ments in the Manufacture of Iron
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
MARLOW BANKS, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I, the said Samuel Marlow Banks, did humbly represent unto
Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria that, in conjunction with
John Roberts, late of Bilston aforesaid, deceased, had invented "Improve-
ments in the Manufacture of Iron," whereby Her said Majesty did, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Sixteenth day of April, in the third year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Samuel
Marlow Banks, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity, that I, the said Samuel Marlow Banks, my exors, adñiors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Samuel Marlow Banks, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFAC-
TURE OF IRON;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I,
the said Samuel Marlow Banks, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel Marlow Banks, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, that is to say:-
The Invention consists in conveying into the ordinary blast furnace, charged
in the usual manner, powdered slack, coal, charcoal, coke, anthracite, lime-
stone, ironstone ore, or any other solid material which I deem useful for acce-
lerating the process or improving the quality of the iron. Such solid matter
being previously reduced to fine particles, I cause to fall into the blast pipe,
where, meeting with the blast, it is carried along with it, and made to meet
the melted iron ore exactly at the point where it is most intensely heated, and
where it can be most efficient. To accomplish this I use any suitable
mechanical arrangement, many of which will suggest themselves to the
experienced ironmaster, without claiming any particular form.
I will now proceed to describe that which I have found sufficiently simple
and efficacious. Of this the Drawing represents a section. A is the tuyere
pipe of an ordinary blast furnace; B, the leather bag; C, C, the blast pipe
through which the blast is conveyed from the engine. On this a flange K, K
is to be cast, on which is to be screwed a large stopcock D, which being more
or less shut, will regulate the communication between the blast pipe C and an
air-tight iron vessel or hopper E, F, into which the ground solid matter,
whether coal or otherwise, is to be deposited through a man-hole or door G.
The pipe H, H, having a stopcock I, forms a communication between the
blast pipe C, C, and the upper part of the air-tight hopper E, F. The use of
this is to equalize the pressure of blast upon the ground materials, by throw-
ing as much above it as below it, so enabling it to fall by its own gravity into
the blast pipe in a continuous stream of particles more or less abundant as
the stopcock D is more or less opened. The apparatus being so arranged,
and the stopcocks D and I previously closed, the door G is unscrewed, and the
matter intended to be conveyed with the blast into the furnace is introduced
through it into the hopper E, F. The door G is then to be closed air-tight;
next the stopcock I of the pipe H, H, is opened, and after it the stopcock D.
The ground solid matter will now begin to fall by its own gravity in a
continuous stream, like sand in an hour-glass, into the blast pipe C, where,
meeting with the blast, it will be carried along with it through the tuyere A
into the furnace.
I do not claim as the Invention any mode or modes of conveying solid par-

page_text: ticles of matter mixed with the blast into the blast furnace; but I claim the
introduction into a blast furnace of solid particles of matter of any kind along
with the blast, whether hot or cold blast, and by whatever means such mixture
of blast and solid particles be produced.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Marlow Banks, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our