IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUfacture OF IRON, AND IN THE PRODUCTION OF 'FETLING' FOR IMPROVING THE QUALITY AND VIELD OF IRON IN THE PROCESS OF REDUCTION
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Greener, of Darlington, in the County of
Durham, Mining Engineer, and William Ellis, of Gateshead, in the
said County, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUfacture
OF IRON, AND IN THE PRODUCTION OF 'FETLING' FOR IMPROVING THE QUALITY
AND VIELD OF IRON IN THE PROCESS OF REDUCTION."
Scaled the 26th November 1872, and dated the 7th October 1872.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Thomas Greener and
William Ellis at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition and Declaration, on the 7th October 1872, pursuant
to the 9th Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, Tuomas
GREENER, of Darlington, in the County of Durham, Mining Engineer,
and WILLIAM ELLIS, of Gateshead, in the said County, send greeting.
WHEREAS we are in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON, AND IN THE PRODUCTION OF FETLING' FOR IMPROVING
THE QUALITY AND YIELD OF IRON IN THE PROCESS OF REDUCTION," and have
petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto us, our executors, administrators,

page_text: and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made
solemn Declaration that we are the true and first Inventors thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Thomas Greener and William
Ellis, do hereby declare that the following Complete Specification, under
our hands and seals, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by
the following statement, that is to say:-
"
Our said Invention consists in combining certain substances or
materials, which when melted are capable of being used as a "fetling'
or lining for puddling furnaces, and the use of which will add to the
value, increase the yield, and improve the quality of the iron produced.
For these purposes it is of great importance that the materials employed
in making the bottoms of the mill furnace or heating furnace, in which
the substances intended to be used as above mentioned for "fetling" are
to be prepared, should not contain any substance or substances the
presence of which would be injurious to the iron.
•
The hæmatite ores of Cumberland and Lancashire, Swedish magnetic
ore, and the iron sands of New Zealand and elsewhere, are adapted for
the purposes of our Invention, as especially also is good iron ore which
has been previously calcined, but any other substances which are free or
comparatively free from sulphur and phosphorus, and which contain a
large excess of the oxides of iron, may be employed. The orc or other
material, having been broken to the size of road metal, is used for the
lower bottom of the heating or mill furnace to the depth of five or six
inches or other suitable depth, as will be well understood, and upon
which a bed or coating of the same material ground to a coarse sand is
laid. A dry bottom is thus formed of material which is not only free
from anything injurious to the charge of iron, but which tends to feed
and nourish it, and so increase the yield and preserve the quality of the
same. This process is greatly superior to the use of sand or cinder
bottoms, which are generally in use at iron works for heating purposes. It
is necessary that the bottom of the furnace should be sloped down towards
the back of the furnace and the flue. The furnace is charged, and the
heat applied in the manner usual in working reverberatory furnaces
employed in the reduction of iron. Holes or exits for the cinder can be
made at points most suitable for keeping the bottom of the furnace dry.
At these points the cinder may be tapped into a small iron waggon or
.

page_text: "
other suitable receptacle at convenient intervals, either before or after
'the heat" is drawn. By this method all the rich cinder from the iron
will be preserved and mixed with the melted ore which runs from the
bottom, the mixture forming a pure and valuable "fetling," whereas by
the mode employed up to this time this valuable material is mixed with
silica and other impurities which have been put into the heating furnace.
The shape of the furnace employed for these operations is of some
importance with a view to their being successfully carried out. The
furnace should be built in the ordinary manner, with the exception of
the fire-brick arch, which should slope from the doorway down to the
outlet of the cinder, and which should be at an inclination of about
sixteen inches from the doorway down to the back wall. We should
observe however that we do not claim any peculiarity in the construction
of the furnace as forming part of our said Invention.
It will be found that the "puddler's tap" or "tap cinder" which is
left in the puddling furnace in which a "fetling" formed in accordance
with our said Invention has been employed, will work well in the blast
furnace and produce a good common quality of forge pig iron, or if
burned by the well-known methods so as to form the refractory substance
commonly called and known as "bull dog," it will, when reduced to a
state of fine division and mixed with about one-fourth part of limestone.
and one-tenth part of coal or coke dust, form an excellent "fetling" for
furnaces used for working iron of common quality, and will be found
to improve both the quality and yield of the metal produced. The
above-mentioned proportions must however be considered as approxi-
mative only, as it may be necessary to vary the same to suit the different
qualities of cinder from the puddling furnaces, as will be well understood
by persons conversant with metallurgical operations.
Having thus declared and ascertained the nature of our said In-
vention, and in what manner it is to be performed, we would observe
that what we consider novel and original and therefore claim as
constituting our said Invention are,-
-
First. The use for the bottoms of heating or mill furnaces of ores or
substances containing oxide of iron or the equivalents of such substances,
substantially in the manner herein-before described.
And, secondly. The method herein-before described of securing the
cinder obtained from the iron in the heating furnace by a dry bottom,

page_text: and the use of such cinder for "fetling" for puddling furnaces alone or
combined with other substances, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Greener and William Ellis,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Second day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
Signed, sealed, and delivered
by the above-named Thomas
Greener and William Ellis
in the presence of
F. T. STEAVENSON,
Sol.,
Darlington.
THOMAS GREENER. (L.s.)
WILLIAM ELLIS.
(L.S.)