L. MECHANICS AND ENGINEERING. 459 



L. MECHANICS AND ENGINEERING. 



GERHAED PROCESS FOR OBTAINING PUDDLED IRON DIRECT 



FROM THE ORE. 



Mr. F. W. Gerhard, of Staffordshire, has lately introduced a 

 new process by which puddled iron is obtained direct from 

 the ore, the blast-furnace being dispensed with. Instead of 

 using pig-iron, Mr. Gerhard employs a compound of ore or 

 any substance containing iron, the necessary fluxes, and the 

 equivalent of carbon. A lump of this compound is put into 

 the furnace, and by the single process known to the puddlers 

 as " balling," a " heat " may be obtained in much less time 

 and with considerable less labor than under the old method ; 

 the process of " melting " and " boiling w being entirely dis- 

 pensed with. The special feature of the invention is the great 

 saving of fuel, it being estimated that three thousand seven 

 hundred and sixty pounds of coal are saved in manufacturing 

 two thousand four hundred pounds of iron. In the opinion 

 of some iron-workers, this method of making wrought iron 

 must very soon supersede the present laborious and costly 

 mode of manufacturing it from pig-iron. 3 A, December 27, 

 1873, 807. 



IRON COLUMNS FILLED WITH CONCRETE. 



The Westphalian Union, of Hamm, exhibited at Vienna 

 several hollow iron cylinders filled internally with a stony 

 mass, for which greater strength is claimed than that of un- 

 filled columns with walls of the same thickness, and which 

 may find extensive use for telegraph poles and building pur- 

 poses. They are made by rolling a pile of puddled bars, filled 

 with a peculiar sandy mixture, at a heat at which the sandy 

 mass will fuse and unite with the iron walls. 13 (7, JYbveni- 

 ber 1,1873, 1365. 



BESSEMER STEEL ESTABLISHMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Mr. Alex. L. Holley, whose name is intimately identified 

 with the growth of the Bessemer Works of this country, an- 

 nounces the following facts in connection with the working 



