AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AGGLOMERATING OR CONSOLIDATING SCRAP IRON OR STEEL TO FACILITATE THE UTILIZATION OF THE SAME
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, &
Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an Invention of
"AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AGGLOMERATING OR CONSOLIDATING SCRAP IRON
OR STEEL TO FACILITATE THE UTILIZATION OF THE SAME." A communi-
cation from abroad by Hermann Reusch, of Dillingen on the Saar, Germany.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th September 1881.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AGGLOMERATING
OR CONSOLIDATING SCRAP IRON OR STEEL TO FACILITATE THE UTILIZATION OF
THE SAME." [A communication from abroad by Hermann Reusch, of Dillingen on
the Saar, Germany.]
This Invention relates to the treatment of small or thin particles or pieces of
scrap or waste iron and steel, such as waste pieces or scraps of sheet iron and the
waste particles or pieces produced by the lathe, to bring the same into the condition
of blocks, blooms, or pieces suitable for use in manufacture.
Waste metal of this description, if not adapted for puddling or for use in the
crucible or the "Martin" furnace, is to a great extent balled or gathered into loops,
either on the blooming hearth with wood-charcoal or in the converter under a
welding heat, the loops so produced requiring for their further working and for
making them into a finished product to be repeatedly heated to the welding
point.
The process of blooming as ordinarily practiced is very expensive by reason of
the high price of labor and the use of wood-charcoal; the puddling process is also
very expensive by reason of the great loss by burning when thin scraps are heated
to the welding point.
By means of my Invention I am enabled without impairing the quality of the
product to considerably reduce the cost thereof, and it consists essentially in

page_text: subjecting the waste pieces or scraps within a furnace having a vertical or an
oblique shaft, or within a reverberatory furnace provided with a fixed or a movable
hearth, to a reducing flame until the said pieces or scraps have become red hot, in
which condition they are to be spread, as rapidly as possible and evenly, into a
flat quadrangular shapo, and are then compressed or condensed by strong pressure
or by a heavy blow exerted by means of a press or hammer into bloom-plates or
pieces of quadrangular form.
The reducing flame from the hearth rises through the iron or steel scraps in the
shaft, thus heating the same. The said wasto scraps or pieces are placed in the
furnace at the top thereof, and when sufficiently heated are drawn off at the bottom,
the operation being thus a continuous one.
The bloom-plates or blocks of metal formed by compressing the red-hot scraps
are placed one upon another in sufficient number and between two covering plates,
and this forms the bloom to be placed in the welding furnace for the purpose of
making a finished product; the bloom-plates may however be made into a bloom or
block without using the covering plates.
The loss in the annealing process in the reducing flame is very slight; morcover,
as the scraps naturally lie in the shaft in such a manner as to cross and re-cross
one another, an even tenacity in the ultimate product is produced in all directions
by reason of the intimate penetration and subsequent amalgamation of the separate
pieces through welding.
The welding process itself is facilitated by treating and impregnating the bloom
with alkaline silicates, especially silicates of soda, such treatment producing an
_ easily fusible_slag, also preventing, as far as is possible, by the film thus formed

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th March 1882.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AGGLOMERATING
OR CONSOLIDATING SCRAP IRON OR STEEL TO FACILITATE THE UTILIZATION OF
THE SAME." A communication from abroad by Hermann Reusch, of Dillingen-on-
the-Saar, Germany.
This Invention relates to the treatment of small or fine particles or pieces of
scrap or waste iron and steel, such as waste pieces or scraps of sheet iron and the
waste particles or pieces produced by the lathe, to bring the same into the condition
of blocks, blooms, or pieces suitable for use in manufacture. Waste metal of this
description, if not adapted for piling or fagoting or for use in the crucible or in the
"Martin " furnace, is to a great extent balled or gathered into loops, either in the
bloinary furnace with wood charcoal or in the reverberatory under a welding heat,
the balls or loops so produced requiring for their further working and for making
them into a useful product to be repeatedly heated to the welding point.
The process of forming blooms as ordinarily practised is very expensive by reason
of the bigh price of labor and the use of wood-charcoal; the piling or fagoting
process is also very expensive by reason of the great loss by burning when thin
scraps are beated to the welding point.
By means of my Invention I am enabled without impairing the quality of the
product to considerably reduce the cost thereof. The said Invention consists
essentially in subjecting the waste pieces or scraps to a reducing flame in a furnace
having a vertical or an oblique shaft or a reverberatory furnace provided with a
fixed or a movable bearth until the said pieces or scraps have become red hot, in
which condition they are spread as rapidly and evenly as possible into a flat
quadrangular shape, and are then compressed or condensed by strong pressure or by
a heavy blow exerted by means of a squeezer or hammer into bloom-plates or flat
pieces of quadrangular form.
In the accompanying Drawing are shewn by way of example furnaces which
may be employed in carrying the said Invention into practice. The reducing flame
from the hearth A rises through the iron or steel scraps in the shaft B, thus heating
the same.
The waste scraps or pieces are placed in the furnace at the top C, and
when sufficiently heated are drawn off at the bottom through the opening D, the
operation thus being a continuous one. Any other furnace of suitable construction
may however be employed.
The bloom-plates formed by compressing or condensing the red-hot scraps, as
hereinbefore described, are placed one upon another in sufficient number between
two covering plates, and they are then ready to be placed in the welding furnace
and afterwards formed into a bloom block or bar of suitable shape; the bloom-
plates may however be made into a bloom without using the covering plates.
The loss in the re-heating process in the reducing flame is very slight; moreover,
as the scraps naturally lio on the shaft in such a manner as to cross and re-cross
one another, an equal tenacity in all directions is produced in the ultimate product
by reason of the agglutination and subsequent consolidation of the separate pieces
through welding.
The welding process itself is facilitated by impregnating or otherwise treating
the bloom with alkaline silicates, especially silicate of soda, such treatment
producing an easily fusible slag, also preventing, as far as is possible, by the film
thus formed oxidation in the welding furnace.

page_text: Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim,
First. The improved method of agglomerating or consolidating scrap iron or steel
by making the same red hot and then subjecting it to pressure or hammering to
render it suitable for manufacturing purposes, substantially as specified.
Second. In the method above described the employment of alkaline silicates,
preferably silicate of soda, substantially as and for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord One 1
thousand eight hundred and eighty two.