122 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



chor" IS surmounted by a steel frame-work, supporting the drill. 

 The bit is of concave form, over an inch in diameter, and studded 

 with about 18 black diamonds. The bit is attached to an iron 

 tube 9 feet long, worked by a screw, and having over 300 revolu- 

 tions to an inch. The diamonds are arranged so as to grind the 

 rock as fine as sand at the rate of an inch a minute. Several ex- 

 periments have been made on Maine and Quincy granite, all of 

 which have been successful. It is claimed that with this drill sub- 

 marine blasting can be done with less diving and more rapidly 

 than by any other process. The " anchor" will be lowered from 

 a tug, which will supply the engines with steam. The weight of 

 the apparatus will lower it in spite of the strongest tide, and keep 

 it firmly on the bottom. A smooth hole can be drilled 5 feet deep 

 in an hour. 



REFINING IRON WITHOUT PUDDLING. 



The following is taken from the " Cleveland Herald" : — 

 **We referred a day or two ago to the excitement produced 

 among iron manufacturers by the discovery of a means of dispens- 

 ing with puddling, now in practical operation at the Shoenberger 

 Junta Works, in Pittsburgh. The process consists simply in com- 

 bining, mechanically, oxides of iron with melted crude metal. If 

 the mixture is thoroughly effected, the result is instantly a mal- 

 leable iron superior to the best puddled balls. It is then only 

 necessary to heat it as blooms are heated, and put it through the 

 machinery, to produce the best quality of horse-shoe bars from 

 materials which, if puddled, would yield only common iron, and 

 at much less cost than puddled iron. The method emploj^ed afc 

 the Shoenberger Works is to take the melted metal direct from the 

 blast furnace (they have 2 large stacks) and run into a large kettle 

 of a capacity of 5 tons. Thence it is poured, in a stream about a 

 foot wide, into a circular trough 12 inches wide and 10 inches 

 deep, revolving on a radius of 7 feet, or 14 feet diameter. Pul- 

 verized iron ore, Lake Superior, Champlain, or Iron Mountain, 

 is used as the converting agent. The ore descends from a hopper 

 into a revolving: trousfh, and covers the melted metal as fast as it is 

 poured in. The continuous revolutions of the trough produce al- 

 ternate thin layers of hot metal and raw ore, and effect the com- 

 bination in a very satisfactory manner. The machinery which 

 accomplishes this is moved by steam and hydraulic power, and is 

 so well planned that one man, standing with his hand on valve- 

 levers, can manage the whole operation. When the trough is 

 full, and before the iron cools, it is broken up into slabs of suitable 

 size for the heating furnace." 



