AN IMPROVEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES FOR MELTING IRON, STEEL, AND OTHER METALS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Maudslay, of Lambeth, in the County of
Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES FOR MELTING IRON, STEEL, AND OTHER METALS."
Sealed the 21st December 1858, and dated the 25th June 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Maudslay at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th June 1858.
I, JOSEPH MAUDSLAY, of Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES FOR MELTING IRON, STEEL, AND OTHER METALS,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in constructing furnaces in such manner that motive
power may be imparted to the bed of the furnace, and the same thereby
caused to rotate by means of any suitable machinery, in order to improve the
tenacity and fibrous quality of iron, steel, and other metals, and also to effect
the more perfect admixture of alloys with metals, so as to change and improve
their quality and character.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Maudslay in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th December 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPHI
MAUDSLAY, of Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of June, 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 Joseph Maudslay, Her special licence that I, the said
Joseph Maudslay, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Joseph Maudslay, 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 "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES FOR MELTING IRON, STEEL,
AND OTHER METALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Joseph Maudslay, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Joseph Maudslay, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say :-.
My Invention consists in constructing furnaces in such manner that motive
power may be imparted to the bed of the furnace, and the same thereby
caused to rotate about an inclined axis by means of any suitable machinery.
The objects of the Invention are to improve the quality of the metal by
keeping it in motion whilst in its molten condition, so that the sulphur and
other impurities may readily fly off in their gaseous form, and also to ensure
the better mixing of alloys by keeping them constantly stirred while in a
molten state.

page_text: The principal use that the improved furnace is designed for is, the carrying
out of these objects in order to produce cast iron of a better quality than at
present manufactured. This stirring and mixing produce an effect analogous
n a slight degree to that obtained in a puddling furnace. The metal must be
eft in a sufficiently fluid state to allow of its being run into moulds, and will
be then found to possess strength and tenacity so much greater than ordinary
cast iron as to admit of castings made from it being applied to many purposes
or which wrought iron is at present often employed.
The axis of the improved furnace is placed by preference about 10° out of
the perpendicular, so that one side of the bed will be lower than the other,
and as the furnace is made to revolve, the metal will be continually turned
over and stirred up, thus allowing a free escape for the impurities and making
a uniform mixture of the metal, as before explained.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have represented a furnace con-
structed to give effect to my Invention. Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical
section; Figure 2, a transverse vertical section through bed of furnace;
Figure 3, a transverse vertical section through the fire-place; and Figure 4, a
plan of the said furnace. A is the fire-place; B, the feeding hole for the fuel;
C, the inclined bed of the furnace, which is made to revolve about an inclined
axis; D, an arched cover above the furnace, which cover is supported by a
fixed iron frame or casing; E, the door through which the furnace is charged
with metal; F, a tapping hole, through which the metal is run off; G, a
roller frame, upon which the bed of the furnace revolves; H, a bevil pinion,
gearing into the teeth of the wheel, for giving motion to the revolving bed;
K, a lower frame, furnished with wheels, by means of which the revolving
bed, after having been lowered by the screw L, may be withdrawn from
beneath the arched cover for repairs, or otherwise; the wheels of the lower
frame run upon rails R. M is a sand joint for preventing the access of cold
air into the furnace between the fixed top and the revolving bed; N is the
flue leading to the chimney.
The arrangement of furnace before described is the best with which I am
at present acquainted for carrying my Invention into effect, but I by no means
limit myself to the details thereof, as the same may be modified without
departing from the main features of my Invention.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim the construction
of furnaces for melting iron, steel, and other metals, in such manner that
motive power may be imparted to the bed of the furnace, and the same be

page_text: thereby caused to rotate about an inclined axis by means of any suitable
machinery for the purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Maudslay, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-eight.
JOSEPH MAUDSLAY. (L.S.)