IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL FROM ORES AND FROM WASTE PRODUCTS CONTAINING IRON, AS IN THE CASES OF HAMMER SLAG, FORGE CINDER, AND THE RESIDUE ARISING FROM THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHURIC ACID FROM IRON PYRITES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James John Harrop, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Lead Merchant, and William Corbett, of
Clayton, near Manchester, aforesaid, Manufacturing Chemist, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL
FROM ORES AND FROM WASTE PRODUCTS CONTAINING IRON, AS IN THE CASES
OF HAMMER SLAG, FORGE CINDER, AND THE RESIDUE ARISING FROM THE
MANUFACTURE OF SULPHURIC ACID FROM IRON PYRITES."
Scaled the 20th November 1868, and dated the 23rd May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James John Harrop
and William Corbett at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 23rd May 1868.
We, JAMES JOHN HARROP, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Lead Merchant, and WILLIAM CORBETT, of Clayton, near Manchester,
aforesaid, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL
FROM ORES AND PROM WASTE PRODUCTS CONTAINING IRON, AS IN THE CASES OF
HAMMER SLAG, FORGE CINDER, AND THE RESIDUE ARISING FROM THE MANU-
FACTURE OF SULPHURIC ACID FROM IRON PYRITES," to be as follows:-

page_text: Our Invention consists in the manufacture of iron and steel whereby
we are enabled to dispense with the usual blast furnace operation, and
to make steel direct during the reduction of the ore. For this purpose
we treat iron ores and waste substances, such as hammer slag, forge
cinder, the residue arising from the manufacture of sulphuric acid from
iron pyrites, or other such substance containing iron, with the waste
product which forms the black ashy residue in the manufacture of
prussiate of potash or with an equivalent substance, and also with
creosote or other mineral oil of the same well-known chemical group.
In carrying out our Invention we at present propose to proceed as
follows: The substance to be treated is ground and mixed with the
residue from the prussiate of potash manufacture, and the creosote or
other mineral oil having been added, the whole is placed in a retort and
submitted to heat, after which the products are transferred to an ordinary
reverberatory furnace and puddled in the usual manner. While the
materials are in the retort a great portion of the oil is volatilized and
may be recovered by any ordinary means.
The above description relates to the production of iron; if steel be
required we use in addition to the above mixture bone, size, or other
animal or nitrogenous matter intimately mixed either before or after
distillation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James John Harrop and William Corbett in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
JOHN HARROP, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Lead
Merchant, and WILLIAM CORBETT, of Clayton, near Manchester, afore-
said, Manufacturing Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, and in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto the said James John Harrop and William
Corbett, Her special license that we, the said James John Harrop
and William Corbett, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
,

page_text: others as we, the said James John Harrop and William Corbett, 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, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdon of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PRODUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL FROM ORES AND FROM WASTE PRODUCTS
CONTAINING IRON, AS IN THE CASES OF HAMMER SLAG, FORGE CINDER, AND THE
RESIDUE ARISING FROM THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHURIC ACID FROM IRON
PYRITES," upon the condition, amongst others, that we, the said James
John Harrop and William Corbett, by an instrument in writing under
our hands and seals (or under the hand and seal of one of us), 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 James John Harrop, do hereby
declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement (that is to say):
:-
Our Invention consists in a method of manufacturing iron and steel
whereby we are enabled to dispense with the usual blast furnace
operation, and to make steel direct during the reduction of the ores and
other substances. For this purpose we treat the said ores, waste from
the manufacture of sulphuric acid, from iron pyrites, "hammer slag,"
and "forge cinders," or other such substance containing iron with the
waste product which forms the black ashy residue in the manufacture
of prussiate of potash, and also with crude creosote or other mineral oil
well known to be of the same family group.
In carrying out our Invention the relative proportions of the materials
used and their treatment may be varied, but I will point out certain
proportions and the mode of using them which will be found to answer.
To three hundredweight of the substance containing iron, say pyrites
from the sulphric acid works, and ground to about the size of wheat
grains, I add one hundredweight of the prussiate of potash refuse and
four gallons of creosote. The whole is then placed in a retort and
submitted to heat. The time that the materials are to remain in the
retort will vary according to the temperature attained, but at something

page_text: above a red heat three hours will be sufficient. The mass is then trans-
ferred to an ordinary neverbaratory furnace and puddled in the usual
manner. During the treatment of the materials in the retort a great
portion of the oil is volatilized and may be recovered by any ordinary
means..
In carrying out our Invention we find that when iron compounds
containing silica are used the iron produced has a tendency to hardness,
to counteract which we mix with the said iron compounds iron ores
belonging to the limestone formation, the proportion of which can be
readily be ascertained by experience.
In forming steel from the above mentioned substances we proceed
precisely as above described, but add to the mixture above described
about one quarter of a hundredweight of bone size to three hundred-
weight of the said mixture, and place the whole in an ordinary "running
down" furnace, from which the resulting siecl may be cast as usually
practiced. If wrought steel be required then the ordinary puddling
from the running down furnace is adopted.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Inven--
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire
it to be understood that we claim, as secured to us under the above in
part recited Letters Patent, the production of iron and steel by treating
the materials above mentioned with the black ashy residue of the
manufacture of prussiate of potash and with creosote or analogous oil.
In witness whereof, I, the said James John Harrop, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
JAMES JNO. HARROP. (L.S.)