A short time after the granting of Mr. Needham's patent, Mr. Thompson, of the Chelsea-street Works, took out another, having a very similar object in view. He proposes, in the first place, to melt the steel in a reverberating or puddling furnace, by which pit-coal may be used instead of coke; secondly, instead of the movable crucibles in general use, he employs stationary vessels, made of the usual materials, but of a semi-cylindrical shape, having spherical ends, and a rebate or groove in the upper edges, to fit a cover to it. These are to be fixed on a slightly-inclined plane, for the convenience of the fluid discharging itself through a hole in the bottom, in which is inserted a tube of platina; this tube is connected to another tube of fire-clay, passing through the brick-work to the outside of the furnace, through which the metal flows into moulds, through apertures previously stopped with clay, which are tapped by means of a long rod tipped with platina.