210 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT. 



oxygen in atmospheric air; and he thought the plunging of the highly- 

 heated granules in water would be the means of removing the sulphur, to a 

 considerable extent, from the iron. 



Mr. W. Smith thought the process that had been tried in Austria was that 

 of Capt. Uchatius now described; the plan of granulation seemed a very 

 ingenious and important step towards obtaining steel by the direct process 

 of decarbonizing, and offered the best chance of carrying that process to a 

 successful and economical result. Great advances were being made at the 

 present time in steel manufacture, and they were doubtless greatly indebted 

 for these advances to the investigation of the subject that had been excited 

 by the publication of Mr. Bessemer's plans, although he had not succeeded 

 in all that he had attempted himself; and they were also much indebted to 

 Mr. Binks for having called more minute attention to the chemical princi- 

 ples involved in the manufacture of steel. The new process described in the 

 paper appeared to have effected a great success in obtaining cast steel by 

 the direct process; and if the uniformity of quality could be -maintained, 

 the economy of manufacture would allow of the use of cast steel being ex- 

 tended to many important new applications, such as boiler plates, and steel 

 wire for the manufacture of telegraph cables. 



Mr. A. Lenz explained, respecting the process, in the absence of Capt. 

 Uchatius, that the only object in dropping the melted iron into the water 

 was to effect its granulation, and not for the purpose of depriving it of sul- 

 phur. The process of this manufacture of steel was to decarbonize the cast 

 iron by the action of oxides under a high temperature, the great object 

 being to expose the largest possible surface of the iron to this action, and 

 by granulation this object was obtained to a remarkable extent. As to the 

 actual composition of the steel, Capt. Uchatius had come to the conclusion, 

 from the results of his observations, that the best steel required some small 

 portion of what are considered impurities, such as sulphur, silica, etc.; and 

 that chemically pure steel was not the result to be aimed at, and he had 

 found that even with one-fourth per cent, of sulphur the steel was of good 

 quality. The great desideratum was to make steel at a very cheap price; 

 and he had hopes it might even be practical to apply it ultimately to the 

 manufacture of railway bars. 



Mr. A. Lenz said that only the good qualities of iron were attempted to be 

 used for steel-making by the Uchatius process, and the Indian and Swedish 

 iron was principally used, containing very little trace of phosphorus, as it 

 was doubtful whether any phosphorus could be removed in the process. 



In Chenot's process, the principle was to employ pure magnetic iron ore in 

 powder, which was found in a few situations in the Pyrenees in a natural 

 state of powder, and was separated by a machine from the earths mixed 

 with it. This powder was put into a furnace like a cupola, within a tube in 

 the centre, protecting the ore from the fuel, and exposed to a great heat; 

 the powder then became in a spongy state, by reduction to nearly pure iron, 

 but was not able to melt. It Avas then compressed cold with great force 

 under a hydraulic press, to solidify the mass, and was finally carbonized by 

 covering with mixtures of oils and other carbonaceous substances, and 

 melted in a close crucible. He doubted the process being adapted for the 

 actual manufacture of steel on any large scale, and thought it more suitable 

 for the laboratory than the shop. Various articles have been made of the 



