IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILS, BARS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF IRON, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John James, of Ebbw Vale, Manager, and Thomas
Jones, of Govilon, Forge and Mill Manager, both in the County of
Monmouth, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
RAILS, BARS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF IRON, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREFOR."
Sealed the 31st March 1868, and dated the 9th October 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John James and Thomas
Jones at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 9th October 1867.
We, JOHN JAMES, of Ebbw Vale, Manager, and THOMAS JONES,. of Govilon,
Forge and Mill Manager, both in the County of Monmouth, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF RAILS, BARS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF IRON, AND IN THE APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREFOR," to be as follows, that is to say :-
The Invention consists in. improved means and apparatus for the manu-
facture of rails, bars, and other articles of iron, whereby the iron is hardened
or converted into semi-steel or steel.
The pile, bloom, faggot, bar, slab, ball, rail, or other article is heated in
any convenient furnace or fire, and is afterwards placed in the hot state in a
vessel, which we call a receiver, of any suitable form of cast iron or other
suitable material (by preference cast iron), either direct from the furnace or
fire or from the roll, hammer, auvil, squeezer, or other compressing apparatus.
[Price 8d.]

page_text: The usual substances or gases for hardening iron and steel and for converting
iron into semi-steel or steel are afterwards placed in the receiver, which is
then closed up, and the pile or other article is allowed to remain therein until
the hardening or converting operation is complete; or the pile or other articlo
may be taken out, reheated and readmitted into the receiver to complete the
hardening or converting operation. If required to obtain additional power,
hydraulic or other pressure sufficiently powerful can be employed to press
the substances or gases into and to saturate the pile or other article. If
additional pressurebe required vessels or generators can be employed to generate
the gases to supply the receiver wholly or partially as needed, and hydraulic
or other pressure may be applied as in the process herein last before
described.
In the herein before described processes compressed atmospheric air is
applied when required, according to the quality of the material operated upon
and of the product required to burn out the impurities, and raise the heat of
the pile or other article. An exhauster is employed when needed to exhaust
from the receiver any impurities it may contain, and to open the pores of the
pile either previous to or after applying the substances (which may be in the
dry, liquid, or gaseous form) as required. To complete the process, when
necessary the said substances or gases are forced between the pile or other
article when hot and the rolls or other compressing apparatus. When neces-
sary the rail, bar, or other article while hot from the rolls or other compressing
apparatus is caused to pass through the aforesaid substances or gases to
complete the hardening or cementation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Johu James and Thomas Jones in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th April 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
JAMES, of Ebbw Vale, Manager, and THOMAS JONES, of Govilon, Forge and
Mill Manager, both in the County of Monmouth, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her nost Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said John James and Thomas Jones, Her special licence that we, the said
John James and Thomas Jones, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or

page_text: such others as we, the said John James and Thomas Jones, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and atall times thereafterduringthe term thereinexpressed, should
and lawfullymight 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 RAILS, BARS, AND OTHER
ARTICLES OF IRON, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR," upon
the
condition (amongst others) that. we, the said John James and Thomas
Jones, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our, 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 Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John James and Thomas Jones, do
herebydeclare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the saine
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being hadto the Drawings hereto annexed,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
The Invention consists in improved means and apparatus for the manu-
facture of rails, bars, and other articles of iron, whereby the iron is hardened
or converted into semi-steel or steel.
In order to make our Invention better understood we will now proceed to
describe the best means with which we are acquainted for carrying the same
into effect by reference to the accompanying Drawings, in which Figure 1,
Sheet 1, is a front elevation, and Figure 2, Sheet 1, a half plan of our
receiver with compressing apparatus, gas holder, and gas generator applied
thereto; Figure 3, Sheet 2, plan, and Figure 4, Sheet 2, elevation of another
form of receiver and gas generator.
In Figures and 2, Sheet 1, a is the receiver of cast iron provided with a
properfire-place i, so constructed that the fire may play all round the receivor;
jis the bridge; k, the ash-pit; and I, the flue; the charging door m' of the
receiver is closed gas-tight by means of an ordinarygas retort or other suitable
fastening m made strong enough to resist the required pressure. An ordinary
retort is shewn at for generating gases connected by means of the pipes b,b¹,
to a gasometer or gas holder c for transmitting the gases (under pressure) to
the accumulator or compressor d,provided with the plunger e forcompressing
the gases and forcing them from the accumulator into the receiver a, through
the pipes gaud g, provided with stop-cocks h, h. n, n,n, Figure 2, shew in

page_text: dotted lines a compressing engine or force pump and regulator, which we
sometimes employ instead of the accumulator d.
The operation is as follows:-The generator fis charged with the required
substances forproducing thegases to be generated, such as substancescapable
of producing hydrocarbon gases, carbonic oxide, ammonia, or other nitro-
genous compounds, which gases pass through the pipe l, and are collected in
the gasometer c, whence they pass into the accumulator d; as soon as the
gasometer and the accumulator are filled with gases the pile, bloom, faggot,
bar, slab, ball, rail, or other article o is placed at a red heat, or at a welding
heat (according as the pile is brought from the furuace or from the rolls or
othercompressing apparatus) in the receiver a,and the balanceweightsbeing
removed from the gasometer (or the gasometer additionally weighted)thegas
is compressed; the stop-cockp is then closed and the stop-cock / opened, and
the plunger e is pressed down, thus forcing the gases in a compressed state
into the receiver, so as to thoroughly saturate the pile o and to convert it into
steel, the quality of the steel depending upon the kind of gases employed and
the substances which when required are thrown in the receiver either before
or after the charging of the pile, and also according to the time the pile is left
in the receiver, and the degree of pressure applied; the pile is then removed
and if desired the waste or unabsorbed gases can be drawn off and collected
by any suitable means for re-use in the receiver or for other purposes, such,
for instance, as for heating the receiver or generator according to the nature
of the gases.
If necessary the pile is reheated and again placed in the
receiver to be further operated upon. Instead of the accumulator d the
compressing engine n, n, shewn in dotted lines, Figure 2, may be employed to
exhaust the gases from the gasometer and force them into the receiver. The
compressing engine may also be used as an exhauster whenever it is required
to exhaust any impurities from the receiver and to open the pores of the pile,
but we prefer employing an ordinary exhauster. If it is required to produce
a very hard surface the converting substances or gases are forced between the
pile while hot from the receiver and the rolls or other compressing apparatus,
and then if necessary to complete the hardening the pile may be passed
through gases or substances possessing hardening qualities. In some cases
compressed atmospheric air may be forced into the receiver by any suitable
means to burn out the impurities and raise the heat of the pile either before
the admission of the converting gases or substances into the receiver or after
they have been drawn off, according to the quality or kind of iron operated
upon, coke or charcoal being also placed in the receiver to assist by its
combustion in the operations.

page_text: Figures 3 and 4, Sheet 2, shew a plan and elevation of a different form of
receiverand generatorformed of cast iron lined with ganister or other suitable
fire-resisting material. The generator is charged through the door t with
coal or coke to the proper height for generating the gases required, videlicet,
if coal, carbonic oxide and carburetted hydrogen, or if coke carbonic oxide
only; these hot gases mixed with nitrogen from the air blown in by the blast
pipe rise and pass over the pile o in the receiver a, and thence through the
pipe s into a gasometer and accumulator as herein-before described, Sheet 1 ;
when sufficient gas has accumulated the blast piper is closed by means of a
stop-cock,and the charging door t and pile charging door are firmlyscrewed
down,the gas is then forced back into the receiver to saturate the pile, which
is then treated as stated when describing Sheet 1.
Instead of the waste gases generated as herein-before described we can
employ any waste gases, such as blast furnace waste gases or waste gases
from a reverberatory furnace containing carbonic oxide, ammonia, nitrogen, or
other gases having a carbonizing or hardening effect on wrought iron. The
pile, bloom, faggot, bar, slab, ball, or other article having been so treated
is submitted to the ordinary process for its manufacture into rails, bars, or
other articles required.
In witness whereof, we, the said John James and Thomas Jones, have
hereto set our hands and seals, this Eighth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JOHN JAMES.
(L.S.)
THOMAS JONES. (L.S.)