US3698A - a tptt c x ip - Google Patents

Description

To all whom it'may conoma: Belt known that l, ARTHUR WALL, ot'Poplar A B'TH U ie we LIL, 0 F Po P t me; n nno n wn L L n N on A n n intensit es/sear lN'Tl-lE Maiausac'rnas 0F Me1TnLs.

Specification forming part of Letters PntcnhNo. $1595, dated August 10,1 8Q4.

Bla ekwalhin tteeountyofMiddlesex,England, surgeon,a subjectof the Queen ofGreatBritain, have invented or discovered a certain Im proveinent or'oe'rtain Improvements in the Mannfactors of Iron, Steel, Coppenand other Mel:- als; and I do herebydeclaro that the following is a full and exact description thereofi.

The nature-of myjvcntion consists in the use and agency of electricity in :the nmnufacltnre of iron, steel, copper, and other metals,

the object thereof being to facilitate the mulinability and purity of the metals under the process of manufacture, as hereinnfte'raparticularly described.

In order to enable others skilled in the manufactureot the said metals to practice my inroutine, I shall proceed to describe theprocess tc'he pursued, andflrst with reference to themanufacture of iron.

"My said invention consists in subjecting the iron while in a fluid state, and also while in the act of congealing'or solidiflcation, to a can rent of electricity, which I-eause to traverse as completely as possible throughout the entiremetallic muss.

In, casting a barter similar-mass I cause the current to traverse from and to end by conductors properly placed for the purpose, and 50 arranged that when the metal runs into the mold it may be made to complete the circuit of the electric current; or I previously make such arrangement by means of a wire or wires of iron or other metal stretched in or passing from end'to end oi the mold, so that the elec-.

tric'current may in the first instance he made to traverse the wire around or over which the fused iron is afterward allowed to flow. There are other. methods ofpertormin g this oper. tion and of making such arrangements as may admit of the melted iron or the iron duringits solidification being traversed by or subjected to the'influence of the electrical current. The

1 following are instances of the mode in which I efiect this in particular cases: It the castions are horizontal, I place at each end of the mold, which I suppose is to be made of sand, clay, or some similar bad conductor or non-conductor of electricity, apiece of clean wroughtiron or other proper conducting metal, which is called the pole or conductor, and I then connect each of these poles or conductors by means of a copper or otherwire \yilh'the extremilies of a gali'a-nic apparatus. or-voltaicj pile or electromagnetic or other battery ofsuiilcient power for the purpose. I have found that eight pairs of plates of about four by six inches, consisting of alternations of platinum and zinc, arranned in separate cells of nitric :acld and dilute Sulphuric acid, so new constitute what is usually denominated Groves voltaic' battery or apparatus, to lie conve'in ientlfor my purpose and suiiicicnt for aton of metal, though any of the other forms of the voltaic apparatus or battery or any other source of anadequate electric current, particularly that commonly known by the name ot' .Smee, and consisting from twcntyto thirty pairs of plates of the abovesize, may be employed with advantage. Having then connected the extremities of the battery with the respective poles orcon'ductors insuch away that when the melted iron is allowed to run into the mold it may so complete the electric circuit as to admitot the castings being traversed from end to end by the electric current, I allow the cast metal to cool and setwhile in that condition, and as soon as ithas entirely act or solidified throughout the connectionswlththe battery may be broken, though I think itcis advantageons, particularly in casting ordnance,

to continue the electric current for sometime .afterthe metal has entirely solidified. When the castings are vertical a similararrangement is made for the passage of-the electric current through the metal, and this I efi'ect by placing at the bottom orsole of the mold a plate or rod of iron or other conducting substance, while a similar conductor is inserted into the upper end of the mold in such a way another rod into the upper and posterior part i of the hearth, orin at one of the tuyereholes :the surfaceof the'metal, the outereuds'of these i i leable state.

dling or balling furnace I insert one-rod simipole of thevoltuic battery,and the other fixed commoncharcoalor in the carbonaceous subjccttbeing to transmit such electrical current 2 a aces or apertures, until it comes into contact with two rods being placed respectively in connection with the opposite poles of the electric bat ter so as to complete the circuit, care being taken not to continueit so long as entirely to decarburate the iron and bring it into a mal In applying electricity to the iron in the pudlar to the ehovc-jnto one part of the fused metal, and I attach to one end of another iron rod an insulating-handle, ot' pbrcelaimpottery, or tither substance not conductive of electrici ty, and then fix to the end of that iron rod, close to the handle, the conducting-wire from one iron rod being connected with the other pole of the. battery, lseize the insulated red by the handle and niakeits extremity traverse in contaetwith various pointsof the iron in its melted state or during its transition into the solid state, thus making the electrical current pass through themetal in every possible direction.

The part of my invention applicable-to the manufacture of steel is as follows: The bars of wrought or other iron fit for the manufactureof steel are placed in the usual boxes and furnace, and so far I employ the same means and apparatuscoimnonly calleclal eoumnttinge furnace, and in common use. But instead of embedding't-he bars of iron for conversion in stances" in general use, I employ a mixture of charcoal with the carbonaceous and other mattcrs used by the sugar-refiners, and through which their sirups have been filtered, these residues consisting chiefly ot animal-charcoal derived from the combustion of bone and other animal or organic'substances, and containing phosphate of lime; and I further add to this mixture a certain quantity of rosin, amounting to about one part of rosin to ten of the mixtare, and I further imbuetheir carbonaceous substances, mixed and prepared as I have de scribed, with a saturated solution of white arc senic in water. Having thus prepared the carbonaceous bed in which the bars of iron intended for conversion into steel are laid and inclosed, as in the modes usually adopted, I next make arrangements for transmittinga current of electricity through the bars after" they have been duly converted. into blistered steel and while they are still red hot, my ohthrough each of the bars, tcgcther'or succes sively, while cooling down in the furnace. This Iefiect by attaching an iron, copper, or other proper wireto the ends of the bars' and bring in g its extremities-out oi the furnace, so that at the proper time a connection may be made he tweenthese'wires and .those forming the poles or conductors of a voltaic apparatus or P le, and in this way the electric circuit is so completed that thecurrent-pf electricity may be made, as aforesaid, to traverse the bars for a longer or shorter time. I prefer commencing the transmissionot' the electricity when the bars'have become'blistered, steel and are red hot in the furnace, and continuing its transmission till they have so farcooled down as to be capable of retaining magnet-ism. Now, although I prefer as asource of electricity thatfornl of galvanicor voltaic battery or ap 'i'aratus known under thename 0t- Groves- Battery, any other adequate source of elec tri'city may be resorted to; and although I above alluded to blistered steel only, and described my process as applicable to it, I further claim itsapplication to cast-steel; and when thus ap plied-to cast-steel the details of the process I prefer are similar to those which I have specified in regard to the transmission of electricity through east-iron, my objectbeingthe same in aregardlonthe cast-steel as to thcicast-iron,m

namely, to subject it to the influence of an electric current while in fusion and in the act of setting, and to a greater or less extent dur- I ing the period of its cooling down to common or atmospheric temperature. i

As regardsthe manufacture of copper and other metal, the electric current is to be ap plied under the process of manufacture in the manner hereinbefore particularly described with reference to the manufacture of iron.

Having thus described the naturelof my invcntion and the manner of performingithc same, I hereby declare that what I. claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isv i The improvement in the manufacture, of iron, steel, copper, and other metals by the use and application of electricity, as hereinbefore described.

Witnesses ALEX. PRINCE,

v F. W. OAMPIN,

Clerk to the Above.

ARTHUR 'WALLQ