IMPROVEMENTS IN CASTING BESSEMER METAL, STEEL. AND OTHER METALS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Astbury, of Smethwick Foundry, noar
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, Ironfounder, and
Ordnance Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CASTING
BESSEMER METAL, STEEL. AND OTHER METALS."
Sealed the 22nd November 1867, and dated the 30th May 1867.
PROVISIONAL
SPECIFICATION left by the said James Astbury at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th May 1867.
I, JAMES ASTBURY, of Smethwick Foundry, near Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Engineer, Ironfounder, and Ordnance Manufacturer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CASTING
BESSEMER METAL, STEEL, AND OTHER METALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in casting Bessemer metal,
steel, and other metals.
In casting steel and Bessemer metal it has been the custom to pour the
metal from the pots or Bessemer ladle when melted into cast-iron moulds,
which causes the melted metal on coming in contact with the iron mould
to set from the outside, and it becomes chilled, brittle, and irregular, and
[Price 8d.1

page_text: in setting the outer parts draw the metal from the centre of the casting to
feed the outer parts, which are cooled quicker than the middle, and so the
middle of the casting or ingot becomes honey combed, unsound, and irregular,
also in casting brass and cast iron in green sand, dry sand, and loam moulds
the same fault exists as in casting steel and Bessemer metal, but in a less
degree. Now my Invention is intended to avoid the chilling and honey combing
arising from and in the present mode of casting. For this purpose 1 cast the
metal to produce the ingot or other form into a mould, it may be of plumbago
or other material, and which is heated in a furnace sufficiently to prevent
the metal solidifying, and then I gradually cool the lower part of the mould
whilst the heat is still maintained at the upper part of the mould, the cooling
and setting of the metal taking place progressively from the bottom of
the mould upwards, and then, as contraction takes place fluid metal descending
from the upper part of the mould prevents the formation of cavities in the
casting. A convenient way to operate is as follows:-I provide a furnace heated
with gas on the Siemen's or other principle: I attach or place underneath the
heating furnace before referred to a cooling and annealing furnace, having for
the top or roof the bottom of the heating furnace or part of it; the top of this
cooling and annealing furnace is so arranged that I can by means of a rack or
other gear lower it down into the cooling and annealing furnace together with
any mould or crucible supported upon it. In the heating furnace I provide
a mould made of plumbago, fire-clay, or other material that will stand heat.
The mould is to be of the shape required for the castings, but having at the
top an allowance of space for waste or dead heat; I now heat the mould hot.
enough to keep the metal required to be used in a fluid state, and I pour the
metal into the heated mould (this I prefer to do without taking the mould
out of the furnace); but in some cases it will be necessary to take out the
mould, and in others, where the shape of a mould will admit, the metal may be
put in cold and melted in the mould. Having now the mould heated and
containing the metal in a fluid state and placed upon that part of the bottom
of the heating furnace which forms the top of the cooling and annealing
furnace I gradually lower the mould out of the heating furnace into the
cooling and annealing furnace, keeping up the heat of the heating furnace and
giving sufficient time for that part of the mould passing out of the heating
furnace to set from the bottom, so that the heated metal in the upper portion
of the mould may feed and make more solid and regular. The metal being
cooled and set in the bottom portion of the mould when the whole of the
mould has been lowered out of the heated furnace into the cooling and
annealing furnace I place a lid or cover over the cooling and annealing

page_text: furnace and leave the mould to cool gradually or I kept up the heat by
means of a flue placed round the cooling and annealing furnace, this, however,
will vary with the purpose or use for which the casting is required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Astbury in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th November 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I. JAMES
ASTBURY, of Smethwick Foundry. near Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Engineer, Ironfounder, and Ordnance Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria. by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did. for Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Astbury. Her special licence that I, the said James Astbury, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I. the said James
Astbury, 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 CASTING
BESSEMER METAL, STEEL, AND OTHER METALS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that 1. the said James Astbury, 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 he
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 1. the said James Astbury. 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 thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in casting Bessemer metal,
steel, and other metals.
In casting steel and Bessemer metal it has been the custom to pour the
metal from the pots or Bessemer ladle when melted into cast-iron moulds,
which causes the melted metal on coming in contact with the iron mould to

page_text: set from the outside, and it becomes chilled. brittle, and irregular, and in
setting the outer parts draw the metal from the centre of the casting to feed
the outer parts, which are cooled quicker than the middle. and so the middle
of the casting or ingot becomes honey combed. unsound, and irregular; also in
casting brass and cast iron in green sand, dry sand, and loam moulds the
same fault exists as in casting steel and Bessemer metal, but in a less degree.
Now my Invention is intended to avoid the chilling and honey combing
arising from and in the present mode of casting. For this purpose I cast the
metal to produce the ingot or other form into a mould which is heated in a
furnace sufliciently to prevent the metal solidifying, and then gradually cool
the lower part of the mould whilst the heat is still maintained at the upper
part of the mould, the cooling and setting of the metal taking place pro-
pressively from the bottom of the mould upwards, and then as contraction
takes place fluid metal descending from the upper part of the mould prevents
the formation of cavities in the casting.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood, and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the manner in which I
prefer to operate.
I make the moulds of crucible or pot clay mixed with a small portion of
calcined clay this is obtained by grinding up the old moulds. The clay is
prepared wet, and tempered in the manner adopted in making crucibles and
glass casting pots: the mould is built up in layers, each about half an inch
thick and about six inches in height at a time, and then left to set so as to be
able to bear the weight of the next length; it is either built round a pattern
or to a template: when it is built to the size required it is left to dry in a
room heated by a small furnace with a flue round the room, which gives
sufficient heat to keep the room thoroughly dry and gradually to dry the
mould. This operation takes from one to three months, according to the size
of the mould. It is next taken from the room and placed in a kiln; this is
gradually heated to a white heat taking from three to ten days to arrive at
the full heat according to the size of the mould. When the mould has been
in the kiln about two-thirds of the time required it will become of a whiter
color on the top, and is then considered free from danger of fracture from the
fire, and it may have the heat of the kiln increased and the flame allowed to
act upon it until it is of a white heat; it may then be taken out of the kiln
by means of clams or tongs and placed in the heating furnace which will have
been already heated to receive it.
The furnace employ is shown in the annexed Drawings. Figure 1 is a
vertical section; Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken at the line 1, 1,

page_text: Figure 1; and Figure 3 15 a portion of a horizontal section taken at the me
2, 2, Figure 1.
a, a, is a chamber heated by means of ignited gases admitted at a¹ from a
gas generator, such as is used in gas furnaces. or it may be from an ordinary
fire-box. b is the mould constructed and prepared as already described, and
contained within the chamber a e is a flue passing from the chamber a to
the chimney. d is a rising and falling bottom to the chamber a, on which the
mould b stands; e is a trough by which the melted metal is led into the
mould b. is a slide suspended by a chain / passing over a pulley, and
having a counterpoise weight at its other end; by raising it the ignited gases
can he admitted to the chamber a at any desired height. is an annealing
chamber beneath the chamber a: it can be heated by a fire in the fire-box h.
which is in connection with the flues h. i is a screw fixed to the bottom d of
the chamber a, it passes through a nut k, by turning which by the gear shown
in the Drawing the bottom d may be raised or lowered; the nut is held
down to the bed plate by a collar ', and is a hand lever, which acting on a
collar m slides it up or down on the screw. By means of this arrangement
the screw and the nut may be locked together for the purpose of
rotating the mould. The screw has a groove cut. in it from end to end,
and a key in the collar m is held in this groove. so that when the screw
rotates the collar goes with it: when the collar is raised a projection of
the lever entering a notch in it locks it, and then if the nut is turned
the screw rises and falls. When, however, the collar is lowered the key upon
it enters a recess in the nut k, and so locks the screw and nut together, that
if the nut is turned the screw turns with it, the collar m at this time being
free to rotate; the mould being now in the heating furnace is made sufficiently
hot to keep the metal to be used in a liquid state, that is, if iron is to be cast
the heat of the mould must be sufficient to keep cast iron in a fluid state,
and the same if Bessemer metal, steel, brass, or other metal is to be used.
The mould being now at the proper heat the melted metal is poured into it,
and the same heat is kept up with a mould containing half a ton of metal
for thirty minutes, or for other weights the time will be in proportion; during
this time all the metal is kept in a liquid state before commencing to traverse
the damper or lower the mould, but any longer time up to ten hours would
be better, except that the strain and wear upon the moulds becomes great: I
then commence to traverse the damper, and I find six inches per hour a suitable
speed for traversing the damper for a mould holding half a ton of metal;
when the metal has been cooled with the sliding damper the two dampers n
and o are closed, and the mould and metal left in the furnace until it is cold.

page_text: In other cases where a very gradual cooling is required the mould and
metal is cooled by means of the lowering screw; the annealing furnace is first
heated by its fire and the flue placed round it; the mould is lowered into it at
a speed of about six-inches per hour, and the heat is kept up from one to six
days according to the size of the mould. The mould is revolved either during
the time the metal is being poured into it or after the metal has been in from.
say, five to ten minutes; this gives a motion to the metal which helps the
refuse to rise out of it. The mould may also be revolved slowly in order to
equalize the action of the fire upon it when the sliding damper or lowering
is in progress.
In witness whereof. T. the said James Astbury, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
JAMES ASTBURY. (L.S.)