
In the burning of iron pyrites when manufacturing sulphuric acid or sulphur
therefrom, the residual matters resulting, consisting of oxides of iron com-
bined with more or less impurities, have heretofore been thrown away as
refuse, and it is the application of this refuse matter in the puddling of iron
which constitutes the present Invention, and the process of puddling will by
such application be rendered less expensive, by reason of the low cost of such
refuse matters. The oxides of iron obtained from pyrites in the manufactures
above mentioned differ in quality, some being mixed with considerable quan-
tities of quartz or silex, and others retain quantities of sulphur; those possessed
of either of these matters to any considerable extent should be rejected; and
I may state that I have found that it is those lumps which - present to the
touch a soft and smooth surface, and are of a reddish purple in color, are the
lumps which should be sorted out of the heaps for use in the puddling furnace,
and that those which present a hard, sharp, gritty, and cinder-like surface to
the touch, in consequence of the silex present, such lumps should be rejected,
and such should be the case with those lumps or parts of lumps which present
white crystalline or quartz-like fracture, and those indicating the presence of
sulphur. The lumps of the refuse matter having been sorted as above
mentioned, those which have been selected for use are to be employed in the
making of the beds of puddling furnaces, in like manner to that ordinarily
practised when using oxide ores of iron, the refuse oxides from pyrites being
used either alone or in combination with the oxides of iron heretofore employed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would have it under-
stood that what I claim is, the application of the refuse products of iron
obtained in burning pyrites (for the manufacture of sulphuric acid and
sulphur) in the making of the beds of reverberatory furnaces used for
puddling iron.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Boydell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
GEO. PITT,
4, Old Square.
JAMES BOYDELL. (L.S.)