Iμ- PROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT AND REDUCTION OF TITANIFEROUS IRON ORES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF SLAG OR CINDER PRODUCED IN SUCH PROCESSES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Martin, of Chancery Lanc, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, William Barrett, of Norton, in the
County of Durham, Ironmaster, and Thomas Stammers Webb, of
the same Place, Metallurgical Chemist, for the Invention of "Iμ-
PROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT AND REDUCTION OF TITANIFEROUS IRON
ORES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF SLAG OR
CINDER PRODUCED IN SUCH PROCESSES."
Scaled the 9th October 1868, and dated the 11th April 1868.
William Barrett, and Thomas Stammers Webb at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 11th April
1868.
5 WC, CHARLES MARTIN, of Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, WILLIAM BARRETT, of Norton, in the County
of Durham, Ironmaster, and THOMAS STAMMERS WEBB, of the same

page_text: Place, Metallurgical Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT AND REDUCTION OF
TITANIFEROUS IRON ORES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON, AND IN THE
APPLICATION OF SLAG OR CINDER PRODUCED IN SUCH PROCESSES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention chiefly relates to certain improvements in the
treatment of ores containing a large per-centage of titanic acid, and
more especially those titaniferous ores found in Norway and elsewhere
called "ilmenite," and which, when free from gangue or matrix,
consist almost wholly of titanic acid and oxides of iron, with or without
a small proportion of magnesia in combination.
The above-mentioned ores differ in their chemical composition from
any ores hitherto used on the large scale in this country for the
manufacture of iron in the blast furnace for the titanic acid they contain,
and its action in the blast furnace have caused them to be usually
considered by metallurgists as orcs difficult or impossible to smelt with
economy and success.
For the reduction of these ores in accordance with this Invention a
blast furnace or cupola of any ordinary form is employed, the same
being charged in the usual manner and in the following approximate
proportions-Coke or other equivalent fuel, twenty parts; ore (by
preference broken into pieces not exceeding two inches square) fifty
parts; lime, three parts; and of the following substances, namely,
silicate of manganese, silicate of iron, silicate of alumina, silicate of
lime, or silicate of magnesia, either singly or in combination, four parts;
or a proportion of such substances or materials as would when fused
produce the said silicates or some or one of them, the quantity used
being varied according to the amount of silicate contained in such
substances or materials. The above proportion is adapted for a
substance containing thirty-five per cent. of silica and seventy per
cent. of lime and alumina, or of approximate proportions. Any natural
substances containing the required silicates may be employed, but
those ores of iron or manganese which contain also
without alumina, lime, or magnesia, are preferred, provided such ores do
not contain such an amount of deleterious substances, such as sulphur
or phosphorus, as to affect the quality of the titaniferous pig iron to be
produced. Amongst the artificial substances containing the requisite
silica, with or

page_text: silicates which, by preference, are used may be enumerated the slag
from blast or other furnaces, either before or after such slags have
been wholly or partially purified by roasting and washing, or by
roasting alone, or by other means herein-after mentioned.
The silicates necessary for the proper smelting of the titaniferous ores
may indeed be prepared in the blast furnace itself by charging such
furnace with silicic acid, more or less impure, in the form of flint or
similar materials, and any substance containing the oxides of manganese,
iron, aluminium, calcium, and magnesium, which oxide or oxides will
combine with the free silicic acid in the flint or other siliceous
substance, and form more or less impure silicates which will act in the
manner before described.
The cinder or slag which results from the smelting of the titaniferous
ores is preserved, and will, if mixed with ordinary iron ores in smelting
operations, or in remelting common pig iron or in puddling the same,
be found to impart thereto the peculiarities and excellence of quality
possessed by the metal which is obtained from the titaniferous ores
themselves. Should the quantity of sulphur in the slag be such as to
he deleterious to the iron, the complete or partial purification thereof
may be effected by taking the slag by preference in a molten state as
it runs from the blast or other furnace, and mixing it with such
substance or substances, either in the solid state or in solution, as will
be capable in accordance with well-known chemical principles of
decomposing the sulphur compound or compounds contained in the
slag, and of expelling the sulphur or sulphuretted hydrogen or other
gascous sulphur compounds combined therewith, or of converting the
sulphur or sulphur compounds contained in the slag by oxidation or
otherwise into soluble bodies. For these purposes water, hydrochloric
acid, nitric acid, and solutions of chlorine may be used, and also
subtances containing chlorine, such as chlorides and hypo-chlorides,
either solid or in solution, caustic potash, caustic soda, carbonate of
potash, carbonate of soda, nitrates of potash, soda, or ammonia, and also
the waste liquor from stills in which chlorine is prepared for the
manufacture of bleaching powder. These methods of purification are also
applicable to the slag used in the reduction of the said titaniferous ores.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Martin, William Barrett, and Thomas
Stammers Webb in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th
October 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, CHARLES
MARTIN, of Chancery Lanc, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
WILLIAM BARRETT, of Norton, in the County of Durham, Ironmaster,
and THOMAS STAMMERS WEBB, of the same Place, Metallurgical
Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Charles Martin, William Barrett, and
Thomas Stammers Webb, Her special licence that we, the said Charles
Martin, William Barrett, and Thomas Stammers Webb, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as wc, the said Charles
Martin, William Barrett, and Thomas Stammers Webb, 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE TREATMENT AND REDUCTION OF TITANIFEROUS IRON ORES FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF IRON, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF SLAG OR CINDER PRODUCED IN
SUCH PROCESSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Charles Martin, William Barrett, and Thomas Stammers Webb, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing, under our,
or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 we, the said Charles Martin, William Barrett,

page_text: 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 said Invention chiefly relates to certain improvements in the
treatment of ores containing a large per-centage of titanic acid, and
more especially those titaniferous ores found in Norway and elsewhere
called ilmenite, and which, when free from gangue or matrix, consist
almost wholly of titanic acid and oxides of iron, with or without a
small proportion of magnesia in combination.
The above-mentioned ores differ in their chemical composition from
any ores hitherto used on the large scale in this country for the
manufacture of iron in the blast furnace for the titanic acid they
contain, and its action in the blast furnace have caused them to be
usually considered by metallurgists as orcs difficult or impossible to
smelt with economy and success.
For the reduction of these ores in accordance with this Invention
a blast furnace or cupola of any ordinary form is employed, the
same being charged in the ordinary manner and in the following
approximate proportions: - - Coke or other equivalent fuel, twenty
parts; ore (by preference broken into pieces not exceeding two
inches square) fifty parts; lime, three parts; and of the following
substances, namely, silicate of manganese, silicate of iron, silicate of
alumina, silicate of lime, or silicate of magnesia, cither singly or in
combination, four parts; or a proportion of such substances or materials
as would when fused produce the said silicates or some or one of them,
the quantity used being varied according to the amount of silica
contained in such substances or materials. The above proportion is
adapted for a substance containing thirty-five per cent. of silica and
seventy per cent. of lime and alumina, or of approximate proportions.
Any natural substances containing the required silicates may be
employed, but those ores of iron or manganese which contain also
silica, with or without alumina, lime, or magnesia, are preferred, provided
such ores do not contain such an amount of deleterious substances, such
as sulphur or phosphorus, as to affect the quality of the titaniferous
pig iron to be produced. Amongst the artificial substances containing
the requisite silicates which by preference are used may be euumerated
the slag from blast or other furnaces, either before or after such slags

page_text: have been wholly or partially purified by roasting and washing, or by
roasting alone, or by other means herein-after mentioned.
The silicates necessary for the proper smelting of the titaniferous ores
may indeed be prepared in the blast furnace itself by charging such
furnace with silicic acid, more or less impure, in the form of flint or
similar materials, and any substance containing the oxides of manganese,
iron, aluminium, calcium, and magnesium, which oxide or oxides will
combine with the free silicic acid in the flint or other siliceous substance,
and form more or less impure silicates, which will act in the manner
before described.
The cinder or slag which results from the smelting of the titaniferous
ores is preserved, and will, if mixed with ordinary iron ores in smelting
operations, or in remelting common pig iron or in puddling the same,
be found to impart thereto the peculiaritics and excellence of quality
possessed by the metal which is obtained from the titaniferous ores
themselves. Should the quantity of sulphur in the slag be such as to
be deleterious to the iron the complete or partial purification thereof
may be effected by taking the slag by preference in a molten state as
it runs from the blast or other furnace, and mixing it with such
substance or substances, either in the solid state or in solution, as will
be capable in accordance with well known chemical principles of
decomposing the sulphur compound or compounds contained in the slag,
and of expelling the sulphur or sulphuretted hydrogen or other gascous
sulphur compounds combined therewith, or of converting the sulphur
or sulphur compounds contained in the slag by oxidation or otherwise
into soluble bodies. For these purposes water, hydrochloric acid, nitric
acid, and solutions of chlorine may be used, and also substances.
containing chlorine, such as chlorides and hypo-chlorides, either solid or
in solution, caustic potash, carbonate of soda, nitrates of potash, soda,
or ammonia, and also the waste liquor from stills in which chlorine is
prepared for the manufacture of bleaching powder. These methods of
purification are also applicable to the slag used in the reduction of the
said titaniferous orcs.
Having thus declared and ascertained the nature of our said Invention,
and the manner in which it is to be performed, we would obscrve in
conclusion, that what we consider novel and original and therefore claim
as constituting the Invention secured to us by the said herein-before in

page_text: part recited Letters Patent are, the methods of treatment and reduction of
titaniferous iron ores, and of the application of slag or cinder produced in
such processes, substantially as herein-before described and set forth, or
any mere modifications thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Martin, have, on behalf
of myself and the said William Barrett and Thomas Stammers
Webb, hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
cight.
Witness,
E. P. H. VAUGHAN,
Patent Agent,
54, Chancery Lanc.
CHARLES MARTIN. (L.S.)