A NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS OR FURNACES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF METAL DIRECT FROM THE ORE
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, of the Firm of
Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the
City of London, Patent Agents, for the Invention of "A NEW OR
IMPROVED PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS OR FURNACES FOR THE MANUFACTURE
OF METAL DIRECT FROM THE ORE,"-A communication from abroad by
Sealed the 8th May 1868, and dated the 18th November 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th November 1867.
I, CLINTON EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman,
and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agents, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for *A NEW
OR IMPROVED PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS OR FURNACES FOR THE MANUFACTURE
OF METAL DIRECT FROM THE ORE" to be as follows:-
This process, which applies to the transformation of iron ores into
cast iron, homogeneous metal, and iron, is based on the six following
conditions:-
1st. Air heated to redness in the furnace itself or in a special furnace,
a Siemens' furnace for example, with the object of facilitating the com-
bustion of the gas and the reactions at a high temperature of reduction
and fusion. This superheated air is brought into the contents of the

page_text: furnace direct or by means of a dosing trough or compartment (cuvette
de dosage) or a basin or furnace boshes prolonged horizontally.
2ndly. Gas produced by the furnace itself or by a gas generator is
brought into the contents of the furnace direct or by means of a dosing
trough or basin or boshes prolonged horizontally; this gas is alternately
employed for reduction and cementation and for fusion, and this is
effected according to the respective proportions of gas and air so as to
have sometimes a reducing and carburetting period and sometimes a
neutral period of fusion.
3rdly. The optional employment of great pressure during the period
of reduction and cementation to hasten the reduction and carburation.
4thly. Action of a strong draught during the period of fusion; this
draught is produced artificially by the suction of jets of steam, or by a
fan, or by the action produced by a current of water, as by a blowing
apparatus, or even the draught produced by a large chimney, to establish
the temperature corresponding to cast iron or to cast steel, and thus to
keep the metal melted in the trough of the prolonged basin or boshes
or reverberatory furnace.
5thly. Optional use of a basin of a reverberatory furnace for purify-
ing and dosing the bath according to the quality proposed to be obtained.
6thly. Employment in the interior of the blast furnace of a pre-
paring tube for the re-heating of the air or current in the furnace itself.
Before describing the combined apparatus for fulfilling all or part of
these conditions I may remark that in the case in which the ore is put
into the furnace without having been first reduced, and which permits
of employing small apparatus for the preparation and fusion of the
metals, the period of reduction and cementation is rendered alternate
with the period of fusion obtained by a strong draught; thus for example
reducing and cementing nine hours and fusing three hours. It is only
by using a large apparatus that reducing and fusing could be effected
at the same time.
the
I now proceed to describe the apparatus or furnaces for carrying out
process.
According to one arrangement the basin or boshes of a blast furnace
is prolonged horizontally in the form of a trough. The material or ore,
first reduced and cemented, then melted, comes into the trough, where
it undergoes refining or purifying and dosing. This trough is heated
by an inclined grate or fire-place supplied with fuel through a door at
the side or otherwise, and fed with air through an aperture or apertures

page_text: provided for the purpose; there is also a tuyere to burn the gas which
escapes from the fire-place. The ore becomes prepared in the body of
the furnace, which is supplied by a door at the top. Surrounding the
upper part of the main compartment or cone of the furnace is a boiler
to furnish the steam necessary for the strong draught of the flame from
the inclined grate or fire-place; the flame traverses and melts the ore
prepared by reduction and cementation in the blast furnace. There is
an exhaust at the top of the furnace.
According to another arrangement a gas generator is combined with
a furnace; this furnace is worked alternately by reduction and suction;
thus, I reduce and cement and melt alternately, I hasten the period of
reduction and carburation by increasing the pressure, and I hasten the
melting by developping or increasing the draught; a tuyere admits air
to the gas generator, which supplies the gas to the blast furnace by a
pipe. The furnace is provided with tuyeres for the combustible gas and
air. I charge directly with cast iron and scrap or scrap only with the
charcoal necessary for cementation. In this arrangement there is no
dosing trough, the melted metal is run direct from the furnace into the
moulds or ingots, or it is taken to a reverberatory furnace to be refined
and dosed.
Another arrangement of apparatus or furnace is like the preceding
except that there is a preparing tube for re-heating in the furnace
itself the air or current conducted to the bottom of the furnace by a
pipe; in another arrangement instead of the tube a semi-cylindrical
pipe is employed for re-heating.
Finally, in another arrangement the furnace or apparatus combines
the following, viz:-The refining and dosing trough; the re-heating tube
for the air or current introduced by a pipe; the heating of the air in the
apparatus before reaching the grate or fire-place, and again in the
furnace before reaching the main compartment or cone where the
materials become prepared for reduction, cementation, and fusion;
cptional pressure by partly closing the furnace mouth by a damper during
the reducing period; suction or exhaust during the period of fusion, and
gas arising from the grate or fire-place with optional forced current
entering under the grate, and tuyeres for burning the gas as it is formed.
In the different arrangements described the furnace mouth is
alternately partly closed to hasten the reduction and cementation, and
opened with strong exhaust or draught to obtain the proper tempera-
ture for effecting the fusion under good conditions. The mixture of gas

page_text: and vapour which escapes from the mouth of the reducing and fusing
apparatus is caused to re-enter the interior of the apparatus either by
the inclined grate or fire-place or by the gas generator to re-utilize this
gas and vapor by thus bringing them back to the state of combustible
gas.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th May 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CLINTON
EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and Company,
of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of November, 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 me, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, Her special
licence that I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Clinton
Edgcumbe Brooman, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS OR FURNACES
FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF METAL DIRECT FROM THE ORE," (communicated to me
from abroad by Pierre Emile Martin, of Paris, France,) upon the con-
dition, (amongst others) that I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman,
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 Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, 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

page_text: in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
This process, which applies to the transformation of iron ores into
cast iron, homogeneous metal, and iron, is based on the 6 following
conditions:-
1st. Air heated to redness in the furnace itself or in a special furnace,
a Siemens' furnace for example with the object of facilitating the com-
bustion of the gas and the re-actions at a high temperature of reduction
and fusion; this superheated air is brought into the contents of the
furnace direct or by means of a dosing trough or compartment (cuvette
de dosage) or a basin or furnace boshes prolonged horizontally.
2nd. Gas produced by the furnace itself or by a gas generator and
brought into the contents of the furnace direct or by means of a dosing
trough or basin or boshes prolonged horizontally; this gas is alternately
employed for reduction and cementation and for fusion, and this is
effected according to the respective proportions of gas and air so as to
have sometimes a reducing and carburetting period and sometimes a
neutral period of fusion.
3rd. The optional employment of great pressure during the period of
reduction and cementation to hasten the reduction and carburation.
4th. Action of a strong draught during the period of fusion; this
draught is produced artificially by the suction of jets of steam, or by a
fan, or by the action produced by a current of water, as by a blowing
apparatus or even the draught produced by a large chimney to establish
the temperature corresponding to cast iron or to cast steel, and thus
to keep the metal melted in the trough of the prolonged basin or boshes
or reverberatory furnace.
5th. Optional use of a basin of a reverberatory furnace for purifying
and dosing the bath according to the quality proposed to be obtained.
6th. Employment in the interior of the blast furnace of a preparing
tube for the re-heating of the air or current in the furnace itself.
Before describing the combined apparatus for fulfilling all or part of
these conditions, I may remark that in the case in which the ore is put
into the furnace without having been first reduced, and which permits
of employing small apparatus for the preparation and fusion of the
metals, the period of reduction and cementation is rendered alternate
with the period of fusion obtained by a strong draught; thus for
example reducing and cementing nine hours and fusing three hours.

page_text: It is only by using a large apparatus that reducing and fusing could be
effected at the same time.
I now proceed to describe the apparatus or furnaces for carrying out
the process.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a vertical section of a blast
furnace X, the basin or boshes of which is prolonged horizontally in the
form of a trough a. The material or ore first reduced and cemented,
then melted, comes into the trough a, where it undergoes refining or
purifying and dosing. This trough is heated by an inclined grate or
fire-place c supplied with fuel through a door d at the side or otherwise,
and fed with air through an aperture or apertures 6 provided for the
purpose; there is also a tuyere f to burn the gas which escapes from the
fire-place. The ore becomes prepared in the body R of the furnace,
which is supplied by a door g at the top. Surrounding the upper part
of the main compartment or cone of the furnace is a boiler h to furnish
the steam necessary for the strong draught of the flame from the grate
or fire-place c; the flame traverses and melts the ore prepared by reduc-
tion and cementation in the blast furnace. The suction or exhaust is
at m.
Figure 2 represents a vertical section of a furnace X combined with
a gas generator Y. This furnace is worked alternately by reduction
and suction; thus I reduce and cement and melt alternately. I hasten
the period of reduction and carburation by increasing the pressure, and I
hasten the melting by developing or increasing the draught. A
tuyere admits air to the gas generator Y, which supplies the gas to
the blast furnace by a pipe j; the furnace is provided with tuyeres k, k¹,
for the combustible gas and air. I charge directly with cast iron and
scrap or scrap only with the charcoal necessary for its cementation.
In this arrangement there is no dosing trough, the melted metal is run
direct from the furnace into the moulds or ingots, or it is taken to a
reverberatory furnace to be refined and dosed.
Another arrangement of apparatus or furnace, represented in vertical
section in Figure 3, is like the preceding, except that there is a pre-
paring tube n for re-heating in the furnace itself the air or current con-
ducted to the bottom of the furnace by the pipe p.
In another arrangement, represented in vertical section in Figure 4,
instead of the preparing tube a semi-cylindrical pipe n is employed for
re-heating. k represents the air inlet; 1, 1, Figures 3 and 4, is a tuyere
to admit air to turn the gases; Figure 5 represents part of a blast furnace

page_text: analogous to the preceding, but in which the basin or boshes is prolonged
in the form of a trough a as in the arrangement shown in Figure 1;
the same letters as in Figures 1 and 4 indicate the same parts.
This arrangement of furnace or apparatus combines the following,
viz. The refining and dosing trough a; the re-heating tube n for the
air or current introduced by the pipe p; the heating of the air in the
apparatus before reaching the grate or fire-place, and again in the
furnace before reaching the main compartment or cone R where the
materials become prepared for reduction, cementation, and fusion;
optional pressure by partly closing the furnace mouth by a damper during
the reducing period; suction or exhaust during the period of fusion, and
gas arising from the inclined grate or fire-place, with optional forced
current entering under the grate and tuyeres for burning the gas as it is
formed. In the different arrangements described the furnace mouth
is alternately partly closed to hasten the reduction and cementation and
opened with strong exhaust or draught to obtain the proper temperature
for effecting the fusion under good conditions. The mixture of
vapour which escapes from the mouth of the reducing and fusing
apparatus is caused to re-enter the interior of the apparatus either by
the inclined grate or fire-place or by the gas generator to re-utilize this
gas and vapor by thus bringing them back to the state of combustible
gas.
gas and
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,―
First. The process substantially as herein-before described of manu-
facturing metal direct from the ore.
Secondly. Constructing furnaces or apparatus substantially as and
for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of May One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
C. E. BROOMAN. (L.S.)