IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST STREL."
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Victor Gallet, of Broom Parade, Ecclesall Road,
Sheffield, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF CAST STREL."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Victor Gallet at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th September 1868.
I, VICTOR GALLET, of Broom Parade, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST STEEL," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
cast steel. For this purpose I take iron ore, and I mix therewith the
following composition :-

page_text: In place of charcoal, soot and lampblack may be used, and for 5
carbonate of potash carbonate of soda may be used, either alone or with
caustic potash, in the proportions of 20 parts carbonate of soda and 2
parts of caustic potash. If carbonate of soda be used alone the
proportions should be from 20 to 30 parts.
The ore when mixed as above described is melted in a furnace and 1
cast steel results.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Victor Gallet in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 25th March 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, VICTOR
GALLET, of Broom Parade, Ecclessall Road, Sheffield, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing: date the Twenty-sixth day of September, 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 succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Victor Gallet, Her special licence
that I, the said Victor Gallet, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Victor Gallet, 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 CAST STEEL," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Victor Gallet, 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 Inven-
tion, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Victor Gallet, 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 :-
This Invention has for its object the conversion of iron ores into
cast steel. For this operation I take by preference brown or red
hæmatite ores, and after having broken and washed them, if necessary, I
mix them with a cement composed as herein-after stated, and afterwards
melt them in furnaces or pots, the result is cast steel..
The cement which I employ is composed as follows:-
Carbonate of lime-
Clay
Oxide of manganese
Resin
Wood charcoal
-
-
37 parts:
13
3
3
50
وو
وو
دوو
وو
The above substances are mixed with about 10 per cent. of water in
which from 3 to 20 per cent. of carbonate of potash and 1 per cent.
of salt have been previously dissolved. The charcoal can be replaced
by soot and lampblack in equal proportions, that is to say, 50 parts of
soot to 50 parts of lampblack. The carbonate of potash can also
be replaced by carbonate of soda and caustic potash employing from.
3.10 to 20 parts carbonate of soda and 1, ½, or 1 part caustic potash.
The quantity of potash employed in the cement varies according to the
per-centage of iron contained in the ore.. If the cement only contains
3 parts of carbonate of potash, I add 1, 1 to 2 per cent. for every
kilogramme of iron contained in the ore, I prefer in all cases to dissolve
the carbonate of potash in water before adding it to the mixture...
The mixture should be perfectly mixed either by hand or mechanically
so that all the ingredients shall be well and intimately mixed. The
mixture thus prepared is ready to be mixed with the broken up ores.
sufficient water being at the same time added to form a paste with which
all the pieces of broken up ore will be covered over. The quantity of
cement employed depends on the per-centage of alkaline metals and of
injurious metalloids which it contains, and also on the quality of steel
which is wanted. The quality of steel obtained depends also on the
kind of furnace which is used for melting. The ore mixed with the
cement above described may be thrown into the mouth of the blast
furnace, and gives as the result a cast steel of great strength; practice

page_text: only can give the precise quantity of cement to mix with the ore so
as to obtain the best result, when a blast furnace is employed for
melting, but it will vary from 20 to 40 per cent. of the weight of the
For soft and very homogeneous hard steels melting furnaces in
which the fuel is not mixed with the ore are preferable. As above
stated the quantity of cement employed depends on the nature of the
are and the quantity of iron contained in it and on the quality of the
steel to be obtained. It is difficult to give with precision the quantity
of cement to be employed on account of the great variety of ores which
exist. I may give for example brown hoematite ores containing 55
per cent. of iron, the quantity of cement to be employed varies from 5
to 30 per eent. of the weight of ore, whilst for red hoematite
containing 55 per cent. of iron, the cement to be employed varies from
40 to 60 per cent. of the weight of the ore. For red hoematite
containing 30 per cent. of iron cement is employed in proportions of
40 to 50 per cent. of the weight of the ore according to the quality of
steel to be obtained, after some trials the amount of cement to be used
can readily be determined whatever be the nature of the ore. The
numerous electrical currents produced by the mutual reactions of the
elements, the disappearance of earthy and alkaline metals of carbonic
and phosphoric acids, and of the oxides of aluminium, favor the driving
off and absorption of sulphur, phosphorus, and other metalloids which
pass into the slag. The reaction of the carbon and carbonates reduce
the carbon to a nascent state and dispose it to combine chemically with

page_text: carbonize the iron and remove the metalloids from it which are united
to the iron during the operation.
Sixth. The rendering the carbon nascent by the reactions of the
carbonates.
Seventh. The composition of the cement with power to vary the
proportions of the constitutent substances according to the nature of
the ore to be used and the quality of the cast steel to be obtained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Victor Gallet, have hereunto set my
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of March, in the
year of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
VICTOR GALLET. (L.s.)