THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



iron sent us by parties interested in the works. A hearth was 

 made near the base of the chimney for melting spiegel ; and sub- 

 sequently a small furnace (located at S, Fig. GO) was constructed 

 for melting spiegel when the metal for conversion was taken 

 direct from the blast-furnace.* 



Continuing our description of the works, Fig. 01 is a view of the 

 machinery in the casting-house as it apj^eared to a person standing 

 in the " pulpit " (see Fig. 60) and looking toward the converter, V. 

 This converter is represented on a larger scale in sectional ele- 



Section of Tuyere on line A.B- 



Lower end of Tuyere 



Fig. 62.— Section or the First American Steel Converter. 



vation by Fig. 62 ; and to the right of this figure is seen a longi- 

 tudinal section and end views of one of the seven tuyeres used in 

 the converter. This vessel was made with its upper part in two 

 separate sections, and it was supported on its trunnions by two 



* It was at these works, in the summer of 1865, that Z. S. Durfee made the first 

 attempt to melt pig metal in a cupola for use in the converting vessel. At that time the 

 practice abroad was to melt the metal in a reverberatory furnace. Owing to the small size 

 of the eupola and its distance from the converting vessel, the experiment was not entirely 

 successful ; but Mr. Durfee did not abandon his belief in the usefulness of this process. 

 I claim for him the origination of the idea of cupola melting, which has contributed so 

 much to the rapidity and economy of production in the steel-works of the world. 



