IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FERRO-MANGANESE AND OTHER METALLIC ALLOYS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Browne, of the Firm of Browne and
. Company, Patent Agents, of 5, Southampton Buildings, Holborn,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF FERRO-MANGANESE AND OTHER METALLIC ALLOYS, AND
IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE."-A communication from abroad by
the Foundries and Forges Company, of Terre Noire La Voulte and
Bessège, in the French Republic.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Browne at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 5th July 1873.
I, ALEXANDER BROWNE, of the Firm of Browne and Company, Patent
Agents, of 5, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FERRO-MANGANESE AND OTHER METALLIC
ALLOYS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE," a communication from abroad

page_text: by the Foundries and Forges Company, of Terre Noire La Voulte and
Bessège, in the French Republic, to be as follows:-
When alloys or combinations of iron with manganese, silicium,
tungsten, titanium, or other metal (whose reduction is difficult) are made
on the bottom of a blast furnace mixtures of metallic or mineral
substances reduced to dust must be mixed as well as possible with
melting agents such as lime, magnesia, fluor-spa, alkali, or alkaline
earths, and reducing substances, such as carbon. These dusts take up
much space, are not easily penetrated by heat, and if allowed to remain
quiescent the operation is not regular, the reduction being quicker in
those parts that are most exposed to heat, so that the alloy in some parts
is in a state of fusion, whereas in others it is still in its primitive state.
Again when stirring these substances in a melted state the work is very
difficult, and the bottom layers are not brought to the top however
careful the workman may be.
In order to remedy these objections I propose to stir the mixture in a
melted state by mechanical means, and for that purpose employ a
revolving furnace of by preference the kind used by Messieurs Danks
and Siemens for the production of iron from pig iron or ores.
The following is an example of the way I fit up the apparatus:--Two
large rings of cast iron, with teeth on their circumference, and a plane
surface for rollers are fitted on a cylinder of wrought or cast iron, having
in its centre two axles. This arrangement constitutes the revolving
furnace. This furnace rests by its plane surface on a system of rollers
held by journals bolted on a cast-iron frame, which moves in a hori-
zontal plane parallel to the axis of rotation, and is kept in its place by
guides. Motion is given to it by a screw, a screw jack, or hydraulic
power.
Two pinions resting on the same frame receive motion from a motor
of any convenient kind, and transmit it by the rings to the furnace
itself. One of the sides of the revolving furnace is arranged to come
against the fixed part where the flame is produced. This part may be
either an ordinary grate receiving the heat direct or the whole of the
fire-holes similar to the Siemens regenerator. The other side of the
furnace is closed by a plate lined like the cylinder, and having a central
aperture of sufficient size to allow of the furnace being charged. This
aperture is generally closed by a door. Another smaller aperture is

page_text: provided for the melted metal to run out. The lining of the apparatus,
which is an operation of the highest importance, is performed in different
ways as the nature of the alloy may require. It can be made either of
carbon, lime, magnesia, alumina, or silica.
.
5 I will now proceed to describe the method of lining a furnace with
carbon, as this is the most difficult to perform. The cylindrical cupola
is lifted up by a crane and its trunions placed on the ground in a
vertical position. A cast-iron mould is then inserted into the cupola,
the exterior of which corresponds with the interior of the furnace. A
Oslightly heated and thick mixture of tar, pitch, or any other liquid hydro-
carbon, with finely powdered coke free from cinders, pure natural or
artificial graphite, or pure anthracite is rammed down between the two
casings. The two extremities of the furnace are closed up by means of
two plates bolted together, and the whole is then passed over a small fire
5 to which the interior of the mould serves as a chimney. The gaseous
parts escape through the fissures of the apparatus, the mass swells, filling.
up all the hollow parts, and when the escape of gases has ceased the
apparatus is taken away from the fire; the plate and interior mould are
then removed, and the lining presents itself in the shape of a solid mass
without flaws or fissures. Specially made bricks could also be used, but
owing to the great amount of joints fissures might present themselves,
through which the metal would pass.
The apparatus lined as above described is placed on the rollers and
brought by a horizontal motion into contact with the furnace, the only
space allowed being that required for the free working of the apparatus,
and heat is then applied. When the action of the heat has acted
sufficiently the apparatus is removed a distance of about 4 to 6 inches,
and a register made of bricks, held together by a cast or wrought-iron
frame, is lowered. This frame fills up the space between the fire and
the bottom of the cylinder. This precaution is necessary to prevent the
dust entering the regenerating chambers and destroying the bricks. This
done the furnace is then charged in the following way:-The door is
opened, and by means of a shovel similar to that used by glass makers
for charging their crucibles the mixture which has been prepared before.
hand is introduced. The door is then shut, the register opened, and the
bottom placed in contact with the fire, which is pushed to a great heat.
A slow rotary motion is then given to the furnace by which the masses

page_text: are successively brought into contact with the flame and likewise the
bottom of the furnace, where the metal agglomerates.
In order to hasten this last operation I find it advantageous when the
reduction is supposed to be finished to introduce into the furnace a small
quantity of cast iron of good quality and of the same nature as the
alloy which is being made, or some of the alloy itself.
The operation is considered finished when all the dust has disappeared
and a liquid mass of metal obtained, on which floats a melted scoria.
The motion is still kept up in order that the granulated parts may be
taken up, after which it is stopped. The metal runs out by the aperture
provided for that purpose, and the apparatus is tilted slightly by means
of the crane so as to empty it perfectly.
When empty the furnace is repaired through the door by which it is
charged or through the heating openings through which all the parts
may be easily got at.
The heat which is applied to the apparatus can either come from an
ordinary grate or from one of Siemens' gazogenes filled by the products
of the distillation of wood, peat, or residues of any kind, or from a
gazogene containing compressed air, consuming non-gaseous fuel, such
as coke or anthracite.
The advantages obtained by this improved rotary furnace are as
follows: The operation is quickened and the masses are all simul-
taneously exposed to the maximum of heat. The loss is very small
owing to the masses being constantly mixed up and the metallic parts-
coming necessarily into contact with the bottom of the furnace, where
they are retained, and since the operation is rendered quicker than
heretofore economy in fuel is effected. The lining of carbon also lasts
longer owing to all its parts getting covered with a varnish formed by
the scoria, and is thus preserved from the oxidizing effects of the gases.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Browne in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th January 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
BROWNE, of the Firm of Browne and Company, Patent Agents, of 5,
Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters Patent, bearing
date the Fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alexander Browne, Her special licence that I, the said Alexander Browne,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alexander Browne, my exécutors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thercafter 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 FERRO-MANGANESE AND OTHER
METALLIC ALLOYS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE," a communication
from abroad by the Foundries and Forges Company of Terre Noire La
Voulte and Bessege, in the French Republic, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Browne, 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 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 Alexander Browne, 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, that is to say :-
When alloys or combinations of iron with manganese, silicium,
tungsten, titanium, or other metal (whose reduction is difficult) are

page_text: made on the bottom of a blast furnace mixtures of metallic or mineral
substances reduced to dust must be mixed as well as possible with
melting agents such as lime, magnesia, fluor-spa, alkali or alkaline
earths, and reducing substances such as carbon. These dusts take up
much space, are not easily penetrated by heat, and if allowed to remain
quiescent the operation is not regular, the reduction being quicker in
those parts that are most exposed to heat, so that the alloy in some parts
is in a state of fusion, whereas in others it is still in its primitive state.
Again when stirring these substances in a melted state the work is very
difficult, and the bottom layers are not brought to the top however
careful the workman may be.
In order to remedy these objections I propose to stir the mixture in a
melted state by mechanical means, and for that purpose to employ a
revolving furnace of by preference the kind used by Messrs. Danks and
Siemens for the production of iron from pig iron or ores.
The following is an example of the way I fit up the apparatus :---
Two large rings of cast iron, with teeth on their circumference, and a
plane surface for rollers are fitted on a cylinder of wrought or cast iron,
having in its centre two axles. This arrangement constitutes the
revolving furnace. This furnace rests by its plane surface on a system
of rollers held by journals bolted on a cast-iron frame which moves in a
horizontal plane parallel to the axis of rotation, and is kept in its place
by guides. Motion is given to it by a screw, a screw jack, or hydraulic
power.
Two pinions rotating on the same frame receive motion from a motor
of any convenient kind and transmit it by the rings to the furnace itself.
One of the sides of the revolving furnace is arranged to come against
the fixed part where the flame is produced. This part may be either an
ordinary grate receiving the heat direct or the whole of the fire-holes
similar to the Siemens' regenerator. The other side of the furnace is
closed by a plate lined like the cylinder and having a central aperture of
sufficient size to allow of the furnace being charged. This aperture is
generally closed by a door. Another smaller aperture is provided for
the melted metal to run out. The lining of the apparatus, which is an
operation of the highest importance, is performed in different ways as
the nature of the alloy may require. It can be made either of carbon,
lime, magnesia, alumina, or silica.

page_text: I will now proceed to describe the method of lining a furnace with
carbon, as this is the most difficult to perform. The cylindrical cupola
is lifted up by a crane and its trunion placed on the ground in a
vertical position. A cast-iron mould is then inserted into the cupola,
the exterior of which corresponds with the interior of the furnace. A
slightly heated and thick mixture of tar, pitch, or any other liquid hydro-
carbon, with finely powdered coke free from cinders, pure natural or
artificial graphite, or pure anthracite is rammed down between the two
casings. The two extremities of the furnace are closed up by means of
two plates bolted together, and the whole is then passed over a small fire
to which the interior of the mould serves as a chimney. The gaseous
parts escape through the fissures of the apparatus, the mass swells filling
up all the hollow parts, and when the escape of gases has ceased the
apparatus is taken away from the fire, the plate and interior mould are
then removed, and the lining presents itself in the shape of a solid mass
without flaws or fissures. Specially made bricks could also be used, but
owing to the great amount of joints fissures might present themselves
through which the metal would pass.
.
The apparatus lined as above described is placed on the rollers and
brought by a horizontal motion into contact with the furnace, the only
space allowed being that required for the free working of the apparatus,
and heat is then applied. When the action of the heat has acted
sufficiently the apparatus is removed a distance of about 4 to 6 inches,
and a register made of bricks held together by a cast or wrought-iron
frame is lowered. This frame fills up the space between the fire and
the bottom of the cylinder. This precaution is necessary to prevent the
dust entering the regenerating chambers and destroying the bricks. This
done the furnace is then charged in the following way:-The door is
opened, and by means of a shovel similar to that used by glass makers
for charging their crucibles the mixture which has been prepared before-
hand is introduced. The door is then shut, the register opened, and the
bottom placed in contact with the fire, which is pushed to a great heat.
A slow rotary motion is then given to the furnace by which the masses
are successively brought into contact with the flame and likewise the
bottom of the furnace where the metal agglomerates.
In order to hasten this last operation I find it advantageous when the
reduction is supposed to be finished to introduce into the furnace a small

page_text: quantity of cast iron of good quality and of the same nature as the
alloy which is being made, or some of the alloy itself.
The operation is considered finished when all the dust has disappeared
and a liquid mass of metal obtained, on which floats a melted scoria.
The motion is still kept up in order that the granulated parts may be
taken up, after which it is stopped. The metal runs out by the aperture
provided for that purpose, and the apparatus is tilted slightly by means
of the crane so as to empty it perfectly.
When empty the furnace is repaired through the door by which it is
charged or through the heating opening, through which all the parts
may be easily got at.
The heat which is applied to the apparatus can either come from an
ordinary grate or from one of Siemens' gazogenes filled by the products
of the distillation of wood, peat, or residues of any kind, or from a
gazogene containing compressed air, consuming non-gaseous fuel, such
as coke or anthracite.
The advantages obtained by this improved rotary furnace are as
follows: The operation is quickened and the masses are all simul-
taneously exposed to the maximum of heat. The loss is very small
owing to the masses being constantly mixed up and the metallic parts
coming necessarily into contact with the bottom of the furnace, where
they are retained, and since the operation is rendered quicker than
heretofore economy in fuel is effected. The lining of carbon also lasts
longer owing to all its parts getting covered with a varnish formed by
the scoria, and is thus preserved from the oxiding effects of the gasses.
Having now-described and set forth the nature and object of this
Invention for "Improvements in the Manufacture of Ferro-Manganese
and other Metallic Alloys, and in Apparatus for that Purpose," and the
means by which it may be carried into practical effect, I would remark
in conclusion that I hereby declare this Invention to consist in, and I
claim,-
First. The application of a revolving furnace heated by gas or other
means to the manufacture of ferro-manganese and all other metallic
alloys.
Second. The manner of lining this furnace with carbon, magnesia,
lime, alumina, or silica.

page_text: Third. The special arrangement which permits repairs to be made
with facility whilst the furnace is being charged, substantially as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Browne, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.