IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANIPULATION .OF STEEL
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Birch, of Newton Heath, in the County of.
Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANIPULATION
.OF STEEL."
Sealed the 22nd December 1871, and dated the 30th June 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Birch at the.
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th June 1871.
I, JOHN BIRCH, of Newton Heath, in the County of Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANIPULATION OF STEEL," to be as follows :—
It is usual in the manufacture of Bessemer and other kinds of steels
to allow the ingot after casting to become cold and afterwards to be
re-heated in furnaces before hammering or rolling.
The object of my Invention is to dispense with this re-heating and to
preserve the heat in the ingot and utilize it (the heat) for its after
manipulation. I am aware that attempts have been made to work the
ingot direct from the converting pit, but these have failed in consċ-

page_text: quence of the outside of the ingot being too cold while the inside has
been too hot.
I propose to remedy these defects by enclosing the ingot immediately
it is taken from the mould in a suitable chamber or furnace made of fire
resisting and non-conducting substances such as fire-brick, powdered
charcoal, graphite, asbestos, lava, pumicestone, small coke, or any other
suitable substances to prevent the heat from radiating from the external
part of the ingot, and thus preserving its temperature, until the interior
is properly set and the time arrives when its further manipulation or
treatment can be more successfully carried out.
For example, I propose to construct a furnace mounted on wheels and
lined with fire-brick or other suitable materials to contain one or more
ingots, and as soon as I take the ingot from the mould I place it longi-
tudinally within the chamber, and then take it to the rolls or hammers
and allow it to remain until it arrives at a suitable temperature (indi-
cated by a pyrometer placed within) when it is rolled or hammered. I
also provide this furnace when necessary with an inlet for the admis-
sion of combustible gases, such as (for example) carbonic oxide,
carburetted hydrogen, or other combustible substances, along with
atmospheric air and so make it a re-heating furnace in case the ingot
through neglect gets below the required temperature for working. I
likewise make an outlet for the escape of the products of combustion
in the said chamber.
I would here remark that the same process may be carried on in
fixed furnaces instead of using the rolling or movable furnaces above
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Birch in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th December 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BIRCH, of Newton Heath, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,

page_text: give and grant unto me, the said John Birch, Her special license that I,
the said John Birch, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Birch, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANIPULATION
OF STEEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Birch, 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 John Birch, 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 by the
following statement, and accompanying Drawings (that is to say): It is
usual in the manufacture of Bessemer and other kinds of steels to allow.
the ingot after casting to become cold and afterwards to be re-heated in
furnaces before hammering or rolling.
The object of my Invention is to dispense with this re-heating and
to preserve the heat in the ingot and utilize it (the heat) for its after.
manipulation. I am aware that attempts have been made to work the
ingot direct from the converting pit, but these have failed in consc-
quence of the outside of the ingot being too cold whilst the inside has
been too hot.
I propose to remedy these defects by enclosing the ingot immediately
it is taken from the mould in a suitable chamber or furnace made of
fire resisting and non-conducting substances, such as a lining of fire-
brick, powdered charcoal, graphite, asbestos, lava, pumicestone, small
coke, or any other suitable substances to prevent the heat from radi-
ating from the external part of the ingot and thus preserving its tem-
perature until the interior is properly set, and the time arrives when its
further manipulation or treatment can be more successfully carried out.
For example, I propose to construct a chamber or furnace mounted
on wheels and lined with fire-brick or other suitable materials to

page_text: contain one or more ingots, and as soon as I take the ingot from the
mould I place it longitudinally or otherwise within the chamber, and
then take it to the rolls or hammers, and allow it to remain until it
arrives at a suitable temperature (which may be indicated by a
pyrometer placed within) ready to be rolled or hammered. I also
provide this furnace or chamber when necessary with an inlet for the
admission of combustible gases, such as (for example) carbonic oxide,
carburetted hydrogen, or other combustible substances along with
atmospheric air, and so make it a re-heating furnace in case the ingot
through neglect gets below the required temperature for working. I
likewise make an outlet for the escape of the products of combustion
in the said chamber.
I would here remark that the same process may be carried on in
fixed furnaces instead of using the rolling or movable chambers or
furnaces above mentioned.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention for "Improve-
ments in the Manipulation of Steel" I will now proceed to describe
more in detail the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed, or carried into practical effect, and in order that the same may
be clearly understood I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings
illustrative thereof and have marked the same with figures and letters
of reference corresponding with those in the following explanation
thereof.
·
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawing represents a longitudinal section, and
Fig 2 a plan view of a movable chamber or furnace constructed to hold
a single ingot in a horizontal position. Figs. 3 and 4, are similar views
of a movable truck carrying four chambers or furnaces, each containing
an ingot in a vertical position; one of the said chambers being shown
in horizontal section at Fig. 4.
I construct a flat bottomed truck a, a, upon two or more wheels,
having all round a vertical flange b, b, constructed of angle iron or
otherwise to enclose a lining c, c, of fire-brick or other suitable non-
conducting material as before described. Upon this the ingots d, d, are
placed either in a vertical or horizontal position as the case may be, and
then covered in with a suitably formed casing or chamber e, e, provided
with a similar non-conducting lining c, c, which may fit close to the
ingot or be slightly larger so as to enclose a stratum of atmospheric air;
ff, in Fig. 1, is an inlet pipe for introducing combustible gases if the

page_text: chamber is to be used as a re-heating furnace, and g, g, is an outlet pipe
for the escape of the products of combustion. h, h, in Figs. 1 and 2, are
side links or lugs for lifting the casing, and i, i, in Fig. 3, are trunnions
for raising and reversing the position of the ingot casings or chambers
e, e, when requisite.
I would here remark that the space occupied by the atmospheric air
between the casing and the ingot is a sufficient protection, without any
lining of other non-conducting material, to maintain the heat of the
ingot for the time desired when the same is hammered or rolled within
a short time of its leaving the mould.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect I wish it to be understood that I
claim as my Invention, enclosing the ingot as soon as it comes from the
mould in a closed chamber or furnace, composed of or lined with non-
conducting material or enclosing a layer of atmospheric air between the
ingot and the casing so as to retain the heat of the exterior of the ingot
until the interior thereof is properly set, substantially in the manner
and for the purposes hercin-before particularly set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Birch, have hercunto set
my hand and scal, this Twenty-seventh day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
Witnessed by,
GEORGE DAVIES, C.E.
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JNO. BIRCH. (L.S.)