46 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



space, in which the pig iron is allowed to flow in a stream of a certain 

 strength. The stream let into the boiler from the tubular pipe flows 

 out of the openings of the three tubes, and operates directly upon the 

 pig iron. It is said that the oxygen of the steam oxidizes the carbon 

 of the pig iron, the silicium, a portion of the sulphur, phosphorus, and 

 other impurities in the pig iron ; the hydrogen combines with the car- 

 bon, sulphur, phosphorus, arsenic, and other bodies, with which it 

 forms combinations of hydrogen. The carbonized and purified metal 

 falls into a crucible or other vessel placed immediately under the appa- 

 ratus. The metal obtained contains impurities, and must, therefore, be 

 smelted in crucibles in a blast or reverberatory furnace. This is the 

 essential part of the process ; the simplicity of the method and the 

 cheapness of the product are evident. 



" Xow arise the questions : Is it possible to obtain steel in large 

 quantities "by this method ; will it be of the same quality as the small 

 quantity obtained on trial ; and, if it is possible, at what price can it be 

 obtained ? 



" In answer to these questions, Cazanave asserts that by his method 

 steel can be obtained in great quantities, not inferior to the best steel, 

 and proportionately cheaper : i'or his best quality steel can be obtained 

 for 18 per tun. This is difficult to believe, but the inventor affirms 

 that it is so, and at the same time warrants the excellent quality of his 

 steel. In the present method of obtaining steel, good iron must be 

 used, which is cemented, and the cemented iron, that is, the steel is 

 smelted in crucibles. By Cazanave's method cementation of the iron 

 is avoided, so that the cast steel may be obtained in unlimited quanti- 

 ties, if tais new method turns out practicable, it will be possible to 

 work up the whole daily production of a blast-furnace into steel. For 

 this only the apparatus is required, which is not very costly, and 

 which would be erected near the blast-furnace and stream of pig iron. 

 The stream would be divided into rays of the necessary strength, and 

 each one directed into an apparatus. By Bessemer's process about 

 ten tuns of steel are obtained per day at Sheffield ; while by Cazanave's 

 method 60 and 70 tuns per day could be obtained, and a blast-furnace 

 is being erected at Charleroi which will produce about 71 tuns per 

 day ! The samples of steel furnished by this new process are report- 

 ed to be very good." Colliery Guardian, Eny. 



Absorption of Carbon by Iron. Air. Caron, in a paper read before 

 the British Association at its last meeting, stated that recent experi- 

 ments made hy him, showed that iron may be made to absorb any quan- 

 tity of carbon by means of its oxide. Thus a gramme of oxide of iron, 

 being subjected to reduction in hydrogen, yielded seven-tenths of a 

 gramme of p. ire iron. This, after being heated for an hour in oxide 

 of carbon, weighed nearly a gramme; after another hour of the same 

 process, its weight rose to a gramme and a half; after a third hour, to 

 two grammes ; and so, until it reached the weight of three grammes 

 after the six ih time. Nearly the whole of this increase of weight is 

 owing to the absorption of carbon, the rest being a very small' propor- 

 tion of oxyg n. 



