A NEW PROCESS OF CONVERTING CAST IRON, WROUGHT IRON, SCRAPS, OLD RAILS, AND SUCH LIKE MATERIALS INTO STEEL OR METAL HAVING THE PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Year: 1874

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Alexander Browne, of the Firm of Browne and
Company, Patent Agents, of 5, Southampton Buildings, Holborn,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "A NEW PROCESS
OF CONVERTING CAST IRON, WROUGHT IRON, SCRAPS, OLD RAILS, AND SUCH
LIKE MATERIALS INTO STEEL OR METAL HAVING THE PROPERTIES OF STEEL."—
A communication from abroad by the Foundries and Forges
Company of Terre Noire La Voulte and Bessèges, in the French
Republic.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Browne at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 16th January 1874.
I, ALEXANDER BROWNE, of the Firm of Browne and Company, Patent
Agents, of 5, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the County of Middle-
sex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A New
PROCESS OF CONVERTING CAST IRON, WROUGHT IRON, SCRAPS, OLD RAILS, AND SUCH
LIKE MATERIALS INTO STEEL OR Metal having tHE PROPERTIES OF STEEL,” a

page_text: communication from abroad by the Foundries and Forges Company of
Terre Noire La Voulte and Bessèges, in the French Republic, to be as
follows:-
For the last few years, and since the great results obtained by the
Inventions of Bessemer and Siemens, cast steel has been introduced to a
great extent in commerce, and railways especially have a marked
tendency of totally converting their plant and rolling stock into steel or
cast iron.
The advantages of the said conversion are too well known to need
explanation, but for the following two reasons (which are explained in
.order that this Invention may be better understood) has not hitherto
been effected-Firstly, it has been considered impracticable up to the
present time to manufacture steel or cast iron of good quality otherwise
than by using ores of superior nature containing neither phosphorus
sulphur, arsenic, or other foreign substances. This quality of ores being
scarce the result has been a natural limit in the production of cast steel.
Again, all the materials which constitute the actual plant of railways
and tools of the whole world have generally been manufactured with
impure iron, the conversion of which into steel has to this day been
considered impossible, the result of which is that with modern ideas all
this old plant being useless for manufacturing new plant in steel looses
to a certain extent a great deal of its value, and becomes a serious
obstacle to the conversion..
In order to reduce to a minimum the two above-named obstacles the
Inventors have directed special study to the conversion of old materials
into malleable steel, and a series of important researches have been
undertaken by them, the result of which will be herein-after described,
and which forms the subject of this Patent.
It has generally been considered that the principal properties of steel,
viz., resistance, hardness, and elasticity, are exclusively due to the
presence (in combination or dissolution in the iron as pure as possible)
of a certain quantity of carbon to the extent of as much as 1½ %, and
the name of steel has been given to iron more or less carburated having
these properties. Numerous experiments have however proved that not
only oxygen and sulphur act in the same way in giving to iron the
property of being brittle when heated, but a great number of bodies,
such as phosphorus, silicium, borium, arsenic, manganese, and others

page_text: in small proportions have the same properties as carbon. That hardness,
resistance to bending, to torsion, and elasticity are generally increased,
that the metal becomes susceptible of being tempered, and also that
when the necessary proportion of these foreign bodies is exceeded the
metal becomes sensibly affected by heat, can only be worked at low
temperatures, and is very brittle when cold, so that it is true to say that
steel can be a combination of iron with a great number of bodies, the
said combination having definite properties, which render it valuable.
It can be said that there is phosphorus steel, silicum steel, borium steel,
and so on, and in each of these steels there exists a different scale of
hardness and fragility. It has also been found that if two or more of
these bodies are united simultaneously to iron their hardness or their
fragility will be added to cach other; for instance, if to an iron con-
taining of phosphorus you add by any process 1000 of carbon a
metal is obtained which is excessively brittle and of no practical use.
From the above-mentioned facts it will be seen that phosphorus,
arsenic, and other bodies have been considered as impurities, which it
was necessary to avoid, whereas the Inventors have discovered by the
present Invention that they are the means of converting iron into steel,
or a metal having the properties of steel in certain respects. But in
order to arrive at this important result it was necessary to modify to a
certain extent the process usually applied in the manufacture of steel by
Bessemer and Siemens-Martin.
By the present method of manufacturing steel according to the
Bessemer and Siemens-Martin processes, viz., with pure ores, the method
is very simple, the operation being pushed on until total decarbonization
takes place, after which by means of superior manganesed iron (spiegel-
eisen) carbon is added to constitute steel, and manganese is also added
to take away oxidation. It is a simple rational method, and well known ·
to all metallurgists. But if in the metallic bath contained in the
Bessemer converter or in the Siemens-Martin furnace substances con-
taining phosphorus arsenic and silicium be introduced in the form of
old rails or scraps, and produce by their own composition a greater
oxidation, the problem is totally different.
From what has been above stated silicium, phosphorus, borium, and
arsenic would act in the same way as carbon, an atom of which would
impair the quality of the metal, which would become too brittle, and

page_text: manganese or ferro-silicium, taking care that no more than 40 of
phosphorus shall be contained in the metallic bath.
Thirdly. In combining different materials, such as cast iron, scraps,
old iron, old rails, and such like old materials in such a manner that'
before they are submitted to any metallurgical operation their mixture
will diminish to a great extent the objectionable substances, this art of
making the mixtures constituting an important part of the process.
Fourthly. In converting by the above processes all the old rails and
such like old materials into steel or a metal having the same properties
as steel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Browne in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th July 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
BROWNE, of the Firm of Browne and Company, Patent Agents, of 5,
Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Sixteenth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,.
give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Browne, Her special licence
that I, the said Alexander Browne, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Browne, 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 PROCESS
OP CONVERTING CAST IRON, WROUGHT IRON, SCRAPS, OLD RAILS, AND SUCH LIKE
MATERIALS INTO STEEL OR METAL HAVING THE PROPERTIES OF STEEL," a com-
munication from abroad by the Foundries and Forges Company of Terre
Noire La Voulte and Bessège, in the French Republic, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Browne, my executors

page_text: 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 Scal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Browne, 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 and by
the following statement, that is to say :-
For the last few years, and since the great results obtained by the
Inventions of Bessemer and Siemens, cast steel has been introduced to a
great extent in commerce, and railways especially have a marked
tendency of totally converting their plant and rolling stock into steel or
cast iron.
The advantages of the said conversion are too well known to need
explanation, but for the following two reasons (which are explained in
order that this Invention may be better understood) has not hitherto
been effected-Firstly, it has been considered impracticable up to the
present time to manufacture steel or cast iron of good quality otherwise
than by using ores of superior nature containing neither phosphorus,
sulphur, arsenic, or other foreign substances. This quality of ores being
scarce the result has been a natural limit in the production of cast steel.
Again, all the materials which constitute the actual plant of railways.
and tools of the whole world have generally been manufactured with
impure iron, the conversion of which into steel has to this day been
considered impossible, the result of which is that with modern ideas all
this old plant being useless for manufacturing new plant in steel looses
to a certain extent a great deal of its value, and becomes a serious
obstacle to the conversion.
In order to reduce to a minimum the two above-named obstacles the
Inventors have directed special study to the conversion of old materials
into malleable steel, and a series of important researches have been
undertaken by them, the result of which will be herein-after described,
and which forms the subject of this Patent.
It has generally been considered that the principal propertics of steel,
viz., resistance, hardness, and elasticity, are exclusively due to the

page_text: presence (in combination or dissolution in the iron as pure as possible)
of a certain quantity of carbon to the extent of as much as 12%, and ·
the name of steel has been given to iron more or less carburetted having
these properties. Numerous experiments have however proved that not
only oxygen and sulphur act in the same way and giving to iron the
property of being brittle when heated, but a great number of bodies,
such as phosphorus, silicium, borium, arsenic manganese, and others in
small proportions have the same properties as carbon. That hardness,
resistance to bending, to torsion, and elasticity are gencrally increased,
that the metal becomes susceptible of being tempered, and also that
when the necessary proportion of these foreign bodies is exceeded the
metal becomes sensibly affected by heat, can only be worked at low
temperatures, and is very brittle when cold, so that it is true to say that
steel can be a combination of iron with a great number of bodies, the
said combination having definite properties, which render it valuable..
It can be said that there is phosphorus steel, silicium steel, and so
on, and in each of these steels there exists a different scale of hard-
ness and fragility. It has also been found that if two or more of
these bodies are united simultaneously to iron their hardness or their
fragility will be added to each other; for instance, if to an iron con-
taining of phosphorus you add by any process 1000 of carbon a
metal is obtained which is excessively brittle and of no practical use.
From the above-mentioned facts it will be seen that phosphorus,
arsenic, and other bodies have been considered as impurities, which it
was necessary to avoid, whereas the Inventors have discovered by the
present Invention that they are the means of converting iron into steel,
or a metal having the properties of steel in certain respects. But in
order to arrive at this important result it was necessary to modify to a
certain extent the process usually applied in the manufacture of steel by
Bessemer and Siemens-Martin.
By the present method of manufacturing steel according to the
Bessemer and Siemens-Martin processes, viz., with pure ores, the method
is very simple, the operation being pushed on until total decarbonization
takes place, after which by means of superior manganesed iron (spiegel-
eisen) carbon is added to constitute steel, and manganese is also added
to take away oxidation. It is a simple rational method, and well known
to all metallurgists. But if in the metallic bath contained in the
Bessemer converter or in the Siemens-Martin furnace substances con-..

page_text: taining phosphorus, arsenic, and silicium be introduced in the form of
old rails or scraps, and produce by their own composition a greater
oxidation, the problem is totally different.
From what has been above stated silicium, phosphorus, borium, and
arsenic would act in the same way as carbon, an atom of which would
impair the quality of the metal, which would become too brittle, and
the higher oxidation would necessitate the use of a greater quantity of
manganese. It is easy to understand that this problem cannot be solved
by the ordinary means, as a greater quantity of manganese necessitates
a greater quantity of carbon.
The following are the means by which the above-mentioned obstacles
are overcome, viz., by substituting the manganesed cast iron (spiegel-
eisen), which contains but 9% to 11% of manganese and 5% of carbon,
by alloys of manganese and iron or silicium and iron, containing from
40% to 50% of manganese and from 18% to 25% of silicium, thus
utilizing the great affinity of manganese or silicium for oxygen, which
take off oxidation from the bath without adding carbon, or at least
adding only insignificant quantities of it. It must of course be under-
stood that if instead of adding to the operation impure iron or scraps it
is desirable to operate with cast iron containing the same impurities the
process is conducted in the same manner, taking care that the propor-
tions of foreign bodies shall not be surpassed.
If it is found more convenient (and this would be the case if highly
phosphorated cast iron should be used) to submit the iron to the puddling
process or to any other operation, the object of which would be to take
away a certain portion of phosphorus, the result of these operations
would be treated by the Bessemer converter or the Siemens-Martin
furnace in the conditions above stated.
This Invention therefore consists :-
Firstly. In treating in the Bessemer apparatus cast iron mixed in
more or less proportions with scraps or old iron, old rails of any kind,
so long as these materials contain the required elements for the accom-
plishment of the operation, viz., suitable quantities of silicium, carbon,
or manganese, and adding to the perfectly decarbonized metal a quantity
of ferro-manganese or ferro-silicium so as to give.1% of manganese or
one 1% of silicium to the metallic bath. A metal is thus obtained
which is susceptible of being made into rails and having the physical

page_text: and mechanical properties of steel, provided that the proportion of
phosphorus contained therein does not exceed 1000.
Secondly. In remelting in a furnace or by means of the Siemens-
Martin process cast iron and scraps, rails, and such like old materials
until they are totally decarbonized, and then adding thereto ferro-
manganese or ferro-silicium, taking care that no more 4000 of phos-
phorus shall be contained in the metallic bath.
Thirdly. In combining different materials, such as cast-iron scraps,
old iron, old rails, and such like old materials in such a manner that
before they are submitted to any metallurgical operation their mixture
will diminish to a great extent the objectionable substances, this art of
making the mixtures constituting an important part of the process.
Fourthly. In converting by the above processes all the old rails and
such like old materials into steel or a metal having the same properties
as steel.
Having now described the nature and object of this Invention for
"A New Process of Converting Cast Iron, Wrought Iron, Scraps, Old
Rails, and such like Materials into Steel or Metal having the Properties
of Steel," and the means whereby it may be effected, I would remark in
conclusion that what I claim as my Invention and desire to secure by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the process of con-
verting cast iron, wrought iron, scraps, old rails, and such like materials
into steel or a metal having the properties of steel, substantially as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Browne, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.