IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE ART OR PROCESS OF REDUCING IRON AND OTHER ORES, THE PRODUCTION OF STEEL, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE PRACTICE OF THE SAME
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Norman. Willis Wheeler, of the City of New
York, in the United States of America, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE ART OR PROCESS OF REDUCING IRON AND OTHER ORES,
THE PRODUCTION OF STEEL, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE PRACTICE OF THE
SAME."
Scaled the 17th November 1874, and dated the 26th May 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Norman Willis Wheeler
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th May 1874.
I, NORMAN WILLIS WHEELER, of the City of New York, in the
United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ART OR PROCESS OF REDUCING IRON AND
OTHER ORES, THE PRODUCTION OF STEEL, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE PRACTICE OF
THE SAME," to be as follows:
The ore in the form of sand or powder is showered down a shaft, whose
upper part is filled with a column of flame, and the lower part with a
column of carbon gases (chiefly carbonic oxide), so that as the fine
"

page_text: particles of ore fall through the flame they become heated to fusion or
incandescence, and entering and falling through the carbon gas column
they impart their oxygen to the carbon gas and thus fall in a reduced
state upon a receiving hearth or crucible at the bottom of the shaft. By
regulating the height and richness of the carbon gas column neutral
iron, steel, or carbonated iron might be produced at will, that is to say,
the ore is preheated when falling through flame and reduced while
falling through cooler carbon gases.
The apparatus for the practice of the process is composed of a vertical
shaft of suitable height and area rising from one end of a furnace or
oven resembling an ordinary reverberatory furnace. This is provided
with a receiving hearth and a balling hearth; the former is placed
directly under the shaft to receive the falling metal the latter is placed
at its side and under the arch of the oven. A door is formed at the
receiving hearth through which tools may be inserted to transfer the
metallic mass from the receiving hearth to the balling hearth, whero
At the end of
the balling process is performed in the usual manner.
the furnace opposite that from which the shaft rises is an inlet for the
admission of the combustible gas and an inlet for air. At about half
the height of the shaft its sides are perforated with a series of holes to
admit air for the combustion of the gas column, and at a considerable
distance above this openings are formed in the shaft through which the
ore enters in a shower from the feeding apparatus consisting of a series
of hoppers and a rotating peripheral chambered drum.
In the process of reduction the gas is admitted through the inlet,
passes through the oven, and rises in the shaft to the level of the com-
bustion air holes where it is ignited; the ore is then showered into the
shaft and falls through the double atmosphere of flame and carbon gas.
By reason of the great surface relatively to the mass of each particle
of ore it becomes sufficiently heated during the time of its fall through
the column of flame to enter the column of carbon gas in the best con-
dition for yielding up its oxygen during the time of its further fall
through the carbon gas column to the hearth or crucible. When a
sufficient mass has accumulated on the receiving hearth it is transferred
to the balling hearth, the ore shower stopped, and air admitted to the
oven to produce flame over the balling hearth. when the process of
balling takes place in the usual manner. The required quantity of flux

page_text: is either mixed with the ore and showered into the shaft with it or is
fed into the shaft by a separate apparatus.
My process of making carbon steel consists in showering iron ore
down through the double atmosphere of flame and carbon gas into a
bath of carbonated iron, and I produce chrome steel by showering the
ores of chromium and iron in proportionate quantities through the
double atmosphere mentioned into a bath of molten metal.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Norman Willis Wheeler in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th November 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NORMAN
WILLIS WHEELER, of the City of New York, in the United States of
America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Norman Willis Wheeler,
Her special licence that I, the said Norman Willis Wheeler, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Norman Willis Wheeler, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ART OR PROCESS OF REDUCING IRON
AND OTHER ORES, THE PRODUCTION OF STEEL, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE PRACTICE
OF THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Norman Willis Wheeler, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Norman Willis Wheeler, 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, that is to say.:-
Ore in the form of sand or powder is let fall in a shower down a shaft
having the upper part filled with a column of heating, or heating and
oxidizing flame, and the lower part filled with a column of reducing gases
so that the particles fall through the flame, and during such fall become
heated to fusion or incandescence, and afterwards entering and falling
through the reducing gas column yield up their oxygen to the.carbon or
hydrogen, and thus fall in. a reduced state into a hearth or crucible at
the bottom of the shaft. By regulating the height, speed, or richness of
the reducing gas column neutral iron or carbonated iron may be pro-
duced at will from iron ore, that is to say, the ore is prehcated when
falling through flame and reduced while falling through reducing gases;
for instance, such gases as are the result of the distillation or incomplete
combustion of coals.
An apparatus adapted to the reduction and treatment of iron ore by
this process is figured in the accompanying Drawings, in which Figure 1
shows an end elevation of an improved metallurgical furnace; Figure 2,
a sectional elevation of the same; and Figures 3 and 4 details of parts
thereof.
:
The apparatus is chiefly composed of a vertical shaft A of suitable
height and area rising from one end of a furnace or oven B resembling
an ordinary reverberatory furnace; this is provided with a receiving
hearth A¹ and a balling hearth B'; the former is placed under the shaft A
to receive the falling metal, and the latter is placed under the arch of
the oven B. A door d is seen at the receiving hearth through which
tools may be put to manipulate or transfer the metallic mass to the
balling hearth, where the sponge is balled up as in a common puddling
furnace. A gas conduit a connects the furnace with any known
description of reducing gas producer, preferably a natural gas well, or
an apparatus which generates reducing gas by the incomplete combustion a
of coal. An air inlet 6 also opens into the furnace B. and is provided
with the door. i whereby.to regulate the supply of air so as to produce

page_text: the requisite carbonating or oxydizing flame by the burning of the
incoming gas in the oven B or to prevent combustion by the exclusion_
of air. The furnace B is fitted with a door c and other appurtenances.
like a common puddling furnace. At about half the height of the
shaft A its sides are perforated with a series of holes g, g, protected from
the disturbing action of wind by the shield h. The function of these
holes g, g, is to admit an indraught of air for the complete combustion
of the reducing gases as they rise to the level of g, g, thus changing
what would otherwise be a continuation of the rising column of reducing:
gas to a rising column of heating or heating and oxydizing flame.
At a considerable distance above the combustion holes g, g, are scen
inclined openings through the walls of the shaft A, through which
granulated ore is fed by the feeding machines D, D, so as to fall in a
shower to the bottom of the shaft. Each feeding machine D consists of
a drum m with peripheral chambers mounted so as to be revolved within
the hopper and so close to the narrow opening in the bottom of the:
hopper that sand contained in ⁄ will not run out while m is at rest, but
so arranged that while m is revolving the chambers will be filled as they
pass under t, and spill their contents afterwards into the hopper 7, whence.
the granulated material will fall through an opening o in the bottom of
into the hopper n, and thence through the feeding holes f. It will be
observed that there is an opening in the top of the hopper nat so dis-
posed that any obstruction which may be formed in may be readily.
cleared away with a bar, and also arranged in such manner that the
natural indraught of air through f and n will cross the opening o and
tend to break up any loosely compacted lumps of passing ore and con-
tribute to the scattering of the granulated orc over the area of the
shaft A. The drums m are to be geared to a steam engine or other
motor and the rate of orc feed regulated by the speed of the motor at the
will of thc attendant..
!
E, E, indicates feeding machines of similar construction and mode of
operation to D, D, the function of which is to feed granulated fluxing
material or reagents into the shaft A at e, c. When the work so requires
the flux feeding machines E, E, and flux ports e, e, may be located
above g, g, so that the flux may be subject to the action of flame. Care
should be taken to so cuclose the machines E, E, as to prevent the
admission of air along with the flux when c opens into that part of the

page_text: shaft occupied by the reducing gas. C, C, is a framework crccted around
the shaft A to support auxiliary apparatus, and convenient platforms for
workmen.
°
In the process of reduction the gas is first burned in the oven B until
the oven and shaft A are properly heated, when the door is closed and
very little or no air is admitted below g, g. The flow of gas upwards
within the shaft A and its ignition at g, g, establishes the requisite double
atmosphere of flame over reducing gas in the shaft A. The feeding'
machines are then started and the speed properly regulated, as are also
the flux feeding machines. Granulated ore thus falling through the
flame in a shower with the particles separate from each other presents
an immense relative surface to the licating action of the flame, and the
time required for fusion is therefore very short, so that each separate`
particle falls out of the flame and into the reducing gas column in a
highly heated or fused state, and again presents a very large relative
surface to the action of the reducing gas, so that both the preheating
of the ore and the gasification or burning of the oxygen contained in it
is accomplished as soon as or before the particles have had time to fall
through the distance from the feeding holes to the hearth.
It will be understood upon reflection that the smaller particles because
they require a shorter time of exposure for their reduction will be not
only freed from oxygen but carbonated, and that the large particles will
be broken into smaller pieces by reason of the sudden heat acting upon
them, while many will be too small to be broken up by falling into the
flame and yet too large to be completely reduced during the fall, and
hence will reach the hearth as metal shells enveloping cores of the
original oxide. But the heights of flame and gas columns and rate of
feeding ore may be so regulated as to make the average composition of
the sponge equal to neutral iron, and if the mass be exposed to sufficient
heat to melt the slag the intimately mixed particles of carbonated and
oxydized iron will release their impurities, and the carbon and oxygen
burn together, as happens when the oxygen of the fettling and carbon
of cast iron meet together upon the puddling hearth. But in practice
it is thought better to under carbonate the iron sponge, so that a little of
the original oxide remain in the mass, to be hammered or squeezed out
as slag, not only because much impurity will go with it, but for the
reason that a considerable variation of the conditions of reduction will

page_text: P་པསསཔ་ την προπό
curately burned to pre
heat the ore.
For convenience of balling it will be well to provide a damper at the
top of the shaft A, and means for closing all apertures in the sides, and
also to connect the inlet b with a fan, making the inlet in the form of
one or more nozzles or tuyeres, so that a blast through them will carry
the gas over the bridge of the oven B by lateral action, and when the
damper is partly closed establish a plenum of pressure within B, so that
air may not be drawn in through either of the furnace doors when
opened. It is easy to conceive of a reducing apparatus based upon this
idea of a double atmosphere and ore shower combined with a regenerating
apparatus, so as still further to economisc fuel. If carbon steel be the
product sought I begin with a bath of carbonated iron, fused and kept
fused by the occasional firing of the gas in the oven.
The proper regu-
lation of the gases, and the shower usually gives the desired degree of
carbonation to the product which falls into the bath; but beyond that
all the devices for correcting the work by addition of wrought or cast
iron, as the case may require, as by the "
open hearth"
process arc
available. If oxides of chromium and iron are showered down in the
reducing shaft in proper relative proportions chrome steel is produced,
for the reason that iron alloyed with chromium may be melted in contact
with oxide of iron with little loss of chromium; the sponge may be
under carbonated, as for neutral iron, and the excess of oxide, lcft to
separate from the bath, so that impurities may be thus climinated.
Should any charge be found deficient in chromium, or the reverse, the
defect is remedied either by changing the relative rates of feeding the
iron and chromium ores, or by adding to the bath highly chromated or
neutral iron, as the case may require.
In the treatment of metals which do not require balling, and which
need to be kept fused after reduction, the admission of air at the foot.of
the reducing shaft may be continous, but restricted, so that only enough
gas be burned to keep up the requisite heat, in which case the oven B
may be omitted or replaced by a removable crucible in the place of the
receiving hearth, as before described, or by a partly spherical enlarge-
ment of the base of the shaft A and the air jets, be directed tangentially
to cause a whirling of the flame under the reverberating surface.
The burning of a small part of the reducing gas for heating purposes

page_text: does not destroy the double atmosphere above described, but simply
dilutes the reducing gas by a mixture of carbonic acid.
When a greater height of flame column is desired than results from
the arrangements described the flame column may be supplemented by
a blast of pulverized fuel and air blown into the shaft A above 9, g. .
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
1. The process herein described for obtaining metals from the ores
thereof, namely, the showering of granulated orc downwards through a
double atmosphere, consisting of a column of heating or heating and
oxydizing flame of adequate height for the preheating of the ore over
a column of reducing gas of adequate height for the reduction of the
greater part thereof.
2. The process herein described of treating crude metal which has
been reduced by showering through a double atmosphere, consisting of
a column of flame over a column of reducing gas, namely, by trans-
ferring it to the oven B, and therein exposing it to the action of flame
produced and controlled, as herein-before described. .
3. The process herein described of making carbon steel, namely, by
showering granulated iron ore downwards through a double atmosphere,
consisting of a column of flame over a column of reducing gas, and
receiving the same in a bath of molten metal, as herein-before
described.
4. The process herein described, of making chrome steel, namely, by
showering the ores of iron and chromium in definite relative quantities
downwards through a double atmosphere, consisting of a column of
flame over a column of reducing gas, as herein-before described.
5. The combination of the reducing shaft A having the combustion
holes g, g, with the gas conduit a, as herein-before described.
6. The combination of the ore feeding machines D, D, with the
reducing shaft A; as herein-before described.
7. The combination of the flux feeding machines E, E, with the
reducing shaft A, as herein-before described.

page_text: 8. The combination of the oven or furnace B with the gas conduit a;.
and reducing shaft A, as herein-before described.
9. The combination of the full combustion holes or ports 9, 9, and
feeding holes ff, in the reducing shaft A, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Norman Willis Wheeler, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of October,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
NORMAN WILLIS WHEELER.
(L.S.)