IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING WROUGHT IRON
Year: 1865

page_text: Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MAKING WROUGHT IRON."-A communication from abroad by Charles
Meredith Dupuy, residing at the City. of Brooklyn, King's County, State
of New York, United States of America.
Sealed the 16th March 1866, and dated the 25th November 1865,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th November 1865.
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 MAKING WROUGHT IRON," to be as follows:-
This process is intended chiefly for the treatment of such ores as the rich
primitive oxides and hydrated oxides of iron, but other ores may be subjected
to it. Ores to be treated are to be pulverized to about the size of peas and
to have the mechanically mixed earthy matters and other impurities washed
out or mechanically separated; the ores are then to be mixed with sufficient
charcoal or other carbonaceous matter to deoxidize them, and the mixture
either with or without the addition of fluxes is to be charged into iron canis-
ters, by preference of sheet iron perforated with a few holes. The canisters
thus charged are to be submitted to a proper heat to deoxidize the ore, in any
proper furnace; the heat is then to be raised to a welding heat, and the canis-
[Price 8d.]

page_text: ters, either broken or unbroken together with their contents, are to be partially
welded together in the furnace and then withdrawn, and subjected to the action
of a hammer, squeezers. puddle ball, rods, or other proper instrumentality to
solidify the mass and complete the welding.
BPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd May 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park. Brixion, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria. by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, er hens 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, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 MAKING WROUGHT IRON," a communication
to me from abroad by Charles Meredith Dupuy, a person resident at the City of
Brooklyn, King's County, State of New York, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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:-
This process is intended chiefly for the treatment of such ores as the rich

page_text: primitive oxides and the hydrated oxides of iron, but iron may be obtained by
it from other kinds of ores, such, for instance, as rich carbonates. Primitive
oxides are preferred for treatment, and if they contain sulphur a preliminary
roasting is advantageous, the carbonates should also be roasted. The ores are
to be reduced to particles of about the size of peas, and the mechanically
mixed earthy matters and impurities should be separated from them. either
by washing or dry separation or both combined. The process may be carried
on in various kinds of furnaces, and the whole process may be performed in
one chamber of the same furnace, or parts of it may be performed in different
furnaces or various chambers of the same furnace. A furnace such as is
usually employed in rolling mills for puddling or re-heating iron is preferred.
having in connection therewith iwo chambers, through which the heated
products of combustion pass after leaving the furnace proper. and these
chambers are most suitable when arranged in connection with dampers, in
such manner that the heat may pass either into one or both of them at the
will of the operator, so that one chamber may be charged without the presence
of flame or gas, while the heated products of combustion are passing through
and heating the contents of the other. After the ore has been purified
and pulverised as described, it is to be mixed with sufficient carbonaceous
matter to deoxidise it; pulverized charcoal is most convenient, and the pro-
portion varies from 12 to 20 per cent. of the weight of ore. 15 to 17 per
cent. being a good proportion for rich magnetic ores or hematites. The mixture
of pulverized ore and carbon is then to be charged into canisters, cases, or
boxes made of iron of such size as will contain a sufficient quantity to form a
bloom of the required weight, cylindrical canisters made of sheet iron of from
23 to 24 gauge, and from 4 to 7 inches in diameter, and from 18 to 24
inches in length answer well. These canisters may be furnished with covers,
so that the mixture shall be completely enclosed, and this is the best plan, but
the process may be carried on without the covers. If the canisters are to
be placed upright in the chambers, the covers should be pierced with small
holes; if the canisters are to be placed on their sides, small holes are to be
punctured in that part of the canister which is to lie uppermost. It is some-
times useful to add to the mixture of ore and carbon small quantities of flux,
say 16 of one per cent. of common salt and oxide of zinc, or equal quantities
of chloride of potassium or limestone in place of the salt; other fluxes may be
employed, or the process may be performed without the use of fluxes. It is
also advantageous at times, especially when using ores containing sulphur, to
make the charcoal into a paste with water before mixing it with the pulverized
The canisters filled as described are to be charged into the stoves or
ores.

page_text: to a heat somewhat below welding, to a heat in fact sufficient to deoxidise the
ore, and well known to makers of iron direct from the ore. Gases will escape
from the canisters and will inflame, and aid in heating the chamber, and the
heat may be kept up until the flaming ceases, when the whole. or nearly the
whole of the ore contained in the canisters will be deoxidized. From six to
ten hours of heat is usually sufficient, but the canisters have sometimes been
exposed without injury to the deoxidizing heat for 5 or 6 days. When
deoxidization is completed the canisters are to be transferred to the furnace
proper, and after they are thus transferred the heat may be shut off from the
empty chamber and it can be recharged: the best plan is to draw and charge
one chamber while the other is kept at full heat, and filled with canisters, with-
drawing canisters from each in succession, and thus affording a continuous supply.
to the furnace proper.
When the canisters are charged into the furnace proper. which, as stated,
is like an ordinary heating or puddling furnace, a double one by preference.
they are to be raised to a welding heat, and if unbroken may be battered up
with a rabble, dolly, or other suitable tool, and if parts of the contents appear
black they must be stirred and heated until they become bright. The best
plan is to break the canisters, but the process may be carried on in unbroken
canisters. At the welding heat the contents of the canisters either broken or
unbroken will partially weld or weld to each other and to the sides of the
canisters, and after the black spots become bright, or after an hour or there-
abouts of welding heat, the canisters and their contents sticking together are
to be withdrawn from the furnace and subjected to the action of a squeezer,
hammer, puddle-ball rolls, or other proper contrivance for welding the par-
ticles of iron and the canisters together. When the canisters break or are
broken they and their contents are to be balled up in the furnace, so as to
cause them to stick together prior to being withdrawn from the furnace, in
a manner similar to the balling in an ordinary puddling process, and the
ordinary experience of a puddler or workman accustomed to making wrought
iron direct from the ore will enable him to determine when the particles will
ball, and consequently when the mass has been subjected for a sufficient time
to the high heat. In unbroken canisters no balling is necessary, all that is
needed being to batter the canisters and their contents together before taking
them out of the furnace; but this way of carrying out the process is not so
certain as that in which the canisters are broken and their contents examined
prior to withdrawing them from the furnace. The canisters with their contents
may be subjected to the deoxidizing heat in the furnace itself, care being

page_text: taken to raise the heat to the welding point after deoxidization is completed.
and the first part of the process may be performed in a stove or furnace
entirely distinct and separate from the furnace in which the latter part of the
process is performed, but a furnace with two stoves connected therewith, and
heated by the gases escaping from the furnace (such stoves being of sufficient
size to keep the furnace continually supplied with canisters filled with-deoxi-
dized ore) is the best form of apparatus. Reverberatory furnaces with stoves
or chambers heated by the gases from the furnace are well known. and are
described in patents and books, and a particular description of such a
contrivance is deemed unnecessary. Cast-iron boxes or canisters may be
employed. but are inferior to those of wrought iron, as the former must be
melted, or nearly so, during the second stage of the process, and puddled
and halled up with their contents. It is sometimes intended to submit the
canisters, either broken or unbroken, and their deoxidized contents to the
Bessemer or other processes for making steel either before or after they are
shingled and rolled. but in all cases iron ore mingled with carbonaceous
matter is to be subjected to a deoxidizing heat when the mixture is con-
tained in iron boxes, receptacles, or canisters, and these, either broken or
unbroken, with their contents are to form the ball, billet, or mass that is with-
drawn from the furnace, and is the result of the process, and this deoxidizing
in iron canisters and subsequent welding together of canisters and contents is
the distinguishing characteristic of the process.
What is claimed as new is the process of obtaining wrought iron direct
from ores by subjecting them to heat when mixed with carbonaceous matter
and charged in iron canisters, which latter are welded up or balled together
with their contents. the process being conducted substantially in the manner
described.
In witness whereof. t. the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (...)