IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE IN THE TREATMENT AND MANUFACTURE OF METALS AND THEIR ALLOYS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Wade Hampton Smith, of Edgbaston, Birming-
ham, in the County of Warwick, Civil Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE IN THE TREATMENT AND MANUFACTURE OF
METALS AND THEIR ALLOYS."
Sealed the 16th July 1875, and dated the 20th January 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Wade Hampton Smith
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 20th January 1875.
I, WADE HAMPTON SMITH, of Edgbaston, Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE IN THE TREATMENT AND MAnufacture
OF METALS AND THEIR ALLOYS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the improvement and purifying of
iron, steel, copper, lead, zinc, nickel, and their alloys, and treating and
manufacturing the same in prescribed manner in converters, cupolas,
receivers of metal, or any other suitable vessel or vessels, and consists of

page_text: introducing into or upon iron, steel, copper, lead, zinc, nickel, and their
alloys when in the above-named vessels, and in a molten or liquid state,
alumina, lime, soda, potass, and baryta, either mixed or separate, with
oxides of iron, manganese, titanium, vanadium, tungsten, and chromium,
either manufactured or in the natural metallic form, and I use them
either singly or together in such proportion or proportions as may be
required, with or without solid or gaseous carbons.
The Invention has also for its object the introduction of tuyeres or
pipes to convey gases or to convey the mixture or mixtures of substances,
as above named, in a finely powdered state by means of the air or blast
blown into or through tuyeres or other suitable channels into or upon
the metal or metals or their alloys contained in the vessels before de-
scribed, other than in the manner now generally used, and I usually
arrange the tuyeres so that they shall introduce the gases or mixtures
into or upon the body of the molten metal, the plan hitherto adopted
being to introduce the tuyeres at the bottom..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Wade Hampton Smith in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th July 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WADE
HAMPTON SMITH, of Edgbaston, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Wade Hampton Smith, Her
special licence that I, the said Wade Hampton Smith, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Wade
Hampton Smith, 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

page_text: Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE IN THE TREATMENT AND MANU.
FACTURE OF METALS AND THEIR ALLOYS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Wade Hampton Smith, 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 Wade Hampton Smith, 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;-
This Invention has for its object the improvement and purifying of
iron, steel, copper, lead, zinc, nickel, and their alloys, and treating and
manufacturing the same in prescribed manner in converters, cupolas,
receivers of metal, or any other suitable vessel or vessels, and consists of
introducing into or upon iron, steel, copper, lead, zinc, nickel, and their
alloys when in the above-named vessels, and in a molten or liquid state,
alumina, lime, soda, potass, and baryta, either separate or mixed, with
oxides of iron, manganese, titanium, vanadium, tungsten, and chromium,
either manufactured or in their natural or metallic form, and I use them
either singly or together in such proportion or proportions as may be
required, with or without solid or gaseous carbons.
The Invention has also for its object the introduction of tuyeres or
pipes to convey gases or to convey the mixture or mixtures of substances,
as above named, in a finely powdered state by means of the air or blast
blown into or through tuyeres or other suitable channels. into or upon
the metal or metals or their alloys contained in the vessels before de-
scribed, other than in the manner now generally used, and I generally
arrange the tuyeres so that they shall introduce the gases or mixtures
into or upon the body of the molten metal, the plan hitherto adopted
being to introduce the tuyeres at the bottom.
In illustration of how I carry my Invention into practical effect, I
may remark that the properties of the various substances I prefer to
use are as follows:-The proportions of lime, alumina, soda, potass, and
baryta, either singly or combined, is in the proportion of five per cent. to

page_text: the metal acted upon; and if the oxides or prepared iron, manganese,
titanium, vanadium, tungsten, and chromium are used I mix these in
the same proportion of five per cent. to the metal acted upon, but it
must be understood that I do not confine myself to these proportions as
the per centage varies with the amount of impurities to be got rid of in
the molten metal in the first instance, but I have found that the
quantities above named are the best proportions for the usual class of
metal in use.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed or
carried out in practice, I hereby declare that I claim the herein-before
described Invention of "Improvements Applicable in the Treatment
and Manufacture of Metals and their Alloys," as herein-before described
and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Wade Hampton Smith, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
WADE HAMPTON SMITH. (L.S).