IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING STEEL AND CAST STEEL, AND IN FURNACES OR APPARATUS USED THEREIN
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edward Newton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th March 1868.-A communication from abroad by Alois
Thoma, of New York City, New York State, United States of
America.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING STEEL AND
CAST STEEL, AND IN FURNACES OR APPARATUS USED THEREIN," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to a new process of converting ordinary white
iron or any other suitable kind of iron into steel of such quality that it
may be used for cutting tools and for all purposes for which the best
quality of steel is required.
The Invention also relates to a new furnace for smelting steel and
for producing cast steel of the best quality from steel of ordinary or
inferior kind.

page_text: The Invention consists, first, in creating by the combustion of gases
heated carbonic acid gas, and by forcing the same against the iron,
"thereby not only heating the same but also converting the iron into steèl
*without melting the iron. By this process steel of the best quality and
Fof any suitable kind for all suitable purposes, even for the best cutting,
tools can be produced from any suitable kind of iron. Such cast irons
as contain sulphur, phosphorus, or silica must be freed of the same
before the iron is placed into the decarbonizing furnace, but it is evident
that thereby the iron would lose much of its carbon.
The Invention also consists in melting the steel to be cast in an open
pan or vessel which is fitted in a suitable furnace. Heretofore steel had
to be molten in crucibles, which are not only very expensive but also
require a large amount of heat to melt the material in their inside.
By doing away with the use of the crucibles and by melting the steel
in an open pan the expence of the steel smelting process is reduced to
a considerable degree, as the pan is not only much cheaper and can be
used frequently, but considerable fuel is saved, the steel being molten
much quicker than in the crucibles. Furthermore the arrangement
of the melting furnace does not confine me to the use of any certain
.kind of fuel, and the expence of melting may thus be still more reduced
by using a cheaper kind of fuel. In the furnace vertical partitions are
placed in the channel leading from the fire-place to the hearth for more
thoroughly heating and burning the gases on their passage to the
decarbonizing chamber. Perforated walls are arranged between the ends
of the channels and the decarbonizing chamber so as to form a chamber
in which the gases are allowed to collect and to be cooled therein. The
gases are conducted from the decarbonizing chamber to another chamber,
through which are laid pipes in which air. is conducted to the throat
or channel leading to the decarbonizing chamber in order to aid the
combustion of the gases in such channels, so that by means of the heated
gas discharged from the furnace the air on entering the furnace from
the pipe will be heated. The steel is melted in an open pan by blowing
a purified flame over the surface of the steel in the pan. The pan in
which the steel to be melted is placed is made in sections so that it can
be easily inserted and removed through the narrow doors of the furnace.
The melting oven is connected with the air heating chamber by means of
a channel so that the air pipe may be heated in such chamber and not in
the oven itself. The steel can be tested and treated during the melting

page_text: process, as small quantities can be drawn off through holes in the door
or in the side of the pan. The blast channel for conducting the heated
air to the furnace is made wider at its lower end than at top, and is
arranged obliquely in the furnace so that it may impinge in the direction
of the melting pan.