A NEW MODE OF MAKING CAST STEEL AT ONE OPERATION OF A HOMOGENEOUS CHARACTER AND OF ANY DESIRED QUALITY
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Charles Bossé, of Quebec, in the Dominion
of Canada, but now residing at Lay's Hotel, Surrey Street, Strand,
in the County of Middlesex, Merchant, for the Invention of "A
NEW MODE OF MAKING CAST STEEL AT ONE OPERATION OF A HOMOGENEOUS
CHARACTER AND OF ANY DESIRED QUALITY."-A communication from
abroad by Louis La Breche Viger, of Montreal, in the Dominion of
Canada Esquire.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Henry Charles Bossé
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 25th January 1872, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
5 TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
CHARLES BOSSÉ, of Quebec, in the Dominion of Canada, but now
residing at Lay's Hotel, Surrey Street, Strand, in the County of Middle-
sex, Merchant, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "A NEW MODE Or
MAKING CAST STEEL AT ONE OPERATION OF A HOMOGENEOUS CHARACTER AND OF ANY
DESIRED QUALITY," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the
same, and have made solemn Declaration that I believe the said Invention
will be of great public utility, that it has been communicated to me
from abroad by Louis La Breche Viger, of Montreal, in the Dominion of
Canada, Esquire, and that the same is not in use by any other person or
persons.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Charles Bossé, 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), by the use of the admixture
in predetermined and definite proportions:―
First. Of pulverized plumbago, anthracite, or bituminous coal or coke
compressed into suitable forms or used in the loose state, with pulverized
iron ores or oxide of iron, and also with what is called magnetic iron
sand ore, with wrought-iron, iron scraps, iron shavings, iron clips, and with
what is styled iron or steel sponge, either in clay or other non-fusible
pots or crucible or in a reverberatory or other suitable furnace.
Second. Of powdered charcoal, compressed into suitable form, with
the above-mentioned .ores or oxide of iron, iron sand ore, wrought iron
scraps, shavings, clips, and sponge, in clay crucibles or other non-
fusible pots, and also of the same admixture, whether it be compressed
or used in the loose state, in a reverberatory or other suitable furnace.
The following is a description of the process :-
1. TO DETERMINE THE EXACT PROPORTION OF THE CARBON IN ANY ONE
OF THE ABOVE ADMIXTURES.
The manufacturer must have accurate analyses of the ores, iron sand
ore, and of the carbonaceous matter to be used, by which the quantities
of iron and oxygen present, and the amount and character of the
impurities of the ore, as well as the reliable amount of carbon and
impurities of the carbonaceous matter, are made known. Then, by
applying the well-known proportions which exist between the chemical
equivalents of iron, oxygen, and carbon to the given weights of iron
and oxygen present in the ore or oxide of iron, the quantity by weight

page_text: First. The particles of oxide of iron and carbon are brought nearly to
contact, and more convenient for reduction and carburization.

page_text: second. More matter Can
in crucibles, rendering thereby profitable an operation which could not
otherwise be so.
Third. The conduction of heat through the admixture is increased
and facilitated, whereby time is saved in reduction and fusion.
Fourth. When compressed the blocks may easily be coated to preserve
crucibles and furnace-hearths, which cannot so easily be accomplished
when the admixture is in a loose state.
To compress the admixture into blocks or bricks of any convenient
size, from one to eight per cent. of the weight of oxide of iron used
of wood-tar may be added to the admixture to cement it, careful account
being taken of the amount of carbon contained in the tar in the deter-
mination of proportions. This per-centage of wood-tar will be diminished.
as the degree of compression is increased. For small operations the
compression may be effected by manual labor; for extensive manufac-
ture by machinery, that of impact being best, one machine being capable
of compressing twenty tons per day.
If it be intended to use the admixture in a loose state, either in a
crucible or in a furnace, from one to five per cent. of pulverized plum-
bago should first be thoroughly mixed with the ore or oxide of iron, so
that each particle may receive a coating of carbon, after which any of
the above-mentioned carbons may be added, and the admixture completed
as before described.
Second. If the compressed admixture be used, after the blocks are
dried they should receive a light coating of dry plumbago, or plumbago
made into a thin paste with water. The amount of plumbago thus used
as coating in either case should be taken into account as forming a part

page_text: The oxide of iron, strongly heated in contact with silicious matters
readily combines with the silica, and thereby destroys any crucible
or furnace hearth exposed to its action.
By coating each particle of finely pulverized ore with that amount of
carbon sufficient to effect its reduction this affinity of the iron ore for
silica is neutralized, and silicious crucibles or furnace hearths may then
be used.
VII. TO USE THE ADMIXTURE IN CRUCIBLES.
In a loose state the admixture in which charcoal is the carbon should
never be used in crucibles. The volume of the charcoal would render
the product too inconsiderable for profitable manufacture; but when it'
is so used, or when the admixture as to carbon is plumbago, anthracite, or
bituminous coal or coke used in the same way, the crucible is filled,
covered, and heated until fusion takes place, when the steel is cast into
ingots; but, particularly in crucibles, it is preferable to use all the above-
named admixtures in a compressed state fitting the crucibles.
VIII. TO USE THE ADMIXTURE IN A FURNACE.
Crucible operations are of little consequence compared to those in a
furnace. For this process any heating, puddling, or gas furnace of any
kind may be used, and particularly the Siemens furnace. The bottom
or hearth of the furnace should be carefully made of silicious sand,
closely packed and slightly hollowed or dished on its surface, with a
gentle slope towards the tapping hole. When the hearth has been
glazed by a sufficient heat, the admixture, loose or in bricks, is charged.
If loose, the upper surface is leveled; if compressed, which is far pre-
ferable, the bricks cover the bottom closely, like a pavement.

page_text: other furnace cinder, or glass-making materials, so as to make when
melted a perfect covering of not less than one inch in depth. The
object of the covering is to prevent the reoxidation of the metal when
the flame is an oxidizing one, and its over carburization when the flame
is carburizing.

page_text: Gammons coat, Coned or in the natural state,
compressed or not, with pulverized iron ores, oxide or carbonate of iron,
iron sand, or iron, to make cast steel of any desired quality in one
3 operation.
3. The admixture in predetermined and definite proportions of pul-
verized plumbago, pulverized anthracite or bituminous coal, pulverized
coke compressed or not, with pulverized iron ores, oxide or carbonate of
iron, iron sand, wrought iron, iron scraps, shavings, clips, and sponge in
a crucible or in a reverberatory furnace, or reheating or puddling or air
furnace, or in what is called and known as a Siemens furnace, or in any
furnace heated by gas, to make cast steel of any desired quality in one
operation; the said mixture, if used in a furnace, to be covered or not
with a flux of glass or blast furnace or other furnace cinders, or with
glass-making materials, or with slabs of soapstone, or with tiles or fire-
bricks, or, if the ore or carbon used contains earthy matters, the slags
scoriæ which they will furnish may render other coverings unnecessary.
In a furnace heated by gas, if a neutral flame neither oxidizing nor
carburizing can be produced, no covering is required.
4. The admixture in predetermined and definite proportions of pul-
verized charcoal compressed with pulverized iron ores, oxide or carbonate
of iron, iron sand, and wrought iron or metalic iron of any description
in a crucible, to make cast steel of any desired quality in one operation.
5. The admixture in predeterminate and definite proportions of pul-
verized charcoal compressed or not, with iron ores, oxides or carbonates
of iron, iron sand, or with metallic iron of any description, in any of the
furnaces, and with or without the covering mentioned in No. 3 of this
claim, to make cast steel of any desired quality in one operation.
6. The above admixtures in the following proportions, viz., from two-
tenths of one per cent. to thirty per cent. and even thirty-five per cent.
of said carbons in weight of the ore used, or of the oxide of iron or
carbonate of iron, or iron according to the purity of the oxide.or car-
bonate of iron and of the carbon used, and according also to the quality
of the cast steel to be produced.

page_text: 7. The above admixtures, either in a loose or compressed state, with a
coating of plumbago or other carbonaceous matter in the manner and
for the purpose substantially as set forth in the foregoing Specification.
In witness whercof, I, the said Henry Charles Bossé, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
above-named Henry Charles Bossé
in the
presence of
A. H. DEBENHAM,
Solr.,
Salter's Hall Court,
E.C.
H. C. BOSSE. (L.S.)