IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL FROM THE CINDERS AND REFUSE OF PUDDLING AND OTHER FURNACES, AND FROM CERTAIN KINDS OF ORES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Davies, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's
Inn, in the County of Middlesex, and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the
City of Glasgow, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL FROM THE CINDERS
AND REFUSE OF PUDDLING AND OTHER FURNACES, AND FROM CERTAIN KINDS OF
ORES." A communication from abroad by Antoine Leonard Fleury, of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America.
-
Sealed the 16th February 1864, and dated the 28th August 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Davies at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th August 1863.
I, GEORGE DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of
Middlesex, and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the City of Glasgow, Civil
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL FROM THE CINDERS
AND REFUSE OF PUDDLING AND OTHER FURNACES, AND FROM CERTAIN KINDS OF ORES,"
(a communication to me from abroad by Antoine Leonard Fleury, of Phila-
delphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America,) to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in utilizing the cinders and refuse of puddling and
other furnaces and siliceous ores by mixing with the pulverized cinders, or
with pulverized siliceous ores, unslacked lime, and sufficient water to slacken
or hydrate the lime, and reduce the whole to a doughy mass, which, after
being formed into bricks or blocks of suitable size, is subject to the treatment

page_text: substantially as described hereafter, in a cupola, puddling, or other furnace for
conversion into iron or steel.
The Invention further consists in dissolving in the water mixed with the
said cinders or ore and lime any chlorine salt which will serve to expel
whatever sulphur, phosphorus, arsenic, or silicon may exist as impurities in
the iron.
The cinder or refuse is in the first instance pulverized in any suitable mill
or apparatus, and is either mixed with the lime while the latter is undergoing
the process of slacking, or the cinder and lime may be mixed together in a
dry state, and the necessary quantity of water subsequently applied. In either
case the cinder will be in contact with the lime while the latter is undergoing
the process of slacking or conversion into hydrate, and this is of the utmost
importance, inasmuch as the lime has a strong affinity for and (especially
when undergoing the process of hydration) readily combines with silica,
which is always present in large quantities in the cinder or refuse. By this
admixture of the lime with the cinder a double silicate of lime and iron
is formed.
The proportion of lime to be mixed with the cinder or refuse, or ore, and
the subsequent treatment depends on the use which is to be made of the
cinder; the following may, however, be taken as an example :-When
employed as a substitute for the iron ore which is now used in admixture
with pig iron in the puddling furnaces, there should be mixed with the
pulverized cinder or refuse from ten to fifteen per cent. of powdered unslacked
lime, and from ten to fifteen per cent. of clay, and after the whole has been
made into a paste with water, it is formed into bricks, slabs, blocks, or other
suitable pieces, which are then dried and fed into the puddling furnace in the
same manner as the ore, in proportions varying from ten to forty per cent. by
weight of the pig iron. In this instance the clay is used simply to render. the
mass harder, and to protect the furnace.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed s
by the said George Davies in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th February 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the City of Glasgow, Civil Engineer and 3
Patent Agent, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said George Davies, Her special license that I, the said
George Davies, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said George Davies, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL FROM THE CINDERS AND REFUSE
OF PUDDLING AND OTHER FURNACES, AND FROM CERTAIN KINDS OF ORES," being &
communication to me from abroad by Antoine Leonard Fleury, of Phila-
delphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George Davies, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under the
hand and seal of one of them, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 George Davies, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in utilizing the cinders and refuse of puddling and
other furnaces and silicious ores by mixing with the pulverized cinders, or
with pulverized silicious ores, unslacked lime, and sufficient water to slacken
or bydrate the lime, and reduce the whole to a doughy mass, which, after
being formed into bricks or blocks of suitable size, is subjected to the treat-
ment substantially as described hereafter, in a cupola, puddling, or other
furnace for conversion into iron or steel.
The Invention further consists in dissolving in the water mixed. with the
said cinders, or ore and lime, any chlorine salt which will serve to expel
whatever sulphur, phosphorus, arsenic, or silicon may exist as impurities in
the iron.
The cinder or refuse is in the first instance pulverized in any suitable mill
or apparatus, and is either mixed with the lime while the latter is undergoing

page_text: the process of slacking, or the cinder and lime may be mixed together in
a dry state, and the necessary quantity of water subsequently applied. In
either case the cinder will be in contact with the lime while the latter is
undergoing. the process of slacking or conversion into hydrate, and this is of
the utmost importance, inasmuch as the lime has a strong affinity for, and,
especially when undergoing the process of hydration, readily combines with
silica, which is always present in large quantities, in the cinder or refuse. By
this admixture of the lime with the cinder a double silicate of limo and iron
is formed.
The proportion of lime to be mixed with the cinder or refuse, or ore, and
the subsequent treatment depends on the uso which is to be made of the
cinder. The following are some of its most important uses, and the manner
in which they are effected.
First, as a substitute for the iron ore which is now used in admixture.with
pig iron in the pudilling furnaces. When used for this purpose there, should
be mixed with the pulverized cinder or refuse from ten to fifteen per cent. of
powdered unslacked.lime, and from ten to fifteen per cent. of clay, and after
the whole has been made into a paste with water it is formed into bricks,
slabs, blocks, or other suitable pieces, which are then dried and fed into the
puddling furnace in the same manner as the ore, in proportions varying from
ten to forty per cent. by weight of the pig iron. In this instance the clay is
used simply to render the mass harder, and to protect the furnace.
Second, for the conversion of the iron contained in the cinder or refuse into
wrought iron or steel in the puddling furnace, there should be added to tho
cinder or refuse from five to twenty-five per cent. of lime, according to the
proportion of silica which may be present in the cinder; then the whole
should be pulverized, and for the purpose of bringing the mixture to a stiff
paste there should be added sufficient water in which there has been dissolved
chloride of sodium, calcium, potassium, iron, or other chlorine salt, in the
proportion of from two to ten per cent. by weight of the cinder or refuse.
The paste thus formed is made into. bricks, blocks, or slabs, and after having
been dried is put into the furnace and treated like pig iron.
Third, for working the cinder in a blast furnace or cupola to produce pig
or cast iron. To the last specified mixture while in a pasty state is added, in
the proportion of from twenty to twenty-five per cent. of the cinder, either
coal dust, wood sawdust, tar refuse, or other hydrocarbon or carbonaceous-
substance. This mixture after having been dried is charged into the blast
furnace or cupola, and therein reduced to the condition for casting into pigs
or other forms. The last-described mixture may be treated in any air furnace

page_text: suitable for the conversion of iron into steel, and thereby made to produce a
good quality of cast steel. Rich silicious ores may be treated with unslacked
lime in either of the modes herein-before described. It will be understood
that steam may be used in place of water for hydrating the lime, and that
heated air or heated steam may be used for drying the mass with rapidity.
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention "for
Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel from the Cinders and
Refuse of Puddling and other Furnaces, and from certain Kinds of Ores,"
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or
carried into practical effect, I would remark, in conclusion, that I claim as
the Invention communicated to me by the above-named Antoine Leonard
Fleury,
Firstly, utilizing the cinders or refuse of puddling and other furnaces and
silicious ores by treating the same with unslacked lime and water, or its
equivalent, substantially as described, prior to subjecting the said cinders,
refuse, or ores to puddling or other furnaces.
Secondly, the use, substantially as described, of any chlorine salt in con-
nection with the said cinders or refuse, or silicious ores, for the purpose
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Davies, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
GEORGE DAVIES. (L.S.)