IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John James Bodmer, of Newport, in the County
of Monmouth, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
Sealed the 16th November 1869, and dated the 14th September 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John James Bodmer
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th September 1869.
I, JOHN JAMES BODMER, of Newport, in the County of Monmouth, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," to be as follows:-
One part of my Invention relates to certain improvements in the
mode of treating iron in any of its degrees of carburation or decar-
buration, and whether flowing or coming direct from a blast furnace or
from a remelting furnace, or from a finery or other kind of furnace,
converter, or crucible, or other apparatus in a more or less fluid con-
dition, or from a ladle or other vessel. When such iron is to be rolled
or reduced into a lamellated or scaly or flaky condition, as in the manner

page_text: and for the purpose described in my Specifications of Patents No. 1041,
1866, and No. 905, 1869, the alloys, oxides, and purifying agents which
may be required to be mixed and worked together with the iron can be
added thereto in different ways.
I run iron in a liquid condition in a stream direct into the rolls, as
described in Patent No. 905, 1869, and the required admixtures or parts
of the same melted separately, and with or without a certain proportion
of iron, are made to run together unto the liquid iron, and to flow
in a joint stream into the funnel or into the rolls. Or the required
admixtures, as described, with or without addition of cast iron, are made
to flow separately from the cast iron, but to run simultaneously with the
latter into the funnel or direct into the rolls, the whole issuing from the
same in scales perfectly mixed and amalgamated. Or already rolled or
lamellated iron or iron subdivided by other means is poured in correct
proportions upon the liquid stream of admixtures, as above named. Or
all or part of the rolled and lamellated iron, or iron subdivided by other
means, is conveyed in a measured stream separately into the funnel or
into the rolls, whilst at the same time streams of liquid oxides and
admixtures, as above named, are flowing into the same funnel or rolls;
or the liquid admixtures are made to flow into a second pair of rolls
underneath the first pair, whilst liquid iron passing through the first
pair of rolls issues in flakes from the same, and the whole pass together
through the second pair of rolls.
In the modes above described any desirable variation in the way of
aixing iron and other substances may be carried out.
I also convey liquid iron and liquid admixtures either through rolls, as
described, or direct into a furnace, thereby economizing heat by avoiding
the reheating of the charge. The same variations in the manner of con-
veying and mixing are here applicable which have just been described.
This mode of proceeding I have partly described in the Specification of
my Patent No. 1970, 1866, where the same is claimed as applied to the
manufacture of cements.
In order to make the certain metallurgical processes continuous
I charge the flaky iron and other substances measured and mixed, as
described in Patent No. 905, 1869. In so doing the rolls may either be
so placed that the flaky mixture issues from the same direct into the
furnace, or the mixtures may be conveyed on a carrier belt from a
distance in one or more measured streams. In all these operations I

page_text: prefer to use the arrangements patented by R. and S. R. Bodmer,
No. 1504, 1864, and named in my Patent No. 905, 1869. I am aware.
that the use of granulated iron has been attempted in the manu-
facture of wrought iron, and has been used in the manufacture of steel;
but I use iron subdivided by any method, such as that described by York,
Patent No. 2540, 1868; or by what is known as Carr's disintegrator, or
by any other process, with the exception of granulating; or I mix the
same with the required proportion of oxides, purifying agents, and alloys
before the puddling process commences.
In the same manner I produce steel, the composition of the ingredients
being varied, and the proper kind of furnaces being employed, and I
prefer the use of the Siemens steel furnace.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John James Bodmer in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th March 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
JAMES BODMER, of Newport, in the County. of Monmouth, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John James Bodmer, Her special
licence that I, the said John James Bodmer, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John James Bodmer,
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 IRON AND STEEL," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said John James Bodmer, 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

page_text: 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 John James Bodmer, 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 the production of wrought iron and of steel it is of the greatest
importance to insure a perfect contact between the atoms or particles of
the iron to be decarburized and purified and the materials by which
such decarburization and purification are to be effected. The more
intimate such contact the more complete and the more rapid and
economical the metallurgical operation will be. It appears evident
therefore that the most perfect results would be obtained from the use
of a compound every particle of which should, as nearly as possible, be
composed for itself of the desired proportion of ingredients.
The first part of my Invention relates to the production of such
compounds. Such compounds may be composed, according to the
quality of the iron, either simply of iron and of oxide of iron, or they
may be composed of a number of ingredients. In certain cases a com-
pound made of two or more ingredients may subsequently be mixed with
any required addition, such as mineral substances, metallic oxides, or
chemical reagents. In proceeding with the description I shall call those
ingredients "admixtures."
The second part of my Invention relates to the uses and applications
of such compounds and their admixtures. When iron in a subdivided
condition is in contact or mixed with a certain proportion of decar-
burizing ingredients a higher degree of heat is required to melt the
combination than can conveniently be obtained in an ordinary puddling
furnace. Now impure brands of cast iron requiring to be liquefied
in order to get rid of a sufficient proportion of their impurities by
the puddling process may be worked without first being converted
into compounds. In such cases I melt the iron separately after its
having first been subdivided, as described in the Specification of my
Patent, No. 1041, 1866. It being evident that the rapidity of the melting
process must increase in proportion to the surface which the charge
offers to the flame or heat of the furnace, subdivided iron, as described, is
advantageously used for such purposes. The liquefied iron, either by

page_text: furnace.
And the third part of my Invention relates to the use of subdivided
iron for the purpose here named.
The fourth part of my Invention relates to the modes of conveying or
charging iron and combinations and compounds, as hereafter named, into
furnaces in intermittent or in continuous streams.
I will now proceed to describe some of the modes and ways in which
the several parts of my improvements may be carried out..
In carrying out the improvements named in § 1. in the manufacture
of a compound in a subdivided condition iron may be used in any of its
different degrees of carburation, and whether flowing or coming direct
from a blast furnace or from a remelting furnace, or from a finery or
other kind of furnace, converter, crucible, or other apparatus or vessel.
The oxides, mineral substances, metallic alloys, or chemical reagents
which according to the nature and the circumstances of the case may be
selected for the production of the desired compounds can be added to
the iron in a variety of ways, for instance, I run iron in a liquid con-
dition, as named in the Specification of my Patent, No. 1041, 1866, and
as described in the Specification of my Patent, No. 905, 1869, in a stream
direct into the subdividing apparatus, and the desired admixtures, melted
either by themselves or with a certain proportion of iron, may be made
to flow into and to unite with the stream of iron and to pass through the
subdividing apparatus together. Or the said admixtures may flow sepa-
rately, but simultaneously with the iron, into the subdividing apparatus.
Or liquid iron and subdivided solid admixtures or solid iron (subdivided
by whatever means) with more or less liquid admixtures may be passed
through subdividing apparatus of whatever description, in preference
however the apparatus described in the Specification of my Patent, No.
1041, 1866. The proportions of liquid, viscous, and solid ingredients, and
the way of uniting them before they reach the subdividing apparatus, or
in going through the same, may be varied in any convenient way.
Or any
or all the admixtures may be fed or charged into one or more furnaces or
receivers first, the iron being run in after, and the whole passed through
a subdividing apparatus. Or any or all of the admixtures may be run
into the stream of liquid iron before the latter reaches the furnace or:
receiver, and the whole of the iron and other ingredients may pass into

page_text: and through the furnace into a subdividing apparatus. The compound
will issue from the subdividing apparatus described in the shape of
scales, thicker or thinner as may be desired, and according to the distance
allowed between the rolls.
In carrying out the second part of my Invention, viz., the application
of the compounds, a variety of cases present themselves. Compounds
made with tolerably pure iron, and therefore not requiring complete
liquefaction in the puddling process, will permit of being charged in a
layer and of being balled up in the common puddling furnace. This
process is described in the Specification of my Patent, No. 905, 1869,
for combinations of subdivided iron and subdivided oxides there named.
In furnaces producing a higher degree of heat, such as the Siemens
furnaces or the Bessemer pressure furnace, any quality of iron converted
into compounds as described may be used either for the purpose of
producing iron or steel. Correct proportions of admixtures being used,
all that is required to obtain good practical results depends upon the
perfect contact of the decarburizing and purifying agents with the iron
to be acted upon and on the intensity of the heat. The former is attained
by producing the compounds as described, and the latter by the efficiency
of the furnaces named. By making the composition of the compounds
of a more or less oxidising nature I produce a material well adapted for
fettling or for use in the manufacture of pot steel, and in general as a
decarburizing and purifying agent in itself.
In order to describe the third part of my Invention I refer to that part
of the Provisional Specification in which I say, "I also convey liquid
"iron or liquid admixtures either through rolls as described or direct
into a furnace." When impure brands are to be treated in the common
puddling furnace the iron requires, as before said, to be more or less
liquefied, and for the reason named in the introduction subdivided iron
is particularly adapted for rapid and complete liquefaction of one or of
several different classes of iron. The simplest mode of proceeding in
such cases, and in order to use the ordinary arrangements and plant at
iron works where puddling furnaces are generally found to stand in
pairs, I use one as a melting furnace and the other as a puddling fur-
nace. I charge the iron to be melted in a subdivided condition (however
the subdivision may have been obtained) either over as large a surface
and in as thin a layer as possible, or when fed continuously in a thin
stream, and when melted I run the same either gradually or at once on

page_text: and into the decarburizing and purifying mixture kept in readiness in
the puddling furnace, in which the process is then completed in the
ordinary way. When proceeding on this plan I feed, when desirable,
subdivided reagents either into the melting furnace itself or into the
passage through which and whilst the iron is run into the puddling
furnace, but I do not restrict myself to the arrangements now described.
The melting furnace may be of any convenient size and shape and in
any convenient position; it may be made to supply more than one
puddling furnace, or the melting process may take place on a higher
level of the puddling furnace itself, or in an upper part of the same, or
in any other way, as may be found desirable. The now described mode
of working may also be applied to the manufacture of steel, and any.
variation in charging the subdivided iron, in melting, conveying, and.
treating the same may be applied as described for the puddling
process.
The fourth part of my improvements relates to charging or feeding
into the furnaces employed in the manufacture of iron or of steel the
iron or the compounds and combinations to be used. The iron to be
melted may be charged in the ordinary way and distributed over the
surface of the furnace in an equally spread layer; or it may be charged
mechanically through the top of the furnace, either through measuring
rolls or direct from a feed strap in a solid condition; or the iron may be
conveyed in a liquid state to the top of the furnaces and passed through
subdividing apparatus direct either into the melting furnace or direct
into the puddling furnace. And the compounds may be fed or charged
either in a solid condition, as described for iron, or the several ingredients
of which they are to be composed are conveyed to the top of the
respective furnaces and passed through the subdividing apparatus direct
into the same, thereby economising heat.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same may be carried into effect, I wish it to be
understood that I do not restrict myself to any special way of bringing
into contact or adding to one another the different ingredients, nor to
any particular mode of conveying or feeding into a furnace streams of
subdivided solid, viscous, or liquefied materials; nor to any special mode
of subdividing, whether the latter operation be performed by rolling,
grinding, rasping, granulating, beating, splashing, by blowing upon, or
by aspirating, or in any way whatsoever; but what I claim as the

page_text: Invention to be secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is,-
Firstly. The production or manufacture of a compound of iron and
admixtures, such as oxides of iron, mineral substances, metallic oxides,
chemical reagents in any required proportion in a subdivided condition,
and in whatever way the subdivision be obtained.
Secondly. The uses and applications of such compounds in any depart-
ment or part of the manufacture of iron or steel.
Thirdly. The use and application of iron subdivided by the process
described in the Specifications of my Patents, No. 1041, 1866, and
No. 905, 1869, for the purposes named in the third part of this present
description.
Fourthly. The charging of iron either in a subdivided solid condition
or through a subdividing apparatus direct into any furnace or apparatus,
and the charging or feeding of compounds either in a solid, subdivided,
condition or direct through a subdividing apparatus into any furnace or
apparatus by mechanical means, either intermittently or continuously.
In witness whereof, I, the said John James Bodmer, have hereunto.
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.