IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPERTAINING TO THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL FORGINGS
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Ratliffe, of the Mersey Steel and Iron Works
Company, Limited, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPERTAINING TO THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
AND STEEL FORGINGS."
Sealed the 23rd September 1879, and dated the 10th June 1879.
Sealed the 23rd September 1879, and dated the 10th June 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Ratliffe at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th June 1879.
GEORGE RATLIFFE, of the Mersey Steel and Iron Works Company, Limited,
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPERTAINING
TO THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL FORGINGS."
I prefer to take ordinary sized ingots of iron or steel of uniform quality which
have been manufactured by the Bessemer, open hearth, or other suitable process;
I then draw these out into suitable sized bars, preferably by rolling, then shear
them into convenient lengths, pile them to suit the forging required, and heat and
weld them in the ordinary manner.
By this means I find that the nature of the metal is changed from a crystalline
to a fibrous one (which is not generally the case when mado from one large casting),
thereby ensuring more tough, flexible, and reliable forgings which I find to be
peculiarly well adapted for shafts of marine and other engines.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said George Ratliffe in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th
December 1879.
GEORGE RATLIFFE, of the Mersey Steel and Iron Works Company, Limited,
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPERTAINING
TO THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL FORGINGS."
This Invention is designed with a view of obtaining large forgings of a homo-
geneous and yet fibrous character for guns, plates, angles, bars, armour-plates,
ships-forgings, crank, and other shafts and other articles requiring great and
uniform strength with the greatest amount of ductility, also for forgings, only
partially homogeneous, such as the main bodies of armour-plates containing a layer
of more steely material at or near the outer surface.
Forgings from a single large cast steel ingot are crystalline, while if piled from
ordinary wrought iron or steel they are not homogeneous. Now by my Invention
I take ingots of iron, mild steel, or steely-iron of uniform quality made by the
Bessemer, open-hearth, or other process whereby cast ingots of steel or iron can be
made of such a nature that they will readily weld.
These ingots are chemically and mechanically tested in order to prove the
material and make sure that it is all of a uniform quality. These ingots I then
draw out (preferably by rolling) into bars, so as to cause them to assume a fibrous
rather than a crystalline texture. These bars are then shoared or cut into lengths
of convenient dimensions, and piled to suit the shape and size of the forgings
required, heated without flux, and welded in the manner customary with wrought
iron.
The mild steel, steely iron, or cast ingots, of malleable steel or iron aforesaid,
have I am well aware been used before for making forgings out of a single ingot
worked or hammered to shape; but the manufacture of this material into fibrous
bars, and then cutting, piling, and welding the same together so as to get a homo-
geneous mass of thoroughly fibrous nature has I believe never before been done,
and the superiority of such forgings over those made from a single ingot forged
into shape, or from puddled iron drawn, rolled, and piled is very great, producing
a forging tougher and of greater ductility and more suitable to withstand a sudden
and diverse strain.
Having now described my Invention, and the best mode known to me of
carrying it into effect, I wish it to be understood that what I believe to be new
and desire to claim under the hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1st. The process of manufacturing steel, iron, or steely iron forgings by building
them up of separate pieces of cast metal made by the Bessemer, open hearth, or
other process, and previously drawn out into a fibrous or partially fibrous condition,
and then cut, piled, heated, and welded.
2nd. The fibrous steel, iron, or steely iron forgings, made substantially as herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Ratliffe, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord One