AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF IRON FORGINGS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clay, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
Iron Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF
IRON FORGINGS."
Sealed the 11th August 1865, and dated the 8th March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clay at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th March
1865.
I, WILLIAM CLAY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Iron Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
MANUFACTURE OF IRON FORGINGS," to be as follows:-
In the manufacture of iron forgings, according to the system at present in
use, various impurities or extraneous matters become incorporated with the
iron during the manufacture. These matters, which usually consist of small
particles of carbon, ash, or cinder are chiefly derived from the fuel used in
the heating of the iron, and they cause it to present a rough or irregular
surface, when turned. This is a serious evil, especially when the forgings are
shafts, axles, or rods, which are to be subjected to friction, as such extraneous
matters when allowed to get into bearings or on to the rubbing surfaces of
machinery create unnecessary friction, and thereby cause the heating of the
parts. I have found that the presence of extraneous matters, such as those
above referred to, is mainly due to the powerful draught of the reverberatory
furnaces, which carry over from the grate (containing the fuel employed for

page_text: heating the furnace) small particles of the fuel, which thereby become
intimately mixed with the iron, and cannot afterwards practically be separated
therefrom.
In order to produce metal that will admit of forgings being made without
these defects, I propose to use pig iron, which has been cast by preference in
clean iron moulds, or I operate upon refined or plate iron. Either of these
irons I boil or puddle in a furnace heated by means of combustible gases,
whereby the introduction of extraneous matters, such as those above men-
tioned, is avoided.
For the manufacture of forgings of the best quality, I use refined or plate
iron, which gives me the additional advantage of dispensing with the ordinary
fettling used in the boiling furnace, and which fettling gives off impurities
and extraneous matters which it is exceedingly advisable to keep out of
the iron.
When the iron has been sufficiently boiled or puddled in a furnace heated
by combustible gases it may be balled up and hammered, rolled, piled, and
reheated in the ordinary manner, but, by preference, I carry on the sub-
sequent reheating in furnaces heated by gas, after which I proceed to complete
the forging, which will be found when turned and finished to be much brighter
and freer from the specks or defects which prove so injurious in ordinary
forgings. It will be obvious that clippings of iron or scrap iron obtained from
iron made in gas furnaces, in the manner above referred to, may also be
advantageously employed in making superior forgings.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clay in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th
September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLAY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Iron Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by. Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Clay, Her special licence that I, the said William Clay, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Clay, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: 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 "AN IMPROVED MANU-
PACTURE OF IRON FORGINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Clay, 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 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 I, the said William Clay, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
In the manufacture of iron forgings, according to the system at present in
use, various impurities or extraneous matters become incorporated with the
iron during the manufacture. These matters, which usually consist of small
particles of carbon, ash, or cinder are chiefly derived from the fuel used in
the heating of the iron, and they cause it to present a rough or irregular
surface when turned. This is a serious evil, especially when the forgings are
shafts, axles, or rods, which are to be subjected to friction, as such extraneous
matters when allowed to get into bearings or on to the rubbing surfaces of
machinery create unnecessary friction, and thereby cause the heating of the
parts. I have found that the presence of extraneous matters, such as those
above referred to, is mainly due to the powerful draught of the reverberatory
furnaces, which carry over from the grate (containing the fuel employed for
heating the furnace) small particles of the fuel which thereby become inti-
mately mixed with the iron, and cannot afterwards practically be separated
therefrom.
In order to produce metal that will admit of forgings being made without
these defects, I propose to use pig iron which has been cast, by preference, in
clean iron moulds, or 1 operate upon refined or plate iron. Either of these
irons I boil or puddle in a furnace heated by means of combustible gases,
whereby the introduction of extraneous matters, such as those above men-
tioned, is avoided.
The kind of gas furnace which I propose to use, is an adaptation of what is
known as Siemen's regenerative gas furnace.

page_text: In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn so much of the furnace as will
serve to convey a general idea of its construction.
Fig. 1 is a transverse section of the furnace, shewing it provided with two
pair of regenerative chambers A', A2, A3, & A, built of fire-brick, and fitted
at bottom with gratings, upon which are loosely piled fire-bricks for absorbing
the heat contained in the gases of combustion on their way to the chimney,
and yielding up that heat when combustible gases and atmospheric air are
passed through the chambers on their way to the puddling furnace, wherein
the combustible gases are consumed; Fig. 2 is a sectional plan of the furnace,
shewing the arrangement of the flues; and Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation,
shewing the arrangements for cutting off the supply of combustible gas and
atmospheric air, and of diverting the supply from one pair of regenerative
chambers to the other. The puddling furnace is shewn at B, as set above the
chambers A², A³. The bed is formed of metal with a hollow section, through
which water is caused to circulate to prevent the injurious effect of the beat
to which the metal is exposed, and to prevent the direct contact of the flame
with the metal bed it is lined as usual with fire-clay.
It will be unnecessary minutely to describe the construction of the
regenerative furnace, or the principle of its action, as it is now well known
in some important branches of manufacture. My object in adopting it is
two-fold; first, that being a gas furnace it prevents the passage over with the
flame of solid particles of unconsumed fuel; and, secondly, that it is econo-
mical in use. Supposing the furnace to have been at work a. sufficient time
to heat the regenerative chambers, then atmospheric air admitted by suitable
valves and by a pipe C, Fig. 2, to the chamber A¹ to support combustion will
be heated before it mingles with the gases of combustion in the puddling
furnace. In like manner the gases admitted by valve from the flue D,
Fig. 2, to the chamber A2 will be highly heated, and the air and gas com-
mingling will produce a powerful heat in the puddling furnace. The product
of the consumed gases will pass from the puddling furnace into the chambers
A³, A, and make their exit into the flues below leading to the chimney flue.
In their descent through the chambers the products of combustion will yield
up a large portion of their heat to the fire-brick filling, and escape at the
chimney at a comparatively low temperature. By shifting the deflecting
valves the course of the atmospheric air and of the combustible gases will
now be directed into the chambers A³, A', where they will absorb heat from
the fire-brick filling, as before explained, on their passage to the puddling
furnace, and the gas there igniting the flame will play over the metal con-
tained in the furnace bed. The heating power of the gases will, by reason

page_text: of this preparatory heating of the air and of the gases, be greatly increased,
and an economy of fuel will consequently result.
When I desire to manufacture forgings of the best quality I charge the
puddling furnace with refined or plate iron, which gives me the additional
advantage of dispensing with the ordinary fettling used in the boiling furnace,
and which fettling gives off impurities and extraneous matters, which it is
exceedingly advisable to keep out of the iron.
When the iron has been sufficiently boiled or puddled in the regenerative
gas furnace it may be balled up and hammered, rolled, piled, and reheated in
the ordinary manner; but, by preference, I carry on the subsequent reheating
in gas furnaces to prevent the possibility of the metal absorbing any solid
particles of fuel or other solid extraneous matters, after which I proceed to
complete the forging, which will be found when turned and finished to be
much brighter and freer from the specks or defects which prove so injurious
in ordinary forgings. It will be obvious that clippings of iron or scrap iron
obtained from iron made in gas furnaces in the manner above referred to may
also be advantageously employed in making superior forgings.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of an improved manu-
facture of iron forgings, and explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim, the novel manufacture of forgings above described.
In witness whereof I, the said William Clay, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
WILLIAM CLAY. (L.8.)