NEW OR IMPROVED MODES AND MEANS FOR SMELTING ORES AND METALS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Archibald Ure, of the City of Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Ironfounder, for the Invention
of "NEW OR IMPROVED MODES AND MEANS FOR SMELTING ORES AND
METALS."
Scaled the 23rd April 1875, and dated the 6th February 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Archibald Ure at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th February 1875.
I, ARCHIBALD URE, of the City of Glasgow, in the County of
Ianark, North Britain, Ironfounder, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "NEW OR IMPROVED MODES AND MEANS FOR SMELTING
ORES AND METALS," to be as follows:-
This said Invention has reference to new or improved modes and
means for the smelting of iron ores or of cast iron or steel in ordinary
constructions of furnaces used therefor, whereby great saving of fuel or

page_text: coke is obtained by a better utilization of the heat in such operations and
furnaces than has been the case heretofore.
The nature and novelty of this Invention first consist in distributing
the air more uniformly round the furnace (than has been the case where
only two tuyeres have been employed) by the use of three, four, or more
tuyeres, and reducing their size to an area, which would give sufficient
air to burn the carbon (as, say from 30,000 to 40,000 cubic feet of air to
22 hundredweight of good coal coke and one ton of iron to be melted)
preferably using the air heated as usual in special furnaces for the
purpose, or in steel and iron re-melting furnaces or cupolas by passing
it through an annular chamber in the upper part of these furnaces (so as
to be heated therein by the escaping heat at this part) before being led
to the tuyeres.
And, secondly, in having or making the smelting part of the furnace
parallel or cylindrical from near the charging doors down to the tuyeres,
where that is not the case at present.
And, thirdly, in charging the coke or coal into the centre of the
furnace, and the ore and mineral or iron or steel to be melted are placed
round about the coke and between it and the side or wall of the furnace
in contradistinction to the usual mode of charging the coke and coal
into the middle of the furnace, and with very much less coke between the
charges of mineral and metal than is usual. The minimum of saving
reached by these improvements in foundry cupolas on which the
petitioner has experimented being 2%, hundredweight of coke per ton of
iron smelted as compared with from 5 to 7 hundredweight formerly
used.
Fourth. The coke or coal and iron may thus be charged into the
furnace in this new or improved manner in the centre and annularly
round the side respectively either by hand, otherwise in the usual
manner, or by having conducting spouts above the ordinary charging
door (preferably removable to prevent them from melting) angled to
insure the said conducting or charging of the coke into the centre,
while the iron is charged or thrown in at the usual door as stated, all
round the said charge of coke, and not in the centre, which is thus kept
lighter or more open and hot than by the old way of charging the.coke
and iron in the middle and leaving the side to be the hottest and most
open parts, which besides burning these, allowed much of the heat to

page_text: pass up and out of the furnace without being utilized, or otherwise a
hollow raising and lowering cone might be hung to an actuating lever
or other equivalent in the centre of the furnace in front of the charging
door, which after the coke was charged into the centre of the furnace as
stated (and by hand as usual) might be lowered on to the coke and the
broken metal or ore charged or thrown in, over, or above the cone, so
that it would conduct and distribute these annulary and regularly in the.
new manner round the furnace, otherwise all as before stated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Archibald Ure in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARCHIBALD
URE, of the City of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Ironfounder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Archibald Ure, Her
special licence, that I, the said Archibald Ure, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Archibald Ure,
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 Invention for
"NEW OR IMPROVED MODES AND MEANS FOR SMELTING ORES AND METALS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Archibald Ure, 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.

page_text: 50 to 75 per cent., namely, reducing the consumpt of coke to, say,
from one to one and a half hundredweights per ton of iron smelted.
Fourth. The coke or coal and iron may be alternately charged into
the furnace in this new or improved manner in the centre and annularly
round the side respectively either by hand (and otherwise in the usual
manner), or by having conducting spouts above the ordinary charging
door (preferably removable to prevent them from melting), angled to
insure the said conducting or charging of the coke into the centre, while
the iron is charged or thrown in at the usual door as stated all round the
said charge of coke and not in the centre, which is thus kept lighter or
more open and hot than by the old way of charging the coke and iron
over the middle and leaving the side or circumferential part to be the
hottest and most open part, which besides burning these, allowed much
of the heat to pass up and out of the furnace without being utilized.
Or, otherwise, a hollow raising and lowering cone might be hung to an
actuating lever or other equivalent in the centre of the furnace in front
of the charging door, which after the coke was charged into the centre
of the furnace as stated (and by hand as usual) might be lowered near
to the coke, and the broken metal or orc charged or thrown in over or
above the cone so that it would conduct and distribute these annularly
and regularly in the new manner round the furnace, otherwise all as
before stated.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I shall now
proceed to describe the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings
which I have hereunto appended to show this more clearly, as also the
mode of performing or putting the Invention into effect or practice, the
same reference letters indicating the same or equivalent parts in all the
Figures where shown.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 are respectively a vertical section and two hori-
zontal sections taken on the lines 1- - -1 and 2- - -2 in Figure 1 of a
cupola for smelting cast iron for foundries, constructed in accordance
with and illustrative of my said Invention, or new or improved modes
and means of or for smelting orcs and metals.
Referring to Figures 1, 2, and 3, A is the main pipe leading the
air to the cupola B from the fanners or other blowing apparatus or
engine through the cross or T pipe A', in this case placed below the
foundation part B' of the cupola and up through the two smaller vertical

page_text: pipes A", A³, and bends A", A³, exactly on opposite sides of the cupola
(but there might be three or more equally divided round for large
cupolas or furnaces), and fitted so as to lead the air into a new or
improved annular air space or duct 1 formed within and around the hot
brickwork B of the cupola a little above the upper part or level 6 (where
the molten metal reaches), and passes it equally in both directions from
the entering branches A¹¹, A³, and angled dividing points 1' round the
duct 1 so as to enter the four tuyers or blast nozzles a inserted at equal
distances apart through the brickwork B so as to direct the air from the
inside of the close air heating chamber 1 towards the inside and centre
(as indicated by the arrows in Figure 3) of the smelting part 2 of the
furnace or cupola which is made parallel or cylindrical, as indicated
at 2-2 from the lower sole plate or part B" upwards where the coke is
getting compressed with the weight of the charges above and the metal
is being melted, all so that the mass may glide easily down though
tight and yet fill this space 2- - -2 to prevent escape of flame or
heat. A part 2¹- - -2¹ near the charging door however is preferred to be
slightly tapered or hopper-shaped where the charges of coke and metal
are inserted and light to insure their perfectly filling the parallel
part 2-2. From the charging door B² and its binding plate B"
upwards, however, the outer walls and inside of the cupola B are con-
tracted towards the top binding plate or ring B³ all much in a usual
manner for the escape of permanent or non-consumed gases, although
by these improvements little or no flame is found to pass above the
charging door B². The outer circumferential surface or side 1" of this
new or improved air chamber is preferred to be formed or closed in by a
broad band of sheet iron 1" having apertures through it where the inlet
air branches A" and A' are attached or jointed, and are made with
round or other openings a¹ and swivelling or other equivalent closing in
doors a¹¹ opposite cach tuyer a for the cleaning out of these nozzles, or
for the removal and insertion of others when required, as shown in
Figure 3, and the partial side elevation Figure 4, of the air chamber
part 1.

page_text: The third or main improvement of this Invention has reference to
the system or mode of charging in the coke and iron or ore above the
lower part b, b, which is filled with coke to some distance above the
tuyers a, and then covering it with a thin layer of the broken pig metal
at b¹, so far in the usual manner, and consists in then filling in a charge
of coke 3 (say in the proportion of about a hundredweight of coke to
the ton of iron) in the centre of the cupola in a conical form, and then
in filling up the side parts at 2---2 and 2¹---2¹ with the charge of iron 3¹
over the coke in the proportion stated, alternately and respectively to
near the top or charging doorway B³, when the furnace will, as shown in
Figure 1, be ready for blowing, or in a working state for smelting the
ore in accordance with these improvements; and as these charges of
coke 3 and iron 3' subside down into the parallel part 2---2 of the
furnace, the subsequent charges of coke and iron are supplied alternately
in the improved manner described, in reference to those, 3 and 3¹, shown
in the parallel and upper tapered parts of the furnace 2---2 and
21 - 2', in Figure 3. I find that the coke and iron (or mineral) may be
charged in this improved manner under the third improvement of my
said Invention by hand, much in a usual manner, with the ordinary
shovel and other hand implements employed, only taking care to throw
in or charge the coke right into the centre of the cupola, when it will
roll down of itself in the form of the cone or hillock desired (and as
shown successively at 3, Figure 1), and then charging or throwing in
the pieces of iron (or ore) all round and over or into the inverted
annular conical space left for it near the sides or circumference of the
interior of the cupola.
But by a fourth improvement this now or improved way of
putting in or charging the coke and metal may be insured or facili-
tated by having a filler C hung within the cupola near the charging
door B³ of the conical shape, shown in red lines in Figure 1, for filling
in the coke in the centre in a heap, and then raising it out of the way
and filling in the iron, as before described, by hand into the hollow left
all round; or otherwise have the filler so that it could be inverted, as
shown in blue lines in Figure 5, to direct the pieces of iron into the
outer hollow left for them all round the central heap of coke; or other-
wise a duplex and inverted conical filler C, C, C¹, C¹, of the construction
shown in Figure 6 might be used, having the coke first filled into the

page_text: filler C, C, preferably by an angled spout D from a charging door above
the usual door B2, and then charging in the iron in pieces all round over
the inverted cone C, C', from the ordinary charging doors B², which
would spread the iron all round into the hollow space left for it over the
outer circumference of the coke, all in a more certain manner than by
hand or mere hand implements:
Although I have only shown my improvements as applied to a cupola
for the smelting of iron, it will be obvious that they are equally
applicable to and capable of being similarly applied and carried out in
blast furnaces for the smelting of ores, and in other furnaces for the
melting and refining of iron and steel.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed,
I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise details or
proportions of parts I have described and shown; neither on the other
hand do I desire to claim all the parts of cupolas herein described and
shown (as many of these may have been used heretofore) otherwise than
in connexion with my improvements as herein specified; but what I
.consider novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part'recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The general construction of cupolas or other furnaces for
treating and smelting iron or other metals or minerals, all substantially
as herein described and shown in the accompanying Drawings or any
mere modification thereof.
Second. The giving of a more uniform blast of air to cupolas and
other smelting furnaces by an annular air-heating space and regularly
divided tuyers leading therefrom into the interior of the furnace, all
substantially as herein described and shown in the accompanying
Drawings or any mere modification thereof.
Third. The filling in of the charges of coke or other fuel in the centre a
of cupolas or other smelting furnaces and the metal or mineral to be
smelted round the sides over the fuel, alternately and successively, all
substantially as and for the purposes herein described and shown in the
accompanying Drawings.
Fourth. The construction and arrangement of fillers or apparatus for a
charging the coke and iron or mineral into the cupola or furnace in the

page_text: improved manner herein described and shown in the accompanying
Drawings or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Archibald Ure, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Witness,
W. R. M. THOMSON,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
ARCHIBALD URE. (L.S.)