TATEMENTS THE MOST MANIERAAMID A IRow
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Symes Prideaux, of Garden Road,
St. John's Wood, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for
the Invention of "TATEMENTS THE MOST MANIERAAMID A IRow "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Symes
Prideaux at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 28th January 1853.
I, THOMAS SYMES PRIDEAUX, of Garden Road, St. John's Wood,
in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF IRON" to be as follows:
This Invention has for its object a more advantageous use of
coal in the manufacture of iron. Heretofore, for the most part, the
coal for such purposes has been used either in the raw state in the
blast furnace, or the coal has been converted into coke before being
used in the blast furnace, in which case the carburretted hydrogen
or gaseous products have been wasted in the atmosphere. Now,
according to the present Invention, the coal is to be distilled, as in
gas making to obtain coke and carburetted hydrogen. The coke

page_text: is used in the blast furnace, and the gas is used in the heating of
the puddling furnace; and in preparing coke for the blast furnace it
is impregnated with alkaline or saline solutions or mixtures.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said Thomas Symes Prideaux in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 28th July 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
THOMAS SYMES PRIDEAUX, of Garden Road, St. John's Wood, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three,
in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Symes Prideaux,
Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Symes Prideaux, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Symes Prideaux, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF IRON," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Thomas Symes Prideaux, by an, instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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.
..NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Symes Prideaux, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
This Invention has for its object a more advantageous use of
coal in the manufacture of iron. Heretofore, for the most part, the
coal for such purposes has been used either in the raw state in the
blast furnace, or the coal has been converted into coke before being
used in the blast furnace, in which case the carburetted hydrogen
or gaseous product has been wasted in the atmosphere. Now,
according to the present Invention, the coal is to be distilled, as in
gas making to obtain coke and carburetted hydrogen. The coke
is used in the blast furnace, and the gas is used in the heating of
the puddling furnace; and in preparing coke for the blast furnace
it is impregnated with alkaline or saline solutions or mixtures.
And in order that my said Invention may be more fully understood
and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pur-
sued by me. In constructing reverberatory furnaces to be used in the
manufacture of iron according to my Invention, I substitute for the
grate an iron box divided vertically (and transversely as regards the
body of the furnace) into three divisions; the outer one is connected
with a gasometer or reservoir of gas under pressure; the middle
one with a similar reservoir of air also under pressure. A series of
tubes (with a slight downward inclination) leads from each of these
chambers through the inner chamber into the furnace; the inner
chamber is to be supplied with water to prevent the melting of the
tubes or tuyeres. This iron box, therefore, forms the posterior end
of the furnace; and the whole of the surface, from the top of the
bridge to the roof, is occupied at regular intervals by the mouths of
the air and the gas tubes. Each of the latter is surrounded by from
four to six or more air tubes. The number of the air tubes to one
gas tube, and the respective diameters of the two classes, being so
adjusted, that the sum of the area of the air tube shall exceed
that of the gas tubes about twelvefold. The same proportion is
preserved between the two supply pipes, leading from the main
reservoirs of gas and air to the chambers of the furnace, and each
pipe is furnished with a throttle valve, the handle of which forms

page_text: the index to a dial graduated to one hundred sub-divisions, and
the size of the pipes and the valves are so arranged that when
the indexes point to the same figures on the dials, the respective
quantities of air and gas passing should be the exact combining
equivalents of each. The workman will thus possess a perfect
control over the action of the furnace, and be able to apportion
the quantity of air and gas to each other with the greatest nicety
according to the varying requirements of the different stages of
the operation.
To prepare coke for the blast furnace, or finery furnace, proceed
as follows: After the gaseous products of the coal have been
expelled, it is at present a very common practice to throw a few pails-
full of water over the still glowing coke, to expedite its cooling, arrest
all further combustion, and carry off any portion of sulphur still re-
maining. Instead of simple water for this process, I take lime water, to
which has been added either common salt or carbonate of soda, in
the proportion of about two per cent. to the weight of coke, using
more alkali, if the coke is inferior, and produces much ash in
burning. This latter, when dry, may be used in the ordinary
manner, and will produce an iron of a very superior quality.
I do not, however, confine myself to the use of these two alkalies;
any substance, electro-positive or basic towards iron may be employed,
- a list which would include potassium, sodium, barium, strontium,
calcium, magnesium, aluminum, chromium, and manganese. The
sclection of the particular substance to be employed must be
determined by the commercial clement of price and the chemical
one of affinity conjointly.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, I would
remark that I am aware that gases coming from blast furnaces
have been burned in reverberatory furnaces used in the manufac-
ture of iron. I do not, therefore, claim the so obtaining and using
gas when manufacturing iron. But what I claim is, the distilling
coal in suitable retorts, as when manufacturing gas for the purposes
of illumination, and conveying the products to reverberatory
furnaces employed in the manufacture of iron, and burning the

page_text: same with atmospheric air, using suitable storing vessels, as herein
explained. And I also claim the preparing coke used in the inanu-
facture of iron as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Symes Prideaux, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of
July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-three.
0
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
THOMAS SYMES PRIDEAUX. (L.S.)