IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF IRON."
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Prentice Farrar, of New York, in the United
States of America, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE TREATMENT OF IRON."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Prentice Farrar at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 15th July 1859.
I, JOHN PRENTICE FARRAB, of New York, in the United States of America,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF IRON," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in treating iron, while melting or in a molten state,
with cyanogen in any form in which it may be present or evolved, or with
sal-ammoniac in any form in which it may be present, or in which it may be
evolved through the tuyeres or otherwise, at or near the bottom of the metal.
I treat the iron with the above ingredients together, or either of them, in
combination with some carbonaceous or saline substances.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Prentice Farrar in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th January 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PRENTICE FARRAB, of New York, in the United States of America, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Johu Prentice Farrar, Her special licence that I, the said John
Prentice Farrar, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Prentice Farrar, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF IRON," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said John Prentice Farrar, 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 Prentice Farrar, 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
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in treating iron, while melting or in a molten state,
with cyanogen in any form in which it may be present or evolved, or with
sal-ammoniac in any form in which it may be present, or in which it may be
evolved through the tuyures, or otherwise, at or near the bottom of the metal.
I treat the iron with the above ingredients together, or either of them, in
combination with some carbonaceous or saline substances.
For ordinary irons I take, say, one pound and a half of prussiate of potash,
and two pounds and a half of sal-ammoniac, to one ton of ore. Or one pound
and a half of each of these ingredients to one ton of pig iron in the cupola, or
to one ton of wrought iron if melted in a crucible.

page_text: In some cases I introduce the before-named ingredients into the ladle
before tapping molten iron from the furnace, and into which ladle it may
be drawn. I thus derive the action of the gases arising from the ingredients,
which I have found highly beneficial and successful in purifying cast iron, and
in increasing the strength thereof.
I do not limit myself to the proportions of the ingredients before given, as
they must be varied to suit the particular irons treated.
Some irons, again, will require both the cyanogen and the sal-ammoniac,
others only one of these ingredients, as experience will dictate.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, treating
iron with the ingredients and in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Prentice Farrar, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty.
JOHN PRENTICE FARRAR. (LS.)
JOHN PRENTICE FARRAR. (L.S.)