IMPROVEMENTS IN SMELTING AND PURIFYING IRON AND OTHER ORES
Year: 1859

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by George Frederick Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 2nd December 1859, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
FREDERICK SMITH, of No. 15, Golden Square, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SMELTING AND PURIFYING IRON AND OTHER ORES," and have petitioned Her
Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn declara-
tion that the same is a communication to me from abroad by Robert
William Sievier, late of Upper Holloway, in the County of Middlesex,
but now residing at Hamburgh.
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said George Frederick Smith, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, reference being had to
the accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
This Invention is an improvement on the system patented for the said
Robert William Sievier, by his agent John Co Hadden, Civil
Engineer, in One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, and it consists
in causing or assisting a current of air necessary for the reduction of the

page_text: ore in the furnace by partially exhausting the air and gases as produced
by the combustion of the carbon or the reduction of the ores. It is only
necessary to describe the reduction of the iron ores, they being the most
important, as other ores can be reduced or smelted to obtain the metal
by the partial exhausting system, instead of depending wholly upon the
blast, or by the building of high chimneys to cause a draft. High
chimneys have been patented and tried for the smelting of iron ores, and
proved a failure. This Invention effects the exhaust either by a fan or
by a gas pumps, or any other convenient means, as will be explained.
pumps are used, it is preferred making them similar to those invented
by Mr. Rogers, and used by him for pumping the gas from coke ovens
in Wales, and described in his book on Metallurgy. But the fan which
will be hereafter explained is preferable; but this Invention is not con-
fined to any particular mode or form of fan or exhauster, so that the
principle is adopted.
If
Fig. 1, Sheet 1 represents the side view of a furnace, and Fig. 5 the
end view; it will be seen that this furnace is of an oval shape by reference
to the plan views 6 and 7, but either circular or square may be used (to
prevent confusion the same letters of reference refer to the same parts
on this sheet.
a represents the body of the furnace; b, b, the boshes, which is lined
as well as the sides above with fire-bricks cemented well together with
fire-clay; a small furnace may be lined with fire clay entirely, or fire stone
may be used, the whole surrounding surface or casing g, g, and all those
parts in blue lines are composed of sheet iron, which must be rivetted
together so as to be air-tight; a channel of sand c is placed between the
two ranges of bricks d, d, for effectually preventing the air or gases from
escaping in any direction but through the charge of ore, carbon, and
lime; the lower lining marked e, e, must be of the best material to resist
the heat, and it is better to narrow in the bottom part a little at the
front marked e', e; the whole of the furnace is supported upon pillars
i, i, which are attached to the furnace at j, j. At the top of this
furnace a is attached an iron tube K, into this tube are put in at the top
the charges of ore, &c., in the usual manner, which charges are repeated
when necessary as the ore is being reduced; below the upper part of this
tube is furnished with a cover m, which is raised up by the lever n
working on the fulcrum o; this cover has a rim round it which fits into a
circular recess p, this recess is filled with sand to prevent as much as
possible (when it is shut down) any air being drawn down the tube

page_text: through the mass of material placed in it. m is supposed to be a truck
containing the ore, &c.; q, q, is the stage upon which the workman
stands, this stage is supported on pillars r, r, or by any other convenient
means; s represents the exhausting tube which goes to the fan or
exhauster Fig. 2, letter t, this fan or exhauster may be placed at any
moderate distance from the furnace, to get rid of the obnoxious gases
generated by combustion in the furnace; the form of the fan or exhauster
will be explained in Sheet 3. This exhauster as seen at Fig. 2, Sheet 1,
is fitted on a shaft v which rests on the bearings u', u', and it is turned
by a strap when put round the driving pulley w by any motive power.
In the foundation x, x, the rods y, y, are built, which hold firmly the
plate upon which the bearings u, u*, are bolted; when a greater exhaust
is required than can be given with one fan, two or more may be applied,
and a fan or exhauster not more than four feet in diameter is recom-
mended. A safety tube is represented at 2; this safety tube is placed
there in case by any admixture of atmospheric air an explosion of the
gases might take place, this tube is bent downwards in the shape of a
syphon, and one end passes into a cistern of water at which hermetically
seals it; and should any explosion take place, the water is only removed,
there is a division in this cistern at c*, which will prevent the whole of
the water being displaced, and small holes are perforated in the division
at 6, that the water may run in and replace the water expelled by any
explosion. There is also a communication d' with this tube z and the
exhausting tube s, so that the gases may be more regularly drawn from
the top of the furnace; at the lower part is the crucible g having a slag
slot in three places, viz., one at each end, and another at one side of this
crucible, as seen Fig. 8, 1, h*, *; * may be used as a tapping hole to
remove any liquid which may accumulate at the bottom. With so
shallow a crucible it is not intended to make cast iron from the ore, but
it is only for making malleable iron that such a crucible is used, this
crucible as seen runs on wheels h', h, upon a rail in order that the loups
or balls of metal may be more easily removed, but the crucible Fig. 4, **
is more convenient as it can be easily moved up and down by the piston j*,
in the same manner as the hydraulic press is worked, the pipe which
connects it with the force pumps being seen at m*. Fig. 3 represents the
bottom of the furnace as seen at Fig. 5, the same letters being on the
same parts; Fig. 6, 7, and 8 are plan views, Fig. 6 as cut through the
furnace at A, B, Fig. 7 as cut through at C, D, and Fig. 8 as cut through
at E. F.

page_text: Sheet 2 is another form of furnace, but upon the same principle; Fig. 1
represents a side view, and Fig. 2 a front view, and 3 and 4 plan views,
the ore and materials are put in at the top as in the furnace just described,
but the exhausting tube is in the centre of the mass of the charge, the
body of the furnace is represented at a, and c, c, is the exhaust tube,
which leads to the exhauster d, which partially exhausts, when put in
motion, the air and gases and causes them to pass through the mass of
materials below it, and the air to supply its place rushes in at the
spaces e, e, the weights f, f, counterbalance the cover g, when it is risen
up to allow the workman to put his charge into the furnace. In that
part of the furnace marked b, the charge can never be at a great heat,
the whole of the combustible gases being drawn off by the pipe c, c, a
safety tube, as before explained in Sheet 1, is seen at h, h, which passes
into a cistern of water at i. The blue lines are the iron casing, and
marked j, j the lining of fire-bricks are lettered k, k, and inferior fire-
bricks may be used at 1, 1, sand spaces are seen m, m; the whole of these
bricks must be laid carefully as described in the furnace, Sheet 1; at n, n,
is represented the bottom part of the furnace and it is composed of two
parts o, o, and o*, o*, these pieces are bolted together by flanges and
bolts, as seen at Fig. 5 on a larger scale, the parts o, o, and o*, o*,
are two distinct waterways, and a division is placed in both
of them, that cold water may pass in at the pipe p, Fig. 1, and
out of the pipe q, and also in at the pipe r, and out of the pipe s, so that
the bricks at the bottom of the furnace may be kept at a temperature
to prevent them from liquifying by the intense heat at this point. The
moveable crucible t, is here made to rise or fall by two screws u, u, which
are acted upon by the worm wheels w, w, these wheels being moved by
the worms x, x, which are placed upon the shaft ; two mitre wheels
are placed at 2, to which motion is communicated by the workman when
turning the hand wheel y by which means the crucible t is lowered or
risen up; Fig. 3 is a plan view cut through at A, B, and Fig. 4, a plan
view cut through at C, D. The operation of these furnaces is as
follows: They are first heated in the usual way for a few days, with
coke, charcoal, or coals, and when sufficiently heated and full of carbon
to nearly the top, the ore, carbon, and the usual fluxes are placed in at
the top of the furnace in layers in the usual way upon the lighted fuel,
and the exhauster is at first set lightly to work, say at an exhaust of two
or three inches of water, this exhaust is gradually increased and draws
the atmospheric air in at the opening at e, e, and seldom requires more

page_text: than about eight inches of water; the crucible is at first put up to within
about one inch of the bottom of the furnace, and is lowered an eighth
of an inch at a time gradually as the heat increases, but not to more
than one inch and a half altogether; before the slag begins to run, which
it will do as soon as the ore sinks low enough to be acted on by the fire,
in a short time a good glassy slag runs off and the metal drops and
accumulates, and as the metal accumulates the crucible is let down more
and more until a large mass has deposited itself so as to form a large
loup or ball, links t, t, are then attached to the hooks a, a, and the
crucible is lowered a little to allow iron rods u* to be thrust across in
them which will keep the superincumbent mass from falling while the
mass of metal is being removed; this loup or mass of metal is never in
a liquid state, as the drops become sufficiently decarbonized to prevent
their running. If cast iron is required the crucible must be deeper and
the opening around at e, e, made very small and the exhaust stronger,
when the loups or balls are removed they may be taken under the
hammer in the usual way and afterwards rolled. If any of the loups
have pieces of carbon attached to them, they can be put, on removal
from this furnace, immediately into a sweating or similar furnace and
in a short time they will have the carbon burnt out; a common sort of
steel is made if the air is admitted sparingly into the bottom of the
furnace as a larger portion of carbon remains in the iron.
Upon Sheet 3 are placed, on an enlarged scale, partial views of the
fan or exhauster, one blade being only perfectly described, so as to
prevent confusion. There are twelve of these blades fastened to the
discs of this exhauster at equal distances from each other. Fig. 1,
Sheet 3, represents a front view, and Fig. 2 a side view, cut through
the centre of the shaft upon which it is fastened (the same parts in
different views have the same letters of reference); Figs. 3 and 4 are also
different views of the same parts. v, Fig. 1 and 2, represent the shaft
upon which the fan or exhauster is placed; m, m, a boss, which is keyed
to the shaft v, and to which is bolted the discs and by the bolts u, u;
the fan or blade t is rivetted to a piece of metal r by the rivets n, n,
attached to the disc by the rivets q, q, q, and to the back disc k by the
rivets ; the curvature of this fan is shewn at Figures 3 and 4, the Fig. 3
being the outer part of the fan or blade, and Fig. 4 the inner, the black
lines being the fan or blade, and the red lines merely to shew the angles
the curvatures make, that it may exhaust readily when put in motion;
Fig. 1 is the side which is placed inside the case. Figs. 5 and 6, Sheet 3,
and

page_text: represent in section at a the mouth or throat of a common furnace for
the smelting of iron ores; r, the ore and carbon charge in it; b is a metal
tube inserted into this mass of material to a depth of some six feet;
this tube is put into connection with a mere common blowing fan, but
in this case it is used as an exhauster, as it does not require here an
exhaust of more than equal to one inch of water, or even less; this
blowing apparatus needs no description, as it is well known. It is here
used as a partial exhauster; it is enclosed in the case d, and supported
on the foundation p; the shaft m which drives it rests upon the bearings
k, k, and it is driven by a strap running upon the pulley i; the bracket o
supports the other end of the shaft m, it running upon a steel point in
the screw centre n, it will be seen that the pipe e, Fig. 6, enters the side
of the box d, and therefore the blowing fan is obliged to receive the
air or gases as it turns round from the pipe e, the other side being closed,
and it becomes an exhauster of the gases, which are created in the
furnace by the blast; they are conveyed by pipes to any point desired,
either for combustion or for waste; at present in high furnaces a quantity
of heated gases escape at the top of the furnace, producing flame and
heat, but by this arrangement the whole of the heat must pass through
the material and economise the fuel used.
Having fully described the furnace and exhausting apparatus, and
the above method of reducing ores to obtain the metal therefrom, what
I claim and desire to secure as the Invention so communicated to me as
aforesaid is, the use of the exhauster in any way an exhauster may be
applied for the smelting of ores so that it is to have the same effect as
described, and also a moveable crucible applied to the furnace, and the
general arrangements herein set forth:
In witness whereof, I, the said George Frederick Smith, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Second day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
GEO. FREDERICK SMITH. (L.S.)