IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Adolphus Frederick Gurlt, of No. 40, Newington
Place, Kennington, in the County of Surrey, Mining Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
Sealed the 19th December 1856, and dated the 16th July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Adolphus Frederick Gurlt
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 16th July 1856.
-I, ADOLPHUS FREDERICK GURLT, of. 40, Newington Place, Kennington, in
the County of Surrey, Mining Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," to be
as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of iron
and steel, by which the iron ores are converted, without being first melted in a
blast furnace, into wrought iron or steel, or cast iron, whilst still combined
with the earthy and other matters contained in the ores. For these purposes,
the iron ores, preferring those most free from sulphur and phosphorus, are
placed in an upright furnace, from the lower part of which the charge may be
drawn as it becomes converted. The iron ores are placed in this furnace
without admixture with fuel or fluxes, and the process of conversion is carried

page_text: on by the aid of ignited gases produced in other compartments of the furnace
into which fuel is placed, through which, when ignited, streams of air are
forced, and other streams of air are also introduced above the ignited fuel.
The ignited gases pass into the compartment of the furnace where the iron ore
is placed, and by heating and passing amongst the ore, the same is converted,
and may be withdrawn from the furnace as wrought iron, or steel, or cast iron.
When the converted ore has been withdrawn from the furnace above men-
tioned as wrought iron, it may be then introduced into a puddling furnace with
suitable fluxes, and the slag melted off, the iron being then balled. When the
converted iron ore has been withdrawn from the furnace above mentioned as
steel or cast iron, it is placed with suitable fluxes in an arched or reverberatory
furnace, and is melted therein by the aid of ignited gases produced in other
compartments of the furnace which are supplied with fuel, through which,
when in an ignited state, streams of air are forced, and the ignited gases thus
obtained are aided by other streams of air which are forced into the furnace on
to the converted ores therein, by which means the steel or cast iron is
melted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Adolphus. Frederick Gurlt in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ADOLPHUS
FREDERICK GURLT, of 40, Newington Place, Kennington, in the County of
Surrey, Mining Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her, most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Adolphus
Frederick Gurlt, Her special licence that I, the said Adolphus Frederick Gurlt,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Adolphus
Frederick Gurlt, 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 THE MANUFACTURE
OF IRON AND STEEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said

page_text: Adolphus Frederick Gurlt, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Adolphus Frederick Gurlt, 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
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
The Invention of improvements in the manufacture of iron and steel applies
to the reduction, carbonization, and smelting of oxides and carbonates of iron,
or any other ore of iron, which, when treated as herein-after follows, gives
malleable iron, steel, or cast iron by means of furnaces of peculiar construction,
which-allow-of the application of ignited-gas-or-a-mixture of gas-and-flame-to-
the oxides, carbonates, or other ores of iron, so as to produce malleable iron,
cast iron, or steel, instead of using high-blast furnaces for making cast iron,
puddling furnaces for making malleable iron, and cementation furnaces for
making steel, as is generally done.
I will first describe the reducing and carbonizing furnace I use for making
iron and steel, the peculiar construction of which may be seen from the annexed
Drawings.
Sheet I. Figure 1 shews a front view of my reducing and carbonizing
furnace; Figure 2, a vertical section; Figure 3, a cross vertical section; and
Figure 4, a horizontal section through a, z, z, y. This furnace consists of a
sloping shaft of fire brick a, which is open at top and closed at bottom by an
iron door b. This shaft contains the iron ore to be reduced and carbonized, as
the first step of my process. Communicating with the shaft by two short flues
are two similar gas generators c, c. These are deep square chambers, with an
opening at top to introduce the fuel from which the gas is formed; an opening
at bottom, which is usually kept closed, for the occasional removal of clinkers
and cinders, and with a tuyere pipe at the bottom, by which a blast of air is
introduced. This blast of air partially burns the fuel, and produces in its pas-
sage through the fuel reducing and inflammable gases, which pass through the
flues into the shaft. d, d, are two passages, communicating by small apertures
with the flues, and also with the pipes e, e. Through these apertures a blast
of air is introduced, so as to mix with the gases from the generator. The
quantity of air thus introduced is regulated by a cock f, f, in the pipe. 9,9,

page_text: are two iron cylinders, with lids and dampers, by which fuel can be introduced
to the generators without gas escaping. To use this furnace, the door at
the bottom of the shaft is closed, and the shaft filled with the iron ore broken
into moderatė sized pieces, from the size of a man's fist downwards; the
opening at the bottom of the gas generátor is' then closed, and fire put in
from above, and the blast turned on in the tuyeře' pipe. Fuel, 'preferably
coal, or coal and coke, bút eitlier coal, charcoal, wood; lignité, türf, peat; or
other ordinary fuel will do, is 'then put into the generator by the top; sò
as to fill it about two-thirds; the top opening is then closed; "blast is now
turned on through the pipes e, e, and so regulated that so much air only
is given as to partially burn the gas from the generator; by this means
there passes into the shaft á mixture of flame and carbonizing and reducing
gas, by which the iron ore is heated, and being then acted on by the gas, is
reduced and carbonized. The time which the ore is to remain in the reducing
furnace depends upon the quality of iron desired. If cast iron be desired, the
ore must remain until it has taken up a maximum quantity of carbon; if
steel be desired, the time must be shorter; and if malleable iron be desired, a
still shorter time. By regulating the time the ore remains in the shaft, I can
obtain the iron of any degree of carbonization I like, so that when melted it
will give either cast iron, steel, or 'malleable iron: The ore in the shaft is not
all taken out at once, but as soon as that which is at the bottom is sufficiently
carbonized it is drawn out by the door b. When the ore comes out of the
door raw, the door is closed and the furnace left until more ore is ready to be
drawn. Every time ore is drawn out below, fresh ore is added at the top of the
shaft, so as to keep it constantly full. In this way the action of the furnace is
uninterrupted, fuel being added in the gas generator as it burns away. The
ore, when treated in the reducing furnace, as described, must be subjected to a
second process to obtain cast iron, steel, or malleable iron. This second
process consists in the reduced and carbonized ore being heated in a second
furnace of peculiar construction, in such a manner that without altering the
chemical constitution of the iron, that is to say, without altering 'the proportion
of carbon and iron that exists in the ore as it comes out of my former furnace
the iron or steel is melted and separated from the impurities contained in
the-ore.
This second furnace, which I call iny blow-pipe melting furnace, is repre-
sented on Sheet H. Figure 1 is a front view; Figure 2, à vertical section
Figure 3, a horizontal section.
This furnace consists of a flat hearth or solé k, k, covered 'over with a low

page_text: arched roof; at either end of this hearth is a gas generator with openings at
top and bottom, and tuyere pipe, as described above in my reducing furnace.
9, 9, are two blow pipes, by which blast is introduced so as to burn the gas
produced in the generators; 1, 1, cocks by which the supply of blast to the
blow pipes is regulated; m, m, cocks for regulating the blast at the tuyeres;
h, an opening in the roof for the spent gas to escape; c, a funnel to convey
away the spent gas; i, 'the tap hole by which the metal when melted is drawn
off; b, b, openings by which fuel is introduced into the generators; `d, d,
openings by which clinkers and cinders are withdrawn from the generators;
a, door by which the ore to be melted is charged into the furnace.
To use this furnace, fire-is-made in the generator; the bottom door being
closed, blast is turned on by the tuyère, and fuel added to fill the generator two-
thirds full, or thereabouts; blast is then turned on by the blow pipes, and so
regulated that it exactly burns the gas produced in the generators. The blast
must be so regulated that no smoke escapes, and also that no air from the
blow pipes passes away unburnt or unused. If the wind be rightly adjusted
the flame will be clear and long, neither smokey nor jet flickering.
The ore as it comes from the reducing furnace is charged into the blow pipe
melting furnace, and left there until it is melted, if cast iron or steel be desired;
if malleable iron be desired, the ore being scarcely carbonized will not melt,
but becomes pasty, and is then made into balls, and taken out to be hammered
or rolled, as is done after the common puddling process. In order to assist
the fusion of the earthy matters in the ore, it is desirable to add some flux, as
lime, quartz, slag, or other substance, which will form an easily fusible slag with
the earthy matters. The ore being fully melted, the iron or steel is let out
by the tap hole into moulds, as in iron or steel casting.
In using this blow pipe melting furnace, the ore may be mixed, that is to
say, that raw ore may be mixed with reduced ores, or else partially reduced
ore may be mixed with ore that is too much carbonized, the mixture being
so made that the resulting iron is of the required quality. This blow pipe
melting furnace may also be used for melting steel formed in the ordinary
way, or even for melting common cast iron. It may be used also as a refinery
furnace. For this purpose it is made with four tuyeres in the side of the
hearth c, c, c, c, by which a blast may be introduced, so as to play on the iron
when melted, and refine it in the usual manner.
I claim the Invention of the peculiar means of manufacturing iron and
steel, herein described, and the arrangements of apparatus, as above explained
and shown by the annexed Drawings, for reducing, carbonizing, and smelting

page_text: iron ores to make malleable iron, steel, or cast iron, and for melting steel or
iron and refining the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Adolphus Frederick Gurlt, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
GEO. PITT.
ADOLPH. GURLT, PH. D. (LS.)
Mining Engineer.