IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF IRON AND. STEEL, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN; ALSO IN THE OBTAINING OF A CERTAIN AGENT EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE
Year: 1856

page_text: application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.).
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Victor Avril at the Office of the
.Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th October
1856..
I, VICTOR AVRIL, of Paris, in the French Empire, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF IRON AND. STEEL, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES TO BE
EMPLOYED THEREIN; ALSO IN THE OBTAINING OF A CERTAIN AGENT EMPLOYED IN
SUCH MANUFACTURE," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in effecting the reduction and smelting of iron
ore in blast furnaces, by means of currents or blasts of oxygen in a pure and
electrified state or state of ozone, or in the incipient or the most oxydating or
condensed condition (instead of atmospheric air), and in refining the crude or
cast iron and converting it into steel and malleable iron while still in the blast
furnace itself and in a liquid state, by means of blasts or currents of oxygen in
a.pure and electrified state or state of ozone, or in the incipient or the most
oxydating or condensed condition (without adding fuel).
My Invention also consists in improvements in the construction of. blast
furnaces in. order. to adapt them for my improvements, and. also in a method
of obtaining the oxygen in the state that I require for the objects of my
Invention.

page_text: I construct my improved furnaces in such manner that they may retain the
gases for a considerable time, and that draft may be diminished. The form of
the furnace in that part in which the reduction is effected is such, that the ex-
posure of the ore to contact with oxide of carbon may be direct and protracted.
I form the bearth or melting chamber of oolithic limestone. I reduce the
height of the furnace considerably, and give it an egg-shaped form (in its ver-
tical section) from the upper tuyeres to the mouth, its greatest circumference
or swell being about half-way between the top of the hearth and the mouth.
Two or more tuyeres, for the admission of the blast for the reduction of the ore,
open into the hearth near the top; below these tuyeres, in the lower part or at
the bottom of the hearth, two or more other tuyeres open for the admission
of the blasts for the refining, decarbonization, and conversion of the crude
metal into steel and malleable iron. I prefer to construct the under side or
part of the oxydating tuyeres where they are open into the hearth, and also the
bottom of the hearth, in such manner that they present parabolic curves.
When the reduction of the ore is to be effected, blasts of oxygen in a pure
and electrified state or in a state of ozone, or in an incipient.or the most oxy-
dating condition, are injected or forced through the upper tuyeres. When it
is desired to proceed to the conversion of the crude iron into steel or malleable
iron, these upper tuyeres are closed, the slags removed, and blasts or currents
of oxygen in a pure and electrified state, or in a state of ozone, or in an
incipient or the most oxydating condition, are forced in through the lower
tuyeres; these blasts agitate or heave up the crude metal, oxide of. carbon is
liberated, carbonic acid produced, and the casting is wholly or partially
decarbonized and converted into, steel or malleable iron.;
To obtain oxygen in the state I require various. methods may be adopted; one
method is to separate the oxygen from-the nitrogen in atmospheric.air. by fans,
constructed on the difference of the relative density between the two gases; or
oxygen may be. obtained by evaporating water by means of the waste gases:
from the furnace, and, conducting the steam into a receiver. in. which the
valves of the blowing machine open, or by. alternately.oxydizing. and deoxy-
dizing caustic baryta. But the method which I prefer to adopt, and which
forms a part of my present Invention, is to, collect. the carbonic acid or..car-
bonic acid gas
which escapes from the mouth of the furnace, and treat it with
potassium, whereby I obtain oxygen in what may be termed its incipient state,
which is well adapted for the purposes of my Invention. I hammer the metal
for the better expulsion of gases and foreign matters that may be contained
therein, and prefer to leave it to cool before converting it into.bars.
Blast furnaces constructed in the manner I have herein-before. described

page_text: may be employed in the manufacture of iron and steel, when oxygen not in
the states mentioned, or when any other agent is used, for the reduction of the
ore, or for its conversion into steel and malleable iron.
I also convert crude metal into malleable iron and steel while in a liquid
state in the blast furnace itself by means of blasts or currents of atmospheric
air forced into such furnace, and I reduce the ore and convert cast iron into
malleable iron and steel in the blast furnace by injecting together with the
blasts of atmospheric air a mixture of clay, chloride of sodium, and peroxide
of manganese in a state of powder.