A NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR PUDDLING AND MELTING IRON
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough
Park, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
"A NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR PUDDLING AND
MELTING IRON."-A communication from abroad by Henry A. V.
Post, of the United States of America.

page_text: unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters
Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that the same
is a 'communication to me from abroad by Henry A. V. Post, of the
United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, do 5
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, to be as follows,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawing making part of this
'my description and Specification:—
'The object of the Invention is to so improve the rotary puddling
machine that all the difficulties now attending its use may be prac- 1
tically overcome and new uses added to it.
There are at present two forms of rotary puddling machines known,
in one, of which a cylindrical hollow closed vessel is rotated on a
horizontal axis, and in the other an open basin revolves on a vertical
axis.
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In the cylindrical or spherical machine the heat is admitted through
one of the axes of rotation, and passes out either through the opposite
axis, or returns through the same by which it was admitted, and which
is divided for that purpose into two passages. But as an incident to the
fact that the machine revolves horizontally it is necessary to open the 2
cylinder or sphere to take out the puddlo ball through the trunnion,
and in doing this the heat must be shut off and complicated mechanism
used to effect the purpose.
In the machine in which the basin revolves on a vertical axis, the
melting metal will be merely carried round in the basin without being 2
stirred or worked by the act of rotation, and it is necessary to use tools
for puddling the iron which may be fixed so as to arrest the movement
of the mass, and so act upon it or operated by workmen in the usual
way. But in such a machine the puddle ball can be removed without
disarranging the apparatus simply by opening the furnace door, as in 30
the case of the ordinary puddling furnace.
In the improved machine the advantages of both systems are
obtained without encountering the disadvantage of either, and the
principle upon which that result is effected is in revolving the basin
upon an axis so much inclined from a perpendicular, that melted metal 3
will run down to the lower side of the basin as it revolves, and yet so
"I

page_text: far inclined from a horizontal, that the uncovered or open basin will
not spill out the charge. Under these circumstances the mass may be
examined and the puddle ball removed through a door similar to that
used for these purposes in the ordinary puddling furnace, without
shutting off the heat or disarranging the apparatus by which the
machine is operated.
far inclined from a horizontal, that the uncovered or open basin will
not spill out the charge. Under these circumstances the mass may be
examined and the puddle ball removed through a door similar to that
used for these purposes in the ordinary puddling furnace, without
5 shutting off the heat or disarranging the apparatus by which the
machine is operated.
In the accompanying Drawing my machine is exhibited under three
views which explain themselves.
O is the fire door; D is the furnace; E is the bridge wall; J and K
are the uptake; all of which are similar to the corresponding parts in
the ordinary puddling furnace. Between the bridge wall and the
uptake is a chamber sufficiently large to contain the rotating puddling
machine, which should be of the size desired to contain a puddle ball
of the required dimensions in the lower part of it, as shown in the
3 Drawing. Five feet in diameter would be a good sized machine. In
the chamber the revolving puddling machine A is set, and the bridge
wall may be built so as to overlap the edge of the basin, which is of cast
iron, and so protect it from the action of the flames from the furnace.
The basin is set on the axis P, which is guided in a suitable manner to
secure stability. The beam L of iron with a proper bearing on it is a
good arrangement, but there are many ways of supporting this shaft or
basin which will suggest themselves to any mechanic equally good;
N is a worm wheel driven by the tangent screw O, which may be driven
by the cog wheel P*, connected to any motor desired in the usual way.
The basin is to be lined with any refractory substance which is used for
puddling furnaces. The door H opens directly upon the basin, and the
melting iron which is represented by B, is accessible just as it is in the
ordinary puddling furnace. The basin should revolve close to the brick-
work all round it so as to shut off the influx of air.
The mode of operation is very obvious from the examination of the
Drawing. The basin charged with metal is set in rotation when fusion'
commences; and as in the other forms of rotating puddling machines on
horizontal axes, the mass will flow down to the lower side of the basin
and act as it does in them. The basin may be set with its axis at an
angle about thirty degrees from the perpendicular; but the inclination
may be increased, making the basin more concave to retain the puddle
ball. And the basin may be set so as to receive the flames at a different

page_text: angle from the furnace, which in that case would be brought round
more in the front of the basin.
I do not confine myself to any arrangement of the fire chamber and
flue which may be made to suit the constructor, as this machino is
suitable for steel making with regenerating furnace; nor do I limit 5
myself to any particular angle of inclination of the axis of the basin,
so long as it is inclined far enough from the perpendicular to cause fluid
metal to flow to the lower side as the basin revolves, and far enough
from the horizontal to permit the basin to be uncovered without spilling
out the charge, and the ball to be examined without stopping the 10
machine or shutting off the heat, if desired to do so.
What is claimed as the Invention and desired to be secured by
Letters Patent. is, a puddling, melting, or decarbonizing machine in
which the puddling, melting, or decarbonizing is done in an open basin
revolving in a plane inclined to the horizon, substantially in the manner li
and for the purposes described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.