AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Callender Hinde, of Dudley, in the County
of Worcester, Iron Merchant, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
Sealed the 15th March 1859, and dated the 23rd September 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Callender Hinde
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd September 1858.
I, THOMAS CALLENDER HINDE, of Dudley, in the County of Worcester,
Iron Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," to be
as follows:-
My said Invention consists in the use of muriatic acid or sulphuric acid,
or nitric acid applied as herein-after explained in the manufacture of iron
and steel.
In carrying my Invention into effect, I mix the said acids with common
salt or other analogous compound, and project the mixture upon the fused
iron in the puddling furnace. I prefer to introduce the mixture just as the
stage called boiling is coming on, but I do not limit myself to that particular
stage.
Although I prefer to apply the mixture in the puddling furnace, yet the
said mixture may be applied in the refinery or any furnace used for converting
or partially converting cast iron into wrought iron or steel.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Callender Hinde in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 19th March 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
CALLENDER HINDE, of Dudley, in the County of Worcester, Iron Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Callender Hinde, Her special licence that I, the said
Thomas Callender Hinde, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Thomas Callender Hinde, 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 Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
AND STEEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Callender Hinde, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, 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 calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Callender Hinde, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of the method or methods herein-after explained of
treating fused cast iron during the process or processes to which the said cast
iron is subjected in manufacturing therefrom either wrought iron or steel.
The method or methods of treating fused cast iron, which constitute my
Invention consist in the use of hydrochloric or muriatic acid, or sulphuric
acid, or nitric acid, applied in admixture with common salt or other analogous
compound, the said mixture of acid and salt being mixed with the said fused
cast iron.
In carrying my Invention into effect, I make a mixture of common salt
with hydrochloric or muriatic acid, or with sulphuric acid, or with nitric acid,

page_text: so much of either of the said acids being mixed with the salt as may be
necessary to make therewith a pasty mixture. When I use sulphuric acid, I
sometimes dilute the said acid with water to such a degree that no gas is
evolved when the sulphuric acid is mixed with the common salt at ordinary
temperatures. I project portions of the mixture of acid and salt into the
puddling furnace during the time that the puddling is being effected. I prefer
to introduce the mixture just as that stage called boiling is coming on, but
I do not limit myself to that particular stage. I prefer to add the said
mixture of acid and salt to the fused iron in the puddling furnace in the pro-
portion of two parts by weight of the said mixture to one hundred parts by
weight of the said iron, but I do not limit myself to these proportions.
Although I prefer to apply the mixture of salt and acid to the iron in the
puddling furnace, yet the said mixture may be applied to the iron when the
said iron is in the refinery, or in any other furnace used for converting or
partially converting cast iron into wrought iron or steel.
Although I prefer the use of common salt in carrying my Invention into
effect, yet I do not limit myself thereto, as any analogous substance may be
substituted for the said salt, that is to say, any substance which will yield
hydrochloric or muriatic acid gas under the same circumstances as common
salt. By treating fused cast iron according to my Invention, the quality of the
wrought iron or steel produced from the said cast iron is very much improved.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details described, as the same may be varied without
departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim as my Invention the
improvement or improvements in the manufacture of iron and steel herein-
before described, that is to say, treating fused cast iron during any of the
stages of its conversion into wrought iron or steel with common salt, or other
analogous substance mixed with bydrochloric or muriatic acid, or with
sulphuric acid, or with nitric acid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Callender Hinde, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
5 Witness,
LLEWELLYN ELIAS.
THOMAS CALLENDER HINDE. (L.S.)