224 Transactions. 



easily get in America for all the iron that could be produced from ordinary 

 iron-ore at a cheap rate. But before leaving New York Mr. Chambers 

 heard that Mr. Joel Wilson, of Dover, New Jersey, had in 1873 patented a 

 furnace which he claimed would treat ironsand and convert it directly into 

 wrought iron ; but everything was in an embryo state, and it was arranged 

 for an agent to watch the work of Mr. Wilson, who claimed in 1882 to be 

 able to manufacture successfully from sand. Mr. Guy H. Gardner, of New 

 York, obtained an option on the New Zealand patents, purchasing them 

 jointly with Mr. Chambers ; and so sanguine was the inventor that he 

 agreed to send out his best man, Mr. W. H. Jones, to demonstrate the 

 working of his patent in New Zealand. 



A full-size furnace was erected in 1882 to manufacture 3 tons of iron 

 per day. The furnace was built from a drawing accompanying patent speci- 

 fications granted to R. L. Malcolm (J. Wilson)* and G. H. Gardner,"}" except 

 that the reducing-furnace contained eight retorts, instead of sixteen as 

 shown on the drawing accompanying Malcolm's patent. The drawing of 

 the furnace as built has been reconstructed and shown in the figure accom- 

 panying this paper. It consisted of a deoxidizer, A, and of an ordinary 

 reverberatory or open-hearth furnace, about 17 ft. long, divided into three 

 compartments — B, the balling-furnace ; C, the puddling-furnace ; D, the fire- 

 grate. The coal used for firing on the ordinary furnace-bars was from 

 Westport and Newcastle. The hot gases from the furnace played direct 

 on the floor of the puddling-furnace C, passed on to the balling-furnace B, 

 then passed through the roof into a central flue F, about 2 ft. in diameter, 

 and were carried up the full length of the deoxidizer, a height of 21 ft. ; 

 the gases struck the crown at the top of the furnace, and passed in a 

 downward direction between the retorts R, there being radial spaces F 

 between the retorts for the gases to pass through ; on reaching the bottom 

 they were deflected so as to pass upwards (F) on the periphery or outside 

 of the surface of retorts, and between that and a firebrick lining against 

 the shell of furnace. On the gases reaching somewhere near the top they 

 passed out into an annular flue and by way of an iron chimney into the 

 atmosphere. 



The deoxidizer held 10 tons of carbon and ironsand. After the silica 

 had been extracted by a magnetic separator it was thoroughly mixed with 

 20 per cent, to 25 per cent, of coal or charcoal, Taupiri coal being used. 

 The material was hoisted to a platform above the deoxidizer, from which 

 each retort was filled from filling-boxes. It required twenty hours to 

 deoxidize or carbonize the iron by driving out the oxygen. The sand was 

 red-hot, but not so sticky that it would not run through the chutes leading 

 to the balling-furnace, which were controlled by heavy gate-valves. 



The deoxidized sand dropped on to the floor of the balling-furnace, 

 where it lay for some thirty minutes, there being a door at the side of the 

 furnace to permit the puddlers to test the condition of the material before 

 balling it. It would work up exactly as cream works into butter, having 

 very much the same appearance. On a ball of about 18 in. diameter being 

 made it was rolled or passed over to the puddling-furnace C, when it was 

 again attacked by a fresh set of puddlers, who vigorously worked it up 



*" Malcolm, R. L. — 8th January, 1883 — Improvements in furnaces for reducing 

 iron-ores," N.Z. Pat. Reg. No. 762. 



t" Gardner, G. H. — 23rd April, 1883 — Improvements in furnaces for the manu- 

 facture of bar iron and blooms," N.Z. Pat. Reg. No. 818. 



