AN IMPROVED MECHANICAL AND CHEMICAL METHOD OF EPURATING THE CAST IRONS IN ORDER TO ALLOW THE SAME TO BE DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY TRANSFORMED INTO IRON OR STEEL
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Cyprien Maric Tessié du Motay, of Boulevard de
Strasbourg, 23, Paris, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MECHANICAL
AND CHEMICAL METHOD OF EPURATING THE CAST IRONS IN ORDER TO ALLOW
THE SAME TO BE DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY TRANSFORMED INTO IRON OR
STEEL."
Scaled the 14th January 1873, and dated the 5th August 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Cyprien Marie
Tessié du Motay at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 5th August 1872.
I, CYPRIEN MARIE TESSIÉ DU MOTAY, of Boulevard de Strasbourg, 23,
"AN
Paris, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVED MECHANICAL AND CHEMICAL METHOD OF EPURATING THE CAST IRONS IN
ORDER TO ALLOW THE SAME TO BE DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY TRANSFORMED INTO IRON
OR STEEL," to be as follows:-
I propose in a general manner to utilize, for the manufacture of pure
steel and iron, pig or cast irons of all origins, whether they contain sepa-
rately or mingled together sulphur, phosphorous, arsenic, or silicium. It
A

page_text: is known that hitherto these pig irons have not been capable of trans-
formation in the Bessemer or similar apparatus into unalterable steel fit
to be rolled for rails, sheet metal, bands, and other such purposes.
In order to attain my object I have contrived the method which
constitutes my present Invention. This method embraces as distinctive
characteristics,―
1stly. An apparatus which I term the aerodynamic purifyer, which
allows the passage across the melted cast irons in consequence of the
difference in density, of fusible chemical compounds possessing the
property off carrying of the metalloids which render the pig irons impure
during all the time that the oxydising action of the air or oxygen is
exerted upon them, in order to decarburate them, either completely
(when it is desired to transform them into steel or iron), or partially
(when it is desired to transform them into what I term "half-metal ").
2ndly. A method of preparing cast or pig ironsintended to be treated in
my apparatus, or other similar ones, in order that their refining may
continue without their ceasing to remain in the liquid state until the
complete elimination of carbon.
3rdly. The formation of a special lava or scoria containing chemical
purifying agents, fusible below the temperature at which the pig irons :
fuse, and of a less density than the latter, and having for its essential
object the fusibility of lime in fluoride of calcium, and in the oxides of
iron and magnesia, this base being more apt than any other to fix in the
presence of fluoride of calcium, sulphur, phosphorous, and arsenic in the
form of sulphate, phosphate, and arseniate as long as the oxidising action
of the air or oxygen lasts.
4thly. The employment of spiegleisen and ferro-manganese in successive
additions, in order to complete the action of the purifying lava during
the passage of the air across the pig irons to be decarburated.
5thly. The novel utilization of the property possessed by ferro-
manganesc, or pure manganese, or alloyed with tungsten or titanium to
render soldable and malleable the steels, containing also a definite
proportion of sulphur, phosphorous, or arsenic, when the melted irons
with which they are produced are previously completely, or almost
completely, decarburated, either in a purifying or similar apparatus, or
in reverbatory gas furnaces.

page_text: Gthly, and lastly. A process permitting the indirect transformation
into steel of cast or pig irons containing sulphur, arsenic, or silicium in
excess without previous preparation, by converting them into "half-”
metal in my apparatus or any other similar one in the presence of
purifying chemical agents.
I proceed to deal with these points and their necessary developments
separately.
Chapter 1. Description of the Aerodynamic Purifying Apparatus.-
This apparatus is based upon the same principle as the transforming
) apparatus, which I have described under a previous Patent; but it differs
in several improvements which practice has led me to, and which make
it an almost entirely new apparatus, better suited to the treatment of
cast iron, according to the methods hereafter described. Reduced to its
principle, the apparatus consists of a tube U, in the interior of which
the cast iron to be purified is to be alternately thrown from one branch
into the other by the flow of air or oxygen, in order to cause the
chemical purifying agents to pass incessantly across the melted mass.
It is this mode of working which occasions the name of aerodynamic
purifyer which I give to my apparatus.
In order to cause its action to be well understood, I have shown it in
the accompanying Drawings, in which Figures 1 and 2 are a front
sectional and side views in clevation.
The apparatus comprises three essential parts:-1st, the crucible or
retort A which is removable, that is to say, that it can be removed by
unbolting it, in order to visit and repair the interior of the columns;
2ndly, two columns or tubes B, B, which assume in the interior a
cylindro-conical form; and, 3rdly, the mouth picces with cocks C, C,
serving either for the obturation of the columns, or for the evacuation of
the gases through a common chimney D. The body of the apparatus is
of sheet metal, coated on the interior with a refractory material, pre-
ferably magnesia, especially for the retorts. The magnesia is for this
purpose strongly compressed into bricks, baked in an oven. The
apparatus is supported by 4 legs J, J, J, J, which hook on to the cylin-
drical parts of the columns. A metallic platform P is installed at the
upper level of the columns, and is accessible to the workman by means
of an iron staircase E. The mouth pieces G, G, which form a prolonga-
tion to the tubes are formed so as to form receivers for the cocks c, c.

page_text: The same workman determines the alternating play of the cocks, in
order to successively blow the mass of pig from one column into the
other, and so on.
The duration of these operations is regulated in advance, according to
the nature of the cast iron under treatment, and the degree of refining
desired to be obtained. The opening X serves also to allow to be seen
from behind the flame of the heated gases, the nature of which gives the
means of estimating the progess of the purification, and to determine the
moment when it should be stopped. The cocks being then put in posi-
tion, the charging is proceeded with through the hole S. The manner
in which the crucible is worked at the base of the apparatus gives the
facility of dismounting it readily. It is sufficient for this purpose to
unfasten the bolts v, v, which hold the junctions of the retort, and to
permit the latter to rest upon a carriage Y rolling upon a railway. The
retort being removed, the interior of the apparatus may be entered, and
the lining repaired, if necessary.
The moveableness of the crucible, the arrangement for the circulation
of water, of the cocks of the mouth pieces and their barrels, the com-
mand of the play of the cocks with a motive cylinder, the drawer of
which is moved by a hand lever, and the combination of the whole of
the different parts are the new points characterizing my improved
apparatus.
Chapters 2 and 3:-Mode of preparation of the cast or pig irons, and
the purifying chemical agents. Cast or pig irons contain, according to
the nature of the minerals from which they are extracted, sulphur,
phosphorous or arsenic, and before being submitted in my apparatus to
the action of purifying agents they ought to undergo, either in blast
furnaces or in reverberatory gas furnaces, a special treatment, in order
to introduce into them such a quantity of silicium and manganese that
they may contain 3 per cent. of carbon, 1 per cent. of silicium, and
1 per cent. of manganese. It should be understood that these figures
may vary without inconvenience between the two maxima and minima
proportions, represented at the maximum at 4 per cent. of carbon,
2 per cent. of silicium, and 2 per cent. of manganese, and at the
minimum by 2. per cent. of carbon, by 1 per cent. of silicium, and 1
per cent. of manganese. Between these two limits, the extremes of which
only are absolute, the doses of silicium and manganese may vary in pro-

page_text: portion one with another without prejucing the action of the chemical
purifying agents which I am about to describe. These agents arc
fluoride of calcium or creolithes, chlorides of sodium, of calcium, and of
magnesium, lime, or any other alkaline or alkalino-terrous base, the
alkaline and alkalino-terrous nitrates melted together so as to form a
compound, in which the alkaline base becomes fusible at a medium
temperature and forms a soluble lava or scoria without apparent decom-
position in the oxides of iron and manganese and in the basic silicates of
the same metals. It is known already that fluoride of calcium can
dissolve and render fusible, at a high temperature, a quantity of lime
equivalent to the formation of a calcic oxyfluoride. But the lava thus
formed melts with extreme slowness; it becomes more easily and rapidly
fusible when a certain quantity of alkaline or alkalino-terrous nitrates is
added to it. The lava thus formed, whether or not it contains chlorides
or nitrates, possesses the property, when it is melted in the presence of
oxidizing bodies or gasses, of carrying off the phosphorous; arsenic, and
silicium contained in the pig irons to be purified, and maintains them in
the state of fixed combination as long as the action of the oxidizing
agent endures. In fact, on the one hand the alkaline or alkalino-terrous
base of this lava decomposes the phosphates, the arseniates of iron or
manganese, transforming them into oxide of iron or manganese, whilst
it passes to the state of soluble phosphate and arseniate in the fluoride of
calcium. On the other hand, it unites with the silica of the oxidized
silicium and to one part of the sulphur of the sulphurets of iron and
manganese or to the sulphurous and sulphuric acids proceeding from the
oxidation of these sulphurets, passing to the state of fixed sulphates, also
soluble in the fluoride of calcium. This action of the bases is also
augmented by the presence of the nitrates, above all when it is necessary
to oxidate the phosphorate of iron contained in large quantities in some
oolithic cast iron. I said just now thatit was necessary that the cast iron
containing phosphorous, sulphur, and arsenic should be previously alloyed
with silicium and manganese before being submitted to the action of the
purifying agents above named. Indeed it is known that the joining of
silicium and manganese to cast or pig irons produce, through the
oxidation of these two metals by means of the air or oxygen, a
sufficiently elevated temperature for the refining of these cast irons to
continue without their ceasing to be liquid until the complete elimina-
tion of the carbon. Further, the manganese has the property, when it
is alloyed with cast irons, to take up sulphur and phosphorous in order

page_text: to form sulphurets and phosphorets of manganese, which are more
casily oxidizable by the action of the air or oxidizing bodies than are the
sulphurets and phosphurets of irons. From whence it follows that the
purifying agents above named react much more easily in order to take
up phosphorous and sulphus as the temperature of the irons to purify is
more elevated on the one hand, and on the other hand, that these cast
irons yield up their sulphur and phosphorous more casily to the said
agents when they are previously alloyed with silicium and manganese.
In order to alloy pig irons with the proportion of silicium and man-
ganese which I have given above, I can employ one or the other of the
following processes, which require, the one the employment of the
blast furnace, and the other the employment of the reverberatory gas
furnace.
Process with the blast furnace :-It is known that in blast furnaces
where the object is to alloy the manganese with the iron in order to
produce the cast irons known as spiegel eisen or specular very basic slags
are formed, so that the silica supersaturated by the alumina and the lime
cannot react upon the oxide of manganese before its reduction to the
metallic state, whence it follows that these irons when they are properly.
prepared ought to contain but little or no silicium. It is only when the
minerals of iron containing at once oxides of iron and manganesc are
sufficiently rich to be mixed with but little or none of the alkalino-
terrous base or aluminous silica, that it is possible by an additional well
mixed slag to obtain at once irons containing both metallic silicium and
manganesc. But it should be remarked that in the same case the
reduced manganesc is found in a very small proportion compared with
the silicium. When on the contrary it is desired to introduce a notable
quantity of silicium into cast iron, one should, as much as possible, form
in the blast furnace a neutral or acid slag, in consequence of the excess of
oxide of silicium, which in the presence of an excess of carbon and gases
carried to a high temperature is casily reducible in the cast irons in
formation. Whence it will be perceived that in order to obtain with
facility in the blast furnace with ordinary minerals, cast irons containing
both manganese and silicium, it is necessary previously to manufacture
separately, 1stly a manganized cast iron, 2ndly a silicated cast iron, in
order to afterwards mix them and melt them together so that the final
mixture may contain both manganese and silicium in one of the above
given proportions.

page_text: Process with the Reveratory Furnace.- In a cement composed of coal
and 8 to 12 per cent. of oxide of manganese, or what is preferable, of
coal mixed with 2 to 3 per cent. of potash, soda, or baryta, and from
8 to 12 per cent. of pure or artificial oxide of manganese, and previously
heated up to red white in a reverbatory gas furnace or in a cupola, is;
melted either rude, cast, or pig iron, grey, spotted, or white, or the "half"
metal produced by my aerodynamic purifying apparatus or by any other
refining apparatus. One thus obtains at the end of one or two hours a
cast iron containing about from 3 to 4 per cent. of carbon and from 1 to 2
per cent. of manganese. In a cement composed like the first, with this
difference, that the oxide of manganese is there replaced by silica or by a
silicate of iron, I melt in the same manner the grey, spotted, or white
pig iron, or my
“half” metal, and I obtain at the same temperature an
iron containing from 1 to 3 per cent. of silicium. These two cast
irons thus generated are melted together so as to produce a metal 1
cuclosing the manganese and the silicium in the proportions desired.
Chapter 4. As I have stated before it is these cast irons, prepared as
above, that I treat in my purifying apparatus in the presence of the
above-named chemical agents, in order to purify them and cement them
directly into melted iron, which I restore to the state of steel by the a
action of spegleisen or ferro-manganese.
It is remarkable that when the cast irons to be purified contain an
excess of sulphur or phosphorous it is necessary before their complete
reduction to the state of iron to add to the melted and semi reduced mass
a first quantity of speigel eisen or of ferro-manganese, and to continue 2
the oxidizing action of the air or oxygen until the complete elimination
of the phosphorous or the sulphur by the reaction of the chemical
purifying agents above described. One can also in such cases add the
ferro-manganese or the speigel eisen in successive doses, continuing the
action after each junction.
Chapter 5.-When the cast irons thus purified are transformed into
pure iron or almost totally deprived of carbon, if this metal still contains
appreciable quantities of phosphorous or sulphur, this iron can be
transformed into malleable steel by the action of the ferro-manganese,
when these quantities of phosphorous or sulphur do not surpass in atomic 3
weight the minima quantity of combined carbon which the irons with
the least carbonated grains contains.

page_text: Chapter 6. When with the cast irons not previously added to the
silicium and manganese in one of the proportions above defined, but
containing sulphur, phosphate, arsenic, or silicium in excess, I wish to
produce a metal suitable for ultimately furnishing iron or steel either in
puddling furnaces or foundries. I purify these cast in my aerodynamic
apparatus by means of the purifying chemical agents above specified,
taking care to stop the operation before the cast iron is converted into
wrought iron or steel. The half metal thus obtained can, by means of
the cementation above described, be converted into speigel eisen suitable
for the manufacture of steel, or may be submitted to puddling in order
to provide a pure iron capable, by the methods of fusion known at
present, of being transformed into steel of a superior quality; or lastly,
melted directly with a certain quantity of speigel eisen and iron in gas
furnaces in order also to produce steel. The steels manufactured by one
of these means ought, in order to be rendered capable of rolling out flat
and of welding, to receive a final addition of rich speigel eisen or of ferro-
manganese like those produced directly in my purifying apparatus.
It is necessary to say that my half metal may serve equally for the
production either of pure iron or of puddled steel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Cyprien Marie Tessié du Motay in the Great
Scal Patent Office on the 4th February 1873..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CYPRIEN
MARLÉ TESSIÉ DU MOTAY, of Boulevard de Strasbourg, 23, Paris, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Palent, bearing date the Fifth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Cyprien Maric Tessić du Motay, Her special
licence that I, the said Cyprien Maric Tessió du Motay, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Cyprien Marie
Tessic du Motay, 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

page_text: make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "AN IMPROVED MECHANICAL AND CHEMICAL METHOD OF EPURATING THE CAST
IRONS IN ORDER TO ALLOW THE SAME TO BE DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY TRANSFORMED
INTO IRON OR STEEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Cyprien Maric Tessié du Motay, 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 Cyprien Marie Tessié du Motay,
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 thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:
-
I propose in a general manner to utilize for the manufacture of pure
steel and iron, pig, foundry, or cast irous of all origins, whether they
contain separately or mingled together sulphur, phosphorous, arsenic, or
silicium. It is known that hitherto these pig irons have not been
capable of transformation in the Bessemer or similar apparatus, or in
reverberatory or other furnaces into unalterable steel, fit to be rolled for
rails, sheet metal, bands, and other such purposes.
In order to attain my object I have contrived the method which
constitutes my present Invention. This method embraces as distinctive
characteristics,―
Firstly. An apparatus which I term the aërodynamic purifier, which
allows the passage upon or through the molten irons in consequence of
the difference in density, of fusible chemical compounds possessing the
property of carrying off the metalloids which render the pig irons impure
during all the time that the oxidyzing action of the air or oxygen is
exerted upon them in order to decarburate them either completely (when
it is desired to transform them into steel or iron) or partially (when it is
desired to transform them into what I term half metal).
Secondly. A method of preparing cast or pig irons intended to be
treated in my apparatus or other similar ones in order that their refining

page_text: which the cast iron to be purified is to be alternately thrown from one
branch into the other by the flow of air or oxygen in order to cause the
chemical purifying agents to pass incessantly across the melted mass.
It is this mode of working which suggests the name of aerodynamic
purifier which I give to my apparatus.
In order to cause its action to be well understood I have shown it in
the accompanying Drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front sectional view,
and Figure 2 a side view both in elevation.
The apparatus comprises three essential parts :-Firstly, the crucible A
which is removable, that is to say, that it can be removed by unbolting
it in order to visit and repair the interior of the columns. Secondly, two
columns or tubes B, B, which assume in the interior a cylindro-conical
form. And, thirdly, the mouth pieces with cocks C, C, serving either for
the obturation of the columns or for the evacuation of the gases through
a common chimney D. The body of the apparatus is of sheet metal,
coated on the interior with a refractory material, preferably magnesia,
especially for the crucible. The magnesia is for this purpose strongly
compressed into bricks baked in an oven. The apparatus is supported
by four legs J, J, J, J, which support the cylindrical part of the columns.
A metallic platform P is installed at the upper level of the columns and
is accessible to the workmen by means of an iron staircase E. The
mouth pieces G, G, which form a prolongation to the columns are
shaped so as to form tanks or receivers for the cocks C, C ; the cocks
and their tanks or receivers are of cast iron and are hollowed out in the
interior to receive a continuous circulation of water intended to cool
them and to thus avoid the heating, and the effects of dilation which
would be injurious to their action. The cocks are adjusted freely upon
the same horizontal shaft which imparts their respective rotations by
means of a lever arrangement, the clutches M, M, on which are actuated
simultaneously or individually by levers within the control of the work-
The shaft receives its motion from a little special motion
cylinder through the intermediation of a lever I and a rod I' jointed
to the piston rod. The introduction of the air or the oxygen intended
to act physically in order to develop the heat chemically by oxidation
and mechanically by blowing is effected through pipes. The passage
through the latter is so arranged that one pipe may be open while the
other is closed, and act in relation with the mouth piece cocks C, C, so
man.

page_text: that in each column there may be either an obturation of the mouth piece
during the entrance of the air or an opening of the mouth piece for the
escape of the gases. The cast iron to be purified brought previously to
the state of fusion is poured into the apparatus through the supply
holes R, R, the closing of which is effected by plugs governed by the
lever Tand stop key t. The same arrangement of closing is applied to
the removal orifice S.
The general arrangement of the apparatus being thus described, it will
be easy to understand its action. One begins by charging the apparatus
by running in the melted pig or cast iron to be purified through one of
the holes R taking care that the level should not rise above two-thirds
of the height of the cylindrical part below the charging holes. According
to the dimensions of the apparatus the mass of pig iron for each charge
may vary from three to six tons. At the same time the purifying
agents are introduced through the same holes R, R, or by open mouth
picces C, C. A workman on the ground then puts the apparatus in
work by moving the lever L so as to bring the emission cocks C, C, and
the air or oxygen cocks H, H, into the desired positions. The same
workman determines the alternating play of the cocks in order to
successively blow the mass of pig from one column into the other, and
so on.
The duration of these operations is regulated in advance, according to
the nature of the cast iron under treatment and the degree of refining
desired to be obtained. During the operation a second workman
mounted upon the platform can if necessary introduce fresh quantities
of purifying agents through the opening X made at the base of the
chimney which fall upon the cast irons at the moment when the mouth
pieces are open. The opening ✗ serves also to allow to be seen from
behind the flame of the heated gases, the nature of which gives the
means of estimating the progress of the purification and to determine
the moment when it should be stopped. The cocks being then put in
position the charging is proceeded with through the hole S. The
manner in which the crucible is worked at the base of the apparatus
gives the facility of dismounting it readily. It is sufficient for this
purpose to unfasten the bolts v, v, which hold the junctions of the retort
and to permit the latter to rest upon a carriage Y rolling upon a railway.
The retort being removed the interior of the apparatus may be entered
and the lining repaired if necessary.

page_text: The movableness of the crucible, the arrangement for the circulation of
water of the cocks of the mouth pieces and their receivers, and the
combination of the whole of the different parts are the new points
characterizing my improved apparatus.
Chapters 2 and 3. Mode of Preparation of the Cast or Pig Irons and tho
Purifying Chemical Agents.- Cast or pig irons contain according to
the nature of the minerals from which they are extracted, sulphur,
phosphorus, or arsenic; and before being submitted in my apparatus to
the action of purifying agents they ought to undergo a special treatment
in order to introduce into them such a quantity of silicium and
manganese that they may contain when they are melted by the hot air
at least 1 per cent. of silicium and 1 per cent. of manganese, or
instead of the silicium at least 3 per cent of manganese, and when they
have been melted in cold air, at least 1 per cent. of silicium and 3 per
of manganese, or instead of the silicium from 3 to 4 per cent. of
manganese. It should be understood that these figures may vary
between two proportions, the minima of which is represented by the
numbers given above, and the maxima by 4 per cent. of silicium, and G
per cent. of manganese. Between these limits the extremes of which
only are absolute, the doses of silicium and manganese may vary in
proportion one with another without prejudicing the action of the
chemical purifying agents which I am about to describe. These agents
are fluoride of calcium or creolithes, chlorides of sodium, of calcium,
and of magnesium, lime, or any other alkaline or alkalino-terrous base,
the alkaline and alkalino-terrous nitrates melted together so as to form a
compound in which the alkaline bases become fusible at a medium
temperature, and forms a soluble lava or scoria without apparent decom-
position in the oxides of iron and manganese, and in the basic silicates of
the same metals. It is known already that fluoride of calcium can
dissolve and render fusible at a high temperature a quantity of lime a
equivalent to the formation of a calcic oxyfluoride. But the lava thus
formed melts with extreme slowness, it becomes more easily and rapidly
fusible when alkaline or alkalino-terrous chloride is added to it. This
fusibility is increased still more by the addition of a certain quantity of
alkaline or alkalino-terrous nitrates. The lava, thus formed, whether or
not it contains chlorides or nitrates, possesses the property when it is
melted in the presence of oxidyzing bodies or gases of carrying off the
phosphorus, sulphur, arsenic, and silicium contained in the pig irons to

page_text: be purified; and maintains them in the state of fixed combination as
long as the action of the oxidyzing agent lasts. In fact on the one hand
the alkaline or alkalino-terrous base of this lava decomposes the
phosphates, the arseniates of iron or manganese transforming them into
oxide of iron or manganese whilst it passes to the state of soluble
phosphate and arseniate in the fluoride of calcium. On the other hand
it unites with the silica of the oxidyzed silicium, and to one part of the
sulphur of the sulphurets of iron and manganese, or to the sulphurous
and sulphuric acids proceeding from the oxidation of these sulphurets
passing to the state of fixed sulphates, also soluble in the fluoride of
calcium. This action of the bases is also augmented by the presence of
the nitrates, above all when it is necessary to oxidate the phosphorate of
iron contained in large quantities in some oolithic cast irons. I said
just now that it was necessary that the cast irons containing phosphorus,
sulphur, and arsenic should be previously alloyed with silicium and
manganese or pure manganese before being submitted to the action of
the purifying agents above named. Indeed it is known that the joining
of silicium and manganese or manganese alone to cast or pig irons
produces through the oxidation of these two metals by means of the air
or the oxygen a sufficiently elevated temperature for the refining of
these cast irons to continue without their ceasing to be liquid until the
completo climination of the carbon. Further the manganese has the
property when it is alloyed with cast irons to take up sulphur and
phosphorus in order to form sulphurets and phosphurets of manganese
which are more easily oxidyzable by the action of the air or oxidyzing
bodies than are the sulphurets and phosphurets of iron. From whence
it follows that the purifying agents above named react much more casily
in order to take up phosphorus and sulphur as the temperature of the
irons to be purified is more elevated on the one hand, and on the other
hand that these cast irons yield up their sulphur and phosphorus more
readily to the said agents when they are previously alloyed with silicium
and manganese or with pure manganese.
In order to alloy pig irons with the proportions of silicium and
manganese which I have given above I can employ one or the other of
the following processes which require the employment either of the
blast furnace or of the reverberatory gas furnace.
Process with the Blast Furnace.-It is known that in blast furnaces
where the obiect is to alloy the mancanese with the iron in order to

page_text: produce the cast irons known as spiegel eisen or specular, very basic slags
are formed so that the silica supersaturated by the alumina and the lime
cannot react upon the oxide of manganese before its reduction to the
metallic state, whence it follows that these irons when they are properly
prepared ought to contain but little or no silicium. It is only when the
minerals of iron containing at once oxides of iron and manganese are
sufficiently rich to be mixed with but little or none of the alkalino-
terrous bases or aluminous silica that it is possible by an additional
well mixed slag to obtain at once irons containing both metallic silicium
and manganese. When on the contrary it is desired to introduce a
notable quantity of silicium into cast iron, one should as much as possible
form in the blast furnace a neutral or acid slag in consequence of the
excess of oxide of silicium which in the presence of an excess of carbon
and gases carried to a high temperature is easily reducible in the cast irons
in formation. Whence it will be perceived that in order to obtain with
facility in the blast furnace with ordinary minerals cast irons containing
both manganese and silicium, it is necessary previously to manufacture
separately, firstly, a manganized cast iron, secondly, a silicated cast iron,
in order to afterwards mix them and melt them together so that tho
final mixture may contain both manganese and silicium in one of the
above given proportions.
Process with the Reverberatory Furnace :-In a cement composed of
coal and 8 to 12 per cent. of oxide of manganese, or what is preferable,
of coal mixed with 2 to 3 per cent. of potash, soda, baryta, or lime, and
from 8 to 12 per cent. of pure or artificial oxide of
manganese, and pre-
viously heated up to a red white in a reverberatory gas furnace, or in a
cupola, is melted eithe rrude, cast or pig iron, grey, spotted, or white, or
the "half metal" produced by my aërodynamic purifying apparatus, or by
any other refining apparatus. One thus obtains at the end of one or two
hours a cast iron containing about from 3 to 4 per cent. of manganese.
In a cement cemposed like the first, with this difference, that the oxide
of manganese is there replaced by silica or by a silicate of iron, I melt
in the same manner the grey, spotted or white pig iron, or my
"half"
metal, and I obtain at the same temperature an iron containing from 1½
to 3 per cent. of silicium. These two cast irons thus generated are melted
together when I desire to produce a metal containing manganese and
silicium in the proportions above indicated. I can also, without cm-
ploying the methods of cementation above described, melt in order to
produce the compositions before specified in the blast furnace, or in

page_text: cupolas, or in reverberatory gas furnaces, alloys in the desired porportions
of manganese and iron, or of iron and silicium.
Chapter 4. As I have stated before, it is the cast irons prepared as
above that I treat in my purifying apparatus in the presence of the
above-named chemical agents in order to purify them and convert
them directly into melted iron, which I restore to the state of steel
by the action of spiegel eisen or ferro-manganese.
It is remarkable, that when the cast irons to be purified contain an
excess of sulphur or phosphorus, it is necessary before their complete
reduction to the state of iron to add to the melted and semi-reduced
mass a first quantity of speigel cisen or of ferro-manganese, and to con-
tinue the oxidyzing action of the air or oxygen until the complete
climination of the phosphorus or the sulphur by the reaction of the
chemical purifying agents above described. One can also in such cases
add the ferro-manganese or the speigel eisen in successive doses, con-
tinuing the action after cach junction.
Chapter 5. When the cast irons thus purified, are transformed into
pure iron or almost totally deprived of carbon, if this metal still contains
appreciable quantities of phosphorus or sulphur, this iron can be trans-
formed into malleable steel by the action of the ferro-manganese, when
these quantities of phosphorus or sulphur do not surpass in atomic
weight the minima quantity of combined carbon which the irons with
the least carburated grains contain.
Chapter 6.-When with the cast irons not previously added to the
silicium and manganese in one of the proportions above defined, but
containing sulphur, phosphorus, arsenic, or silicium in excess I wish to
produce a metal suitable for ultimately furnishing iron or steel, cither
in puddling furnaces or foundries, I purify these cast irons in my aüro-
dynamic apparatus by means of the purifying chemical agents above
specified, taking care to stop this operation before this cast iron is con-
verted into wrought iron or steel. I can also purify these cast irons in
gas furnaces by employing the chemical purifying agents mentioned
above. The half metal thus obtained can by means either of the
cementation above described, or by the addition of the alloy of iron and
manganese be converted into speigel eisen suitable for the manufacture
of steel, or may be submitted to puddling in order to provide a pure iron
capable by the methods of fusion known at present of being transformed
n

page_text: into steel of a superior quality, or lastly, melted directly with a certain
quantity of speigel eisen and iron in gas furnaces, in order also to produce
steel. The steels manufactured by one of these means ought, in order
to be rendered capable of rolling out flat and of welding to receive a
final addition of rich speigel ciscn or of ferro-manganese like those pro-
duced directly in my purifying apparatus. It is unnecessary to say that
my "half metal" may serve equally for the production cither of pure iron
or of puddled steel.
Having thus described and specified the new mechanical actions of my
aerodynamic apparatus, as well as the mode of employment of this
apparatus, and having explained my methods for the preparation of cast
irons, and the chemical agents which servo me to purify them, I desire
by the present Patent to reserve to myself the exclusive property,-
Firstly. Of the improved arrangements of my new acrodynamic
purifying apparatus, as above described, with reference to the annexed
Drawings.
Secondly. Of my processes for the preparation of cast irons, and for
the simultaneous putting into work of the chemical agents and reducing
metal, substantially as above described and shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said Cyprien Marié Tessié du Motay, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of
December, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Firstly. Of the improved arrangements of my new acrodynamic
purifying apparatus, as above described, with reference to the annexed 15
Drawings.
Secondly. Of my processes for the preparation of cast irons, and for
the simultaneous putting into work of the chemical agents and reducing
metal, substantially as above described and shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said Cyprien Marié Tessié du Motay, have 20
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Twenty-fourth day of
December, One thousand cight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
C. M. TESSIÉ DU MOTAY. (L.S.)
CII. ARMENGAUD,
Civil Engineer,
Bt. de Strasbourg, 23,
à Paris.