18 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



iron, and the formation of this gas is no less the cause of steel and 

 iron production in the well-known Bessemer process. 



By the method of Messrs. Whelpley and Storer, a powerful 

 oxide of carbon blast or *' deoxidizing flame " is generated by a 

 peculiar machine, of their device and construction, which imitates 

 the mechanism and reproduces on a grand scale all the results of 

 the chemist's blow-pipe. The gas is generated at the instant of 

 using it upon the mass of ore, by the injection of a column of hoi 

 air carrying an excessively fine dust of coal or charcoal. The ore 

 spread out upon the floor of a common reverberatory furnace re- 

 ceives the red-hot blast, while it is rapidly stirred by the work- 

 man, and pure iron, in minute grains, is produced in any desired 

 quantity from 100 to 2,000 pounds or more at a heat. 



If the mass is balled up, squeezed, and passed through rollers, 

 it is bar iron. If the time of the process is extended one hour, or 

 even less, the iron absorbs carbon from the blast, and becomes a 

 light sponge of steel, which melts in the crucible or steel puddling 

 furnace, and is cast into ingots of sound and pure metal. If the 

 process is longer continued, larger quantities of carbon are ab- 

 sorbed, and the mass is converted into cast iron. 



In the practice of this method there has appeared no difficulty, 

 as yet, in producing either wrought iron, cast iron, or steel, of any 

 deoTee of hardness and toughness, combined either with man- 

 ganese, chrome, titanium, or other alloy, in any desirable quan- 

 tities. 



It is easily learned by workmen of fair intelligence, and appears 

 thus far to cost, from the first step of the process to the end, not 

 more than half as much as steel made from good pig or bar metal. 

 A little experience enables the workmen to control the measure 

 of carbonization. 



The quality of the steel thus produced is unsurpassed for 

 strength and toughness, and all the diverse qualities of steel for 

 various purposes in the arts are readily communicated to this 

 metal. The fracture of an ingot of the new steel is peculiar and 

 diflferent from others. The mass of the ingot seems to be com- 

 posed of interlaced fibres crossing each other at various angles. 

 In other words, it is a closely woven texture of long acicular crys- 

 tals. This structure strongly contrasts with the varieties made 

 from pig iron, and gives it extraordinary toughness, and in fact a 

 good lamination and longitudinal fibre by the first action of the 

 hammer and rolls. 



The time occupied in the producing of this steel is singularly 

 short, only 8 hours from crude ore to finished bar ; while steel 

 made from bar or pig iron requires many days, the ore being 

 made into bar or pig, and the steel from these by a third and still 

 more costly operation. 



In order to use pulverized carbon in a large metallurgical blow- 

 pipe several inches in diameter, carrying a swift column of air, 

 it must be reduced to a degree of fineness exceeding the capacity 

 of any machines hitherto invented, except those of Messrs. 

 Whelpley and Storer. 



A cubic inch of coal must be broken into several trillions of 



