AN IMPROVED MODE OF OR PROCESS FOR REDUCING OR MELTING PULVERISED METALS OF METALLIC ORES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexis Jean Moreau, of Sherborne Street, Blandford
Square. in the County of Middlesex. Chymist. for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF OR PROCESS FOR REDUCING OR MELTING PULVERISED
METALS OF METALLIC ORES,"
Sealed the 6th March 1863. and dated the 12th September 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION leit by the said Alexis Jean Moreau at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th September 1862.
1. ALEXIS JEAN MOREAU. of Sherborne Street, Blandford Square, in the
County of Middlesex, Chymist. do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF OR PROCESS FOR REDUCING OR MELTING
PULVERIZED METALS OR METALLIC ORE," to be as follows:--
My Invention of an improved mode of or process for reducing or melting pul-
verized metals or metallic res consists in combining the pulverized substances
with peat or bituminous small coal. If small coal be used heat must be
employed to soften the same so as to make the metallic particles to adhere
thereto. The carbonaceous and metallic substances are formed into lumps or
bricks, which when dried, or partially dried, may be handled without risk of
breakage, or the lumps or bricks may be partially charred. The substance to
which I intend more particularly to apply my Invention is iron sand, such as
is tound near Taranaki, in New Zealand, also in the Bay of Naples, and other
parts.

page_text: In carrying out my Invention I prefer to employ soft peat as it comes from
the bog, and in a pug mill or other suitable mixing apparatus, I mix there-
with as much of the iron sand as can be conveniently added. When the
ingredients are well incorporated, the mass may be formed into bricks or blocks
of convenient size and shape, and then dried, or partially dried or charred
if desired, after which they will be ready to be thrown into the furnace in
which the metallic parts (by the aid of the combustion of the enveloping
carbonaceous matters) will be fused and melted out. When peat cannot be
conveniently obtained, small coal either alone or mixed with a small quantity
of coal tar may be employed to agglomerate the metallic particles.
It will be evident that this mode of reducing or fusing metals or metallic
ores, may be applied to other ores when pulverized or in a finely divided state.
The process may also be applied for melting iron, brass, or other metal turn-
ings or filings.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patetit, filed
by the said Alexis Jean Morean in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th March 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXIS
JEAN MOREAU, of Sherborne Street, Blandford Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Chymist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent. bearing date the Twelfth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did. for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alexis Jean Moreau, Her special license that I, the said Alexis
Jean Moreau my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
1. the said Alexis Jean Moreau, 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 IMPROVED MODE OF UR PROCESS FOR REDUCING OR MELTING PULVERIZED
METALS OR METALLIC ORES," "pon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Alexis Jean Moreau, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the

page_text: 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 Alexis Jean Moreau, do hereby declaro
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say);--
My Invention of "An Improved Mode of or Process for Reducing or
Melting Pulverized Metals or Metallic Ores," has for its object to render this
operation more easy of execution than heretofore, and also to greatly econo-
mize the consumption of fuel required during the process, and consequently
the production of steel at a very low cost.
The difficulty of smelting pulverized ores or metals in a state of fine division
such as iron sand, or metal turnings or filings is well known. In fact how-
ever thin may be the layers of the materials supplied to blast or reverberatory
furnaces for the purpose of effecting the reduction or melting of the metals or
ores, they will form a compact mass which will not allow of the fire pene-
rating it. They also cake over the surface, and prevent the emission of air
and flame. If blowing apparatus be employed for the introduction of a blast,
such apparatus will act too energetically on the pulverized mass, and the
metallic particles will either be dispersed and blown out of the furnace, or they
will be collected together at one point in great quantity, and will thereby
impede the melting or reducing operation.
It has been attempted to divide the metallic particles by means of lime,
clay, or other neutral body or flux, but such a combination still offers the
objection and inconvenience of forming a mass, and absorbing uselessly a large
quantity of caloric.
It has also been attempted, when the pulverized metal or iron, sand has pro-
duced a metal which has been found too rigid and brittle, to render it softer or
more ductile by admixture with other iron ores, or with manufactured or cast
iron. The mixture thus effected was imperfect, as the cast metals and metal
dust were not homogeneous, and did not melt at the same temperature, the
result being that they did not mix intimately.
Now, the object of my Invention is to remedy all these defects and objections,
and for this purpose I proceed in the following manner: The iron sand or
pulverized metal to be operated upon may be operated upon alone or mixed
in various proportions with metallic filings or turnings so as to render the metal
softer. These filings and turnings have the advantage of being homogeneous, and
of melting with the iron sand at the same temperature, and in the same time as
they are intimately mixed in the same block. In order to effect this reduction !

page_text: first mix the metal when in a finely divided state with a quantity of turnings and
filings, the proportions of which may vary according to the degree of softness of
metal it may be desired to produce. This mixture of the iron sand with
filings or turnings having been effected. I incorporate these matters with some
combustible matter in a plastic state so as to dispense with the use of any other
fuel. For this purpose I prefer peat, the heat of which is the most intense,
and the most regular, this substance also produces during the process a very
dry gas in great abundance (that is to say), a hydrogen gas of very great
calorific power.
If peat is not to be obtained with facility, I take small coal, or pulverized
charcoal or coke, and I incorporate all these matters with a suitable propor-
tion of peat in a damp state, and I form the whole into a homogeneous and
compact mass, which should be triturated and moulded into bricks or cakes of
any convenient form and size, and which on being exposed to the air, or dried
in ovens, will become as hard as stone. The bricks or cakes thus composed
of ore or metal and fuel, when dried, are ready to be operated upon, for which
purpose they are to be thrown into the mouth of the furnace, and by reason
of their form spaces will be left between them, thus leaving free passage up-
wards for the flame from the fuel and gases below. The incandescent gases
thus produced by the combustion of the fuel mixed with the ore or pulverized
metal will pass freely round the blocks or cakes, and will act on all sides upon
the particles of metal contained in the bricks. It will be found that the
calorific power of these gases is such as to effect the melting or reduction of
the metallic particles in a very short space of time. As the mass sinks down
lower and lower in the furnace the latter is filled up, thus rendering the
melting or reducing operation continuous without the employment of any
other fuel than that furnished by the moulded blocks containing the pulverized
metal. When moist peat is not obtainable for this mixing or combining of
the ingredients, small coal or coke dust mixed with gas tar, or other suitable
combustible agglomerating material in a hot state may be employed.
Having now described my Invention of "An Improved Mode of or Process
for Reducing or Melting Pulverized Metals or Metallic Ores," and having ex-
plained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention
secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid,-
First. combining metals or metallic ores in a finely divided state with some
combustible substance as herein set forth, so that the compound may be
moulded or formed into blocks or bricks of any convenient size and shape,
around which the fire or combustible gases in the reducing furnaces may play,
and thereby facilitate the reduction of the ores or metals.

page_text: Second. I claim combining with the pulverized ores or metals, other
substances, such as filings or turnings, whereby the character and properties
of the reduced metal may be modified as may be desired.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexis Jean Moreau, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Eleventh day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
II. K. WHITE,
Clerk to Messrs. Newton & Son,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. J. MOREAL. (L.S.)