IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John James Bodmer, of Hammersmith, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John James Bodmer
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 11th April 1872.
I, JOHN JAMES BODMER, of Hammersmith, in the County of Middle-
sex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," to be as follows :-
1
My Invention relates in part to the application of injection by
pressure to materials used in the manufacture of iron and steel. These
materials are all descriptions of metallic oxides, minerals or metals, or
carbonised substances, which are applicable to the manufacture of iron
and steel either in a solid subdivided condition (however subdivided) by
themselves or as admixtures dry or mixed with liquids or dissolved in
liquids.
My Invention further relates to the mode of lining, fettling, feeding,
and use of revolving or oscillating furnaces or vessels for the purposes of

page_text: my said Invention, and to certain ways of treating the chargo, whether
in revolving or other furnaces, for the said purposes.
In carrying out the first part of the above-named improvements, I
apply any convenient mode of injection or of projection, as, for instance,
I use an apparatus on the principle of the well-known Giffard injector, 5
liquids mixed with solids or solids alone being in this case injected
instead of water. Materials are thus injected or thrown into the furnace
for the purpose of fettling either before, or during, or after the purifying
process, or for the purpose of puddling or purifying the charge, such as
metallic oxydes or other materials giving up oxygen, when used as 1
described, or alkalies or any mixture of materials used for purifying
iron; or iron in a subdivided condition may thus be injected either in
the carburized form, to increase the charge and to carburize the same, or
in any other form.
In carrying out the second part of my Invention I construct the 1
vessels of cast iron or of wrought iron in one piece, or in segments, or
parts of a cylindrical, oval, square, rhomboidal, or hexagonal shape.
When it is desirable to give to the inside or working surface of the
vessel certain projections, such as are used in the well-nown Danks
puddling apparatus, in order to increase the motion of the charge during a
the puddling or purifying operation, those projections are made either
in the sheet or vessel itself, or by forming the initial or first lining
accordingly, or by increasing the thickness of the working fettling in the
parts or points which are to form projections. The initial or first or
outer lining in such cases may consist of a refractory concrete, such as is a
used in the above-named "Danks" puddling apparatus.
When the inner lining or fettling must consist of a non-oxidising
substance, I prefer to use graphite either pure or with admixtures of
fire-clay or other refractory material, or of an admixture of oxides or of
alkalies.
When the charge in any furnace or apparatus has reached the obtain-
able maximum of purification, or before or after, a certain quantity of
carburized metal of a purer description is added, and with the aid of an
increased temperature the charge is kept or rendered sufficiently liquid
to permit of a continuation of the purifying process. The additional
quantity of metal, with or without admixtures, may be given at once or
by degrees, in pieces or in a solid, subdivided, or in a molten condition.

page_text: The charge may be removed at the desired point of the process from one
furnace to another.
The second or following furnace or apparatus may be but thinly lined
with oxidising material, and the latter may be allowed to work itself
down to a non-oxidising lining underneath it; or the second or other
furnace or apparatus employed may be used without any oxidising lining
at all; or the charge may at once be worked in a furnace lined with
non-oxidising material.
When the charge is to be removed from the furnace or apparatus in a
liquid condition (as in the case of cast steel) the metal is tapped out;
when it has to be removed in a viscous or more or less solid condition,
the flue end is removed, as described in "Danks" puddling process, or
the vessel itself is moved away, as carried out in the rotary puddling
system of Howson and Thomas, Middlesbro'; or the grate or heating
part of the furnace or apparatus with the bridge is moved out of the
way, for which
purposes wheels or rolls and rails are used.
The aim and purpose of my Invention is to obtain a higher degreo
of purification of the charge either in the manufacture of iron or of
puddled steel, but chiefly with the intention of making cast steel by the
above process.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John James Bodmer in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th October 1872..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
JAMES BODMER, of Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John James Bodmer, Her special licence
that I, the said John James Bodmer, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John James. Bodmer, my
exccutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
Lo

page_text: 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 John James Bodmer, 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 John James Bodmer, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
The object mainly had in view in this Invention is to obtain a high
degree of purification in the manufacture of iron, but 'more especially
to produce cast steel from descriptions of iron which hitherto have not
proved available for the production of cast steel on account of their
impurity..
To carry the above-named, object into effect I make use of the
following improvements, which in part relate to the application of injec-
tion by pressure to materials used in the manufacture of iron and steel.
These materials are all descriptions of minerals, metals, metalloids,
oxydes, alkalies, or substances containing any of these materials or any a
mixtures of such, or carbonaceous materials, or carbon in any shape
whatsoever which may be suitable for the purpose.
My improvements further relate to the mode of lining and fettling
and to the use of furnaces or apparatus for the manufacture of iron and
steel, and also to the purification and treatment of the charge in such
furnaces or apparatus.
To put in operation the first part of my improvements I apply any
convenient mode of injection or projection, as for instance, I use an
apparatus on the principle of the well-known Giffard injector. When
the furnace is heated up, or when the lining or fettling of the furnace to
be acted upon is in a condition to adhere to the material injected, then
lining or fettling matorial is injected at any convenient part of the

page_text: process, and the operation of fettling, especially in rotary furnaces, can
take place without stoppage or loss of time, and consequent cooling of
the furnace.
When iron is to be added to the charge either for the purpose of
increasing the same, or for the purpose of altering the mixture, or for
carburizing the same or decarburizing it by the same means, iron in a
"subdivided condition (by whatever means subdivided) is injected.
For the purpose of accelerating and perfecting the purifying process,
mineral substances, metalloids, oxydes, alkalies, or any mixtures known
to have a purifying effect upon iron are injected at convenient periods of
the process, and according to the quality of the iron under operation.
Before or at the time the carbon in the charge has been eliminated
through the purifying process (and it is found that the latter should.be
continued and carried on still further), carbon is injected in any con-
venient form for the purpose of recarburizing the charge éither by
subdivided carbonaceous substances, charcoal, for instance (more or less
finely powdered), or in the form of oil or other more or less liquid (or dry)
hydrocarbons, or in any convenient form whatsoever, solid or liquid. All
these injections are applicable to purifying furnaces or apparatus of any
description used for the purpose of converting cast iron into iron or steel,
for instance, to common hand puddling or other stationary furnaces, or
for any furnaces worked by any description of mechanical rabbling, but
more especially to oscillating or revolving furnaces.

page_text: lining in certain parts. Such an arrangement will dispense with the
necessity of using the lumps of iron ore in the Danks process.
When such descriptions of iron are to be puddled. as will lose their
carbon in the process before the desired degree of purification is attained,
or when cast steel is to be made from impure iron, then (besides making
use of the injection process as above described) I treat the lining and
fettling in a way differing from the present practise; as, for instance:―
The charge can be worked upon a lining or fettling such as used in the
Danks process until recarburization has to be resorted to, and instead of
completing the purification on the same fettling, the charge is removed
into another apparatus or furnace, which is provided with a non-
oxydizing lining, by preference of a carbonaceous nature, and thereon
the operation is completed; or the furnace or apparatus in which the
operation is commenced is provided with a non-oxydizing and, by pre-
ference with a carbonaceous lining, the oxydizing fettling over it being
thin and allowed to work off in the first part of the purifying process, so
that in completing the same the charge works upon a non-oxydizing or
carbonaceous surface, the purifying ingredients being introduced by
injection only; or the charge is worked from the commencement upon a
non-oxydizing lining, and completed in one and the same furnace, vessel,
or apparatus. When cast steel is produced it is tapped from the furnace
in the usual way.
For the non-oxydizing or carbonaceous lining I use powdered graphito.
I make a paste of the consistency of mortar of powdered graphite mixed
with clay, or lime, or limestone of any suitable description, and with or
without oxyde of iron. In lining the surface of the iron vessel, furnace,
or apparatus a strong proportion of clay, lime, iron, or other suitable
admixture is preferred, in order to insure adherence to the iron plates in
firing the lining. The admixtures decrease towards the inside of the
vessel, so that the part or thickness of the lining which will gradually
come into contact with the iron of the charge shall be as pure as tho
graphite can be made to stand, the admixtures being simply lime with
or without some oxyde of iron, and no clay or other siliceous substances
being used therein; or the graphite with or without admixtures may be
made into bricks or blocks; or the lining may be put in in the shape of
concrete.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of my Invention, and in what manner the same may be per-

page_text: formed or put in practice, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim
the use of any especial material or mixture of materials employed for the
purpose of purifying iron. I am aware also that the use of graphite as
lining for all descriptions of furnaces, crucibles, &c., with or without
admixtures, has been patented by C. W. Zenger, No. 2247, August 1871.
I am equally aware that S. Danks' Patent covers injection of water, and
that injection has been applied to cupolas. I also wish it to be under-
stood that I in no wise refer to injection of carbonaceous matters for the
purpose of producing heat, but simply as described for the purpose of
carburizing the charge; but I claim,-
1st. The application of injection to and for the purposes substantially
as described, and as limited by the remarks above set forth.
2nd. The use of any more or less liquid hydrocarbon, such as oil for
instance (or of other carbonaceous substances when rotatory or oscillating
furnaces are used), for the purpose of carburizing the charge, substantially
as described.
3rd. The use of agitating projections or indentations formed in the
lining itself in substitution for the lumps of iron ore used in Danks'
process.
4th. The use of fettling or of any oxydising lining inside of outer or
initial lining of a carbonaceous nature, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John James Bodmer, have hereunto
set my hand, this Seventh day of October, in the year of our
as described.
3rd. The use of agitating projections or indentations formed in the
lining itself in substitution for the lumps of iron ore used in Danks'
process.
4th. The use of fettling or of any oxydising lining inside of outer or
initial lining of a carbonaceous nature, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John James Bodmer, have hereunto
set my hand, this Seventh day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
GEORGE CHARLES JACKSON,
Burton House,
Bassein Park Road,
Shepherd's Bush,
London, W.
J. J. BODMER. (L.S.)