IMPROVEMENTS IN SMELTING OR PRODUCING IRON FROM ORE IN BLAST FURNACES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Mickle, of Willington, in the County of
Durham, Colliery Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SMELTING
OR PRODUCING IRON FROM ORE IN BLAST FURNACES."
Sealed the 15th January 1856, and dated the 10th August 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Mickle at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th
August 1855.
I, WILLIAM MICKLE, of Willington, in the County of Durham, Colliery
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SMELTING OR PRODUCING IRON FROM ORE IN BLAST FURNACES" to be as follows
(that is to say):
My said Invention consists of a mode of economizing the fuel used in
smelting or obtaining iron from iron ores. In smelting or obtaining iron
from ores by means of coals in a blast furnace in the ordinary manners, a large
quantity of the combustible matter contained in the fuel escapes unconsumed
or imperfectly consumed in a gaseous form, or in smoke, or is lost in coking.
In order to prevent this waste, I in the first place convert the coal which
I intend to employ in smelting or obtaining iron from its ores into two parts,
that is to say, ordinary coal gas and coke (usually called gas coke), and then

page_text: use those elements of the coal in the blast furnace for the purpose of producing
the heat necessary for smelting or obtaining the iron. For this purpose the
ordinary or any other convenient mode of producing gas by the dry distillation
of coals in retorts may be employed. The coke thus obtained is introduced
into the blast furnace together with the iron ore in the ordinary manner, but
a smaller quantity of coke is requisite when gas is also used according to my
Invention.
The gas may be collected and purified in the ordinary or any other con-
venient manner. The gas obtained in this manner I infuse, blow, or inject
into the furnace through pipes or tuyeres, and that may be done either through
separate pipes or tuyeres, or through the same pipes or tuyeres as the ordinary
blast of air, or through pipes within the ordinary air pipes, or in any other
way which may be found convenient.
The blast pipes and tuyeres may either be placed so as to inject or introduce
and direct the gas in the same way as the ordinary hot or cold air blast is
within the interior of the furnace, or so as to direct the blasts of air and
gas to a focus within the furnace, or in any other way. The air blast may
or may not be heated, but I believe it will be found that when coke and gas
are employed according to my Invention, the heating of the blast will be
unnecessary.
When peat is intended to be used, it may in like manner be subjected to a
process of dry distillation, and the solid and gaseous products of the distillation
used in the same way as herein-before mentioned with respect to coke and
coal gas. So also wood, or other fuel yielding a gaseous product, may be sub-
jected to dry distillation, and the solid and gaseous products used in like
manner, as herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Mickle in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st February 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MICKLE, of Willington, in the County of Durham, Colliery Agent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,

page_text: did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Mickle, Her special licence that I, the said William Mickle, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Mickle, 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SMELTING OR PRODUCING IRON FROM ORE IN BLAST FURNACES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Mickle, my executors or adminis
trators, 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 William Mickle, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say) :-
:-
My said Invention consists of a mode of economizing the fuel used in
smelting or obtaining iron from iron ores. In smelting or obtaining iron from
ores by means of coals in a blast furnace in the ordinary manner, a large
quantity of the combustible matter contained in the fuel escapes unconsumed
or imperfectly consumed in a gaseous form, or in smoke, and is thus wasted,
and when the coal is previously converted into coke in the usual way, a large
quantity of the combustible matter contained in the coal is lost in coking it.
In order to prevent this waste (as also with the view of improving the quantity
and quality of the iron obtained), I in the first place convert the coal which
I intend to employ in smelting or obtaining iron from its ores into two parts,
(that is to say,) ordinary coal gas and the coke usually called gas coke, and I
then use those combustible elements or products of the coal in the blast
furnace as fuel, for the purpose of producing the heat necessary for smelting or
obtaining the iron. For this purpose, the ordinary or any other convenient
mode of producing gas and coke by the dry distillation of coals in retorts may
be employed, and as the gas is not intended to be burnt for the purpose of
illumination, the coal may be of an inferior and therefore cheaper description
than that usually employed in order to obtain gas for illuminating purposes.
The coke thus obtained is introduced into the blast furnace together with the

page_text: iron ore in the ordinary manner, but a smaller quantity of coke is requisite
when gas is also used according to my Invention, than when coke alone is
used as fuel in the ordinary manner.
The coke obtained from any quantity of
coal as above mentioned, when the coke is used as fuel in a blast furnace
together with the gas obtained from the same quantity of coal, will, I believe,
be found to be more than sufficient to produce the heat requisite for smelting
the same quantity of ore as might have been smelted by the combustion of the
coal itself, and by using coke instead of coal the production of smoke is
avoided or greatly diminished.
The gas may be purified (when necessary) in the ordinary or any other
convenient manner. When the coal contains sulphur, the gas should as
much as possible be freed from that material, which is well known to be
injurious to iron; and if any other material injurious to iron be found to
exist in the coal used, the gas should be freed as much as practicable
from any of it with which it may be mixed when it leaves the retort.
The gas may be collected and stored in an ordinary gasometer, or any other
convenient receptacle from whence it can be drawn or taken with facility,
for the purpose of being introduced into the furnace or furnaces in which it is
to be used. The gas obtained in this manner I infuse, blow, or inject into the
furnace through pipes or tuyers, and that may be done either through separate
pipes or tuyers, or through the same pipes or tuyers as the ordinary blast of
air, or through pipes within the ordinary air pipes, or in any other way which
may be found convenient. If the gas pipes be placed within the air pipes or
tuyers, they may be inserted at or near the furnace through an inlet and joint
pipe of the air pipes, and in such cases, if necessary, a little more pressure can
be applied to force in the requisite quantity of air.
The blast pipes and tuyers may either be placed so as to inject or introduce
and direct the gas in the same manner and way as the ordinary hot or cold
air blast is introduced into the interior of the furnace, or so as to direct the
blasts of air and gas to a focus within the furnace, or in any other manner
which may be deemed most effective.
The apparatus employed for blowing the gas into a blast furnace may
be of the same description as apparatus used for blowing air into such a
furnace, with the only difference that instead of a supply of air being obtained
by the apparatus from the surrounding atmosphere, a supply of gas is to be
obtained by a pipe or pipes conducting the gas from the gasometer or other
receptacle to the entrance valve of the blowing apparatus. To keep up
regularity of the gas blast, a chamber may be placed between the pumping

page_text: apparatus and the furnace, and connected with pipes leading to both; or the
size of the gas pipes may be arranged to maintain the required regularity;
safety valves can be attached to the chamber or pipes, if desired. The use of
coke and gas in this manner as fuel in a blast furnace will, I believe, be found
to produce sufficient heat for smelting or obtaining iron from ore without
heating the blast, as now commonly practiced, and the fuel used in coking the
coal and producing the gas, and in pumping in the gas (when steam power
employed for that purpose), will be equal or thereabouts to that which would
be requisite to heat the blast, if hot blast were use:l.
is
I deem it necessary to regulate the quantity of gas blown into a furnace, as
above described, in order to prevent the production of too high a temperature,
which might destroy the furnace, or be otherwise injurious, and also for the
purpose of preventing any excessive or undesirable consumption of the gas.
For this purpose I vary the speed of the blowing apparatus used for injecting
the gas from time to time, as may be necessary, so as to regulate the supply
of gas to the furnace, and also the heat produced by its combustion within the
furnace; or the same effect may be produced by means of taps or valves intro-
duced into the gas apparatus pipes, the outlets being more or less opened or
closed from time to time, according to the quantity of gas desired to be used.
In order to prevent any accident occurring by reason of the production of
an explosive mixture of gas and air within the gas apparatus, by reason of
the forcing of air into the gas pipes, either by the pressure of the air blast
within the furnace, or otherwise, I prefer to furnish the gas pipes or appa-
ratus with a valve, which will permit the gas to pass only in the direction of
the furnace, and prevent the introduction of air into the gas pipes or appa-
ratus. If a very high heat should be required for some particular purpose,
both the gas and the air blast, or either of them, may be heated in the ordi-
nary or in any other convenient manner. In practicing my Invention, I
prefer to use furnaces the throats of which are not small or contracted, so that
there may be more room for the expansion of the. gas.
When peat is intended to be used, it may in like manner be subjected
to a process of dry distillation, and the solid and combustible gaseous
products of the distillation used in the same way as herein-before mentioned
with respect to the coke and gas obtained by the distillation of coal. So
also wood, or other fuel yielding upon distillation both solid and gaseous
combustible products economically and in sufficient quantity, may be subjected
to dry distillation, and the solid and gaseous products used in like manner as
herein-before described.

page_text: Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my said Inven-
tion the smelting or obtaining iron from iron ores by means of fuel consisting
of the gas and coke obtained from coal, or the gaseous and solid parts of other
fuel, in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Mickle, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
W MICKLE. (L.8.)