IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN THE MACHINERY, APPARATUS OR FURNACES USED THEREIN, AND FOR THE PRODUCTION OF GAS TO BE EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Tooth, of Rhodeswell Road, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, and William Yates, the younger, of
Parliament Street, in the City of Westminster, Agent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL,
AND IN THE MACHINERY, APPARATUS OR FURNACES USED THEREIN, AND FOR
THE PRODUCTION OF GAS TO BE EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE,"
Sealed the 27th May 1862, and dated the 11th December 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Tooth
and William Yates at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents:
with their Petition, on the 11th December 1861.
We, WILLIAM HENRY TOOTH, of Rhodeswell Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, and WILLIAM YATES, the younger, of Parliament
Street, in the City of Westminster, Agent, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND
STEEL, AND IN THE MACHINERY, APPARATUS, OR FURNACES USED THEREIN, AND FOR
THE PRODUCTION OF GAS TO BE EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE," to be as follows:
Our Invention of improvements in.machinery or apparatus to be used in
the manufacture of iron and steel, and in making gases to be used therein,
relates, in the first place, to the manufacture of wrought iron, or the con
version of pig or cast iron into wrought iron; secondly, to the manufacture
of gases to be used in the conversion of pig or cast iron into puddled or
wrought iron.

page_text: The first part of the Invention relates more particularly to an
improved mode of constructing that kind of puddling furnace in which
the pig or cast iron is operated upon and decarbonized in a rotating cylin-
der, but some of the improvements under this head of our Invention are
applicable to other forms of furnaces or apparatus used in the manufac-
ture of iron and steel.
The first improvement consists in constructing the cylinder of a
wrought-iron outer casing, on the outside of which are any convenient
number of projecting iron rings, upon which the cylinder is supported
on rollers. The cylinder is formed internally of a number of cast or
wrought-iron segmental bars of suitable length, which are held together
by a series of rings secured by bolts or otherwise inside the wrought-iron
outer casing; by this means a space between the cast-iron lining and the
external casing is left for the introduction and passage of air or water
between these parts, whereby they may be kept cool. In place of employ-
ing long segmental bars held together by external rings, the lining of
the cylinder may be composed of segmental blocks of cast iron, open at
the back to allow air or water to pass between them and the outer casing;
or the lining may be composed of cast-iron bricks or blocks held together
against wrought or cast-iron segments secured in an outer casing. In
order to stir up or part the molten iron as the cylinder rotates, bars of
wrought iron are inserted in the lining of the cylinder, and made to pro-
ject internally towards the centre. These bars may be also made to
project externally, and allowed to dip into a trough of water as the
cylinder rotates; by this means these projecting bars will be kept at a
lower temperature than otherwise, and consequently will last longer.
The ends of the cylinder are provided with moveable end pieces, which
may be removed with facility, so as to leave a large and roomy opening
in order to enable the workman to get the puddled balls out of the
cylinder with facility. A fire-place is adapted to one end of the cylinder,
and at the other or flue end of the cylinder the joint between the latter
and the flue or smoke box is provided with a moveable ring, which is
capable of adjustment so as to exclude the air, more or less, as may be
desired. A moveable end piece is also adapted to the flue end of the
cylinder, and is capable of being raised or lowered by means of suitable
tackle; or it may be suspended from a fixed point, and allowed to swing
or moge sideways thereon, so as to leave the end of the cylinder open
when it is required to remove a ball from the furnace. An inclined door
is also made in the end of the flue box or chamber opposite to the ends
of the cylinder, and is capable of being raised and lowered in guides in
order to give easy access to the interior of the furnace or cylinder. Open-
ings-for tuyeres.are made in the sides of the cylinder for the purpose of

page_text: admitting and directing a blast of gas or atmospheric air, or both com-
bined, on to or into the molten iron, as will be hereafter explained.
These openings may be stopped up by plugs when the cylinder is put in
rotary motion, and a stand pipe with a union is placed in a convenient
spot near the cylinder for the purpose of conveying the gas or air under
pressure from the apparatus hereafter described to the cylinder, for'
which purpose it will only be required to connect the union with the
twyere, and then turn on the gas or air. In order to protect the cast-
iron lining blocks from the action of the fire, they should be coated with
a composition of carbon,' alumina, slag, cinder, or other, vitreous sub-
stance or composition containing iron or oxide of iron, which will adhere
tenaciously to the iron lining of the cylinder. This improved coating
or lining for the furnace will be found greatly superior to that usually.
employed for analagous purposes in the manufacture of iron and steel.
Our next improvement under this head of the Invention relates to re-.
heating or welding furnaces in which puddled bars or shafts are re-heated
preparatory to being submitted to the hammering, rolling, or welding
operation. In constructing air re-heating furnaces, the heating chamber
may be made either circular, rectangular, or of other convenient form,
and is divided by a bridge into two compartments, in the first of which
the pile to be heated is first placed and heated by the waste heat that
passes from the fire-place through the other compartment where the re-
heating process is completed. When a pile has been brought to a weld-
ing heat in the second compartment, so that it may be operated upon by
the hammer or rollers, it may, be taken out from the furnace, and a pile
from the first compartment removed by means of a crane or other suit:
able tackle from the first to the second compartment, so as to supply the
place of the one just taken out. In this furnace the floor is stationary;
but a modification may be made by constructing a circular furnace with
a revolving floor like a turntable, which may be made to turn on a
centre, and be supported on wheels or rollers, which run on suitable.rails
below. The circular chamber is divided by a bridge, under which the
revolving floor is moved by suitable tackle or toothed gearing. The heat
from a fire-place is directed into the chamber, and made to act on the
piles on the floor. When a pile or piles have been sufficiently heated;-
they are removed from the furnace, and the floor is turned round to
bring other piles forward; by this means the tackle for removing the.
piles out of one part of the furnace and placing in the other is dispensed
with, the required alteration in position being effected by the rotation.
of the moveable floor on its centre. The piles near the furnace ends of
the apparatus having been exposed to the heat that has passed over the
other piles will be brought to such a state as to require but little addi-

page_text: tional heat to bring them to the welding point; and when any piles are
removed fresh piles will be put into the furnace at the furthermost doors
from the fire-place, so that these fresh piles will be heated gradually
before they are brought round by the rotation of the moveable floor to
the full heat of the fire.
In treating the molten iron in our improved puddling furnace we
sometimes make use of a blast of gas, which, as above mentioned, is to be
blown into or on to the molten iron through twyeres. The gas required
for this purpose we produce in a furnace, oven, or apparatus of peculiar
construction, which forms the second part of our Invention, and con-
sists principally of a large close chamber provided at the bottom with a
perforated false bottom or perforated tunnels, on the top of which is
charged carbonaceous matter, such as coke or charcoal mixed with
alkali. Air is conducted through a suitable regulating valve to a cham-
ber or fire-place filled with incandescent fuel, whereby the oxygen con-
tained in the air is consumed, decomposed, or arrested. The gases or
air thus modified by the action of the incandescent fuel is then carried
by the draft under the perforated floor or into the perforated tunnels of
the large chamber, and, after rising up through the carbonaceous and
other matters contained therein, is conducted by an exit pipe to a force
pump, whereby the air or other gases may be forced along suitable sup-
ply pipes to the tuyers of the cylinder or puddling furnace. This gas
may also be applied to the blast furnace or other furnaces where a blast
may be required to reduce iron from the ore, or to refine impure or crude
metal. It is important that the ends of the cylinders and other parts
of the apparatus which are exposed to great heat or to the action of the
molten iron should be protected by some lining which will resist the
action of the heat or molten iron, or that these parts should be constructed
of materials that will not be injuriously affected thereby, nor by ad-
mixture with the iron will impair its quality; to this end we make the
bricks which are used in the construction of our improved furnaces or
apparatus, or parts thereof, of a mixture of carbon or charcoal with iron
cinder or scale or oxide of iron, pulverized and intimately mixed or
blended, and brought to a plastic state by the addition of clay or aluminous
earth, which will admit of the ingredients being moulded into any desired
shape, as bricks, tiles, or otherwise; or the plastic mass may be used
simply as a coating or lining for the interior of the furnace or cylinder, or
for making the noses of the tuyere pipes or other parts of the apparatus
which require to be made of refractory materials.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Henry Tooth and William Yates in the Great.
Seal Patent Office on the 11th June 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
HENRY TOOTH, of Rhodeswell Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, and WILLIAM YATES, the younger, of Parliament Street, in the
City of Westminster, Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said William Henry Tooth and William Yates, Her special
license that we, the said William Henry Tooth and William Yates, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
William Henry Tooth and William Yates, our 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 AND
STEEL, AND IN THE MACHINERY, APPARATUS, OR FURNACES USED THEREIN, AND FOR
THE PRODUCTION OF GAS TO BE EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE,"
upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said William Henry Tooth and
William Yates, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals,
or under the hand and seal of one of us, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of our 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 we, the said William Henry Tooth and William
Yates, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
Our Invention of improvements in machinery or apparatus to be used
in the manufacture of iron and steel, and in making gases to be used
therein, relates, in the first place, to the manufacture of wrought iron,

page_text: or the conversion of pig or cast iron into wrought iron; secondly, to the
manufacture of gases to be used in the conversion of pig or cast iron into
puddled or wrought iron.
The first part of the Invention relates more particularly to an improved
mode of constructing that kind of puddling furnace in which the pig or
cast iron is operated upon and decarbonized in a rotating cylinder, but.
some of the improvements under this head of our Invention are applicable
to other forms of furnaces or apparatus used in the manufacture of iron
and steel.
The first improvement is shewn in Sheet I. of the accompanying
Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal elevation of the rotating
cylinder; Fig. 2 is a cross section of the same.
This improvement consists in constructing the cylinder of a wrought-
iron outer casing a, a, on the outside of which are secured any con-
venient number of projecting iron rings b, b, b, upon which the cylinder
is supported on rollers c, c. The cylinder is formed internally of a
number of cast or wrought iron segmental bars d, d, of suitable length,
which are held together by a series of rings e, e, secured by bolts or other-
wise inside the wrought-iron outer casing a. By this means a space f
between the cast-iron lining d and the external casing a is left for the
introduction and passage of air or water between these parts, whereby
they may be kept cool. In place of employing the long segmental bars
d, d, held together by the external rings e, the lining of the cylinder may
be composed of segmental blocks of cast iron, open at the back to allow
air or water to pass between them and the outer casing, as shown in
transverse section at Fig. 2*; or the lining may be composed of cast-iron
bricks or blocks held together against wrought or cast iron segments
secured in an outer casing. In order to.stir up or part the molten iron
as the cylinder rotates, bars of wrought iron are inserted in the lining
of the cylinder and made to project internally towards the centre, as
shewn at d', d', in Fig. 2. These. bars may be also made to project
externally, as at d, and allowed to dip into a trough of water 'as the
cylinder rotates. By this means these projecting bars & will be kept at
a lower temperature than otherwise, and consequently will last longer.
The ends of the cylinder are provided with moveable end pieces g, which
may be removed with facility, so as to leave a large and roomy opening,
in order to enable the workman to get the puddled balls out of the
cylinder with facility. One of these moveable end pieces is shewn de-
tached in elevation at Fig. 3, and in plan at Fig. 4.
Eig. 5 is an edge view or side elevation of the moveable end piece. A
fire-place is adapted to one end of the cylinder, as at A, but is not shown
in the Diagram; and at the other or flue end of the cylinder the joint

page_text: between the latter and the flue or smoke box h is provided with a moveable
ring i, which is capable of adjustment, so as to exclude the air more or
less, as may be desired. A moveable end piece g is also adapted to the
flue end of the cylinder, and is capable of being raised or lowered, as
shewn in Fig. 1, by means of suitable tackle. An inclined door j is also:
made in the end of the flue box or chamber opposite to the ends of the
cylinder, and is capable of being raised and lowered in guides, in order
to give easy access to the interior of the furnace or cylinder. Openings
for tuyeres are made in the sides of the cylinders, as at k, Fig. 2*, for
the purpose of admitting and directing a blast of gas or atmospheric air,
or both combined, on to- or into the molten iron, as will be hereafter
explained. These openings may be stopped up by plugs when the
cylinder is put in rotary motion. A stand pipe provided with a union
joint and moveable junction pipe m is placed in a convenient spot near
the cylinder, as shewn in Fig. 2*, for the purpose of conveying the gas
or air under pressure from the apparatus hereafter described to the
cylinder, for which purpose it will only be required to connect the union
and junction pipe m with the tuyere k, and then turn on the gas or air.
Another mode of adapting the moveable end pieces g to the ends of
the rotating cylinder is shewn in Sheet II. at Figures 6, 7, and 8. Fig. 6
is a front elevation of this part of the apparatus; Fig. 7 is a sectional
view of the same; and Fig. 8 is a plan or bird's-eye view. In this instance
the movable end piece g which forms part of the flue, is mounted in a
vertical position, in which it is capable of swinging of being moved side-
ways or in a horizontal plane like a door on its hinges. By this arrange-
ment the moveable. end piece may be thrown back when desired, and the
end of the cylinder will be opened, so as to allow the attendant to
remove a ball from the furnace with facility. It will also be seen that
the end of the cylinder may be more perfectly closed by this construction
than by that shewn at Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, as the conical part g' of the
moveable end piece is inserted in a corresponding opening in the end of
the cylinder. The part gå in the Figures is the stationary part of the flue.
In order to protect the cast-iron lining blocks d, d, from the action of
the fire, they should be coated with a composition of carbon, alumina,
slag, cinder, or other vitreous substance or composition containing iron or
oxide of iron, which will adhere tenaciously to the iron lining of the
cylinder.
In preparing this composition for the purposes of my Invention, I
employ carbon in the form of small coal, pulverized charcoal, coke dust,
pitch, or the residuum obtained after submitting coal tar to the process
of distillation. I take of either of these carbonaceous matters from ten
to twenty per cent., say, on an average, fifteen per cent., and to this I

page_text: add from thirty to forty per cent. of aluminous clay, and from forty to
fifty per cent. of red oxide of iron, or cinder slag, or hammer slag, or
other vitreous substance containing iron. These materials are well
commingled, and about five or ten per cent. of pulverized or slacked lime
are added thereto. The composition is then ready to be put in the
furnace, and when heat is applied it will quickly melt, and upon causing
the cylinder to rotate a portion of the composition will adhere to the sides.
or lining of the cylinder, and when the lining is well coated or covered the
liquid mass that remains may be tapped out of the cylinder.
It is important that the ends of the rotating cylinders described under
the first head of our Invention, and other parts of the apparatus which
are exposed to great heat or to the action of the molten iron, should be
protected by some lining, such as that above described, and which will
resist the action of the heat or molten iron; or these parts should be
constructed of materials that will not be injuriously affected thereby, nor
by admixture with the iron will impair its quality. To this end. we make
the bricks which are used in the construction of our improved furnaces,
or apparatus, or parts thereof, of a mixture similar in character to that
above described for protecting the iron sides of the rotating cylinder, but
the proportions must of course be varied.
For the manufacture of brick instead of ordinary fire-clay, which is
injurious to the quality of the iron, I employ a mixture in the proportion
of twenty-five per cent. of carbon or charcoal, and twenty-five per cent.
of iron, cinder, or scale, or oxide of iron, pulverized and intimately mixed
or blended and brought into a plastic state by the addition of from fifty
to sixty per cent. of good poole or potters' clay or aluminous earth. These
proportions will admit of the ingredients being moulded into any desired
shape; as bricks, tiles, or otherwise, or the plastic mass may be used
simply as a coating or lining for the interior of the furnace or cylinder,
or for making the noses of the tuyere pipes or other parts of the apparatus
which require to be made of refractory materials. This improved coating
or lining for the furnace will be found greatly superior to that usually
employed for analogous purposes in the manufacture of iron and steel.
Our next improvement under this head of the Invention relates to re-
heating or welding furnaces in which puddled bars or shafts are reheated
preparatory to being submitted to the hammering, rolling, or welding
operation.
In constructing puddling and re-heating furnaces, the heating chamber
may be made either circular, rectangular, or of other convenient form,
and is divided by a bridge into two compartments, in the first of which
the pile to be heated is first placed and heated by the waste heat that

page_text: passes from the fire-place through the other compartment, where the re-
heating process is completed.
Fig. 11 is a longitudinal vertical section of one form of re-heating
furnace, which is divided into two compartments B and C by means of
an inverted bridge or wall o: Between the two compartments is made a
kind of wall or chamber u, which is to be filled with any carbonaceous
material, such as small coal, charcoal, or coke, or the ashes or cinders:
from the fire-place which heats the compartments. The bottom or'
hearth t of the furnace is made of corrugated cast iron, as shown'in the
cross section Fig. 12, or it may be made of fire-clay properly supported
from below. By corrugating the hearth of the furnace the heat will be
allowed to get under the pile, and be at the same time more effectual than
if it rested on a flat bottom.. This mode of constructing the floors or
hearths of the re-heating furnaces, may be advantageously applied to a
re-heating furnace of the ordinary construction. B is the first compart-
ment, into which the iron or steel piles are first introduced, and are heated
therein by the waste heat from the outer compartment C, in which the
piles are raised to the welding heat. Any metal or slag that may run
from the piles will run down the corrugated channels in the floor into
the well or chamber u, where it will become mixed with the carbonaceous
materials. This cinder may be used in the blast furnace for improving
the quality of the iron.
may
When a pile has been brought to a welding heat in the second com-
partment C, so that it may be operated upon by the hammer or rollers,
it be taken out from the furnace, and a pile from the first compart-
ment B removed by means of the crane v, or other suitable tackle, from the
first compartment B to the second one C, so as to supply the place of the
pile just taken out. In this furnace the floor is stationary, but a modifica-
tion may be made by constructing a circular furnace with a revolving
floor like a turntable which may be made to turn on a centre, and be
supported on wheels or rollers, which run on suitable rails below as shewn
in Figures 9 and 10. Fig. 9 is a sectional plan view, and Fig. 10 a
transverse. vertical section, of the circular re-heating furnace, of circular
form, having a central pillar p, and a vertical wall or bridge o, whereby
the annular space is divided,, and under this bridge the revolving floor t
of the furnace is moved by means of suitable tackle or toothed gearing.
There are also two doors or openings q, q, one for introducing the piles
to be re-heated, and the other for withdrawing the same. The fire-place
for heating the furnace is seen at r, and the exit flue at s. The sole or
hearth t of the furnace is of an annular form and moveable, to which end
it is constructed of an iron plate or frame covered with fire-brick or other
suitable material, and mounted on antifriction wheels, which run on rails,

page_text: is directed into the
When a pile or piles
as seen in Fig. 10. The heat from the fire-place
chamber, and made to act on the piles on the floor.
have been sufficiently heated, they are removed from the furnace, and
the floor is turned round to bring other piles forward. By this means
the tackle for removing the piles out of one part of the furnace and placing
in the other, as shewn in Fig. 11, is dispensed with, the required altera-
tion in the position of the piles being effected by the rotation of the
'moveable floor on its centre. The piles near the furnace end of the
apparatus having been exposed to the heat that has passed over, the other
pilės will be brought to such a state as to require but little additional
heat to bring them to the welding point; and when any piles are removed
through the door q, fresh piles will be put into the furnace at the door q¹
which is farthest from the fire-place, so that these fresh piles will be
heated gradually before they are brought round by the rotation of the
moveable floor to the full heat of the fire.
In treating the molten iron in our improved puddling furnace, we some-
times make use of a blast of gas, which, as above mentioned, is to be blown
into or on to the molten iron through tuyeres..
The gas required for this purpose we produce in a furnace, oven, or
apparatus of peculiar construction, which forms the second part of our
Invention, and is shewn in longitudinal section at Fig. 13, and in
transverse section at Fig. 14. The apparatus consists principally of a
large close chamber D, provided at the bottom with a perforated false
bottom w, w, or perforated tunnels, as shown at Fig. 14, on the top of
which is charged carbonaceous matter, such as coke or charcoal, mixed
with alkali. Air is conducted through a suitable opening a, provided,
if required, with a regulating valve, to a chamber or fire-place E-filled
with incandescent fuel, whereby the oxygen contained in the air will be
consumed, decomposed, or arrested. The gases or air thus modified by
the action of the incandescent fuel. will then be carried or driven by the
blast under the perforated floor w, or into the perforated tunnels w¹ of
the large chamber D; and after rising up through the carbonaceous and
other matters contained therein, the air or gases will be conducted by an
exit pipe y either to a gasholder or to a force pump, whereby they may
be forced along suitable supply pipes to the tuyeres of the cylinder or
puddling furnace. This gas may also be applied to the blast furnace or
re-heating other furnaces where a blast may be required to reduce. iron
from the ore, or to refine impure or crude metal.
Having now described our Invention of improvements in the manu-
facture of iron and steel, and in the machinery, apparatus, or furnaces
used therein, and for the production of gas to be employed in such manu-
facture, and having explained the manner of carrying the same into

page_text: effect, we claim as the Invention secured to us by Letters Patent as
aforesaid,
First, the mode herein set forth of constructing, puddling, and re-
heating furnaces, we claim constructing the floors or hearths of re-heating
furnaces of a corrugated form for the purpose above set forth.
We further claim the use of the ferruginous and aluminous composition
above set forth, or any mere modification thereof, for making the bricks,
linings, and other parts of furnaces or apparatus that are exposed to great
heat in the manufacture of iron or steel.
Lastly, we claim the apparatus herein set forth, or any mere modifica-
tion thereof, for the production of gases to be used in the manufacture of
iron and steel.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Henry Tooth and William
Yates, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Eleventh day of
June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-two.
0
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
WILLIAM H. TOOTH. (L.S.)
WILL YATES, JR. (L.S.)