514 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



this is to remove the phosphorus of the iron, to which its ob- 

 jectionable qualities are due ; and the result, it is said, has 

 been to produce a fibrous bar-iron, not at all cold-short, al- 

 though the pig-iron employed was of poor quality, in conse- 

 quence of containing a large proportion of phosphorus. 

 1 Z>, March, 1873, 152. 



BAE-IRON FKOM PHOSPHUKETED CAST IROIN". 



The following are the essential features of the process for 

 eliminating phosphorus from cast iron, devised by Professor 

 Scheerer, of Freiberg ; and which, it is claimed, yields superior 

 bar-iron from phosphureted cast iron, at, practically, no in- 

 crease of cost. Chloride of calcium and common salt, fused 

 together in about equal proportions, are intimately mixed 

 with the molten iron in the puddling furnace, either by add- 

 ing gradually in two-pound water-tight paper packages, or 

 placing the whole quantity required upon the bed of the 

 puddling furnace at first, and, in either case, very thoroughly 

 working it with the iron. The puddling process is generally 

 so much shortened that the consequent diminution of the 

 waste of iron almost offsets the cost of the material added. 

 The quantity of the mixed chlorides required is about three 

 times that of the phosphorus present in the cast iron. The 

 presence of other chlorides, as of manganese, iron, and mag- 

 nesium, interferes with the process, and renders a large excess 

 of chloride of calcium necessary. 5 (7, 1873, v., 35. 



Siemens' regenerative gas furnace. 



The sudden and very material increase in the price of coal 

 in Great Britain has naturally turned attention toward avail- 

 able methods for reducing the cost of fuel, and the subject of 

 the use of peat has been again brought forward very prom- 

 inently, with a probability of its extended employment. As 

 the result of recent improvements by Siemens in his Regen- 

 erative Gas Furnace, he finds that rough, air -dried peat, 

 even when containing twenty-five per cent, of water, may be 

 burned to advantage in making gas; thus applied it appears 

 more nearly equal to coal, as regards its heating power, than 

 when used in any other way. It has been found that one ton 

 of peat is equal, in heating power, to at least sixty-five per 

 cent, of the same weight of Staffordshire coal. With this 



