IM- PROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of No. 11, Wellington Street,
Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING IRON AND STEEL." A communication from abroad
by Louis Nicolas de Meckenheim, of Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium, Metallurgist.
Sealed the 19th February 1878, and dated the 22nd August 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Gedge at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd August 1877.
WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING IRON AND STEEL."
A communication from abroad by Louis Nicolas de Meckenheim, of Ixelles,
Brussels, Belgium, Metallurgist.
This Invention may be summed up as consisting of two principal and essential
means which constitute its nature, however various may be the arrangements or
modifications made in the apparatuses.
First Means. The puddling takes place in two distinct operations in two separate
apparatuses or compartments, and simultaneously.
***
In the first operation the fusion of the iron takes place; the form and dimensions
of the apparatuses used are unimportant, and this operation may be summed up as
being any means of obtaining liquid iron, whether in first or in second fusion.
..
In the second operation the decarbonization and making of the blooms are
effected, the apparatus being a puddling furnace, properly so called, of any suitable
kind.
Second Means. This consists in making use of the superabundant reduction.
flames or gasses collected from the melting furnace or fire-place. for heating the
puddling furnace with or without addition of the fuel. Thus the iron melted in a
blast furnace or in a cupola or other furnace passes into a fire-place termed the
puddling furnace, to be there refined. In this way the same fuel is doubly and
economically utilized, that is to say, both for the melting and the refining."
The two operations may take place in apparatuses variously modified,

page_text: •
It comprises two very distinct parts or different apparatuses, accordingly as the
iron is mixed or not mixed with the fuel.
First Section or Fusion of the Iron Mixed with the Fuel!.-There may be used
for this purpose indifferently either a blast furnace of large or of small dimensions
fed with any suitable fuel, and producing the pig or cast iron by the reduction of
the ore, or a refinery furnace or a cupola furnace, that is to say, any kind of furnace
or fire-place of second fusion fed with coke with or without the addition of a raw
fuel, or with charcoal with or without the addition of wood in its natural" state,
whether such means of fusion forms part of the puddling furnace or is separated
therefrom, but from which the superabundant flames and gasses may go to heat the
puddling furnace either wholly or in part, that is to say, with or without the
addition of a supplementary fire-place.
It will be readily understood how the blast furnace or the cupola may serve one
or several puddling furnaces, and that different modes of collecting the super-
abundant gasses may be used (those already known, or such as may be introduced
hereafter) without affecting the principles of this Invention.
The method of collecting the gasses may therefore be varied, and it is well
known that for the more or less complete transformation of the products of com-
bustions into oxide of carbon they must pass through a somewhat thick layer of
incandescent fuel, and for their regeneration by heat it is necessary to raise them
to a high temperature.
The tuyrès or troyers of the blowing engine or fan may be multiplied, and
their position modified; also the mode of charging and running off, as well as the
apparatuses for heating the air and the gasses, and the manner of sending them into
the melting and decarbonating furnaces or fire-places.
Without assigning any rules for the placing of the cupolas it is nevertheless
important to regulate the distances, as well on account of the projection of the
gasses as for the introduction of the liquid iron upon the sole or bottom of the
puddling furnace. For this introduction it will be convenient to use either a fixed
or a moveable trough lined inside with clay and lime after the manner shown,
Plan A (Sheet I.), of the accompanying Drawings, or a cast or wrought iron vessel,
also lined with clay and lime, but moved by any suitable means to pour in the
liquid iron after the manner shown, Plan B (Sheet II.), of the Drawing.
The accompanying two Sheets of Drawing show only two melting furnaces as
examples of this Invention, one of them being an extinguished gas furnace
(fourneau à gaz éteint) and the other with direct flame, the first being capable of
feeding several puddling furnaces, and the last of serving only one puddling furnace
of which it forms a part.
Plan A of the accompanying Drawings represents a cupola furnace with
extinguished gases serving two puddling furnaces, but it may be applied to a
greater number of puddling furnaces of various kinds.
Any suitable apparatuses or means may be added to heat the air and the gasses.
Any kind of blowing engine or blast may be used, but preference is given to
the fan.
The cupola shown presents nothing new, excepting as regards the gas arrange-
ments, which may however be replaced by other means, most of which are already
known and used in blast furnaces.
The essential point is not to impoverish the gasses by a lengthened combustion;
it therefore becomes important to extinguish the flames as quickly and with as
much certainty as possible, and this is effected by means of the numerous small
flues shown on the Drawing.
Plan B of the accompanying Drawings represents a melting furnace with direct
flame; it is placed between the fire-place and the puddling furnace of which it
forms a part. The construction of this furnace may be modified in various ways,

page_text: one particular modification being the suppression of the fire-place with grate or
bars, so that only the flames of the melting furnace serve to heat the puddling
furnace; but in order not to injure the quality of the iron the application is only
possible with fuel containing neither sulphur or phosphorous, and therefore charcoal
should be used with the addition of cut and dried wood; whereas the arrangement
shown on the Drawing is suitable for all kinds of fuel in a raw state or carbonized,
as also for all kinds of puddling furnaces, whether with fixed or moveable bottoms
or soles.
Second Section or Fusion of the Iron separate from the Fuel.-In this case it is
only necessary to modify the melting furnace of Plan B by raising its bottom a few
inches above the entablement of the puddling furnace, so that, converted into a
simple reverberatory furnace, it may also receive a trough, as at Plan A, to lead the
liquid iron upon the sole or bottom. The working is continuous, and scales and
dross may be added to the cast iron.
The heat required for the two operations may be obtained in two different ways,
which may be equally applied to the arrangement, Plans A and B.
1°. By a fire-place with grate or bars and free current of air drawn in
by a draught chimney, or the grated fire-place may be fed with a blast of
heated air.
2°. By the use of a fire-place or furnace of any form serving to generate gasses
extinguished or not extinguished, using a raw or a carbonized fuel, as well as a
blast of warm air or by any kind of gazogene.
The Refining followed by the Making of the Blooms.-This operation takes
place in furnaces termed puddling furnaces, the construction of which may vary,
namely,
1°. In puddling furnaces with fixed "sole" or bottom like those in ordinary use,
but with the necessary precautions for preserving the basin or crucible; and its
edges, whether these furnaces have one or several working doors, or are two
furnaces following each other.
2°. In puddling furnaces with shifting "sole " or bottom termed mechanical
furnaces, to which or in which various mechanical movements are applied to accelerate
and facilitate decarburation. Thus this second operation may take place in
apparatus variously modified, arriving at the same result and completing the
ensemble of the system of this Invention.
To overcome the difficulty of keeping the basins or crucibles and the edges
intact, at least up to the height attained by the iron in fusion, the best materials
must be used. The work may be done upon a cast-iron basin, or one of fire-brick;
and in this latter case magnesian bricks are preferred, that is'to say, bricks made
of burnt and pulverized carbonate of magnesia, to which may be added one-tenth
of boracic acid.
Beneath the cast iron or fire-clay basin is a chamber in which the ambient air
is made to circulate by draught tubes with regulators. A blast or water might be
used together or separately, but they should be employed very cautiously to prevent
an excess of cooling.
Upon this basin should be placed a strong bottom of scrap and scales, and
every known precaution should be used; it is, however, preferred to dispense with
currents of water at the fire bridges.
Upon the accompanying Sheets of Drawing, in Plan A (Sheet I.),-
c indicates a cupola or melting furnace with twyers for hot or cold blast. The
dimensions of this furnace and the number of its twyers may vary; it is fixed upon
masonry in such a manner that the tapping or running-off hole is above the opening
x, x, at the back of the puddling furnaces, to receive the liquid iron by means of

page_text: troughs y, y, fixed or moveable, of cast or sheet iron, and lined with clay and lime
powder.
d, feeding door.
e, e, numerous fire-clay tubes, which receive, the inflamed gasses which become
extinguished in their passage, and are received in the sheet-iron pipes f, f, which
lead them to the puddling furnaces.
9, puddling furnace with a single working door.
g', puddling furnace with two working doors, a novel arrangement preventing
current of cold air.
.1
h, h, chambers beneath the crucibles or basins; the ambient air enters them by
the openings v, v, v, v, and is renewed by means of the draught tubes 2, 2, 2, 2, with
regulators.
i, i, fire-places with grates or fire-bars. The ash-pits are closed by doors which
are opened for removal of the cinders.
j,j, conduits of blast coming from a fan.
k, k, receivers of hot air sent into the furnace by the flues o, o, o, o, whereas
below the blast is sent under the grate by a single tube l, or by other flues.
r, r, conduits receiving the gasses from the pipes f, f, and leading them to the
head of the fire-place i, i, in order that they may light again and mix with the
flames in passing through the flues u, u, u, u.
In Plan B (Sheet II.),-
i indicates a furnace with grate or fire-bars, and doors to ash-pit.
j, conduit of blast from fan.
k receiver of hot air driven into the fire-place through the flues o, 0, 0, 0, whereas
beneath by one pipe or by other flues the wind is blown under the grate or 2
fire-bars.
m, melting furnace with two twyers m, n, at each end at about 14 inches
from the bottom, and slightly inclined arrangement which may be modified in
various ways.
e, e, door at bottom at each end and at the back with plugged holes for running
off the iron and the dross.
d, door for charging from the front.
The bottom is slightly inclined backward to where the running off takes place.
The liquid iron is received in a vase or vessel of sheet iron lined with clay and
lime powder; then by means of a waggon on rails and a lift. The liquid iron is:
poured into the puddling furnace by the opening x, which is then closed.
g, puddling furnace, which may be variously modified.
h, chamber beneath the crucible or basin.
v, v, openings for admission of ambient air.
2, z, air tubes with regulators.
In each of the two plans the blast is regulated by valves or slides.
The other parts not specified are sufficiently understood, being the same as in
ordinary furnaces.
A crucible or basin of magnesian fire-clay should have a thickness of at least
8 inches, the cast-iron plate upon which it rests being correspondingly lowered.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
February 1878.
WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING IRON AND STEEL."
A communication from abroad by Louis Nicolas de Meckenheim, of Ixelles, Brussels,
Belgium, Metallurgist.
This Invention may be summed up as consisting of two principal and essential
means which constitute its nature, however various may be the arrangements or
modifications made in the apparatuses.
First Means. The puddling takes place in two distinct operations in two separate
apparatuses or compartments, and simultaneously.
In the first operation the fusion of the iron takes place; the form and dimensions
used are unimportant, and this operation may be summed up as being any means
of obtaining liquid iron, whether in first or in second fusion.
In the second operation the decarbonization and making of the blooms are
effected, the apparatus used being a puddling furnace, properly so called, of any
suitable kind.
Second Means. This consists in making use of the superabundant reduction of
flames or gases collected from the melting furnace or fire-place for heating the
puddling furnace with or without addition of other fuel. Thus the iron melted in
a blast furnace or in a cupola or other furnace passes into a fire-place termed the
puddling furnace, to be there refined. In this way the same fuel is doubly and
economically utilized, that is to say, both for the melting and the refining.
The two operations may take place in apparatuses variously modified.
FIRST OPERATION.
It comprises two very distinct parts or different apparatuses, accordingly as the
iron is mixed or not mixed with the fuel.
First Section or Fusion of the Iron Mixed with the Fuel.-There may be used
for this purpose, indifferently, either a blast furnace of large or of small dimensions,
fed with any suitable fuel, and producing the pig or cast iron by the reduction of
the ore; or a refinery furnace or a cupola furnace, that is to say, any kind of furnace
or fire-place of second fusion, fed with coke with or without the addition of a raw
fuel, or with charcoal with with or without the addition of wood in its natural state,
whether such means of fusion forms part of the puddling furnace or is separated
therefrom, but from which the superabundant flames and gases may go to heat the
puddling furnace either wholly or in part, that is to say, with or without the
addition of a supplementary fire-place.
It will be readily understood how the blast furnace or the cupola' may serve one
or several puddling furnaces, and that different modes of collecting the superabundant
gases may be used, those already known or such as may be introduced hereafter,
without affecting the principles of this Invention.
The method of collecting the gases may therefore be varied, and it is well
known that for the more or less complete transformation of the products of com-
bustion into oxide of carbon, they must pass through a somewhat thick layer of
incandescent fuel, and for their regeneration by heat it is necessary to raise them.
to a high temperature.
The twyers or tuyères of the blowing engine or fan may be multiplied, and their
position modified; also the mode of charging and running off, as well as the
apparatuses for heating the air and the gases, and the manner of sending them into
the melting and decarbonating furnaces or fire-places.
Without assigning any rules for the placing of the cupolas, it is nevertheless
important to regulate the distances, as well on account of the projection of the

page_text: gases as for the introduction of the liquid iron upon the sole, hearth, or bottom of
the puddling furnace. For this introduction it will be convenient to use either a
fixed or a moveable trough lined inside with clay and lime after the manner shown
in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, Plan A of the accompanying Drawings; or a cast or
wrought iron vessel, also lined with clay and lime, but moved by any available
means to pour in the liquid iron after the manner shown, Figures 5 and 6, Plan B
of the Drawings.
The accompanying Sheet of Drawing shows only two melting furnaces as
example of this Invention, one of them being an extinguished gas furnace, and the
other with direct flame; the first being capable of feeding several puddling furnaces,
and the last of serving only one puddling furnace, of which it forms a part.
Plan A (Figures 1 to 4 inclusive of the accompanying Sheet of Drawings) repre-
sents a cupola furnace with extinguished gases serving two puddling furnaces, but
it may be applied to a greater number of puddling furnaces of various kinds.
Any suitable apparatus or means may be added to heat the air and the gases.
Any kind of blowing engine or blast may be used, but preference is given to
the fan.
The cupola shown presents nothing new, excepting as regards the gas arrange-
ments, which may however be replaced by other means, most of which are already
known, and used in blast furnaces.
The essential point is not to impoverish the gases by a lengthened combustion ;
it therefore becomes important to extinguish the flames as quickly and with as
much certainty as possible, and this is effected by means of the numerous small
flues shown on the Drawing.
Plan B (Figures 5 and 6 of the accompanying Drawings) represents a melting
furnace with direct flame; it is placed between the fire-place and the puddling
furnace of which it forms a part. The construction of this furnace may be modified
in various ways, one particular modification being the suppression of the fire-place
with grate or bars, so that only the flames of the melting furnace serve to heat the
puddling furnace; but in order not to injure the quality of the iron the application
is only possible with fuel containing neither sulphur or phosphorous, and therefore
charcoal should be used with the addition of cut and dried wood; whereas the
arrangement shown on the Drawing is suitable for all kinds of fuel in a raw
state or carbonized, as also for all kinds of puddling furnaces, whether with fixed or
moveable bottoms or hearths.
Second Section or Fusion of the Iron separate from the Fuel.-In this case it is
only necessary to modify the melting furnace of Plan B by raising its bottom a few
inches above the entablement of the puddling furnace, so that converted into a
simple reverberatory furnace it may also receive a trough, as at Plan A, to lead the
liquid iron upon the hearth or bottom. The working is continuous, and scales and
dross may be added to the cast iron.
The heat required for the two operations may be obtained in two different
ways, which may be equally applied to the arrangements, Plans A and B.
1°. By a fire-place with grate or bars, and free current of air drawn in by a
draught chimney; or the grated fire-place may be fed with a blast of heated air.
20. By the use of a fire-place or furnace of any form serving to generate gases,
extinguished or not extinguished, using a raw or a carbonized fuel, as well as a
blast of warm air, or by any kind of gazogene.
The Refining followed by the Making of the Blooms.-This operation takes 5
place in furnaces termed puddling furnaces, the construction of which may vary,
namely,
1°. In puddling furnaces with fixed sole, or hearth, or bottom like those in
ordinary use, but with the necessary precautions for preserving the basin or crucible

page_text: and its edges; whether these furnaces have one or several working doors, or are two
furnaces following each other.
2°. In puddling furnaces with shifting bottom, termed mechanical furnaces, to
which or in which various mechanical movements are applied to accelerate and
facilitate decarbonization. Thus the second operation may take place in apparatus
variously modified, arriving at the same result and completeing the ensemble of the
system of this Invention.
To overcome the difficulty of keeping the basins or crucibles and the edges
intact, at least up to the height attained by the iron in fusion, the best materials
must be used. The work may be done upon a cast-iron basin or one of fire-bricks,
and in this latter case magnesian bricks are preferred, that is to say, bricks made of
burnt and pulverized carbonate of magnesia, to which may be added one-tenth of
boracic acid.
Beneath the cast-iron or fire-clay basin is a chamber in which the ambient air is
made to circulate by draught tubes with regulators. A blast or water might be
used together or separately, but they should be employed very cautiously to prevent
an excess of cooling.
Upon this basin should be placed a strong bottom of scrap and scales, and every
known precaution should be used; it is, however, preferred to dispense with currents
of water at the fire bridges.
.
Upon the accompanying Sheet of Drawing,―
Plan A is illustrated by Figures 1 to 4 inclusive, Figure 1 representing a sectional
plan shewing the general arrangement of cupola and two furnaces; Figure 2 being
longitudinal section through the same on the line A, B; Figure 3 is a similar view
on the line G, H.
Figure 4 is a vertical section through the cupola.
c indicates a cupola or melting furnace with twyers for hot or cold blast. The
dimensions of this furnace and the number of its twyers may vary; it is fixed upon
masonry in such a manner that the tapping or running-off hole is above the
openings x, x, at the back of the puddling furnaces to receive the liquid iron by
means of troughs y, y, fixed or moveable of cast or sheet iron, and lined with clay
and lime powder.
d, feeding door.
e, e, numerous fire-clay tubes, which receive the inflamed gases which become
extinguished in their passage, and are received in the sheet-iron pipes f, f, which
lead them to the puddling furnaces.
g, puddling furnace with a single working door.
g', puddling furnace with two working doors, a novel arrangement preventing
current of cold air.
h, h, chambers beneath the crucibles or basins; the ambient air enters them by
the openings v, v, v, v, and is renewed by means of the draught tubes z, z, z, z, with
regulators.
i, i, fire-places with grates or fire-bars. The ash-pits are closed by doors which
are opened for removal of the cinders.
3,j, conduits of blast coming from a fan.
kc, k, receivers of hot air sent into the furnace by the flues u, u, u, u, whereas
below the blast is sent under the grate by a single tube l, or by other flues.
r, r, conduits receiving the gases from the pipes f, f, and leading them to the
head of the fire-places i, i, in order that they may light again and mix with the
flames in passing through the flues u, u, u, u.
Plan B is illustrated by Figures 5 and 6, Figure 5 being a longitudinal section
through a combined melting and puddling furnace; Figure 6 represents a sectional
plan of the same.
i indicates a furnace with grate or fire-bars and door to ash-pit.
iconduit of host from fan

page_text: boracic acid or of a mixture of alum, chloride of lime, and chlorhydric acid, substan-
tially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
1.7 T CEDAR
WE GENCR
(L.S.)