CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Armitage of Farnly Iron Works, and
Henry Lea, both of Farnly, near Leeds, in the County of York, for the
Invention of " CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON."
Sealed the 30th September 1858, and dated the 7th April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Armitage and
Henry Lea at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 7th April 1858.
We, WILLIAM ARMITAGE, of Farnly Iron Works, and HENRY LEA, both of
Farnly, near Leeds, in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON,"
to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to the manufacture of iron, and consists in the fusing
together of iron in combination with steel, which operation may be per-
formed either in the blast furnace, in the refinery, or in the puddling furnace.
By these means we are enabled to manufacture iron possessing much
greater ductility than iron manufactured by the ordinary methods, and which
is consequently better adapted for use in all cases where that metal is sub-
jected to a great tensile strain, or to great pressure.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Armitage and Henry Lea in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
ARMITAGE, of Farnley Iron Works, and HENRY LEA, both of Farnley, near
Leeds, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of April in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
William Armitage and Henry Lea, Her special licence that we, the said
William Armitage and Henry Lea, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said William Armitage and Henry Lea, our
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, excrcise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
IRON," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William Armitage
and Henry Lea, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us
or them, 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 William Armitage and Henry Lea,
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
nd by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
Our Invention relates to the manufacture of iron, and consists in the fusing
together of iron in combination with steel, which operation may be performed
either in the blast furnace, in the refinery with the pig metal, or in the puddling
furnace. By these means we are enabled to manufacture iron possessing much
greater ductility than iron manufactured by the ordinary methods, and which
is consequently better adapted for use in all cases where that metal is subjected
to a great tensile strain, or to a great pressure.
In order to explain our said Invention as completely as possible, we now
proceed to describe the best means we are acquainted with for carrying the

page_text: same into practical effect as follows:-The principal object of our Invention
is manufacturing iron for boiler plates, tyres, bars, and hoops for railway
waggons and engines, tension and compression rods and bars, and any other
purpose where ductility of the metal is required; this object we accomplish
by combining with the iron, (either in the blast furnace, the refinery, or
puddling furnace) a certain proportion of steel, the amount to be determined
by the operator at the time of fusing. But as every distinct purpose to which
iron is or may be applied would require different proportions of steel according
to its quality, it would be useless here to state the exact proportions for each
purpose required, as in the hands of a competent practitioner the iron can be
brought to any degree of malleableness, even to the ductility of copper.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of our said
Invention of "Certain Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron," together
with the best means we are acquainted with for carrying the same into
practical effect, we would remark in conclusion that what we claim as our
Invention intended to be secured to us by the herein in part recited Letters
Patent, is the combining of iron and steel together in such proportions as may
suit the purpose for which the metal is intended, and the mode of thoroughly.
incorporating the two metals in the manner above described.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Armitage & Henry Lea,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this First day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
5 Witness,
WILLIAM JAMES ARMITAGE,
Farnley, near Leeds.
WILLIAM ARMITAGE. (L.S.)
HENRY LEA.
(L.S.)