IMPROVEMENTS IN REDUCING OXIDES, AND IN OBTAINING IRON, SODIUM, POTASSIUM, PHOSPHORUS, CHLORINE OR THEIR COMPOUNDS. AND IN Apparatus THEREFOR.
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Anderson, of Newbuildings, in the County
of Londonderry, Ireland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REDUCING OXIDES, AND IN OBTAINING IRON, SODIUM, POTASSIUM, PHOSPHORUS,
CHLORINE OR THEIR COMPOUNDS. AND IN Apparatus THEREFOR.'
"
Sealed the 3rd October 1871, and dated the 14th August 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Anderson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th August 1871.
"IM-
I, JAMES ANDERSON, of Newbuildings, in the County of Londonderry,
3 Ireland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
PROVEMENTS IN REDUCING OXIDES, AND IN OBTAINING IRON, SODIUM, POTASSIUM,
PHOSPHORUS, CHLORINE, OR THEIR COMPOUNDS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," to
be as follows, that is to say:—
This Invention relates to the reducing of oxides and the obtaining
in an improved and economical manner of iron, sodium, potassium,
phosphorus, or their compounds, these substances being produced con-

page_text: jointly and with or without chlorine, and it consists of developments
or extensions of the Invention described in the Specification of Letters
Patent granted to the present applicant, and dated 17 March 1871
(No. 718), and of the Invention described in the Specification of Letters
Patent also granted to the present applicant, and dated 5 October 1867
(No. 2801), and of which last-named Invention the first-mentioned onc
is itself a modification or development.
In carrying out the Invention according to one modification, and
with the view of economically obtaining iron of improved quality, more
highly carbureted, and freer from phosphorus and sulphur than that
obtainable by ordinary smelting processes, a smelting or blast furnace
is used, the upper part of which is divided by vertical partitions into
separate chambers or channels; and the coal or the larger part of it is
separated from the ores and lime or flux by charging them into different
channels. The tops of the channels into which the coal is put are.
closed, so that the hot gases have to pass up the channels containing
the ores and lime. In the lower parts of what may be termed the ore
channels the said hot gases will have a reducing action on the ores, but
that action will not take place below a certain temperature or beyond a
certain height, at which air must be admitted by means of suitable
valved apertures or passages for completely burning the gases, the
heat resulting from their combustion being imparted to the ore and
flux prior to the gases making their final escape into the atmosphere, so
as to fully utilise their heat yielding power. The carbonaceous gases
and vapors evolved from the coal whilst coking will mix with the gases
from the lower part of the furnace, and pass with them up the ore
channels, aiding in the reducing and subsequent heating processes. The
channels should taper so as to slightly increase in internal width down-
wards, and they should be made as narrow and numerous as they can
be without preventing the regular descent of the materials, in order to
insure a completo mixing together of the different materials on their
leaving the channels and before they arrive at the zone of fusion. It
will conduce to the desired thorough mixing if there is a considerable
distance between the lower ends of the channels and the part of the
furnace where fusion commences, and an abundant supply of coke in
this and the lower part will produce a superior and highly carbureted
iron, this abundant supply being maintained at the part where its

page_text: .
presence is more particularly desirable without any increase in the total
consumption of fuel in consequence of the mode herein-before described,
in which the heat of the ascending gases is developed and utilised in
the ore channels. If preferred the materials may be put in a mixed
state into all the channels but at different periods, and in this case each
channel as it is freshly charged is to be closed at the top and reopened
after a suitable interval. Then the fresh coal in the closed channels
will be coked or partially coked, and the carbonaceous gases and vapors
from it will pass into channels wherein the coking has been completed
and the tops of which are then open; and in these last they will be
utilised and be made to act on the ore and lime, notwithstanding the
presence of coke, just as herein-before described with reference to the
materials when kept separate, excepting that the heat yielding power of
the gases may not be so fully utilised on account of the admission
of air for their final complete combustion not being permissible.
Reference has herein-before been made only to the materials ordinarily
put into iron smelting furnaces, but it is to be understood that all the
improvements herein described are to be used in combination with those
described in the Specifications of earlier Patents herein-before referred
to. Thus along with the ore and lime there are to be introduced into
the furnace rocks containing potash or soda, or the silicates or alumi-
nates made from the chlorides of potassium or sodium, or from other
salts of potassium and sodium. When the natural and difficultly fusible
silicates or aluminates are used they may be put into the same channels
as the ore and lime, but when easily fusible they should be put into
channels separately from the ore, and either along with the lime or the
coal or into channels by themselves. The materials thus introduced at
the top of the furnace descend in their respective channels, and on
arriving at the fusing zone undergo the reactions described in the earlier
Specifications herein-before referred to, the alkalies being vaporised and
withdrawn by openings or passages through the sides of the furnace
along with the hot gases and along with the phosphorus and sulphur,
which last are thus prevented from combining with the iron. The
gases and vapors are cooled to cause the condensation and separation
of the vaporised substances, and the remaining gases are returned to the
furnace, being reheated by passing through passages separated by thin
partitions from passages traversed by the hot freshly issuing gases and
vanors.

page_text: In dealing with some ores the iron may be rendered sufficiently free
from phosphorus and sulphur without adding silicates or aluminates to
the ordinary materials, and by simply providing in the side of the furnace
an exit or exits for vaporised alkalies or other constituents of the said
ordinary materials, along with which the phosphorus and sulphur, or a
large portion thereof, will pass out. In such cases it will be advan-
tageous, to arrange, as herein-before described, for the return into the
furnace of the uncondensable gas which came out along with the
vaporised substances.
By another modification of the present Invention chloride of sodium
or potassium is introduced into the furnace along with the ore, lime,
and coal. The silica and alumina in the coal may be supplemented by
adding quartz, granite, felspar, or other suitable rock containing potash
or soda. As the materials descend and become heated the sodium and
potassium of the chlorides combine with the oxygen of the ore in the
presence of the silica and alumina, forming silicate and aluminate of
soda and potash. The chlorine of the chlorides combines with some of
the iron, and the chloride of iron thus formed being volatile is carried
out of the furnace along with the other vapors and gases, and is
separated by cooling or by washing. The chloride of iron so obtained
is exposed to the action of heated air, when the oxygen combines with
the iron, forming a pure oxide, which may be afterwards smelted or
reduced in the ordinary way, whilst the chlorine and nitrogen may be
cooled and conducted over hydrate of lime, which will absorb and so
utilise the chlorine, forming bleaching powder. The iron not volatilised:
as chloride descends in the furnace and is smelted; and the silicates and
aluminates of soda and potash also descend and undergo the processes
herein before described or referred to. If it is preferred for no iron to
leave the furnace as chloride steam is introduced into the ore channels
at their lower ends, and the hydrogen of the steam combines with the
chlorine instead of the iron doing so, and is carried out of the furnace as
hydrochloric acid. Hydrochloric acid may also be formed without the
special introduction of steam, namely, by the combining of the chlorine
with hydrogen arising from the decomposition of the coal.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Anderson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th February 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ANDERSON, of Newbuildings, in the County of Londonderry, Ireland,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Anderson, Her special licence that
I, the said James Anderson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said James Anderson, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 REDUCING
OXIDES, AND IN OBTAINING IRON, SODIUM, POTASSIUM, PHOSPHORUS, CHLORINE, OR
THEIR COMPOUNDS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Anderson, 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 James Anderson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the reducing of oxides and the obtaining
in an improved and economical manner of iron, sodium, potassium,
phosphorus, or their compounds, these substances being produced con-
jointly, and with or without chlorine, and it consists of developments
or extensions of the Invention described in the Specification of Letters

page_text: Patent granted to the present applicant and dated 17 March 1871
(No. 718), and of the Invention described in the Specification of Letters
Patent also granted to the present applicant, and dated 5 October
1867 (No. 2801), and of which last-named Invention the first mentioned
one is itself a modification or development.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to and representing
a smelting furnace as constructed for carrying out my improvements.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of the furnace; Figure 2, a horizontal
section as taken near the top; and Figure 3, a vertical section as at
right angles to Figure 1, of parts outside the lower parts of the
furnace.
In carrying out the Invention according to one modification, and
with the view of economically obtaining iron of improved quality more
highly carbureted and freer from phosphorus and sulphur than that
obtainable by ordinary smelting processes, a smelting or blast furnace
is used, the upper part of which is divided by vertical partitions into
separate chambers or channels 7, 8, and the coal or the larger part of
it is separated from the ores and lime or flux by charging them into
different channels. The tops of the channels 7 into which the coal is
'put are closed, so that the hot gases have to pass up the channels 8
containing the ores and lime. In the lower parts of what may be
termed the ore channels the said hot gases will have a reducing action
on the ores, but that action will not take place below a certain tem-
perature or beyond a certain height, at which air must be admitted
by means of suitable valved apertures or passages 9 for completely
burning the gases, the heat resulting from their combustion being
imparted to the ore and flux prior to the gases making their final
escape into the atmosphere so as to fully utilise their heat yielding
power. The carbonaceous gases and vapors evolved from the coal
whilst coking will mix with the gases from the lower part of the furnace
and pass with them up the ore channels 8, aiding in the reducing and
subsequent heating processes. The channels should taper so as to
slightly increase in internal width downwards, and they should be made
as narrow and numerous as they can be without preventing the regular
descent of the materials in order to insure a complete mixing together of
the different materials on their leaving the channels and before they arrive

page_text: sulphur, which last are thus prevented from combining with the iron.
The gases and vapors are cooled to cause the condensation and separation
of the vaporised substances, and the remaining gases are returned to
the furnace by passages and openings 4, 3, being reheated by passing
through passages (in a chamber 5, 6,) separated by thin partitions
from passages traversed by the hot freshly issuing gases and vapors.
In dealing with some ores the iron may be rendered sufficiently free
from phosphorus and sulphur without adding silicates or aluminates
to the ordinary materials, and by simply providing in the side of the
furnace an exit or exits for vaporised alkalics, or other constituents of
the said ordinary materials along with which the phosphorus and
sulphur or a large portion thereof will pass out. In such cases it will
be advantageous to arrange as hercin-before described for the return
into the furnace of the uncondensable gas which came out along with
the vaporised substances.
By another modification of my present Invention chloride of sodium
or potassium is introduced into the furnace along with the ore, lime,
and coal. The silica and alumina in the coal may be supplemented
by adding quartz, granite, felspar, or other suitable rock containing
potash or soda. As the materials descend and become heated the
sodium and potassium of the chlorides combine with the oxygen of
the ore in the presence of the silica and alumina forming silicate and
aluminate of soda and potash. The chlorine of the chlorides combines
with some of the iron, and the chloride of iron thus formed being
volatile is carried out of the furnace along with the other vapors and
gases, and is separated by cooling or by washing. The chloride of iron
so obtained is exposed to the action of heated air when the oxygen
combines with the iron, forming a pure oxide, which may be afterwards
smelted or reduced in the ordinary way, whilst the chlorine and
nitrogen may be cooled and conducted over hydrate of lime which
will absorb and so utilise the chlorine, forming bleaching powder.
The iron not volatilised as chloride descends in the furnace and is
smelted, and the silicates and aluminates of soda and potash also descend
and undergo the processes herein-before described or referred to. If
it is preferred for no iron to leave the furnace as chloride, steam is
introduced into the ore channels 8 at their lower ends, and the hydrogen
of the steam combines with the chlorine instead of the iron doing so,
and is carried out of the furnace as hydrochloric acid. Hydrochloric

page_text: acid may also be formed without the special introduction of steam,
namely, by the combining of the chlorine with hydrogen arising from
the decomposition of the coal.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same I have to state that what I believe to be novel
and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The reducing of oxides and the obtaining of iron, sodium, potassium,
phosphorus, chlorine, or their compounds substantially in the improved
manner and by means of furnaces constructed and worked substantially
as herein-before described.
2. The closing of the tops of the channels when containing fresh
fuel and thereby compelling the hydrocarbons to descend through such
closed channels, and ascend through the oxides in other channels, sub-
stantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Anderson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of February, in the
ycar of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow..
JAMES ANDERSON. (L.S.)