US47510A - Improvement in the manufacture of steel - Google Patents

Description

a UNITED ST TES PATENT? O I JuLIUsBAun, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW Y RK],

IMPROVEMENT INITHEI MANUFACTURE ass-rese l. 3

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 47,5 [0, dated May 2, ltftl'. f

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JULIUS BAUR, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Steel; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

I have discovered that when a small quantity of aluminium is combined with honor steel the quality of the latter is greatly improved, and they are rendered tough, pliable, and capable of being made very hard; and my invention consists in effecting this combination in such a manner as to produce these results, or such a part of them as may be desired. Oxide of aluminium is found in a pure or nearly pure state, and may in this form be employed for the purpose; but, so far as I am at present aware, it exists in this condition only in small quantities, and is difficult and expensive to procure, and therefore, in putting myinvention practically into use, I prefer to obtain it y from cryolite and analogous substances which contain it, and which maybe procured with suitable economy and in sufficient quantities.

My invention may be advantageously applied in making steel in the ordinary steel-.

makers crucibles, and when thus used I have found it to be a successful manner of employing it to take the requisite quantity of cryolite or other aluminium-containing substance and cause it, by means of agents acting chemically,

to be decomposed during the processof pro-' ducing the steel, whereby the aluminium will be readily formed in a pure or nearly pure state, and will then combine with the iron placed in the crucible and produce the desired effect.

The iron which I use may be either wroughtiron, puddled iron, or ordinary pig-iron; and

to enable others to practice. my invention, I will describe it as I have applied it with success to the making of a superior steel from what is known as Peru? iron taken in the wrought state.

For fifty pounds of Peru iron I employ five ounces ofcryolite, three ounces of oxide of iron, two and one-half ounces of manganese, five ounces of vegetable charcoal, two ounces of animal charcoal, and one and one-half ounce of phosphate of lime. These materials I place together in a crucible of the ordinary construction, and apply heat, as usual. Oryolite is a fluoride of aluminium and a fluoride of sodium,

orine in this fluoride of aluminium is removed by a part of the iron, or by some of the elements time the carbon, or most of it, unites withthe iron, imparting to it therequisitesteely prop- 1 erties, while the sodiumcontainedin thecryolite acts to flux out or remove the siliciousconstituents of the iron, and the oxide of manga, nese and the phosphate of lime also operate to l y carry off. impurities. I prefer touse animal charcoal with the vegetable charcoal, in order to obtain a small quantity of nitrogen, which is desirable for good steel.. The product thus prepared I have tested and found to be a superior article for tool-steel. Whemhowever, y I I desire to make a low steel suitable for springs and analogous purposes, I havelsuccessfully prepared it by takingPeru iron, as before, and varying theproportion of the oxideof iron employed, using six ounces of it,instead of three, as in the foregoing statement of ingredients, the

other materials remaining as above given.

It will of course be understood that it is difficult, if not impossible. to state in a single specification the variations made necessary in p the proportions of the ingredients-which remploy, according to the differences in the con-y l stitution and quality of the iron us'ed; but these variations do not affect/the principle of my invention, and will be readily ascertained by, those skilled in the art. H Ihave alreadygiven the proportions which I prefer rtr one kind of iron taken as an illustration of my invention, y 1 and I may mention that for. most kinds of y wrought or puddled iron proportions within the following range will be found suitable- I that is to say, for every fiftypounds of iron y y 150.1! four ounces of oxide of iron, fromtone to t ee ounces of oxide of manganese, from one and onel half to two ounces of phosphate of lime,;froin I i one and one-half to five ounces of vegetable, charcoal, and from one and one-half to five I l from one to five ounces of cryolite, from on ounces of animal charcoal.

It is also proper to say that though I prefer y to use the oxide of manganese and the phos-, l l q phate of lime, because they improvethe quality i of the steel, which is the reason why I havev mentioned them, they arenot absolutely necw and as the iron in the crucible melts the fluessary to my invention, and may be omitted; but if they are not used a poorer product will result. Neither is it essential that the carbon employed should be in the condition of vegetable or animal charcoal, as it may be intro metallic aluminium are to be Varied according to the amount of oxide of aluminium in the clay or diaspore; but this is well known to chemists, and need notbe further detailed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

A The abovedescribed process, consisting of combining aluminium with iron in the manufacture of steel, substantially as set forth.

JuLrus BAUR.

Witnesses:

O. L. TOPLIFF, M. M. LIVINGSTON.