CHEMISTRY. 263 



I 



Mr. Nasmyth tried some years ago to decarburize cast iron by blowing 

 steam into the melted metal. This attempt failed, as the separation of the 

 oxygen from the steam exhausted so much of the heat of the metal that the 

 heat evolved in the combination of the oxygen with the carbon in the iron 

 was insufficient to compensate the waste ; and the iron was cooled instead of 

 being heated. With the freedom from jealousy which marks a truly great 

 mind, Mr. Xasmyth paid, at the last meeting of the British Association, a 

 graceful tribute to the importance of the invention, and spoke in terms no less 

 honorable to himself than to Mr. Bessemer, of the ingenuity of the process and 

 the vastness of the results to which it Avould unquestionably lead. 



Uchatius' Process for Manufacturing Steel. We would, in this connexion, 

 also call attention to a new process for producing cast steel, which is now 

 exciting considerable attention in Europe. It is the invention of Captain 

 Uchatius, an artillery officer in the Austrian service. He states, as the result 

 of his experience, that the quality of the steel is influenced greatly by the size 

 of the pieces of iron employed in its manufacture, the goodness of the cast 

 steel being in proportion to the smallness of the lumps of iron. In order to 

 reduce the iron, therefore, to the proper size, Captain Uchatius conducts the 

 mass of molten metal directly from the blast furnace, into cold water, which is 

 kept m motion by mechanical means ; the iron is formed into fragments or 

 grains, varying from 60 to 2000 to the kilogramme. The finest steel is made 

 from the pieces of which 2000 go to the kilogramme. These bits of iron are 

 then placed hi crucibles and mixed up with a certain per-centage of finely 

 powdered, sulphurless spathose iron ore and brown iron ore. The metal thus 

 prepared is subjected to the requisite heat, and drawn off into ingot moulds. 

 This steel, it is asserted, is of the finest and purest quality, varying, according 

 to the pleasure of the manufacturer, from the most flexible steel for springs to 

 the hardest double shear or file steel. 



One of the characteristic features of the process of M. Uchatius. is not only 

 to have introduced the atomic system by fusion, but also to have done this in 

 the preparation of the material. Before fusion, the cast iron is mixed as much 

 as possible with the metallic oxides, and the application of heat only ter- 

 minates what the preparation has commenced. Among other advantages 

 which appear to be derived from this new method, is economy in material ; 

 for, from numerous experiments made by the French Government, the loss is 

 stated to be only 4 to 5 per cent, upon the cast iron submitted to the atomic 

 treatment, and as the metallic oxides will part with what they have taken, the 

 loss will even be less. The theory of the operation is of easy explanation, 

 based as it is upon well known chemical facts. On surrounding the cast iron 

 with oxygenated bodies, and applying heat, the grains part with their carbon, 

 and this element combines with the oxygen of the metallic oxides, and is libe- 

 rated under the form of carbonic acid and carbonic oxide. Another very 

 important advantage attributed to this invention is, that the metallurgist is 

 enabled to regulate his proportion of oxygen in such a manner that, by adding 

 a certain quantity of forged iron, he can produce ten different kinds of steel, 

 ff this is so, it is a most essential point ; for, to be able to undertake the 

 manufacture of steel with a certainty as to the quality to be produced, would 



