CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BARNETT, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex, Iron Founder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Royal
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing
date the Tenth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, did
give and grant unto me, the said William Barnett, my exors, admors, and
assigns, Her special license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said William Barnett, my exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within that part of Her said United Kingdom called England, the
Principality of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of." CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William
Barnett, particularly to describe the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said .Letters
Patent, as in and by the same Letters Patent, relation being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Barnett, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention of
"Certain Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron," and the manner in which

page_text: the same is to be performed, is ascertained and described in and by these
Presents.
My said Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron consist essentially in
using or burning carburetted hydrogen gas,, and in some cases also the tar pro-
duced by the distillation of coal or in the process of manufacturing coke, in com-
bination or conjunction or simultaneously with atmospheric air in the furnaces
or cupolas wherein the ores or other substances containing iron are smelted,
or the metal flux and fuel are fused, or the metal is worked or forged. No
particular form of apparatus is essential for carrying my said Invention into
effect; and although I shall describe several methods which may be em-
ployed with beneficial results, I do so only as examples, and not as limiting
myself thereto, and many others which will suggest themselves to persons of
practical skill in this department of the arts may be adopted, and a beneficial
result be obtained. For the purpose of applying this Invention to the pro-
cesses of smelting the ore, or of fusing the metal, it is not requisite that the
arrangement of the furnace or cupola, or the pneumatic apparatus in cases
where a wind or air chest or regulator upon the usual construction for pre-
serving uniformity in the efflux of the current of air produced by the pneu-
matic machine is employed, should be materially varied or altered, but in such
cases one of the methods by which my said Invention may be carried into
effect is as follows:-The gases and tar produced from coals; either in the pro-
cess of manufacturing coke or otherwise, and which are intended to be applied
for the purposes of my said Invention, having been collected into proper and
convenienti recipients, the gases; are drawn from the gasometer or reservoir, in
which they are contained by pumps or other suitable, apparatus, by which the
quantity of gases may be.regulated, and 'force may be, applied to propel them
through proper 'tubes or channels: either into the wind air chest or regulator of
the pneumatic apparatus, or into a separate and independent receiving chamber
or.regulator, in which, by compression, they may acquire elasticity, and flow in
a uniform stream into the furnace or cupola, where, in conjunction or simul
taneously with the air, they become ignited, expanded, and consumed, producing
intense heat, and fusing and in part combining with the metal subjected to
their operation. "In cases where the gases are introduced into the wind or air
chest, or regulator of the blast apparatus; I recommend that the pipe or tube
by, which the gas is injected should be connected with the chest or regulator
immediately below the orifice of the pipe by which the blast or current of air
is received from the blowing machine, so that the gases may be directed.
upwards and injected through or across the stream of air at its entrance to the
chest.or regulator, and that the air and gases may thereby become intimately

page_text: mixed or mingled before they pass into the furnace; but in those. cases..where
the gases, are caused to flow by a separate .channel or separate: channels to
that or those by which the 'air is conducted into, the furnace,' I prefer that a
junction should be formed within the tuyere of the furnace atithe nozzles of the
several pipes of introduction of the air and gas, so that ; the air and gas may
become mingled. in their efflux.and as they pass intor the furnace, and their
deflagration be perfected. This arrangement, however, though preferred: by
me, is not essential, as the gases and the air may be separately and indepen-
dently introduced, even at opposite sides of the furnace or cupola. Wherever
the air and. gases are introduced into the same 'tuyere of the furnaceriby
separate pipes, the spaces between the pipes and the interior. surface of the
tuyère (at its external end) may, be closed or luted to prevent any loss of gas
or air, or the tuyere of, the furnace may be formed of larger "diameter" at:its
interior than at its exterior orifice; by means of which construction the loss of
gas or air by the 'return of the blast will be in a great; measure, if not wholly,
prevented. Another modification of the means by which the air, and: gases
may be supplied or conducted in separate streams to the tuyere of the furnace
or cupola, and there simultaneously injected and blended, or commingled with
each other, is by conducting them to the tuyere by separate and concentric
tubes, the interior and smaller tube being employed for the passage. of the
gases, with its nozzle projecting a very small distance beyond the nozzle of the
air tube. This gas tube may either be passed through the wind or air chest
or regulator into the efflux air tube, so that the least possible obstruction may
be created to the passage of the air from the regulator, to the furnace, or it may
be inserted into the efflux air tube at any other suitable position which may be
preferred. The pipes, by which the gases are introduced into either the wind
or air chest or regulator or the; furnace, should be supplied with valves: to
regulate the stream or suspend the supply and to prevent the return of gas or
the communication or passage of flame; and whenever the gases and airsaře
mingled previously to their introduction to the furnace, the quantity of gas
supplied must be regulated in such proportions, to the air as to prevent the
formation of an explosive mixture. In furnaces, cupolas, or forges, where no
wind or air chest or regulator is employed, such an appendage may be
attached to the pneumatic apparatus in which the air and gases for the supply
of the furnace, cupola, or forge, may be received and mingled prior to their
combustion, or any other convenient and appropriate means may be adopted
for the application of the Invention, as the exigencies, of the case or the desire
of the parties may require, and which will suggest themselves to any ipractical
workman, attention being paid to the remarks herein contained; but the con-

page_text: struction of the chest or regulator which in all cases I must prefer, is that
which is composed of two boxes or cylinders, the upper being inverted and
working within the lower, which is of greater depth than the upper chamber,
and is charged with water, into which the upper chamber dips, and rises and
falls according to the pressure of its contents, it being constructed, suspended,
and working in a similar mode to the ordinary water regulator in use for blast
furnaces. When the blast engine is in operation the upper chamber will be
elevated by the pressure of the air and gas, and so remain whilst the operation
of the blast engine is continued; and when that has ceased it will again fall,
driving its contents through the eduction pipe, so that the whole of the mixture
of gas and air contained in the regulator will be wholly expelled. When tar
is employed for the purpose of my said Invention it should be allowed or
caused to flow from a cistern or other vessel placed in a suitable or convenient
situation through a pipe or other convenient tube or channel, the lower or
extreme orifice of which should open above and immediately before the nozzle
of the blast pipe by which the air is conveyed into the tuyere of the cupola or
furnace; and when the pneumatic apparatus is in operation the tar, should be
allowed or caused to flow or drop into the current or blast of air thereby pro-
duced, so that it may be thereby carried or projected into the furnace or
cupola, where it is consumed. The quantity and velocity of the stream of tar
may be varied and regulated by a stopcock or valve. It is not essential that
the tar should be used only in conjunction with air, as it may be adopted when
gas is also employed, as herein-before mentioned or described; neither is it
essential that the gases should be introduced at the same aperture or tuyere
as the air, though I prefer that it should be so; and in cases where the gases
are introduced by a separate channel, or of one only of several tuyeres of the
same furnace or cupola, I recommend that they should be introduced at the
position in which they will be most exposed to the operation of the air passing
through the furnace or cupola. The respective quantities and proportions of
gas and tar proper to be admitted into the furnace or cupola, either when
simultaneously or separately used, will be found to vary according to circum-
stances. The proportions of gas to air which I have found productive of the
best result are one (in bulk) of gas to from twenty to twenty-six of air, but the
proportions will depend in a great measure upon the means of supply, and a
beneficial effect will be produced by the combination of gas with the air in any
proportion however small. The proportions which I recommend of tar, to air
are as 1lb. of tar to three thousand feet of air, but these proportions also
may be infinitely varied. The apparatus or machinery employed in the process
herein-before described does not constitute any portion of my Invention; but

page_text: the same may be of such forms, dimensions, and materials as may be most
suitable to the work to be performed or may be found in practice to be most
convenient; and the application of my said Invention to many of the purposes
of the iron manufacture is too evident to require any further or more particular
description. I therefore declare my invention and discovery of Certain Improve-
ments in the Manufacture of Iron to consist in using, either separately or
simultaneously, carburetted hydrogen gas, and the tar evolved from coal when
subjected to distillation, or during the process of manufacturing coke, in com-
bination, conjunction, or simultaneously with the air employed in the smelting,
fusing, and working or forging of iron, for the production of heat and saving of
fuel in the said processes.
And whereas carburetted hydrogen or coal gas has been before employed in
the manufacture of iron for the purpose of imparting certain qualities thereto
by passing a stream of gas over or through the metal during its fusion in an
enclosed vessel, I declare that I do not claim any such application of the said
gases as part of my said Invention, but, on the contrary, I disclaim the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Barnett, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of January, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-nine.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1839, the aforesaid William Barnett came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.