IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING BAR OR WROUGHT IRON
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, REUBEN
PLANT, of Holly Hall, near Dudley, in the County of Worcester, Coal Master
send greeting:
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighteenth day of July, in the thirteenth year of Her
reign, did; for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Reuben Plant, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity, that I, the said Reuben Plant, my feñors, admors, or assigns, or
such others as I, the said Reuben Plant, my exors, adññiors, 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, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING BAR OR
WROUGHT IRON;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a provisó obliging
me, the said Reuben Plant, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is 'to bé performed, and to cause the same to be
inrolled in Her 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..
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Reuben Plant, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
The object of my said Invention is to regulate the heat employed in the
manufacture of bar or wrought iron during the process called "puddling."
The nature of my said Invention, and the means by which it may be carried
into effect, will be understood from a description of the Drawings hereunto
annexed. Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 show my improved puddling furnace, like
parts of the furnace being shown by the same letters in each Figure. A and
B are the fire and puddling chambers respectively of the puddling furnace in
general use; D is the bridge between them; C is a preparatory chamber to
receive the metal before it is required in the puddling chamber. The pre-
paratory chamber C is open to the puddling chamber B without a bridge
between them, and the bottom of the preparatory chamber is above the highest
stage of the metal in the puddling chamber. E is a damper (which I prefer
to be a water or fire-brick damper), to be drawn up or let down so as to
open or shut the communication between the fire and puddling chambers.
The pipes marked a, a, a, b, b, b, c, c, c, show the position and direction of
holes, pipes, or tweers made or placed in the top of the furnace, a, a, a, being
for the introduction of atmospheric air by hot or cold blast, and b, b, b, for the
introduction of steam into the puddling chamber; c, c, c, are like tweers for the
introduction of steam into the preparatory chamber. I have found (as shown by
Figure 4) two lines of tweers across the top of the puddling furnace, three in
each line, and each tweer one inch in diameter (the line nearest the chimney
being steam tweers and the other line tweers for the blast), sufficient for a
puddling furnace of the ordinary dimensions, and three steam tweers of like size
in a line across the top of the furnace sufficient for the preparatory chamber.
These tweers respectively may form an angle of about sixty degrees with the top
of the puddling furnace (as shewn in Figure 1). The blasts and steam jets
through their respective tweers may be produced in any way most convenient so
long as the blast is about the pressure of one pound and upwards, and the steam
about the pressure of ten pounds and upwards upon the square inch, but the
blast (by the tweers a, a, a,) should be introduced at the top of the puddling
chamber, just within the bridge D of the fire chamber, in a slanting direction,
so as to drive the flame as it enters the puddling chamber down upon the whole
surface of the iron, and the steam (by the tweers b, b, b), should be introduced
as near as possible to the same place so as to fall in like manner at once upon
the whole surface of the metal in the puddling chamber, and the steam (by the

page_text: tweers c, c, c,) should be admitted just over the division between the puddling
and preparatory chambers so as to fall in the same manner upon the whole
surface of the metal in the preparatory chamber. These tweers a, a, a,
b, b, b, might be placed obliquely in the sides of the fire chamber or puddling
chamber, or on the top of the furnace nearer its end than the division of the
puddling chamber and the fire chamber, and the tweers c, c, c, obliquely in the
sides of the preparatory chamber, so as to drive the flame and steam down
upon the surface of the metal in the puddling and preparatory chambers
respectively, but not as effectively as in the positions I have chosen. By these
arrangements or improvements I can regulate with great nicety the heat in
the puddling and preparatory chambers respectively without the damper usually
inserted in the chimney or draught of a puddling furnace, this damper being
a very awkward way of regulating the heat of a puddling chamber, and
useless for that object when a preparatory chamber is added. My Invention
is used as follows:-The chambers A and B are to be charged and tended with
fuel and metal respectively in the usual manner, and the blast of the tweers
a, a, a, as well as the usual draught put on. When the metal in B is melted,
the blast is to be shut off, and the steam through the tweers b, b, b, put on
until the iron boils. The steam is then to be turned off and the blast put on
until the iron shews itself above the cinders. At this stage of the proceedings
the blast should be shut off and the metal finished by the ordinary draught in
the usual manner, or the heat may be increased or lowered if requisite, as
already described. The damper E over the bridge D is to be raised or dropped
from time to time to aid or check the heat of the puddling chamber as may
be needed. I prefer using hot blast with white and cold blast with grey iron,
though either blast with either iron may be used with advantage. About the
time when the iron in the puddling chamber is to be formed into balls, the iron
next intended to be puddled should be placed in the preparatory chamber and
kept just below the melting point by the use from time to time of the steam
from the steam tweers c, c, c. As soon as the puddler has emptied the
puddling chamber of iron, he is to push with his robble the iron from the
preparatory chamber into the puddling chamber; the preparatory chamber
is then to be replenished with iron at about the time when the iron is ready
to be formed into balls in the puddling chamber, as before. The puddler will
stir about the metal in the puddling chamber with his robble, and will judge
of the heat of the furnace and of the state of the iron during these several
processes in the same way as under the system now in use. My Invention
may be applied to the ordinary puddling furnace without much alteration or
expense, as shewn in Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8, where a, a, a, b, b, b, shew the

page_text: blast and steam tweers respectively applied to the puddling chamber B, and E
the damper instead of the ordinary damper in the chimney of the furnace,
the other letters shewing the same parts of the furnace respectively as they
do in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4. I do not claim as my Invention the application
alone either of blast or steam in the working of an ordinary puddling or other
furnace, nor do I confine myself to the details, shewn and described above as
long as the peculiar character of my improvements be maintained. But I
claim as my Invention, and as my improvements in making bar or wrought
iron, the use of hot or cold blasts with steam jets and hot or cold blasts with
the said damper E or with the ordinary damper in the draught of the chimney
to regulate the heat in the said puddling chamber. And I claim the use of
hot or cold blasts and steam jets and steam jets by themselves to regulate
the heat in the said puddling and preparatory chambers respectively instead
of the said ordinary damper.
In witness whereof, I, the said Reuben Plant, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of January,
in the year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Reuben Plant came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Eighteenth day of January, in the year of