Improvements in the Manufacture of Steel, Steely Iron, or Homogeneous Metal:
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Oct., 1894-Accepted, 1st Dec., 1954
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Steel, Steely Iron, or
Homogeneous Metal:
A communication by ERNST BERTRAND and OTTO THIEL, of Kladno, Bohemia,
in the Empire of Austria, Manager and Chief Engineer, respectively.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F:C.S., M.I.M.E. of The Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool and 6 Bank Street,
Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster and High Holborn, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Letters Patent No. 10923 of June 5th 1894 granted to the present applicant
has for its object a process for the manufacture of steel, steely iron or homogeneous
metal by the basic reverberatory furnace process, characterised by the various raw
materials being melted and refined and if necessary dephosphorized in separate
open hearth furnaces arranged at different heights, the contents of the different
furnaces being then conveyed into one furnace and there finished by the addition
of the necessary ingredients. The method of arrangement of the open hearth
furnace is described and shown in the original Patent and it is stated therein that
the metal is tapped from one open hearth furnace and conveyed to the other by
means of connecting troughs or runners.
The present invention has for its object a modification by which the transfer of
the metal from one furnace to the other takes place not by means of troughs or
runners but by means of a ladle suspended on a revoluble crane and therefore
movable, in order that the whole plant need not be restricted to a narrowly limited
space for operations. The manipulation of the process in other respects remains
the same as described in the aforesaid original Patent.
In the accompanying drawing:
Figure 1 shows an arrangement of the combination of two melting furnaces A
and B, in which it is merely a question of dephosphorizing.
The molten metal is run out of the melting furnace A into the ladle C which is
attached to a revolving crane K, and the contents of the ladle after the crane has
been suitably turned are conveyed into the furnace B.
Figure 2 shows an arrangement of three furnaces in a case where in addition to
scrap, a portion of pig iron rich in silicon and another portion rich in phosphorus
is to be treated.
In this case two open hearth furnaces A' A² are arranged on a higher level, one
of which contains the pig iron rich in silicon and the other the pig iron rich in
phosphorus, and in these such metal is respectively decarbonized, dephosphorized
or freed from silicon as may be necessary. After the refining or dephosphorizing
process has been carried out, the contents of the furnaces A' A' are conveyed, by
means of the ladle attached to the revolving crane K, into the furnace B in order
to unite the contents of the furnaces A' A' in the furnace B, and there to finish the
charge in the usual manner.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a process for the manufacture of steel steely iron or homogeneous metal
as described in my previous Patent No. 10923 of 1894, the method of transferring

page_text: the molten metal from furnace to furnace by means of a movable ladle suspended
from a revolving crane, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore
described.
2. A plant for use in the manufacture of steel, steely iron or homogeneous' metal
by the process described in my previous Patent No. 10923 of 1894, consisting of
two or more separate open-hearth-furnaces in combination with a movable ladle (C)
suspended from a revolving crane (K) substantially as and for the purpose herein.
before described and illustrated.
Dated this 24th dow of October 1894