IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MALLEABLE CAST IRON
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Crowley, of Sheffield, in the County of York,
Ironfounder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF MALLEABLE CAST IRON."
Sealed the 2nd October 1855, and dated the 4th April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Crowley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
April 1855.
I, JOHN CROWLEY, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Ironfounder, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF MALLEABLE CAST IRON " to be as follows:-
The nature of my Invention consists in manufacturing malleable cast iron
in the following manner :-I take charcoal pig iron, or what is commonly
called Cumberland iron, and mix therewith in suitable proportions chloride of
sodium, oxide of manganese, carbonate of lime, scrap wrought iron, and wood
charcoal, or other suitable carbonaceous matter. The above ingredients, or
others possessing the same properties, and the charcoal pig iron, after being
broken in pieces, are mixed and melted in a crucible in the ordinary manner.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Crowley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CROWLEY, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Ironfounder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Crowley, Her special license that I, the said John Crowley, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Crowley,
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 MANU-
PACTURE OF MALLEABLE CAST IRON," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said John Crowley, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said 'Inven-
tion, 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 Crowley, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
Specification thereof (that is to say): - .
My said Invention consists in manufacturing malleable cast iron in manner
herein-after described, for the purpose of rendering the castings. made from it
of greater strength and sounder than heretofore;; my Invention also improves
the castings, inasmuch as the metal when melted runs more freely, and con-
sequently fills the moulds more effectually than the metal usually employed.
In performing my Invention, I pulverise or grind in a mortar mill, or by other
suitable machinery, the following ingredients in the following proportions;
namely, three pounds of chloride of sodium, twenty pounds of wood charcoal,
or other suitable carbonaceous matter, twenty-eight pounds of oxide of
manganese, and twenty pounds of carbonate of lime. In pulverizing the
above ingredients, sufficient water is added to bring them to the proper con-
sistency for balling. I then take twelve ounces of the composition thus formed,

page_text: and put into the centre of the composition eight ounces of wrought iron scraps;
the whole is then made into a ball and dried. When these balls are dry, they
are ready for being used in the following manner:-Into a crucible containing
forty pounds of charcoal made cast iron, one of the balls prepared in the
manner above described is put; the crucible is then heated, and the melted
iron run into suitable moulds in the ordinary manner. The charcoal made
cast iron which I prefer to use is that known as the Cumberland or Lorn iron.
When articles have been cast in the manner above described, they may be
annealed in the usual way in an annealing oven of the ordinary construction
used by malleable iron founders.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the mode of
performing the same, I wish it to be understood that although I have given
the exact proportions of the ingredients which I have found in practice to give
good results, still I do not limit myself thereto, as the proportions may be
varied to suit the object for which the castings are intended, and the quality
of the ingredients. I would also remark that I do not claim any of the
ingredients above enumerated when used separately or apart from the com-
bination which I have .described; but what I do claim is, combining chloride
of sodium, carbonaceous matter, oxide of manganese, carbonate of lime, and
wrought iron scraps, and the application thereof, to the manufacturing of
malleable cast iron, in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Crowley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
JOHN CROWLEY. (LS.)