32 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



into an ingot suflSciently heavy to make four rails ; this ingot is 

 taken from its mold while it is red-hot on its outside and still 

 liquid internally, and put into a " soaking pit " * or a reheating 

 furnace to prevent loss of heat, and as soon as possible, it is sent 

 to the " blooming train " and rolled into a bloom ; this is at once 

 automatically conveyed to the " rail-train " and rolled into a con- 

 tinuous rail about one hundred and twenty-three feet in length, 

 which is carried on rollers driven by power to the "" cutting-off 

 saws," which divide it into four rails of thirty feet in length, and 

 the two extreme ends of the original rail, called " crop ends," are 

 about eighteen inches long. The four rails, while still red-hot, 

 are carried by machinery to the " cambering machine," and thence 

 to the " hot-bed." f They are next taken to the " cold straightening 

 presses," and any crookedness is removed by powerful pressure ; 

 the bolt-holes for "fish-plates " are then drilled in their ends, after 

 which the rails are turned over to the " inspectors " rej)resenting 

 the railway for which the rails are intended. 



Fig. 65 I is a very spirited night view of a scene outside the 

 casting-house of one of the furnaces of the Illinois Steel Com- 

 pany. A portion of the furnace itself and one of its supporting 

 columns are seen through the left-hand arch. In the left fore- 

 ground are two " slag-buggies " being filled with liquid slag ; on 

 the right is a locomotive ready to pull them to the dump. In the 

 center of the picture are two large " ladles " (numbered 14 and 10) 

 capable of holding ten tons each of fluid metal, which is con- 

 veyed to them by the " runners " or " gutters " whose ends are seen 

 projecting over the " ladles " ; these gutters receive the molten 

 metal direct from the "blast-furnace," and as soon as the 

 " ladles " are filled they are drawn away by a locomotive which 

 takes them up an inclined plane on to an iron bridge or platform, 

 which extends across the converter-house in front of the converters. 

 This bridge is plainly shown in Fig. 60, and a small locomotive is 

 seen on the left-hand end of it. 



Beyond this bridge, and between it and the back wall of the 

 building, are the three converters, each intended for the conver- 

 sion of ten tons of iron into steel at one operation. The left-hand 



* This is a pit but little wider than the ingot, lined with fire-brick. The lining prevents 

 the heat of the steel from radiating into space, and hence the internal heat of the ingot is 

 diffused uniformly through its mass ; and after being in the " pit " a certain time the ingot 

 is apparently hotter than when it was put in ; it is then taken out and rolled immediately. 

 " The soaking-pit process," invented by John Gjers, is the most important improvement in 

 the manufacture of steel that has been brought forward in the last eight years. 



f This term is the reverse of descriptive. The " hot-bed " is a huge gridiron, on which 

 the rails are placed to cool. 



:): I am under obligations to E. C. Potter, Esq., late Vice-President of the Illinois Steel 

 Company for the very effective views from which this and the three following engravings 

 have been reduced. 



