IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL."-A communication
from abroad by Charles M. Nes, of York, Pennsylvania, United
States of America.
Sealed the 19th May 1874, and dated the 1st January 1874.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 1st January 1874, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,

page_text: unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters
Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that the said
Invention is communicated to me from abroad by Charles M. Nes, of
York, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of steel, either wrought or
cast, from ordinary pig or cast iron, by an admixture with the same of
pig iron made from magnetic silicide of iron ore, commonly called
codorus ore, or from said ore mingled with ordinary hematite or other
good iron ore, the said admixture of silicon pig iron and ordinary pig iron
being treated or worked substantially as herein described.
To enable others to understand and use the said Invention I shall
describe the manner in which I prefer to produce said silicon pig iron,
and state the characteristics of said product, and will then specify some
of the ways in which it may be employed with or without ordinary pig
for the production of steel.
The following is one method of producing the silicon pig to be used in
the after manufacture of steel :-I charge a blast furnace, cupola, or any
other suitable furnace for the manufacture of pig iron, with coal and
iron ore, in the usual proportions well known to iron manufacturers; but
in lieu of ordinary iron ore, I use for the ore charge an admixture of
equal or substantially equal parts of ordinary. hematite or other good.
iron ore, and the silicious magnetic or codorus ore. After charging the
furnace, I proceed to blow on the charge with a blast, such as is used in
ordinary smelting furnaces for the production of pig iron, and after the
charge has been reduced I run off the metal into pigs in the usual way.
The pig thus produced is what. I term "silicon pig," and is effectual for
the manufacture of steel, either separately or in combination with
ordinary pig iron. The silicon pig can also be made by simply melting
ordinary pig iron in the cupola, and stirring in from 15 to 20 per cent.
of the codorus ore in pulverized form.

page_text: Many other ways of making the pig will readily suggest themselves to
those practically experienced in iron manufacture. I wish to say that
the proportions above given may vary that more or less than stated of
ordinary ore, or pig or cast iron made from such ore may be mingled
with the codorus ore, and that the pig may, if desired, be made wholly
from the codorus ore, although this would not in the majority of cases be

page_text: feature of this Invention being the production of steel from an
admixture of the silicon pig with ordinary pig iron, or from the silicon
pig separately, the special form of apparatus in which these elements are
combined and treated being of course dependent in a measure upon the
quality of the product desired; (nor do I limit myself to the special
proportions of the mixture specified.
The quantity of silicon pig used with the ordinary pig will vary to
some extent according to the quality of the silicon pig. The pro-
portions I have given relate to a silicon pig made of equal or
substantially equal parts of good iron ore and codorus ore. Where
the silicon pig is made with less proportion of the codorus ore a greater
quantity of the pig will be needed to make steel, and on the other hand,
a less quantity of the silicon pig may be used for the purpose, when a
greater quantity of the codorus ore is used for making said pig.
The use of the silicon pig for steel making purposes derives great
importance from the fact that none of the crudities and impurities which
are so apt to remain in the mass when the codorus ore itself is mingled
with the ordinary pig or cast iron to be converted into steel, find their
way into the steel, or mass from which the steel is made, and a
better, more homogeneous, and finer product is thus more readily
obtained.
Another advantage is that the silicon pig can be made directly at or
in the immediate vicinity of the mines, and then transported to any
place or any works where it is to be used for the purpose of making
steel.
Under the methods now in use for the making of steel by means of
silicon ore, the ore itself must be transported to the place where it is to
be used for steel making, however distant that place may be from the
mines; but under this Invention this is remedied.
The silicon pig is equally as effective as, and in some respects better
than the codorus ore, is much less bulky, can be handled with greater
ease, and costs very much less to transport than the ore.
Having described the said Invention, what I claim and desire to
secure by Letters Patent is, the manufacture of steel from silicon pig

page_text: iron, either separately or in combination with ordinary pig or cast iron,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
my Complete Specification set my hand and seal, the First day
of January, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
"