CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING CAST STEEL
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Jean Baptiste Manevy, of Paris, in the Empire
of France, for the Invention of" CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING
CAST STEEL."
Sealed the 28th October 1856, and dated the 30th April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Jean Baptiste Manevy
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
80th April 1856.
I, LOUIS JEAN BAPTISTE MANEVY, of Paris, in the Empire of France, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN MANUFACTURING CAST STEEL, to be as follows:-
This Invention has for object the manufacture of cast steel, by means of
decarburation of cast iron in closed vessels by means of oxyds of iron, or by
means of mixtures of oxyds of iron, of uncemented iron, of lime, potash, or
soda. The oxyds of iron act as decarburreting agents, whilst the oxyds of
calcium, potassium, & sodium free the metal of the sulphur, phosphorus, and
silicium.
To obtain steel by my method, I use white cast iron mixed with wrought
iron, or the cast iron alone. For the first I employ 50 parts of cast iron (white)
of the first quality, and about 50 parts of wrought iron also of the first quality,
the whole reduced into small fragments & mixed with about 2 or 5 parts of
oxyd of iron, &, as the cast iron is more or less sulphurous or phosphorous,
I add more or less oxyds of calcium, potassium, & sodium; these matters
being placed in ordinary crucibles, the fusion & reaction take place in the
furnaces used for the fusion of steel of cementation.
2nd means. To obtain melted steel in closed vessels from only cast iron I

page_text: make two operations, the one preparatory, the other definitive. The first
operation consists of (as in the first method) taking sheets of white cast iron,
exposing them to great heat in a reverbatory furnace, of which the interior is
air-tight. I then add to the cast iron a quantity of chalk in powder, alone,
or mixed with bone ashes, to obtain a certain degree of decarburation of the
cast iron without loss of weight.
The cast-iron sheets or plates are cooled by exposure to the open air, or
thrown into cold water, to temper them & facilitate their separation. I then
add to these oxyds of potassium, sodium, or calcium, according to the quality
of the steel desired to be obtained, & the quantity of sulphur & phosphorus
the cast iron contains; oxyds of wrought iron are also added, according to the
quality of steel to be produced.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Jean Baptiste Manevy in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 29th October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
JEAN BAPTISTE MANEVY, of Paris, in the Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Louis Jean Baptiste Manevy, Her special licence that I, the said Louis Jean
Baptiste Manevy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Louis Jean Baptiste Manevy, 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
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING CAST STEEL," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Louis Jean Baptiste Manevy, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Louis Jean Baptiste Manevy, 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 :-
My Invention refers to the manufacture of cast steel (of every description)
by decarbonizing melted cast iron in closed vessels, which decarbonization
I effect by the admixture in such closed vessels of pure oxides of iron alone,
or it may be with the further addition of wrought iron, lime, and potash or
soda.
The oxides of iron and wrought iron itself act as the decarbonizing agents,
while the oxides of calcium, potassium, and sodium take up the sulphur,
phosphorus, and silicium, and form sulphurets, phosphorets, and silicates.
The method pursued heretofore for obtaining cast steel has been by the
process of cementation, for which purpose hard strong iron is used, and such
as results from spathic or magnetic iron ores. These ores, after having been
crushed or broken into small pieces, are subjected to the process of cemen-
tation, and it has been usual to sort the said pieces, so as to yield various
descriptions of cast steel, according to the various degrees of cementation
to which the pieces have been subjected.
In pursuance of my Invention, and in order to obtain the various sorts
of cast steel, I employ, first, white cast iron mixed with malleable iron; or,
in the second place, white cast iron alone, which constitutes two very distinct
methods.
For obtaining fine steel, which requires to be especially hard and tough,
being intended for the manufacture of the most delicate tools, I employ, first,
the best white cast iron from Savoy, or from the department of Isère, or any
other country affording such products; secondly, I employ the best Swedish
iron, or other malleable iron of the best quality. I put into an ordinary
crucible, of a capacity to hold about forty pounds of metal, from 40 to 50
parts of cast iron and 40 to 50 parts of malleable iron, the whole of which is
previously reduced into small pieces, together with a proportion of oxide of
iron, varying from 2 to 5 per cent. The addition of oxides of calcium,
potassium, and sodium is only made to impure cast iron, the quantity used of
which is varied, according to the impurity of the iron. The several propor-
tions above stated are varied, according to the description or quality of steel
it is desired to obtain. The crucible being charged and placed in the furnace,
the operation is proceeded with exactly as in melting steel produced by
cementation.
As regards the other method of obtaining cast steel in closed vessels with.

page_text: cast iron alone, I proceed by two operations, the one preparatory and the other
definitive. The first, which is preparatory, is similar to the method already
described, and according to which I use cast iron plates of about three-fourths
of an inch in thickness by eighteen inches long and about one foot wide. The
upper surface of these plates are divided into small squares by indented cross
lines, so that the separation and the fusion in closed vessels may be easier. I
subject these plates to a brisk heat in a reverberatory furnace, the body of which
is completely sheltered from the action of air. I add to these plates a quantity
of pulverized chalk (carbonate of lime), either separately, or together with
bone ashes, for the purpose of obtaining a first degree of decarbonization with-
out reducing the weight of the metal. The addition of oxides of calcium
potassium, and sodium I make only to impure cast iron, the quantity used
being varied according to its impurity.
The plates are allowed to cool naturally to a certain degree, and are thrown
into a trough of water to harden them, in order to facilitate the separation of
the squares. The metal is afterwards cast and smelted in crucibles, according
to the method and processes above described, that is to say, with an additional
mixture of oxide of iron, the quantity of which is varied according to the
quality of steel it is desired to obtain.
.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be carried into effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein described
of the proportional quantities of oxides and other substances, as such may bo
varied or modified without departing from the nature of my Invention; but
what I claim as new, and therefore to be secured to me by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent is, the manufacturing cast steel by decarbonizing
fluid cast iron in closed vessels, which decarbonization is effected by the addition
thereto of a certain quantity of pure oxide of iron with or without a pro-
portion of malleable iron, and also, when required, with an additional quantity
of lime, potash, or soda, substantially, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Jean Baptiste Manevy, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
L. J. B. MANEVY. (L.S.)