AN IMPROVEMENT OR IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST STEEL, OR OF HOMOGENEOUS IRON.
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Mushet, of Coleford, in the County of
Gloucester, Metallurgist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST STEEL, OR OF HOMOGENEOUS IRON.'
Sealed the 25th April 1862, and dated the 1st November 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Mushet at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st
November 1861.
I, ROBERT MUSHET, of Coleford, in the County of Gloucester, Metallurgist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST STEEL, OR OF HOMOGENEOUS IRON,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in improving the quality of cast steel, or of homo-
geneous iron, by adding to either of these substances during their manufacture
by whatever process, or from whatever material or mixture of materials their
manufacture is effected, a triple metallic compound or alloy, consisting essen-
tially of titanium, manganese, and iron, and containing also carbon, and I add
the said triple metallic compound to the said cast steel, or to the said homoge-
neous iron during the process of manufacture of the said cast steel, or of the
said homogeneous iron, in such a manner that the cast steel and the triple
metallic compound in the one case, and the homogeneous iron and the triple
metallic compound in the other case, may be melted and combined together.
[Price 8d.]

page_text: The triple compound or alloy of titanium, manganese, and iron, containing
also carbon, may be partially decarbonised, or wholly decarbonised previously
to adding the said triple metallic compound or alloy to cast steel, or to homo-
geneous iron; but I find that excellent results are obtained when the said triple
compound is employed either in its undecarbonized, or in its partially decar-
bonised state. I prefer to prepare the triple metallic compound or alloy of
titanium, manganese, and iron containing also carbon, by smelting in a
blast furnace heated with coal, coke, or charcoal fuel, a mixture of the tita-
nium ore called "ilmenite," and spathose iron ore called "chalybite," by
minerologists, or by smelting a mixture of the ilmenite or titanium ore with
other iron ores rich in manganese, or with iron ores and oxides of manganese.
In each case the metal produced from the said ores by the smelting operation
is a triple metallic compound or alloy, consisting essentially of titanium, man-
ganese, and iron containing also carbon, and is ready for my process.
The said triple metallic compound may, however, be prepared by any other
convenient and economical process, as, for example, by combining or alloying
titanic pig metal, smelted from titanium ores, or titanium ores mixed with
iron ores with "spiegel eisen," which is an alloy of manganese and iron con-
taining also carbon. When the triple metallic compound of titanium, man-
ganese, and iron containing also carbon, is prepared as last described, I prefer
to combine or mix the titanic pig metal and the spiegel eisen when both these
substances are in a melted state. Spiegel eisen is usually a white crystalline
alloy of iron and manganese containing also carbon, produced by smelting
spathose iron ores or other manganesic iron ores in a blast furnace. Though
the name of spiegel eisen, or "looking glass iron," is derived from the bright
crystalline appearance of this alloy of iron and manganese when inanufactured
from very pure manganesic iron ores smelted with charcoal fuel, it neverthe-
less frequently happens that the spiegel eisen is partially white and crystal-
line in its fracture, and partially grey and granular like grey cast iron, and
frequently the said spiegel eisen is wholly grey and granular in its fracture
like grey cast iron, but in each case it is essentially an alloy of manganese and
iron, containing also carbon.
When the triple metallic compound or alloy of titanium, manganese, and
iron, containing also carbon, is intended to be employed in the decarbonised or
partially decarbonisedstate, Iprefertodecarbonizeortopartially decarbonisethe
said triple compound in the following manner:-I cast the said triple metallic
compound into plates of from one-half inch to three quarters of an inch in
thickness, or thereabouts; and I anneal the said plates at a dull red heat in

page_text: contact with oxides of iron, manganese, or zinc, or other oxidised substances,
which, when heated in contact with cast iron, will impart oxygen to the carbon
of the said cast iron, and I continue the annealing process until the carbon
contained in the said triple metallic compound is partially or wholly removed
therefrom. When thus prepared, the triple metallic compound or alloy of
titanium, manganese, and iron, deprived or partially deprived of its carbon is
ready for my process. Ilmenite is an ore of titanium containing, according to
published analyses, from twenty to fifty-nine per centum of titanic acid, the
residue consisting essentially of oxide of iron. This ore of titanium is found
in great abundance in Norway, and other parts of the north of Europe, and
elsewhere, and is a titanate of iron. Spathose iron ore, called by mineralogists
chalybite, consists essentially of carbonate of protoxide of iron, and usually
contains from three to fifteen per centum of oxide of manganese. This com-
pound ore of iron and manganese is found existing in a very pure state, and
in great abundance in the counties of Durham and Somerset, likewise in
Cornwall, and some other localities in England.
Cast steel is manufactured either by melting in melting pots or crucibles
steel or a mixture of materials, which when melted produce cast steel, or cast
steel is produced by decarbonising melted pig or cast iron by forcing air
through the said melted pig or cast iron. Homogeneous iron is manufactured
by melting in melting pots or crucibles iron or mixtures of iron and other
materials, which when melted produce the soft tough variety of iron known by
the name of homogeneous iron, or "homo metal." Homogeneous iron is alsɔ
mauufactured by decarbonizing melted pig or cast iron, by forcing air through
the said melted pig or cast iron. The said mixtures of materials, which when
melted produce cast steel and homogeneous iron respectively, are well known,
and are commonly used, and constitute no part of my Invention. To cast
steel and to homogeneous iron, by whatever process these substances are
manufactured, or to the materials which when melted produce these substances
respectively, I add a quantity of the triple metallic compound or alloy of tita-
nium, manganese, and iron, containing also carbon, in order to improve the
quality of the said cast steel or of the said homogeneous iron.
When cast steel is manufactured by melting in melting pots or crucibles
steel or any mixture of materials, which when melted produces cast steel, I
add to every forty pounds of cast steel from one pound to five pounds of the
triple metallic compound, or alloy of titanium, manganese, and iron, containing
also carbon, which said compound I have herein-before described. I add the
said triple metallic alloy to the steel, or to the mixture of materials, which

page_text: when melted produce cast steel, and I introduce these substances together into
a melting pot placed in a melting furnace; and I heat the said substances
therein until they are melted and combined; I then withdraw the melting pot
from the furnace, and pour the cast steel into an ingot mould or other suitable
mould. Or, I first introduce the steel or the mixture of materials, which are
intended to produce, when melted, cast steel, into the inelting pot; and I
subsequently add the triple metallic alloy of titanium, manganese, and iron,
containing also carbon, to the said steel or mixture of steel, producing
materials by introducing the said triple metallic alloy into the melting pot.
When the materials with which the melting pot was at first filled have melted,
or partially melted, and have sunk down in the melting pot, I introduce the
triple metallic alloy into the melting pot, either in the cold state or in a heated
stated, or in a melted state, as may be most convenient, but preferably in a
heated state or in a melted state. In either instance, when the steel or
mixture of steel producing materials, and the triple alloy of titanium, manga-
nese, and iron, containing also carbon, are melted and combined, I withdraw
the melting pot from the furnace, and pour the cast steel into an ingot mould
or other suitable mould prepared to receive it. I do not, however, confine
myself to the proportions which I have herein-before given of the triple
metallic compound or alloy of titanium, manganese, and iron, containing also
carbon, which 1 add to forty pounds of cast steel, for these proportions may be
varied at will by the steel manufacturer without departing from the nature of
my Invention; but I have found that the proportions herein-before described.
afford excellent results.
When the cast steel, which is to be operated upon, is that which is manu-
factured by forcing air through melted pig or cast iron until the said melted
iron is decarbonised or nearly decarbonised, I proceed as follows:-When the
charge of melted pig or cast iron contained in the decarbonizing furnace or
vessel is decarbonised or nearly decarbonised, and the operation of forcing air
through the melted metal is terminated and the blast withdrawn, I introduce
the triple metallic compound or alloy of titanium, manganese, and iron, con-
taining also carbon, into the decarbonised or nearly decarbonised cast iron
which has been operated upon, and which is in a liquid melted state; and I
prefer to introduce the said triple metallic compound in a melted state, in
order that it may the more readily combine with the melted decarbonized or
nearly decarbonised pig or cast iron contained in the decarbonizing furnace or
vessel. But the said triple alloy may be introduced in a heated state in lumps,
or even in the cold state, into the melted decarbonised or nearly decarbonised

page_text: cast iron, wherein the lumps of the said triple alloy will become melted and
dissolved. In order to mix and combine the triple alloy and the melted
decarbonized or nearly decarbonized pig or cast iron contained in the decar-
bonizing vessel, which said vessel is usually mounted upon an axis; the blasts
of air may be again turned on and forced through the melted metal for a few
seconds, by which means the mixture will be completed. Orthe decarbonizing
vessel may be turned upon its axis, so as to agitate and thus mix the melted
metals; or the melted metals may be agitated and mixed in any convenient
manner; or the triple alloy may be introduced into the melted decarbonized
or nearly decarbonized pig or cast iron during the operation of forcing air
through the said cast iron. But I prefer to introduce the said triple com-
pound when the blast of air has been withdrawn from the melted decarbonized
or nearly decarbonized pig or cast iron. To every hundred pounds of de-
carbonized or nearly decarbonized pig or cast iron operated upon I add from
one pound to twenty pounds of the triple compound or alloy of titanium, man-
ganese, and iron containing also carbon; but I do not confine myself to these
proportions, which may be varied at will to suit the particular quality of the
cast iron operated upon, and of the cast steel which it is intended to produce,
without departing from the nature of my Invention. I wish it, however, to
be understood that the greater the proportion of the triple alloy of titanium,
manganese, and iron containing also carbon, introduced into a given weight
of melted decarbonized or nearlydecarbonized pig or cast iron the harder will
be the steel produced.
When I operate upon homogeneous iron, or upon pig or cast iron in
process of conversion into homogeneous iron, whether melted in melting
pots or produced by forcing air through melted pig or cast iron until the
said pig or cast iron is decarbonized, I add the triple metallic compound
or alloy of titanium, ma nganese, and iron, containing also carbon, to the
homogeneous iron precisely in a similar manner to that herein-before
described with reference to the addition of the said triple metallic compound
to cast steel. It must, however, be observed that when I wish to produce a
very soft homogeneous iron, I prefer to add to homogeneous iron the triple
metallic compound of titanium, manganese, and iron after the said compound
has been partially decarbonized or wholly decarbonized in the manner herein-
before described, as I find that the addition of the said triple alloy when
partially or wholly decarbonized to the homogeneous iron produces a softer
metal than when the said triple alloy is employed without being previously
decarbonized. The triple metallic compound or alloy of titanium, manganese,

page_text: and iron containing also carbon, or the said alloy when partially decarbonized,
or, when wholly decarbonized is prepared, when about to be used in the solid
state, by being broken into pieces of about an inch or an inch and a half
square, and from half an inch to three-quarters of an inch in thickness, suitable
for weighing up into the several quantities of the said triple compound, which
are required for use. But I do not confine myself to these specific sizes. And
when the said triple compound is about to be employed in the melted state, I
melt it in a melting pot, or in an air furnace or cupola, and pour it from the
melting pot or from a ladle into the cast steel or homogeneous iron upon
which i am about to operate. When I manufacture cast steel by operating
upon mielted pig iron or cast iron, which is decarbonized by forcing air through
it, I prefer to decarbonize the said pig or cast iron thoroughly, or nearly so,
and I then add a quantity of the triple metallic compound or alloyof titanium,
manganese, and iron containing also car bon, proportioned to the degree of hard-
nesswhich Iintend the cast steel produced to possess. Thus,if ten pounds of the
said triple metallic alloy, when added to one hundred pounds of decarbonized
pig or cast iron, produces soft steel, then I increase the hardness of the steel
by adding a greater weight of the said triple alloy to every hundred pounds of
decarbonized. pig or cast iron; and thus by increasing or diminishing the
quantity of the said triple metallic compound added to everyhundred pounds
of the decarbonized pig or cast iron, I readily produce steel of any degree of
hardness required. iu commerce.
"
Though I have herein only described the addition of the triple metallic
compound or alloyof titanium, manganese, and iron, containing also carbon, as
made to the melted decarbonized pig or cast iron, when the said melted decar-
bonized pig or cast iron is contained in the decarbonizing furnace or vessel
in which the said cast iron has been decarbonized, the addition of the said
triple compound to the said melted decarbonized pig or castiron may be made
after the melted decarbonized pig or cast iron has been poured from the
furnace in which it has been decarbonized intoanother furnace,or into a heated
ladle, and whilst the said decarbonized pig or cast iron is still in the melted
liquid state. But I prefer to add the said triple compound to the said melted
decarbonized pig or cast iron whilst the said melted decarbonized pig or cast
iron remains in the furnace or vessel in which it has been decarbonized, and
which furnace or vessel, from the intense heat it has acquired during the
operation of decarbonizing the pig or cast iron iron, is best suited to maintain
the combined metal in a melted liquid state until it is poured into the moulds
prepared to receive it.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which I carry it into effect, I declare that the essence of my Invention
consists in adding to and combining with cast steel or with homogeneous iron
during the process of manufacturing the said cast steel or the said homo-
geneousiron, by whatsoeverprocesseseitherofthesesubstances may be prepared,
a triple metallic compound or alloy, consisting essentially of titanium, manga-
nese, and iron containing also carbou, in order thereby to improve the quality
of the cast steel or of the homogeneous iron produced; and I further claim
to employ the said triple metallic compound in a similar manner, when the said
triplecompoundhas been previously partially decarbonized, or wholly decarbon-
ized in the manner I have herein-before described. A triple metallic compound
or alloy of titanium, manganese, and iron containing also carbon, is essentially
an alloy of titanium manganese, and iron, but it usually contains also a little
silicon, and occasionally some other metals. I do not, however, find that the
presence of small quantities of silicon in my triple alloy of titanium, manga-
ganese, and iron is in the least degree hurtful to the quality of the steel or
homogeneous iron to which the said metallicic triple compound is added.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Mushet in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th
April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
MUSHET, of Coleford, in the County of Gloucester, Metallurgist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Mushet, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Mushet,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Mushet, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVE
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST STEEL, OR OF HOMOGENEOUS IRON," upon the
condition (amongst others) that 1, the said Robert Mushet, my executors

page_text: 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 Robert Mushet, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and bythe following statement
thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in improving the quality of cast steel or of homo-
geneous iron by adding to either of these substances during their manufacture,
or when they are re-melted, by whatever process or from whatever material or
mixture of materials their manufacture is effected, or under whatever circum-
stances the said substances are re-melted, a triple metallic compound or alloy,
consisting essentially of titanium, manganese, and iron, and containing also
carbon; and I add the said triple metallic compound to the said cast steel or
to the said homogeneous irou during the process of manufacture of the said
cast steel or of the said homogeneous iron, in such a manner that the cast
steel and the triple metallic compound in the one case, and the homogeneous
iron and the triple metallic compound in the other case, shall be melted and
combined together. The triple compound or alloy of titanium, manganese, and
iron containing also carbon, may be partially decarbonized or wholly decar-
bonized previously to adding the said triple metallic compound or alloy to cast
steel or to homogeneous iron; but I find that excellent results are obtained
when the said triple compound is employed either in its undecarbonized or in
its partially decarbonized state. I prefer to prepare the triple metallic com-
pound or alloy of titanium, manganese, and iron containing also carbon, by
smelting in a blast furnace heated with coal, coke, or charcoal fuel, a mixture
of the titanium ore called "ilmenite," and spathose iron ore called "chalybite"
by mineralogists, or by smelting a mixture of the ilmenite or titanium ore with
other iron ores rich in manganese, or with iron ores and oxides of manganese.
In each case the metal produced from the said ores by the smelting operation
is a 'riple metallic compound or alloy, consisting essentially of titanium, man-
ganese, and iron containing also carbon, and is ready for my process. The
said triple metallic compound may, however, be prepared by any other con-
venient and economical process, as, for example, by combining or alloying
Litanic pig metal smelted from titanium ores, or titanium ores mixed with

page_text: iron ores with "spiegel eisen," which is an alloy of manganese and iron con-
taining also carbon; the said titanic pig metal is cast iron alloyed with tita-
nium. When the triple metallic compound of titanium, manganese, and iron
containing also carbon, is prepared as last described, I prefer to combine or
mix the titanic pig metal and the spiegel eisen, when both these substances
are in a melted state. Spiegel eisen is usually a white crystalline alloy of iron
and manganese containingalsocarbon, produced bysmelting spathose ironores
or other manganesic iron ores in a blast furnace. Though the name of spiegel
eisen, or "looking-glass iron " is derived from the bright crystalline appear-
ance of this alloy of irou and manganese when manufactured from very pure
manganesic iron ores smelted with charcoal fuel, it nevertheless frequently
happens that the spiegel eisen is partially white and crystalline in its fracture,
and partially grey and granular like grey cast iron, and frequently the said
spiegel eisen is wholly grey aud granular in its fracture like grey cast iron;
but in each case it is essentially an alloy of manganese and iron, containing
also carbon.
When the triple metallic compound or alloy of titanium, manganese, and
iron containing also carbon, is intended to be employed in the decarbonized or
partially decarbonized state, I prefer to decarbonize or to partially decarbonize
the said triple compound in the following manner:-I cast the said triple
metallic compound into plates of from one-half inch to three-quarters of au
inch in thickness or thereabouts, and I anneal the said plates at a dull red
heat, in contact with oxides of iron, manganese, or other oxydised substances,
which, when heated in contact with cast iron, will yield oxygen to the carbon
of the said cast iron, and I continue the annealing process until the carbon
contained in the said triple metallic compound is partially or wholly removed
therefrom. When thus prepared, the triple metallic compound or alloy of
titanium, manganese, and iron, deprived or partially deprived of its carbon, is
ready for my process. Ilmenite is an ore of titanium containing, according to
published analyses, from twenty to fifty-nine per centum of titanic acid, the
residue consisting essentially of oxide of iron. This ore of titanium is found
in great abundance in Norway and other parts of the north of Europe and
elsewhere,and is a titanate of iron. Spathose iron ore, called by mineralogists
chaly bite, consists essentially of carbonate of protoxide of iron, and usually
contains from three to fifteen per centum of oxide of manganese. This com-
pound ore of iron and mangauese is found existing in a very pure state and in
great abundance in the counties of Durham and Somerset, likewise in Corn-
wall, and some other localities in England.

page_text: Cast steel is manufactured either by inelting in melting pots or crucibles
blister steel, bar steel, puddled steel, scrap steel, or cast steel broken up for
re-melting, or a mixture of materials which when melted produces cast steel;
or cast steel is produced by decarbonizing melted pig or cast iron by forcing
air through the said melted pig or cast iron. Homogeneous iron is manufac-
tured by melting in melting pots or crucibles malleable iron and charcoal, or
mixtures of iron and other materials, which when melted produce the soft
tough variety of iron known by the name of homogeneous iron, or homo metal.
Homogeneous iron is also manufacturedbydecarbonizingmelted pigorcastiron
by forcing air through the said melted pig or cast iron. The said mixtures of
materials, which when melted produce cast steel and homogeneous iron respec-
tively, are well known, and are commonly used, and constitute no part of my
Invention.
pro-
To cast steel and to homogeneous iron, by whatever process these substances
are manufactured or re-melted, or to the materials which when melted
duce cast steel and homogeneous iron respectively, I add a quantity of the
triple metallic compound or alloy of titanium, manganese,and iron containing
also carbon, in order to improve the quality of the said cast steel or of the said
homogeneous iron. When cast steel is manufactured by melting in melting
pots or crucibles steel or any mixture of materials which when melted pro-
duces cast steel, I add to every forty pounds of cast steel from one pound to
five pounds of the triple metallic compound or alloy of titanium, manganese,
and iron containing also carbon, which said compound I have herein-before
described. I add the said triple metallic alloy to the steel or to the mixture
of materials which when melted produce cast steel, and I introduce these sub-
stances together into a melting pot placed in a melting furnace, and I heat the
said substances therein until they are melted and combined; I then withdraw
the melting pot from the furnace and pour the cast steel into an ingot mould
or other suitable mould; or, I first introduce the steel or the mixture of mate-
rials, which are intended to produce when melted cast steel, into the melting
pot, and I subsequently add the triple metallic alloy of titanium, manganese,
and iron containing also carbon, to the said steel or mixture of steel-producing
materials, by introducing the said triple metallic alloy into the melting pot,
when the materials with which the melting pot was at first filled have melted
or partially melted and have sunk down in the melting pot. I introduce the
triple metallic alloy into the melting pot either in the cold state or in a heated
state, or in a melted state, as may be most convenient, but preferably in a
heated state or in a melted state. In either case, when the steel or mixture

page_text: of-steel-producing materials, and the triple alloy of titanium, manganese, and
iron containing also carbon, are melted and combined, I withdraw the melting
pot from the furnace and pour the cast steel into an ingot mould or other suit-
able mould prepared to receive it.
I do not, however, confine myself to the proportions which I have herein
before given of the triple metallic compound, or. alloy of titanium, manganese
and iron containing also carbon, which I add to forty pounds of cast steel, for
these proportions may be varied at will by the steel manufacturer, without
departing from the nature of my Invention; but I have found that the pro-
portions herein-before described afford excellent results.
When I am about to produce cast steel from melted pig iron or cast iron,
which said melted pig iron or cast iron has been decarbonized by forcing air
through the said melted pig or cast iron until the said melted iron is decar-
bonized or nearly decarbonized, I proceed as follows:-When the charge of
melted pig or cast iron contained in the decarbonizing furnace or vessel is
decarbonized or nearly decarbonised, and the operation of forcingair through
the melted metal is terminated and the blast withdrawn, I introduce the
triple metallic compound or alloy of titanium, manganese, and iron containing
also carbon into the decarbonized or nearly decarbonized cast iron which has
been operated upon, and which is in a liquid melted state; and I prefer to
introduce the said triple metallic compound in a melted state, in order that it
may the more readily combine with the melted decarbonized or nearly decar.
bonized pig or cast iron contained in the decarbonizing furnace or vessel.
But the said triple alloy may be introduced in a heated state in lumps, or
even in the cold state, into the melted decarbonized or nearly decarbonized
cast iron, wherein the lumps of the said triple alloy will become melted and
"dissolved. In order to mix and combine the triple alloy and the melted decar-
bonized or nearly decarbonized pig or cast iron contained in the decarbonizing
vessel, which said vessel is usually mounted upon an axis, the blasts of air may
be again turned on, and forced through the inelted metal for a few seconds, by
which means the mixture will be completed. Or'the decarbonizing vessel may
-be turned upon its axis so as to agitate, and thus mix the melted metals; or
the melted metals may be agitated and mixedin any convenient manner; orthe
triple alloy may be introduced into the melted decarbonized or nearlydecarbo-
nized pig or cast-iron during the operation of forcing air through the said cast
iron. But as this method of introducing the triple alloy during the operation
is both unsafe and unsatisfactory, I prefer to introduce the saidtriplecompound
when the blast of air has been withdrawn from the melted decarbonized or

page_text: nearly decarbonized pig or cast iron. To every hundred pounds of decar-
bonized or nearly decarbonized pig or cast iron operated upon, I add from one
pound to twenty pounds of the triple compound or alloy of titanium, man-
ganese, and iron, containing also carbon; but I do not confine myself to these
proportions, which may be varied at will to suit the particular quality of the
cast iron operated upon, and of the cast steel which it is intended to produce,
without departing from the nature of my Invention. I wish it, however, to be
understood that the greater the proportion of the triple alloyof titanium,man-
ganese, and iron, containing also carbon, introduced into a given weight of
melted decarbonized or nearly decarbonized pig or cast iron, the harder will
be the steel produced.
When I operate upon homogeneous iron or upon pig or cast iron in process
of conversion into homogeneous iron, whether melted in melting pots or
produced by forcing air through melted pig or cast iron until the said pig or
cast iron is decarbonized, I add the triple metallic compound or alloy of
titanium, manganese, and iron containing also carbon, to the homogeneous
iron precisely in a similar manner to that herein-before described with refer-
ence to the addition of the said triple metallic compound to the cast steel. It
must, however, be observed, that when I wish to produce a very soft homo-
genous iron, I prefer to add to homogeneous iron the triple metallic.com-
pound of titanium, manganese, and iron after. the said compound has been
partially decarbonized or wholly decarbonized in the mauner herein-before
described, as I find that the addition of the said triple alloy, when partially or
wholly decarbonised, to the homogeneous iron produces a softer metal than
when the said triple alloy is employed, without being previouslydecarbonized..
The triple metallic compound or alloy of titanium, manganese, and iron con-
taining also carbon, or the said alloy when partially decarbonized, or when
wholly decarbonized, is prepared, when about to be used in the solid state, by
being broken into pieces of about an inch or an inch and a half square, and
from half an inch to three-quarters of an inch in thickness suitable for
weighing up into the several quantities of the said triple compound which are
required for use. But I do not confine myself to these specific sizes; and
when the said triple compound is about to be employed in the melted state, I
melt it in a melting pot, or in an air furnace or cupola, and pour it from the
melting pot or from a ladle into the cast steel or homogeneous iron upon which
I am about to operate. When I manufacture cast steel by operating upon
melted pig or cast iron, which is decarbonised by forcing air through it, I
prefer to decarbonise the said pig or cast iron thoroughly, or nearly so; and, I

page_text: then ald a quantity of the triple metallic compound or alloy of titanium,
manganese, and iron, containing also carbon proportioned to the degree of
hardness which I intend the cast steel produced to possess; thus, if ten
pounds of the said triple metallic alloy, when added to one hundred pounds of
decarbonised pig or cast iron produce soft steel, then I increase the hardness
of the steel by adding a greater weight of the said triple alloy to every
hundred pounds of decarbonised pig or cast iron, and thus by increasing or
diminishing the quantity of the said triple metallic compound added to every
hundred pounds of the decarbouised pig or cast iron, I readily produce steel
of any degree of hardness required in commerce.
Though I have herein only described the addition of the triple metallic
compound or alloy of titauium, manganese, and iron containing also carbon,
as made to the melted decarbonised pig or cast iron, when the said melted
decarbonised pig or cast iron is contained in the decarbonizing furnace or vessel
in which the said cast iron has been decarbonised, the addition of the said
triple compounds to the said melted decarbonised pig or cast iron
may be
made after the melted decarbonised pig or cast iron has been poured from the
furnace in which it has been decarbonised into another furnace or into a
heated ladle, and whilst the said decarbonised pig or cast iron is still in the
melted liquid state. But I prefer to add the said triple compound to the said
melted decarbonised pig or cast iron whilst the said melted decarbonized pig
or cast iron remains in the furnace or vessel in which it has been decar-
bonized, and which furnace or vessel, from the intense heat it has acquired
during the operation of decarbonizing the pig or cast iron, is best suited to
maintain the combined metal in a melted liquid state until it is poured into
the moulds prepared to receive it.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which I carry it into effect, 1 declare that the essence of my Invention
consists in adding to and combining with cast steelor homogeneous iron during
the process of manufacturing the said cast steel, or the said homogeneous
iron by whatsoever processes either of these substances may be prepared, a
triple metallic compound or alloy consisting essentially of titanium, man-
ganese, and iron containing also carbon, in order thereby to improve the quality
of the cast steel or of the homogeneous iron produced; and I further claim to
employ the said triple metallic compound in a similar manner when the said
triple compound has been previously partially decarbonized or wholly decar-
bonized in the manner I have herein-before described.
A triple metallic
compound or alloy of titanium, manganese, and iron, containing also carbon,

page_text: is essentially an anoy of titanium, manganese, and iron, but it usually contains
also a little silicon; and occasionally some other metals. I do not, however,
find that the presence of small quantities of silicon in my triple alloy of
titanium, manganese, and iron is in the least degree hurtful to the quality
of the steel or homogeneous iron to which the said triple metallic compound
is added.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Mushet, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witnesses,
BROOKLYN MUSHET,
Coleford,
Gloucestershire.
Edw. M. MUSHET,
Coleford,
Gloucestershire.
ROBT. MUSHET. (L.S.)