Improvements in the Treatment of the Calcined Products or "Small Mine of certain Iron Ores, Ironstone Mines and Shale, and the Manufacture of the same into Blocks for the Better Extraction of Iron therefrom.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Mar., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 4th Dec., 1889-Accepted, 1st Feb., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Treatment of the Calcined Products or "Small
Mine of certain Iron Ores, Ironstone Mines and Shale, and the
Manufacture of the same into Blocks for the Better Extraction
of Iron therefrom.
I ALLEN HODGKINSON Junior of Peacocks Hay near Talke in the county of Stafford
Mechanic do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
By the grinding crushing stamping or pressing of the commonly unused or wasted
products of the various ironstone seams known in North Staffordshire as the Half
Yard Mine, the Red Shag Mine, the Red Mine, the Bassey Mine, and Red Mine Shale
which have been already calcined as well as those now in process of being calcined
and those which shall hereafter be calcined, to reduce such products to a semi-plastic
state or condition, and then by moulding or pressure to convert and make the same
into solid masses, bricks, and lumps being a marketable commodity and suitable for
further calcining by means of blast puddling or other furnaces or kilns.
Dated this 14th day of March 1889.
ALLEN HODGKINSON, JUNR.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Treatment of the Calcined Products or "Small
Mine" of certain Iron Ores, Ironstone Mines and Shale, and the
Manufacture of the same into Blocks for the Better Extraction
of Iron therefrom.
I ALLEN HODGKINSON Junior of Peacocks Hey near Talke in the county of Stafford
Mechanic do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
'
My Invention relates to the manufacture into blocks of the calcined and hitherto
generally unused or wasted products of the various ironstone seams known in North
Staffordshire as the Half Yard Mine, the Red Shag Mine, the Red Mine, the Bassey
Mine, and Red Mine Shale, and the respective equivalents thereto in parts of the
United Kingdom other than North Staffordshire. Those products are generally known
and are herein referred to as "small mine," and they include uncalcined pieces of stone
or rock containing-iron-which-may have been left in the rocks on the mine hearths
after the puddle or furnace mine has been formed and removed from the mine-hearth
for smelting.
The small mine of all or any of the ironstone seams above mentioned can be treated
by my process, and whether the small mines of any two or more of them are mixed
together or the small mine of any one of them is treated singly or mixed with any
other iron ores, ironstone mines or shales.
By my process the "small mine" is utilized and formed into blocks ready for
smelting, without the addition of any reducing agent or fluxing material, except,
where necessary, a sufficient quantity of water.
I press the small mine as it is obtained from the mine-hearth into block, brick or
any desired shape or size, by means of hydraulic or other pressure, and thereby or by
ordinary grinding followed by pressure reduce it into a semi-plastic powdered or
granulated condition. If the small mine as obtained from the hearth is sufficiently
moist, which circumstance must naturally be dependent upon the weather, the level
of the mine-hearth and other such causes, the small mine when reduced as above
will be found sufficiently plastic, otherwise I add sufficient water to make it plastic
• Duins Wi

page_text: and it will be sometimes found necessary to extract water (which may be done by
any ordinary process) when there is too much moisture in the small mine, or dry small
mine may be mixed with damp small mine so as to obtain a mixture of sufficient
moistness.
The percentage of water to be added to or extracted from the crushed small mine
is a matter dependent upon the condition of the small mine and the state of the
atmosphere, but I have found that if the crushed small mine is not itself sufficiently
plastic to cohere in lumps, it can at once be rendered so by moistening with water
or drying as the case may be.
I mould the semi-plastic stuff or mass by manual labor, mechanical power, or brick-
making machine, hydraulic or hand press, pug mill or other mixing mill, in a manner
similar to that used or employed in molding hand or machine made bricks. After
that I dry the moulded lumps or bricks by natural or artificial heat in the open air
or in sheds. When sufficiently dry, the lumps or bricks are ready for removal to
ovens, kilns, clamps, open or closed hearths for burning or firing. When burnt or
fired sufficiently to make them hard and when cold, the lumps or bricks become a
marketable commodity and suitable for further reducing or smelting of the iron
substances contained therein in blast puddling or other furnaces hearths or kilns.
In some cases it may be necessary in the first instance to riddle, screen, sieve, sift
or wash the small mine or material intended to be treated so as to remove, as much
as possible, the basses pieces of iron and other rubbish or foreign substances sometimes
found on the mine hearth.
It may also be necessary, as before indicated, to grind, crush, or stamp the small
mine, so as to reduce it to a powdered or granulated condition with or without
previously riddling, screening or sieving, sifting or washing it, before it is pressed as
before-mentioned.
When the blocks have been dried or burnt, or both, then if desired, they may be
reduced to a powdered or granulated state and used for fettling puddling or other
furnaces, hearths or kilns.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
The treatment of the calcined products and small mine of the above-mentioned iron
ores, ironstone mines and shale singly, or when two or more are mixed together, or
with any other iron ores, ironstone mines or shales or other matters, and the
manufacture by means thereof of blocks for the production of iron substantially as
herein described.
Datad this Third day of December 1889.