CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MAKING AND MANUFACTURING OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
Low, of Robinson's Row, Kingsland, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of May, in
the seventh year of Her reign, did, for Ierself, Iler heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles Low, my exors, admiors, and
assigns, Her especial licence, that I, the said Charles Low, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Low, my exors, admors, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MAKING AND MANUFACTURING OF IRON AND STEEL;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Charles Low, 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 be performed,
and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
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
Charles Low, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
I use manganese, in the state of the black oxide of commerce or in any
other state of oxidation, plumbago or graphite, commonly called black lead,
charcoal, and nitrate of either potash, soda, or lime, that which I commonly
employ is the saltpetre of commerce. These four ingredients mix well together
in the following proportions, and apply in the following manner, videlicet:-
Of oxide of manganese I take forty-two pounds, of plumbago eight pounds,
of wood charcoal fourteen pounds, and of saltpetre two pounds. In the blast
furnace I add to every charge of ore likely to produce four hundred and
eighty pounds weight of metal, sixty-six pounds of the above mixture, either
with the ironstone or fuel, it being immaterial which, so that the proportions
are attended to and regularly applied with each charge. In the puddling
furnace it can be applied with equal advantage when the pig iron is in a
fused state by throwing upon the surface of the metal a few pounds at a time,
say two or three, and continuing doing so at intervals of a few minutes, the
puddler incorporating it by stirring it with the metal to the whole sixty-six
pounds are used, or until the metal begins to thicken, cr, as the workmen call
it, comes to nature. It is then ball'd and sent to the tilt hammer and rollers,
and put through the usual process so well understood and practised in making
malleable iron. This being attended to I have never found the result fail, but
I have always obtained an iron of uniform quality, admitted to be much more
fibrous and possessing a greater tenacity than any with which it has been
compared, and capable of making excellent steel by the usual process of
cementation or other process by which steel is made.
Another part of my Invention consists in the use of the aforesaid mixture
for improving the quality of iron by being applied in any of the processes of
smelting, puddling, and casting in the blast furnace, the puddling furnace, and
cupola furnace, or other furnace that may be used by the ironmaster or
founder, in like proportions as above described, adding more or less of the
compound according to the quality of the metal used, of which quantity the
ironmaster or founder, or his workmen, will be able to judge, but I have
found the quantity above named sufficient for the worst ore or metal.
Another part of my Invention consists in the application of the above mix-
ture to the manufacture of cast steel from malleable iron which has been
made by the above processes. To effect this I add from two to three pounds
of the above-mentioned mixture to every thirty pounds of steel when in the
melting pots during its conversion into cast steel, or the object may be more
immediately effected by adding the ingredients in the same relative proportion

page_text: as for steel to the malleable iron made as above, and then the application of a
moderate heat (such as a little practice will enable the workmen to ascertain)
will fuse the iron in contact with the mixture and immediately convert it into
cast steel. I recommen:l, as the best way of preparing the ingredients for use,
that they should be ground in a mill suited to such purpose; for the puddling
furnace they should be ground to a moderately fine powder, and I should
prefer their being applied from the top of the furnace through a hopper or tube
or such like means as would spread them more evenly than if applied by hand
from the furnace door. But for the blast furnace and cupola furnace it
would be better applied in a coarser state. I have made my calculation upon
four hundred and eighty pounds weight of metal, having found that to be the
charge of pig iron usually applied at one time to the puddling furnace, but
the workmen will have no difficulty in judging, by the working of the metal,
whether a less or greater quantity of the ingredients should be used.
Lastly, I do not claim the exact proportions above described, as they must
somewhat vary for different qualities of iron ore and iron or of the ingredients
themselves, nor do I claim the use of any of the aforesaid ingredients
separately, as they may have been made use of before, but I claim the use of
then collectively in the manufacture of iron or steel either in the blast furnace,
puddling furnace, cupola, or other furnace, or in the melting pot.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Low, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.