IMPROVEMENTS IN BLAST FURNACES AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON THEREIN."
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Göran Fredrik Göransson, of Gefle, in the Kingdom
of Sweden, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLAST FURNACES AND
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON THEREIN."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Göran Fredrik Görasson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
25th May 1866.
I, GÖRAN FREDRIK GÖRANSSON, of Gefle, in the Kingdom of Sweden, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLAST
FURNACES AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON THEREIN," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in blast furnaces and in the
manufacture of iron therein. In making iron in blast furnaces the quality of
the product is liable to vary in consequence of the charge adhering at times
to the side of the furnace and descending irregularly.
Now according to my Invention I obviate this by separating the charge of
the furnace into two different qualities; the one quality is fed in around the
walls of the furnace, and its composition is so adjusted that it may not
agglomerate or stick to the walls, whilst the other quality is fed into the
centre of the furnace, and is so adjusted as with the first quality to make up
the proper mixture of ore, flux, and fuel to form the total charge of the
furnace. For the exterior portion of the charge the quantity of fuel may bo
reduced, or the ore may be roasted in cases in which the bulk of the ore is

page_text: used.
In order to deposit these two qualities of material in their proper
positions in the furnace, I form at the mouth of the furnace a funnel or shoot
having an opening at the bottom nearly equal in size to the mouth of the
furnace; this opening is closed by a conical plug. The material to be
deposited round the walls of the furnace is placed in the hopper around the
conical plug, and then when it is desired to introduce the material into tho
furnace the cone is lowered, and the material descends all around the walls.
The conical plug above mentioned has formed in it at its centre a second
funnel or shoot closed with another inner conc or plug capable of working up
or down through the aperture. The material to be charged into the centro
of the furnace is placed in the inner funnel or hopper, and from it when the
inner plug or valve is lifted or lowered it descends into the centre of the
furnace; thus it will be seen that two charging openings are provided, ono
leading the material fed in through it around the walls of the furnace, and the
other supplying it to the centre of the furnace; or in place of this arrange-
ment the different qualities of material may be arranged in a charging vessel,
which is then run over the mouth of the furnace, and the bottom (which may
be formed of bars, or otherwise) removed; then as the material sinks in the
furnace the material in the charging vessel descends with it until the vessel
becomes empty; it is then removed and another vessel with another arranged
charge in it is run over the furnace mouth.
The composition of the two qualities of charge will vary according to the
nature of the ores and materials which are being treated; but the mixture
arranged around the walls of the furnaces will usually be such that it
generates less heat in its combustion than the remainder of the charge, the
proportion of fuel being smaller, or else it will be a mixture less liable than
the remainder of the charge to cake or agglomerate, and with many ores
wasting tends to prevent caking or agglomeration.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Göran Fredrik Göransson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd November 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GÖRAN
FREDRIK GÖRANSSON, of Gefle, in the Kingdom of Sweden, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thou and eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her

page_text: reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Göran Fredrik Göransson, Her special licence that I, the said Göran
Fredrik Göransson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Göran Fredrik Göransson, 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 BLAST FURNACES AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Göran Fredrik.
Göransson, 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 Göran Fredrik Göransson, 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 aud by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
In making iron in blast furnaces, the quality of the product is liable to
vary in consequence of the charges being irregularly made. Sometimes too.
little of the ores and an excess of fuel comes around the sides, thereby causing
the walls to be so heated that when any ore afterwards comes against the
same it fastens and makes accumulations known as sculls or scaffolding, which
totally provent a regular working of the blast furnace. To prevent this it is
necessary to make the charges with great care and regularity, not to mix all
the ores together, but to select amongst the ores used such as best protect the
walls from the heat without fastening; the ore so selected is calcined or not
calcined as experience may direct, and also to determine what quantity of
fuel it is best to place round the walls in proportion to what is to be placed
in the centre of the furnace, and to maintain the charges regular after they
have been determined on. By doing this, and by keeping both ores and tho
fuel charged as near as possible equally dry, and melting it down with the
sanie quantity and temperature of the blast, an iron maker will soon, obtain
from the furnace a pig iron of an exceedingly even quality..
Another important point is to be able to use the whole of the wasto gas.
from the blast furnace for other purposes, and that without using so much
draft that the air is drawn through the mouth of the furnace, thereby

page_text: affecting the top charges by preventing the gas being of use for them, and
without causing the pressure of the gas to be so strong that the working of
the blast furnace becomes irregular. To attain all these advantages it is very
desirable that the iron maker or his foreman should at the foot of the blast
furnace bave full control over the regularity of the charges, the dryness of
the ore and fuel, the exhaustion or pressure of the gases as they pass from the
furnace and the pressure and temperature of the blast.
I make the charges in a charging vessel at the foot of the blast furnace
or in any other convenient place where the work can always be done under
the control of the foreman. Tho vessel is made, by preference, to hold two
or more charges, so that the vessel may require to be removed as seldom as
possible; its diameter should be the same as that of the mouth of the furnace.
When the charged vessel is placed over the mouth of the blast furnace its
bottom charge should be nearly in contact with the top charge in the blast
furnace, and the bottom of the vessel should be constructed so that it may be
removed with the least possible disturbance to the contents of the vessel; I
therefore prefer to make this bottom of round steel bars, which occupy little
space in proportion to their strength, and which when withdrawn leave little
room for the subsidence of the charges in the vessel, and thus most effectually
preserve the relative positions of the ores and fuel.
The charging of the vessel ought to be performed under a roof or in a shed
so that rain may not wet the charge, and the place ought to be conveniently
arranged for making the charges regular without too much expense. The
ore ought to be exactly measured or weighod as well as the fuel; the fuel of
one charge is first put at the bottom of the vessel and the ore carefully
spread out over the fuel, so that the ore wanted for the walls is placed close
by the sides, and the rest is spread out in the centre of the ring of ores
round the walls. If one or more charges are required to be placed in the
vessel the fuel of the second charge is placed on the ore of the first, and so
on; great exactitude in thus arranging the charges will be fully repaid by a
better quality of iron. The shed for charging should have a platform of the
same height as the vessel on which to place the fuel and ores. This platform,
which I propose to make large enough to contain fuel and ores for 12 hours
working, may be made of cast-iron plates having fire-flues beneath, to which
may be connected a waste gas tube, so that when the weather is wet the fuel
and ores can be dried without interfering with the work, and thereby the
charges can be kept equally dry.
After the vessel is charged, as before described, the top thereof is closed
by a suitable cover or locker; it is then transported to the top of the

page_text: blast furnace by machinery or other means, and placed on the top of the
blast furnace covering the mouth thereof, so that the inner sides of the vessel
make an unbroken continuation of the inner sides of the blast furnace; the
rods which form the bottom are drawn away by mechanism, and the charges
are permitted to descend with the materials in the blast furnace, and when
the vessel in this way becomes empty it is removed and another vessel mado
and fitted in the same way is run or brought over the furnace mouth, so that
the charge of the blast furnace is always regularly made by the use of these
vessels, and the blast furnace mouth is always closed by them except when
one vessel is removed and another put in its place, which ought to be dono
with such speed that the furnace mouth may not long bo unclosed. The
vessel in the shed stands on a small waggon on a line of rails, and when filled
and covered up is rolled on to the platform of a hoist to be lifted up to the
height of the blast furnace top; it is then to be rolled on to a platform
between the hoist and blast furnace. 1 further bave a double-armed crano
placed between the mouth of the blast furnace and the platform where the
vessel is standing on the waggon, so that one arm reaches the vessel over the
mouth of the furnace and the other the vessel on the waggon. This crane is
provided with suitable gearing, so that one man, after hooking the chain of
cach arm of the crane to each of the vessels, can easily lift up both and
swing them round; the empty one thus comes on to the waggon and the
charged one exactly over the mouth of the furnace; they are let down on
their places, and afterwards the bottom of the full vessel is removed and that
of the empty vessel pushed in.
For the purpose of obtaining complete regularity the charges in the
vessel should not be permitted to sink too deep before the empty vessel is
removed and the charged one placed on the mouth of the furnace; I there-
foro propose to use a small stick or rod with a foot; this rod is passed through
a hole in the cover of the charging vessel, and the foot rests on the top of the
charge. The stick has a mark upon it to indicate when the charge has sunk
to the exact height; thus the man who always goes up with the vessel knows
the exact time for changing the vessels. As it is always necessary for obtain-
ing an even quality of the iron to drive the furnace with perfect regularity,
not changing the temperature nor the pressure of the blast used, it is easy to
know the time when the charge in the vessel has sunk sufficiently low to admit
of the removal of the charging vessel; but if any doubt in that respect should
exist, and to enable the foreman to control the regularity of this work, a
signal can be made by affixing line to the stick in the cover so measured
that when the charge is sunk so deep that it is time to send up the next

page_text: vessel the weight of the stick drawing down the line will cause a bell to ring
or make any other signal as may bo deemed necessary; this line will require
cach time to be fastened and unfastened by the man changing the vessels at the
top. The mouth of the blast furnace being closed by the charging vessel so that
the gas cannot escape, it will be necessary to draw down the gas by means of a
chimney, as is already, often done. The size of the chimney in proportion to
the size and height of the furnace will be as heretofore, but as experience has
shown that too much pressure on the gas or too much draft from the chimney
affects the working of the furnace, it is necessary to have the means of regu-
lating this to a nicety, and for this purpose I propose to make the following
arrangement:-I placo a neck flue round the blast furnace as near the top
as possible; to this flue tho gas is led through openings which come in at the
bottom of the flue. I recommend the gas openings to be made all round the
whole furnace, leaving only so much of the inside wall as will be necessary for
the support of the heavy cast-iron ring, on which cast-iron ring I afterwards
build up the top of the furnace. From the neck flue I take one or two branch
gas pipes with stop valves to the gas main or mains; these mains conduct the
gas to a large reservoir from which the gas goes through pipes to all parts
where it is to bo used. One main might be sufficient, but I prefer to take
two, one from each of the two opposite sides of the furnace, which I believe
will be an improvement on one main, and facilitate a more regular working
of the furnace. The area of the main or the two mains together ought to be
from to of the total area of all the gas openings from the furnace to the
neck flue, so that the gas always may enter the flue with a great deal less
velocity than it leaves it to avoid as far as may be drawing dust into the flues.
The stop valves ought to be arranged so that the same can be opened and
closed from the foot of the furnace, and be accordingly always under the
control of the manager or fireman.
A little attention and experience will soon teach the foreman what pressure
or suction on the gas will give him the best result with the fuel and ore he
uses, and the quality of pig iron he wants. To indicate this pressure or
suction at all times I lay down a small gas pipe made of iron or other suitable
material so that it enters the mouth of the furnace just above the neck flue;
this pipe is then led down outside the furnace to the foot of the same, where
a common bent glass tube with a scale is fastened air-tight to the gas pipe.
The bent tube contains water, and the level of the water in the two limbs of
the tube will show the strength of suction or pressure of the gas, and the
foreman can control the same at the foot of the furnace with the stop valve
or valves.

page_text: And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed,
:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a section of the blast furnace with thick walls as used in
Sweden. A is the body of the furnace; a, openings for the gas to enter the
neck flue; b, neck flue round the top of the furnace; c, openings in the
outer sides of the neck flue which are usually kept carefully closed, but can
be opened for cleaning the neck flue when wanted; d, pillars between the
gas openings; c, heavy cast-iron ring which is laid on the pillars d; on this
ring the top of the furnace is erected. f, gas pipe for indicating the pressure
of the gas in the furnace; 9, platform from which the neck flue can be
cleaned; h, the mains for conducting the gas from the blast furnace to the
reservoir; i, the reservoir for the gas; k, a large tubo of the same diameter
as the reservoir i, and placed right under the mains h to receive the dust that
may follow the gas through the mains; l, a cistern of cast-iron filled with
water into which the tube k goes down so deep that the water keeps the tube
air-tight and stops the gas from escaping. All the dust is then collected in
the cistern l, and the lower part of the tube k being made so that it can be
lifted makes the cleaning out of the dust easy; this cistern is also of use as a
safety valve in case of any explosion. m, the charging vessels; n, the stick
or rod showing how the charges sink; o, the double-armed crane for moving
the charging vessels; both the arms of the crane are double, leaving room
for the screw q and the nut w to pass between the two legs. p, two screws
combined with one gearing, so that one man can lift both the charging vessels
at once. As the vessels are heavy and are to be lifted only a few inches,
prefer to use such screws. q, a long bar going through the crane with screws
with double thread on both ends and gearing; r is the gearing for turning
the screw; this screw with gearing makes it possible for one man to remove
the bottom of the charged vessel at the same time that he pushes the bottom
into the empty one. 8, gearing for turning the crane round; t, the waggon
for the charging vessel; u, the platform; w, the nuts with the hooks for
removing and pushing in the bottoms of the vessels; D, the space in which
the hoist for lifting the vessels works.
Figure 2 is a section of the blast furnace from the other side, showing x,
the gas pipes from the neck flue 6 to the mains h; y, the stop valves in the
mains h balanced so that they can easily be opened and closed by a chain at
the foot of the blast furnace.

page_text: Figure 3 is a part of a shed in which the charging can bo mado; it is shown
in section. are fire flues below the iron plates of the platform from which
the vessels are charged, the flues communicating with a stove of any con-
venient form.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the charging vessel.
Figure 5 is a plan of the charging vessel. a, a cover or locker of wrought
iron strengthened with a cast-iron cross which can be removed after unscrew-
ing the screws b; c, bottom of the vessel made of round steel bars bound
together by a cast-iron bar d; e, a frame of wrought iron fastened to the
vessel with round holes for the bars to pass through; f, a roller for support-
ing the bars; g, a cast-iron side to cover air-tight the holes on the front side of
the vessel when the bottom is drawn out, and which can be moved up and
down on three slide bars h; i, a wrought-iron box covering air-tight the holes
for the steel bars on the back side of the vessel even when the bottom of the
vessel is removed; k, top plate of the blast furnace with a groove in it to
receive the charging vessel; 7, the groove in which the lower ring of the
vessel is placed, and which groove can be filled either with water or sand to
prevent the gas escaping and damaging the vessel; m, the screw in the
double-armed crane with the nut n, on which is fastened the double hook o,
which is so made that it by the screw p can be lifted up until it takes hold of
the pin in the arm q on the bar d.
Figure 6, top section of a blast furnace with thin walls where the neck
flue a is made of iron lined with bricks; b, openings for the gas between the
blast furnace and the neck flue a; c, pillars for bearing the cast-iron piece or
ring d, on which the top of the furnace is built; e, the gas pipes between the
neck flue a and the mains; f, g, the stop valves; h, the opening for the gas
pipe for indicating the pressure of the gas; i, opeuings for cleaning the neck
flue a.
Figure 7 is a ground plan of a convenient arrangement of the several
furnaces and stoves showing how the gas can be led to every part where it is
wanted; this plan, however, will be varied according to the situation of the
works. a, the blast furnace; b, the stop) valves; c, the mains leading to
the reservoir; d, e, the water cisterns for collecting the dust, and serving as
safety valves; f, the stop valve at the end of the reservoir & communicating
with the flue g leading under ground to the chimney h, and which valve is to
be opened when the gas is not used or when the blast furnace produces more
gas than is wanted; i, gas pipe leading from the reservoir to the calcining
furnace ;, pipe leading from the top of the calcining furnace k to the
chimney h for drawing the gas through the calcining furnace; m, the gas

page_text: pipe leading from the reservoir to the blast-heating apparatus n; o, pipe
leading from the top of the heating apparatus n to the underground fluo p
which leads to the large flue g, and whereby the gas is drawn through the
beating apparatus n by the chimney h; 9, gas pipes leading from the reservoir
to the boilers r; 8, pipes connecting the boilers with the underground flue t,
by which the gas is drawn round and through the boilers r to the chimney h;
u, valves to regulate the quantity of gas for every furnace apparatus or boiler;
w, dampers to regulate the draft for every furnace apparatus or boiler; x, a
gas pipe to be led to the shed for charging the vessel; y, underground flue to
draw the gas through the flues in the shed for charging the vessel.
Figure 8 is a top section of the calcining kiln to show how the pipol for
drawing the gas through the same can be fixed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that although I have referred
in more or less detail to several matters which relate only indirectly to the
Invention for which my Patent is granted, I make no claim to the matters to
which reference is thus made; but what I claim is, the combining a move-
able charging vessel with a blast furnace, as described, and the arranging
the charges in such vessel and then applying it to the furnace mouth in
such manner that the charges may descend gradually and regularly out
of the charging vessel into the furnace as the combustion in the furnace
proceeds.
In witness whereof, I, the said Göran Fredrik Göransson, have hereunto
set ny hand and seal, this Fifth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
QADANSSON
G. F. GÖRANSSON. (..)