CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OR PROCESS OF CASTING BESSEMER STEEL INGOTS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE- WITH
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Birch, of the Railway Steel and Plant
Company, Limited, of Newton Heath, in the County of Lancaster,
for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OR PROCESS
OF CASTING BESSEMER STEEL INGOTS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE-
WITH."
Sealed the 20th April 1869, and dated the 23rd October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Birch at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd October 1868.
I, JOHN BIRCII, of the Railway Steel and Plant Company, Limited,
of Newton Heath, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD
OR PROCESS OF CASTING BESSEMER STEEL INGOTS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED
THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
It will be necessary in order fully to comprehend the importance and
advantage derived from my improvements to give a slight description of
the process now adopted in casting Bessemer steel ingots. When the
metal is ready for delivery from the converting vessel or retort it is

page_text: received or discharged into a ladle supported on one end of a rotating
crane or table, the circle described by which carries or conveys the ladle
in its passage when full of molten metal over the moulds or receptacles
prepared to receive the same, into which it is successively discharged
from the commencement to the termination of its race or circular
traverse. The ladle being thus discharged its molten freight must now
remain unemployed until the ingots thus cast are ready for, removal,
and fresh moulds supplied in their place, necessitating thereby a great
loss of time.
My improvements are designed to remedy this defect by a novel
arrangement of carriers or conveyers for the moulds, which will facilitate
and expedite the process of casting so as to make the same continuous
without intermission so long as the metal is prepared and ready to be
delivered into the moulds, and the Invention consists in intersecting at
any one or more convenient portions of the "race" or circle described
by the traverse of the ladle conveying the molten metal (in what is now
called the Bessemer casting pit), an arrangement of revolving table or
tables, the outer circumference of which is constructed so as to support
and carry in their revolution a number of ingot moulds, which are
capable through the medium of such revolving table or carriers of
being successively brought under the outlet valve of the ladle, traversing
on the circle around which the first lot of moulds is arranged, thereby
enabling (so soon as the first lot is filled) a continuous flow of metal to
be discharged into the moulds carried by one or more of the intersecting
revolving tables.
In order to further develope and carry out my improvements I also
place around the circle described by one or more of the cranes now
employed (or any other cranc suitably situated) a number of ingot
moulds, which further enables me to expedite the process of casting.
These moulds are so conveniently arranged that a ladle filled with the
molten metal can readily be carried by the crane from the mouth of the
converting vessel, and delivers its contents in the moulds arranged and
provided for receiving the molten metal in the position described; this
arrangement of cranes enables me to dispense if need be entirely with
the ordinary ladle crane.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Birch in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BIRCH, of the Railway Steel and Plant Company, Limited, of Newton
Heath, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Birch, Her special license that
I, the said John Birch, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Birch, my 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 METHOD OR PROCESS CF
CASTING BESSEMER STEEL INGOTS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED TREREWITH,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Birch, 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 John Birch, 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, and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
In the ordinary process of casting Bessemer steel ingots when the
metal is ready for delivering from the converting vessel or "converter,"
it is received or discharged into a ladle supported on one end of a
rotating crane or table, the circle described by which carries or conveys
the ladle in its passage when full of molten metal over the moulds or
receptacles which are placed in a circular casting pit, and into which

page_text: it is successively discharged. The ladle having thus discharged its
molten freight, must. now remain unemployed until the ingots thus cast
are ready for removal, and fresh moulds supplied in their place, neces-
sitating thereby a great loss of time.
.
My improvements are designed to remidy this defect by a novel
arrangement of carriers or conveyers for the moulds, which will facilitate
and expedite the process of casting so as to make the same continuous
without intermission so long as the metal is prepared and ready to be
delivered into the moulds, and the Invention consists in intersecting the
casting pit at any one or more convenient portions of the circle described
by the traverse of the crane and ladle conveying the molten metal by an
arrangement of revolving table or tables, the outer circumference of
which is constructed so as to support and carry in their revolution a
number of ingot moulds, which are capable through the medium of such
revolving turntables or carriers of being successively brought under the
outlet valve of the ladle traversing on the circle around which the first
lot of moulds is arranged, thereby enabling a continuous flow of metal
to be discharged into the moulds carried by one or more of such inter-
secting revolving tables.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention, I will now
proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to
be or may be carried into practical effect, and in order that the same
may be clearly understood I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings
illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with figures and letters
of reference corresponding with those in the following explanation
thereof.
In the annexed Drawing Fig. 1 represents a sectional elevation of a
"Bessemer casting pit" with its crane and ladle, showing also the
application thereto of my improved turntable for carrying the additional
ingot moulds; and Fig. 2 is a plan or horizontal view of the same as
scen from above. a, a, is the casting pit; and b, b, the crane carrying
the ladle of molten metal c, c; d, d, is the turntable which is caused to
revolve when required by means of the bevil gearing e, e, or in any
other suitable and convenient manner. This turntable is so placed that
it intersects the circle of the casting pit a, a, in such a manner that the
ingot moulds ff, placed at or near the edge of the table are brought as
the table rotates successively under the outlet valve of the ladle. It will
be evident that by this arrangement a great number of ingot moulds

page_text: can be filled one after the other in a short space of time, and thus a
great economy of time and labor is thereby effected. In addition to the
moulds on the turntable as above described I also propose to place
moulds g, g, in the casting pit as ordinarily practised.
I also propose instead of the above arrangement to place a series of
ingot moulds round the circles described by the traverse of the ordinary
lifting cranes employed for removing the ingots, as shown at Figs. 3
and 4, making additional casting pits h, h, round these circles for that
purpose, in which case I can dispense with the centre ladle crane b, b,
and the central casting pit a, a.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with
the method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be
distinctly understood that I claim as my Invention, the method or
process and apparatus for casting "Bessemer" steel ingots, as herein-
before described and illustrated in the Drawings annexed or any
modification thereof, and more particularly I claim the use or employ-
ment for that purpose of a turntable intersecting the circle of the
casting pit, and also the making of casting pits round the circles
described by the ordinary lifting cranes, substantially in the manner
and for the purposes herein-before more particularly set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Birch, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witnessed by,
JOHN HUGHES,
Clerk to George Davies, C.E.,
Office for Patents,
4, St. Ann's Sq.,
Manchester.
JOHN BIRCH. (L.S.)