IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SLAG AND OTHER VITREOUS MATERIAL
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough
Park, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SLAG AND OTHER VITREOUS MATERIAL."
-A communication from abroad by Henry Baldwin, jun., residing
at No. 522, Walnut Street, Philadelphia, United States of America.
Sealed the 28th October 1870, and dated the 7th June 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson
Bousfield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 7th June 1870.
I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton,
in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SLAG AND OTHER VITREOUS
MATERIAL," to be as follows:-
The Invention consists in melting slag, scoria, or scoriaceous
substances in a cupola or furnace of any ordinary construction adapted
to the purpose, and from which a suitable conduit is provided, so that

page_text: the melted mass may be allowed to flow from the cupola or furnace in
a small stream. Upon this flowing mass a stream or blast of air, by
preference a hot blast, is directed by any suitable device, and this blast
of air acting upon the flowing slag separates or subdivides it into
exceedingly fine filaments or fibres, which are blown off into and
retained in a suitable chamber or room provided over the blast. From
this receptacle it may be removed to be packed or for use.
Instead of a blast of air or hot air alone a jet of air and steam, or of
steam alone, either ordinary or superheated, may be directed upon the
flowing slag without affecting the result otherwise than perhaps in
degree. The blast of air, or jet of steam, or of air and steam may be
obtained or derived from a fan or a boiler and fan, or in any other well
known way.
It is obvious that the blast or jet might be applied to the slag as
it runs from an ordinary blast furnace, and thus save the reheating of
the slag, and this would perhaps constitute the simplest application of
the Invention.
The abundance and cheapness of the ready made vitrified material
afforded by the vast waste of slag or scoria at blast furnaces and glass-
works will doubtless render it unnecessary to prepare scoriaceous
substances expressly for this process; but should it be deemed or found
more economical or otherwise desirable a mixture of silicious, calcareous,
and other ingredients may readily be made and vitrified after various
well known formula.
From the slag or scoria subjected to the process above described is
obtained a vitrified fibrous material highly non-conducting, entirely
incombustible, and very especially adapted to many uses, of which it
may suffice to enumerate the covering or jacketing of steam pipes,
steam boilers, hot blast pipes and the like, the lining of refrigerators,
the filling of fire-proof safes, and other similar applications for pre-
venting the transmission of heat or arresting the spread of fire.
This material may be used in bulk or formed into sheets or pads in the
same manner as hair felt or cotton wadding is formed, or it may be
spun into rope or yarn and applied in various ways that are obvious.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 6th December 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the County
of Surrey, send greeting.
agree
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, Her special licence that
I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield,
any time
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SLAG AND OTHER VITREOUS MATERIAL,"
a communication to me from abroad by Henry Baldwin, junior, a person
resident at No. 522, Walnut Street, Philadelphia, United States of
America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Tomlinson Bousfield, 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.
a
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, do
hereby declare 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 thereof, that is to say: -
The abundance and cheapness of the ready made vitrified material
afforded by the vast waste of slag or scoria at blast furnaces and glass
works will doubtless render it unnecessary to prepare scoriaceous
substances expressly for this process, but should it be deemed or found

page_text: more economical or otherwise desirable a mixture of silicious, calcareous,
and other ingredients may readily be made and vitrified after various
well known formula.
From the slag or scoria subjected to the process herein-after described
is obtained a vitrified fibrous material highly non-conducting, entirely
incombustible, and very especially adapted to many uses, of which it may
suffice to enumerate the covering or jacketing of steam pipes, steam
boilers, hot blast pipes, and the like, the lining of refrigerators, the filling
of fire-proof safes, and other similar applications for preventing the
transmission of heat or arresting the spread of fire.
This material may be used in bulk or formed into sheets or pads, in
the same manner as hair felt or cotton wadding is formed, or it may be
spun into
rope or yarn and applied in various ways that are obvious.
The Invention consists in melting slag, scoria, or scoriaceous substances.
in a cupola or furnace of any ordinary construction adapted to the
purpose, and from which a suitable conduit is provided so that the melted
mass may be allowed to flow from the cupola or furnace in a small
stream. Upon this flowing mass a stream or blast of air, by preference
a hot blast, is directed by any suitable device, and this blast of air acting
upon the flowing slag separates or subdivides it into exceedingly fine
filaments or fibres which are blown off into and retained in a suitable
chamber or room provided over the blast. From this receptacle it may
be removed to be packed or for use.
Instead of a blast of air or hot air alone a jet of air and steam or of
steam alone either ordinary or superheated may be directed upon the
flowing slag without affecting the result otherwise than perhaps in
degree.
The annexed Drawings will shew the form of apparatus which the
said John Player had devised for the conduct of this process.
Figure 1 is an elevation of a furnace with the chamber for receiving
the mineral wool in section.
Figure 2 a plan with the chamber in section.
The blast of air, or jet of steam, or of air and steam may be obtained
or derived from a fan or a boiler and fan, or in any other well known
way.
The slag or scoria is melted or produced in a suitable furnace A and
flows down an inclined hearth B into a chamber C, where it is exposed

page_text: to a blast or jet from a pipe or nozzle or tuyere D. The fibrous material
produced by the blast being very light is blown against the wall of
the chamber next the furnace and deflected into the chamber behind
the blast pipe where it accumulates until removed.
It is obvious that the blast or jet might be applied to the slag as
it runs from an ordinary blast furnace, and thus save the reheating of
the slag, and this would perhaps constitute the simplest application
of the Invention.
The apparatus above described however forms no part of the subject-
matter herein claimed, as the same may be varied at the dictates of
convenience or economy, but what is claimed is,-
The method herein-before set forth of producing mineral wool of
vitreous fibre by subjecting a stream of melted slag or scoria to a blast
or jet, substantially in the manner herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.