IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Allcock Jones, of Middlesbrough, in the
County of York, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
PROVISIONAL. SPECIFICATION left by the said John Allcock Jones
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th January 1868.
I, JOHN ALLCOCK JONES, of Middlesbrough, in the County of York,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," to be as follows,
that is to say:-

page_text: In carrying out my Invention I proceed as follows:-I first puddle
the iron or metal in a puddling furnace. The object of the puddling
is by the aid of clean cinder or oxides of iron or oxides of manganese,
or other oxidizing materials together with the act of puddling or by the
act of puddling alone, so as to cleanse the pig iron or metal from sulphur
and phosphorus and other impurities as to make it fit for melting into
cast steel. After the pig iron or metal has been treated as above it is
boiled in the usual manner, and the cinder allowed to run from it, it is
then balled into balls and removed from the furnace and plunged into
water, or it may be removed in the shape of convenient lumps, and is
placed either hot or cold in a receptacle or crucible, which receptacle or
crucible is placed in the hearth of an ordinary reverberatory furnace,
or in any other kind of furnace or heater, such as a regenerative or other
furnace which may be suitable for the melting of the said balls or lumps
into cast steel. The balls or lumps before being placed in the crucible
or receptacle may be broken into fragments, which I prefer, so that the
metal may be more easily melted, and so that it will occupy less room,
and also with a view to the selection of the pieces, and on account of
being thereby able to mix the ingredients necessary for fluxing the metal
through the mass. I also take pig iron or refined metal, and after
it has been melted in a puddling, reverberatory, air, or other furnace
I tap away a portion or nearly all of its cinder, and then removing the
iron treat it in the manner before described, or I take it in any of
the intermediate stages between the melting and balling processes, and
use it as before described, but I prefer the iron boiled and balled and
broken into fragments. A cover may be placed on the crucible or
receptacle to exclude atmospheric air, or the cover may be dispensed
with and the scoriæ be made a sufficient protection, or a layer of clean
cinder may be placed on the top for the same purpose. When the crude
iron is sufficiently melted into steel I run the latter into moulds, either
by tapping the receptacle or crucible, or by lifting the crucible out of
the furnace and running the metal into the said moulds, after which
it may be hammered or rolled as desired. For making finished
castings to any shape I run the steel into moulds, and the castings may
then be annealed or not as required. The process above described is
particularly adapted to metal or iron which in the first place is impure,
such as the Cleveland pig iron, though it is applicable to the other
brands of pig iron or metal. In place of puddling the metal I

page_text: also take pig iron or metal and place it direct in "the receptacle or
crucible before mentioned, and after the metal is melted and partially
boiled I tap off a portion of or all the cinder, and then proceed
to melt the residue as described, but I prefer, the puddling, balling,
and breaking into fragments as being better adapted for getting a
finer quality of steel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Allcock Jones in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 8th July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Jonn
ALLCOCK JONES, of Middlesborough, in the County of York, Engineer,
send-greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of January, 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 me, the said John Allcock Jones; Her
special license that I, the said John Allcock Jones, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such other's as I, the said John
Allcock Jones, my executors, administrators, or 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 Island's, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Allcock
Jones, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal; 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 John Allcock Jones, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and, in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture of
iron and steel from cast iron, pig iron, or refined metal.
In practically carrying out my Invention I proceed as follows:-I
first puddle the cast iron, pig iron, or refined metal in a puddling
furnace of the kind at present in use, or a rotary puddling furnace, or a
furnace where the process is carried on by mechanical puddling. The
object of the puddling is by the aid of clean or pure cinder or oxides
of iron or oxide of manganese or other oxidising agents, together
with the act of puddling or by the act of puddling alone, so to
cleanse the pig or cast iron or refined metal from sulphur and
phosphorous and other impurities as to make it fit for melting into
cast steel. After the pig or cast iron or refined metal has been melted
in the puddling furnace, as at present done, or melted in some other
furnace, such as an air furnace or cupola, and thence run into the
puddling furnace, thus saving time and fuel, it is boiled in the usual
manner, and a portion of the cinder allowed to run from it; it is
then balled into balls and removed from the furnace and plunged hot
into water, if desirable, or it may be removed in the shape of convenient
lumps. It is desirable that these balls or lumps should be brought out
young," that is, with as much carbon in them as is possible at that
stage of working; as much carbon in them as to render it impossible
to have them hammered and rolled into wrought iron or puddled steel
in the usual way. It obviates to some extent the necessity of adding
carbon in the shape of cast iron or other carbonate to the melting
mass. The balls or lumps having been broken into fragments or
not, as may be desirable, are placed either hot or cold in the hearth or
receptacle of a steel melting furnace, such as a Siemens' regenerative
furnace as at present constructed for the melting of steel on the
open hearth, or in other furnace suitable for melting the balls or
lumps into steel, or they may be melted in a crucible such as those at
present used for steel melting, or a crucible capable of holding a much
larger quantity.
In place of preparing the iron into balls or lumps, as before described,
I sometimes treat it in the following manner which I have found to
answer well-After it has been melted I puddle it for a short time, but

page_text: in place of carrying on the process so far as to get the cinder boiled over
the fore plate, and thus preparing it for being lumped or balled, I allow
the crude metal to settle to the bottom of the furnace, and then tapping
or removing all or as much of the cinder as will run from it. I take
away or transfer the crude iron from the bottom and melt it into steel
as I do the lumps or balls, or I take it at any of the intermediate
stages between the melting and balling of the metal. By this treating
it I find that I have a material with a higher per-centage of carbon.
By analizing I find the mass holds about one per cent. and the balls or
lumps about 0-8 of carbon, but if the balls or lumps are not brought out
young the quantity of carbon will be less.
In order that others may fully understand how steel is made from
the broken puddled balls or lumps or crude metal according to my
Invention I further proceed to describe my process as follows:-When
the receptacle in which the steel is melted is in the hearth of a gas
furnace, such as a Siemens' furnace or any other furnace capable of
giving sufficient heat for the steel to be kept in a liquid state, I take
the broken fragments of the balls or lumps or the crude metal before
referred to, and make them red or white hot in a furnace separated
from the steel furnace, or in a chamber connected with the steel
furnace, and introduce it from thence in loads of, say, from one to five
hundredweight to the hearth of the steel furnace. When this has been
melted I introduce a further supply, and so continue until the furnace
is sufficiently charged; but I do not confine myself to the precise
load above described. As the loads continue to melt into steel there
will arise a cinder to the surface of the steel, which will act as a
protective covering and protect it from oxidation, and if this cinder
should be excessive as the process continues a portion of it may be
tapped off.
A bath of slag, such as blast furnace slag, may be first
placed on the hearth of the steel furnace into which the first few
loads may be placed. During the period of melting into steel, if
decarbonization has taken place so much as to interfere with the fluidity
of the steel, a little cast iron or a carbonate not injurious to the steel
may be added. The melted steel may by sampling it, that is, by
inserting a ladle and removing a small portion of it, be made of any
required temper. If it is too hard broken pieces of puddled ball or
lumps may be added, and if too soft a little cast iron may be placed
amongst it. I prefer that the broken balls or lumps, or the crude metal

page_text: referred to, should contain as near to one per cent. of carbon as is
commercially possible. As the mass is being melted on the steel hearth
it will continue to give out a portion of its carbon, but at each
successive addition of raw material, such, as the broken balls or
lumps, or the crude metal before referred to, there will be added
a further supply of carbon, a supply sufficient to keep the steel
in a liquid condition and to allow the steel at the latter end of the
operation to contain carbon a little under in quanity what is required
in serviceable cast steel. When the furnace has been fully charged,
and it has been ascertained that the steel has been fully melted and
that the temper of the steel is what is required, I add a small quantity
of speigel cisen, not exceeding five per cent. of the melted steel, after
which it is tapped into a ladle or preparatory receptacle, and thence
into moulds similar to the manner in which Bessemer steel is run.
As the process is being worked out a quantity of cinder will
rise to the surface of the steel, and as this may prevent the heat
penetrating sufficiently to the steel it is desirable that a portion
of it should be tapped off occasionally, and this may be done by a
tap hole arranged for that purpose, or when the hearth of the steel
furnace is charged to a certain height the cinder may be allowed
to run off it as the furnace continues to receive a further charge of
raw material.
The capacity of the steel furnace may be made to suit different
requirements. For rail blooms, a three ton furnace will be about a
suitable size, but for other purposes other capacities are more desirable.
The crude metal or lumps before referred to may, if desirable, be
pressed so that some of the cinder is allowed to escape from it
previously to its being placed in the steel furnace.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the mode in which I carry the same into effect, I
would observe. in conclusion that what I claim as my Invention is,―
First. The preparation of iron and the production of cast steel by,
firstly, submitting cast or pig iron to the process of puddling, boiling,
and balling, and then subjecting the balls or lumps so obtained to fusion
in separate receptacles or crucibles.
Second. The preparation of iron and the production of cast steel by
firstly submitting cast or pig iron to the process of puddling, then

page_text: tapping or removing the cinder therefrom, as herein-before described,
and finally melting the crude iron remaining into steel.
In witness whercof, I, the said John Allcock Jones, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Third day of July One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.