8 Lange, Bessemer, Gdransson mid Micshet. 



letter by Mr. Edward Riley, a copy of which Mr. Harold 

 Jeans of the Iro}i and Coal Trades Review has kindly sent 

 me : — 



To the Editor of the Iron and Coal Trades Review. 



Sir, — In The Times of September 25th, 1856, Mr. 

 Henry Eessemer's (late Sir Henry Bessemer's) paper on the 

 manufacture of wrought iron without fuel, read on the 

 previous day at the meeting of the British Association at 

 Cheltenham, was published. 



Mr. Menelaus, of Dowlais, on the afternoon of the same 

 day, drew my attention to the paper, and asked my opinion 

 about it. I thought it feasible, and, the same evening, 1 made 

 an experiment in a small Sefstrom furnace, the interior 

 being about the size of an ordinary tall hat, lined with 

 fire-clay, and having eight small holes about an inch from 

 the bottom. To these holes were adapted, from the blast- 

 furnace pipes, the ordinary blast, from 2i to 31b. pressure. 

 About 7 to 81b. of molten foundry iron was run into the 

 furnace, and ihe blast was turned on. Distinct evidence of 

 chemical action took place, although, owing to the small 

 mass of metal, the iron soon became solid. 



This small experiment was considered so far satisfactory 

 that Mr. Menelaus requested me to erect a small furnace on 

 a larger scale, so as to operate on a few hundredweights of 

 metal. 



I then built a small furnace i foot 9 inches square in 

 9-inch brickwork, with a tap-hole, and about 6 feet high, 

 close to No. 18 furnace at the ironworks, so as to ensure a 

 supply of all -mine foundry iron. About two inches from the 

 bottom, on each side of the furnace, I inserted two tuyeres, 

 made of |-inch wrought-iron gas-lubing, the nozzle being 

 reduced to a bare \ inch. After drying the furnace, about 

 2 or 3 cwt. of molten foundry iron was run in. The ordinary 

 blast was then turned on, and, to the surprise of numerous 

 spectators — I cannot remember if ]\lr. Menelaus was 

 present, Mr. Edward Williams certainly was — a violent 

 chemical action took place. The temperature was intense, 

 and it was evident that all the reactions took place that are 

 now so well known in the ordinary Bessemer process. 



I stood on the top of a hot-blast stove and watched 

 the process for, as far as I remember, fully half an hour. 

 The furnace was then tapped and the contents were run out. 

 They appeared to be nothing but cinder. Underneath 

 the cinder was a small mass of metal — I should say not more 

 than from 14 to 21 lb. This was taken to the mill and rolled 



