AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND CAST STEEL
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Bower and David Farrar Bower, both of
Hunslet, in the County of York, Chemists, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND CAST STEEL"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Bower and David
Farrar Bower, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 3rd October 1860.
We, JOSEPH BOWER and DAVID FARRAR BOWER, both of Hunslet, in the.
County of York, Chemists, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND CAST STEEL," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention consists in purifying iron, whether raw metal for the
manufacture of iron, or iron itself for the manufacture of steel, by melting or
combining with the iron during any stage of its manufacture, or with iron in
order to convert it into steel, chloride or perchloride of iron, preferring the
latter.
We prefer to use wrought iron for the manufacture of steel, and perform
the conversion by melting in crucibles, adding always charcoal with the chloride
or perchloride.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Bower and David Farrar Bower, in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 2nd April 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
BOWER and DAVID FARRAR BOWER, both of Hunslet, in the County of York,
Chemists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Joseph Bower and David Farrar Bower, Iler special licence that we, the said
Joseph Bower and David Farrar Bower, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Joseph Bower and David Farrar
Bower, our 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND CAST STEEL," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Joseph Bower and David Farrar Bower, or one of us, our
executors or administrators, by: an instrument in writing under our, or their, or
one of our or 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 we, the said Joseph Bower and David Farrar
Bower, do hereby declare the nature of our 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, that is to say:-
Our Invention consists in purifying iron, whether raw metal for the
manufacture of iron, or iron itself for the manufacture of steel, by melting or
combining with the iron during any stage of its manufacture, or with iron in
order to convert it into steel, chloride or perchloride of iron, preferring the
latter.
We prefer to use wrought iron for the manufacture of steel, and perform
the conversion by melting in crucibles, adding always charcoal with the chloride
or perchloride.

page_text: To manufacture cast steel we charge a crucible with the materials bereafter
stated, in or about the proportions set forth, that is to say, to 40 lbs. of wrought
iron we add 20 ounces of perchloride of iron, and 6 to 8 ounces of charcoal;
the whole is thoroughly melted, and is then poured from the crucible and
treated in manner usually followed and well understood by manufacturers of
cast steel. We find the product improved by adding to the materials aforesaid,
before being melted, and in or about the quantities hereafter stated, 3 or 4
ounces of muriate of soda or muriate of potash, 2 to 3 ounces of manganese,
either in a state of black oxide or in combination with perchloride of iron in
a state of chloride of manganese; the whole of the materials are thoroughly
melted, and are treated in the manner ordinarily followed in the manufacture
of cast steel.
To manufacture wrought iron we introduce in the puddling furnace, while
the iron is in a state of fusion, about 3 lbs. of the perchloride of iron to every
cwt. of cast iron.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we are aware that
charcoal, muriate of soda, muriate of potash, and manganese, have heretofore
been used in the manufacture of iron and steel, we therefore lay no claim to
the employment of all or any of these substances; but we claim the employ-
ment in the manufacture of iron and steel of chloride or perchloride of iron,
alone or combined with other ingredients used in making iron and steel.
In witness whereof, we, the said Joseph Bower and David Farrar
Bower, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-eighth
day of March, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
DAVID FARRAR BOWER. (L.S.)