CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL
Year: 1825

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MARTINEAU the younger, of the City Road, in the County of Middlesex'
Engineer, and HENRY WILLIAM SMITH, of Lawrence Pountney Place, in the
City of London, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS. His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Sixth day of October, in the sixth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
John Martineau and Henry William Smith, His especial licence, that we,
the said John Martineau and Henry William Smith, our exors, admors, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said John Martineau and Henry William
Smith, our exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in
all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL," communicated to
us by a certain Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso obliging us, the said John Martineau and Henry
William Smith, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals,
or under the band and seal of one of us, particularly to describe and ascer-
tain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after

page_text: the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Martineau the younger, do hereby declare the nature of the improve-
ments so communicated to us as aforesaid to consist in adding to and mixing or
combining with blister steel, or such other steel as is ordinarily used in cast-steel
works, such alloys, and in such proportions, as will greatly improve the quality
of the said steel, and will enable the manufacturer to produce, in goods made
of the said alloyed steel, the beautiful wavy appearance exhibited on the best
Damascus sword blades. This said alloyed steel we call meteor steel. And in
further compliance with the said proviso I, the said John Martineau, do hereby
describe the manner in which the said improvements so communicated to us
as aforesaid are to be performed, as follows (that is to say):-
Twenty-four parts of zinc, four of purified nickel, and one of silver, are put
into a black lead or other refractory crucible, the surface being covered with
charcoal powder; the cover is to be luted on, and the whole subjected to the
heat of a steel furnace until it is fused; the mixture, when melted, is then
poured out into cold water, so as to render it brittle and more easy to pound
into small pieces for use. This we call meteor powder, and although we have
found proportions of the different metals be the best for general purposes, yet
we do not confine ourselves to these precise quantities, a small variation
affording a scarcely perceptible difference in the results.
Daving produced our meteor powder in manner aforesaid, we next proceed to
make our meteor steel, in the process of making which we charge our crucibles,
which are of the usual size, form, and fabric, with the following ingredients,
and in the following proportions (that is to say):-Twenty-four pounds of
blister steel, or such other steel as is used in cast-steel works, eight ounces of
meteor powder pounded very small, six ounces of pounded chromate of iron,
one ounce of charcoal powder, two ounces of quick-lime, two ounces of
porcelain clay. The above proportions produce a steel of an excellent quality,
and capable of exhibiting the said wavy appearance in a beautiful manner,
but we vary somewhat the proportions of meteor powder, according as more or
less of this wavy appearance is required. The quantity of charcoal must also
be somewhat varied, according as a harder or softer steel is required, and
according as the blister or other steel used for charging the crucible is more
or less converted; these are points which may be safely left to the experience
of any ordinary steel caster. The quick-lime and porcelain clay being only
used as fluxes, may be varied in quantity without injuring the process, but the
proportions herein-before described are the best we have as yet discovered. The

page_text: furnaces and crucibles at present in use in cast-steel works may be used in
the manufacture of the meteor steel, and the said steel, when made as afore-
said, may be cast and tilted in the usual manner, in order to draw out and
exhibit the said wavy appearance upon any article manufactured with this
steel. The surface, when polished, should be rubbed over with any acid which
readily acts upon the steel, and according as the wavy lines are required to be
more or less conspicuous, so the surface is to be kept moistened with the said
acid for a longer or shorter period; as soon as a sufficient effect is produced,
the acid must be carefully washed off. Various acids will answer for this
ригрозе; but we prefer a mixture of one part nitric acid to nineteen parts of
distilled or French vinegar.
Now, whereas we do not claim exclusive right or privilege to any of
the apparatus herein-before described as used in the manufacture of the
said meteor steel, but only to the mixed metal produced by the combination
of steel, zinc, purified nickel, and silver, and chromate of iron, in manner
herein-before described, and which mixture constitutes the said improvements
so communicated to us as aforesaid; and such improvements being, to the
best of our knowledge and belief, entirely new and never before used, I,
the said John Martineau the younger, do hereby declare this to be our
Specification of the said improvements, and that I do verily believe this
our said Specification doth comply, in all respects, fully with the proviso
in the herein-before recited Letters Patent. Wherefore we do hereby claim
to maintain exclusive right and privilege to the said improvements.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Martineau, bave hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand night hund