A NEW OR METALLIC ALLOY." IMPROVED PROVISIONAL SPFICATION.
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Mushet, of Coleford, in the County of
Gloucester, Metallurgist, for the Invention of "A NEW OR
METALLIC ALLOY."
IMPROVED
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION. left by the said Robert Mushet at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
March 1859.
I, ROBERT MUSHET, of Coleford, in the County of Gloucester, Metallurgist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
METALLIC ALLOY," to be as follows:--
My said Invention consists of an alloy of tungsten, iron, and manganese,
prepared in the following manner:-1 melt in crucibles or furnaces a metallic
compound of iron and manganese containing carbon, such as the white
crystalline iron or pig metal made in Rhenish Prussia, and called "spiegel
eisen," and deoxydized wolfram or tungsten ore. I do not limit myself to the
use of any particular proportion between the said "spiegel eisen" and
deoxydized wolfram or tungsten ore, but I have found in practice, that from
one to sixteen parts by weight of "spiegel eisen" to four parts by weight of
deoxydized wolfram are the proportions which yield alloys of the greatest
practical value. An increase in the relative proportion of the "spiegel eisen
gives increased fusibility to the alloy. The said "spiegel eisen" is essentially
In every one hundred
an alloy of iron and manganese containing carbon.

page_text: parts by weight of the said "spiegel eisen " there are from one to eight parts
by weight of manganese, and a quantity of carbon not exceeding five and
a hali parts by weight; the remainder of the said "spiegel eisen" is iron.
The deoxydized wolfram or tungsten ore which I employ may be prepared by
heating wolfram or oxyde of tungsten in close vessels or chambers with charcoal
or other reducing or deoxydizing agent. The melted alloy formed as hereto-
fore described may either be cast into ingots or other required forms, or be
granulated by any convenient process. By wolfram or tungsten ore, or oxyde
of tungsten, mean any substance, whether natural or artificial. consisting
mainly of any of the oxides of the metal tungsten.
The essence of my Invention consists in an alloy of tungsten, iron, and
manganese, made by melting together reduced or deoxydized wolfram or
tungsten ore, or oxyde of tungsten, and a metallic compound of iron and
inanganese containing carbon, such as the white crystalline iron or pig metal
made in Rhenish Prussia, and called "spiegel eisen."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Mushet in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th September 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
MUSHET. of Coleford, in the County of Gloucester. Metallurgist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Mushet, Her special licence that 1, the said Robert Mushet,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Mushet, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED
METALLIC ALLOY," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Robert Mushet, my executors or administrators, 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

page_text: 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.
17
*
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Mushet, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what, manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say:-
My said Invention consists of an alloy of tungsten. iron. and manganese,
prepared in the following manner:-I melt in crucibles or furnaces a metallic
compound of iron and manganese containing carbon, such as the white
crystalline iron or pig metal made in Rhenish Prussia, and called "spiegel
I do
eisen," and deoxidized wolfram or tungsten ore, or oxide of tungsten.
not limit myself to the use of any particular proportion between the said
compound of iron, manganese, and carbon, or "spiegel eisen." and deoxidized
wolfram or tungsten ore, or oxide of tungsten. but I have found in practice
that from one to sixteen parts by weight of "spiegel eisen" to four parts by
weight of deoxidized wolfram or tungsten ore, or oxide of tungsten, are the
proportions which yield alloys of the greatest practical value. An increase in
the relative quantity or proportion of the "spiegel eisen." the weight of the
deoxidised wolfram or tungsten orc. or oxide of tungsten, remaining the same,
gives increased fusibility to the alloy. The said "spiegel eisen" is essentially
an alloy of iron and manganese containing carbon. In every one hundred
parts by weight of the said "spiegel eisen" there are from one to eight parts
by weight of manganese, and a quantity of carbon not exceeding five and a
half parts by weight; the remainder of the said " spiegel eisen" being iron.
The deoxidized wolfram or tungsten ore, or oxide of tungsten, which I employ
may be prepared by heating wolfram or tungsten ore, or oxide of tungsten. in
close vessels or chambers with charcoal or other reducing or deoxidizing agent.
The alloy formed by melting together the said "spiegel eisen" and deoxidised
wolfram. or tungsten ore, or oxide of tungsten, as herein-before described, may
either be cast into ingots or other required forms, or be granulated by any
convenient process.
By wolfram or tungsten ore, or oxide of tungsten,
I mean any substance, whether natural or artificial. consisting mainly of an
oxide or of oxides of the metal tungsten. The wolfram ore which I prefer to
use is that which contains a large per-centage of tungsten, and such as is frec
or nearly free from mixture with earthy matters. and gangue or veinstone,
sulphur or arsenic. The furnace I employ for reducing or deoxidizing the
wolfram or other oxides of tungsten is an ordinary steel converting furnace,
provided with converting chests or pots, such as are usually employed in con-

page_text: verting iron into steel; but I am careful to construct the said furnace of the
most refractory fire-stone or fire-bricks, in order to enable the said furnace to
withstand the intense heat which I apply in order to deoxidize or reduce the
wolfram or oxide of tungsten. I prepare the wolfram or tungsten ore, or
oxide. of tungsten, by breaking it if in lumps into pieces of the size of a walnut
and under; and I separate the broken wolfram into from three to four
different sizes by means of sieves or riddles, and which sizes I term
respectively "rough,". " middle-sized," "small," and "dust ore."
. On the floor of the converting chest or pot I place a layer of coarsely
pulverized charcoal or other carbonaceous matter, such for instance as charred
peat or lignite, about four inches in thickness, and over this a layer of "rough"
ore. three inches in thickness. Upon this I lay a bed of charcoal, four inches
thick, and upon this I place a layer of "middle-sized" ore, three inches in
thickness; I cover this with charcoal to the thickness of four inches, and place
upon this charcoal a layer of "small ore," three inches thick, which I then
cover with a layer of charcoal, four inches thick; and I place upon this a
layer of "dust, ore," three inches in thickness. If the chest or pot be nol now
full, I add another layer of charcoal and another layer of "middle-sized" ore,
and I finish the charging of the chest by covering the whole with charcoal to
the depth of four or five inches. I then construct a rough brick arch, coated
with loam. over the top layer of charcoal, and having closed the furnace
carefully, proceed to heat it in the manner usually practised by steel con-
verters in converting bar iron into steel. But it must be observed that I do
not limit myself to employ merely that degree of heat which is sufficient for
converting bar iron into steel; on the contrary, I heat the furnace to the
utmost extent which the brick or fire-stone materials of which the said
deoxidizing furnace is constructed can safely withstand, that is to say, to a
temperature.ranging from one hundred to one hundred and forty degrees of
Wedgewood's pyrometric scale. and which temperature is to be maintained
for from seventy-two to ninety-six hours, according to the size of the
deoxidizing furnace and the quantity of wolfram contained in it; that is to say,
if the furnace contains from five to seven tons of wolfram, it will be sufficient
to continue the intense white heat for seventy-two hours; and if the furnace
contains from seven to twelve tons of wolfram, I prefer to continue the intense
heat for about ninety-six hours; I then allow the furnace to cool down, and
when cold I open it and withdraw the deoxidized or metallized wolfram and
the charcoal which remains.. I then crush, or stamp, or break up the cohering
masses of deoxidized wolfram, and I separate the charcoal from the said
metallized wolfram by winnowing the said charcoal away from the alloy by

page_text: means of a fan blast or other current or air directed against the falling stream
of the deoxidized wolfram and charcoal; or the charcoal may be separated by
washing it away from the metallized wolfram with, a stream of water, in which
case I subsequently dry the said metallized wolfram upon a stove. Having
thus obtained deoxidized wolfram, I stamp, crush, or grind the said deoxidized
wolfram, and should it contain, as is sometimes the case, quartz or other non-
metallic impurities, these may be either separated from the said compound by
winnowing it before a blast or current of air, or by washing it with a stream of
water, and then drying the purified metallic residuum. The deoxidized wolfram
thus prepared is ready for my purpose. When the wolfram or tungsten ore,
or oxide of tungsten, which I employ is in the state of powder or in lumps of a
size not exceeding on an average the size of a large pea, I stratify the said
powder or small lumps with charcoal coarsely powdered: that is to say, I
fill the deoxidizing chambers or converting chests with alternate layers of the
said powder or of the said small lumps, taking care to place a layer of
coarsely powdered charcoal three or four inches in thickness upon the floor
or sole of the converting chest, and under the first layer of the tungsten
compound. I then place upon this charcoal a layer of tungsten compound,
from two to three inches thick, then a layer of powdered charcoal three inches
in thickness, and so on, until the converting chests are full, when I cover the
last layer of tungsten compound with a layer of charcoal powder. five or six
inches in thickness, over which I construct a rough arch, coated with loam,
and I then proceed to deoxidize the tungsten ore or oxide in the manner
already herein-before described. The "spiegel eisen." or metallic compound
or iron, carbon, and manganese, I prepare for my purpose by breaking it into
pieces about the size of a hen's egg and under, so that it may be mixed with
the deoxidized wolfram previously to introducing these substances into the
melting pot. The furnaces I employ and the melting pots or crucibles which
I make use of are such as are ordinarily employed by steel melters for
melting steel.
To thirty-six pounds of prepared deoxidized wolfram I add nine pounds of
"spiegel eisen," broken small or granulated by melting the said "spiegel
eisen," and running it into water, or granulated in any other convenient
manner. I mix these substances together, and I introduce them into a
melting pot or crucible, placed in an ordinary steel melting furnace, and I
heat the deoxidized wolfram and the "spiegel eisen" together until they are
melted into an alloy of tungsten, iron, and manganese. I then withdraw the
melting pot from the furnace, and pour the said alloy into an ingot or other

page_text: mould; or 'the said alloy may be granulated by running it into water, or it may
be' cast into pieces of'articles of any required shape or size.
When I intend to produce an "alloy of tungsten iron, and manganeso
containing a lesser proportion of tungsten, I 'increase the relative proportion
or quantity of the "spiegel eisen," the relative quantity or proportion of the
deoxidized wolfram remaining the same. Thus to nine pounds of prepared
déoxidized wolfram ore I add thirty-six pounds of "spiegel eisen." broken
substances, and I then introduce the
small or granulated. I mix these
mixture into a melting pot or crucible, placed in an ordinary steel melting
furnace, and I heat the said substances therein until they are melted, so as to
form an alloy of tungsten, iron, and manganese. I then withdraw the melting
pot from the furnace, and pour the alloy into an ingot mould or into any other
moulds suitable for adapting the alloy for the purposes for which it may be
required. I do not confine myself to the proportions herein-before set down.
as they may be varied at pleasure without departing from the nature of my
Invention, but it is to be observed that the greater the relative quantity or
proportion of the deoxidized wolfram added to the "spiegel eisen," the more
difficult of fusion will the resulting alloy be found, and the larger will be the
per-centage of tungsten contained in the said alloy; and the smaller the rela-
tive quantity or proportion of the deoxidized wolfram added to the "spiegel
eisen," the more fusible will be the alloy produced, and the smaller will be
its per-centage of tungsten in the said alloy of tungsten. iron, and manganese.
I do not limit myself to the manufacture of this alloy of tungsten, iron, and
nianganese in melting pots or crucibles. for the said alloy may be prepared by
melting deoxidized wolfram and "spiegel eisen" together in a blast furnace,
cupola, or reverberatory furnace: neither do I limit myself to the use of
"spiegel eisen." as manufactured in Rhenish Prussia, for the said spiegel
eisen, or. triple compound of iron, carbon. and manganese, may be prepared
in any convenient economical manner.
I do not consider it necessary to describe the methods by which the said
"spiegel eisen is manufactured. as it is an article of commerce, and its
manufacture constitutes no part of my Invention. Neither do consider it.
necessary to describe the methods by which other compounds. consisting of
iron. manganese, and carbon, may be manufactured. and which said com-
pounds may be used in carrying my Invention.into effect in place of the said
"spiegel eisen," as the said compounds may be made by processes well known
to metallurgists, and the manufacture of the said compounds constitules no
part of my Invention.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the methods by
which I carry it into effect, I declare that the essence of my Invention consists
in melting deoxidized wolfram or deoxidized tungsten ore, or deoxidized oxide
of tungsten, with a triple metallic compound of iron. carbon, and manganese,
so as to produce by the fusion together of these substances a metallic alloy
of tungsten, iron, and manganese.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Mushet, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of September. in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witnesses,
EDwD. M. MUSHET,
Coleford, Gloucestershire.
BROOKLYN MUSHET,
Coleford, Gloucestershire.
ROB. MUSHET. (L.s.)