IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON;
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM
PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, KEES DAVIES,
of Ystradgunlais, in the County of Brecon, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-fourth day of June, in the eighth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Rees
Davies, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Rees Davies, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Rees Davies, my exors, adûiors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Rees Davies, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next. and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Rees Davies, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to

page_text: the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
(that is to say) -
:-
:
My Invention has for its object the so conducting the process of manufac-
turing iron when anthracite stone, coal, or culm is used; that the charge may be
caused to enter the blast furnace in an ignited state. And, in order that my
Invention may be most fully understood and readily carried into effect, I will
proceed to describe a suitable arrangement of blast furnace, and the best with
which I am acquainted for carrying out my Invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents an external view or elevation of a blast furnace con-
structed in such manner that when anthracite, stone coal, or culm is being
used as fuel in the manufacture of iron, the charge will become ignited before
the same enters the part or parts of the furnace where the blast is in action.
Figures 2 and 3 are two vertical sections of the furnace. Figures 4, 5, and 6,
are three horizontal sections taken through the furnace at the parts shewn and
referred to in the Drawing. In each of these Figures the same letters are
used to refer to the same parts. B shews that part of the furnace in which the
blast operates; in this portion the ordinary process of the blast is carried on,
and this part of the furnace is similarly constructed to the ordinary blast
furnaces, from the lower parts thereof up to the boshes, and the blast, whether
hot or cold, is applied in the ordinary manner, and as is well understood. The
upper part of the blast furnace is drawn in and carried up in the form of a
chimney C, to carry off the gasses and products of combustion; the charging of
the blast furnace not being through the tunnel head or chimney C, but laterally
through the apertures L, L, in the sides of the upper part of the blast
furnace B. The first charging the blast furnace, however, is done with
materials in an unignited state in the usual way. In convenient parts of the
stack there are one or more kilns or chambers G, G, into which the charges of
iron ore, fuel, and flux are continually put; and such charges are to be similar
to what are ordinarily used when employing anthracite, stone coal, or culm, as
is well understood, and ignited in the ordinary way in which mine kilns are
ignited. These chambers G, G, are open at their upper ends to receive the
successive portions of the charge, the lower ends of the said chambers opening
into the blast furnace B by means of the passages L, L. F, F, are openings
for stirring the charge and regulating the passage of the descending materials
from the kilns into the furnace. It will thus be seen that the charge, before it
enters the blast furnace, becomes ignited, the blast not acting on the charge
contained in the chambers G, G; but the antracite, stone coal, or culm, being

page_text: kept in a state of partial combustion or burning by the draught of atinospheric
air through it from the passages F, F, whilst it is in the kilns or chambers G,
there will be a previous ignition of the charge going on in the kilns or
chambers G. This is important, as anthracite, stone coal, or culm, being
ignited when brought into contact with a blast of air, works more favorably in
the manufacture of iron (whether with hot or or cold blast) than when projected
directly in its cold state into the blast furnace, and the ore is also by this
previous process better prepared for the action of the blast furnace. I
would remark, that although I at present believe it to be better to use
unniixed anthracite, stone coal, or culm, in the manufacture of iron in a blast
furnace, yet these may be mixed, or other fuel may be mixed therewith in my
process, as has before been practised in other processes. And I would state
that although I have shewn the best arrangement of furnace that I am
acquainted with for carrying out my said Invention, I do not confine myself
thereto, so long as the charge can be supplied to a blast furnace in an ignited
state. And I would wish it to be understood that what I claim is the manu-
facture of iron by means of anthracite, stone coal, or culm (whether used alone
or mixed with other fuel), which has been, together with the ironstone, mine,
or ore and flux, before its projection into the blast furnace, brought into a
state of ignition by a draught of atmospheric air, in chambers so arranged as
not to interfere with the blast furnace.
In witness whereof, I, the said Rees Davies, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteeth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and forty-four