22 Experimenicd Researches [Jan., 



duced the process of boiling and puddling in the reverberatory 

 furnace, and those of more recent date to Bessemer, who first used 

 a separate vessel for the reduction of the metals, and thus eftected 

 more important changes in the manufacture of iron and steel than 

 had been introduced at any former period in metallurgic history. 

 To the latter system we owe most of the improvements that have 

 taken place ; for by the comparatively new and interesting process 

 of burning out the carbon in a separate vessel, almost every descrip- 

 tion of steel and refined iron may be produced. The same results 

 may be obtained by the puddling-furnace, but not to the same extent, 

 since the artificial blast of the Bessemer principle acts with much 

 greater force in depriving the metal of its carbon, and in reducing 

 it to the state of refined iron. By this new process increased 

 facilities are afforded for attaining new combinations, by the intro- 

 duction of measured quantities of carbon into the converting vessel, 

 and this may be so regulated as to form steel or iron of the homo- 

 geneous state, of any known quality. 



The production of ii'on and steel in the homogeneous state is 

 one of the most important improvements that have taken place since 

 the process of rolling du-ect from the reverberatory fm-nace. The 

 former process was first to melt the iron as it came fi'om the 

 smelting-furnace in the shape of pigs, to j)uddle it or to stn it 

 about until the mass took the form of a ball deprived of its carbon ; 

 it was then placed under the hammer, and formed into slabs or 

 ingots. The next process was to roll it into bars, which being cut 

 into short pieces,, were again heated and rolled either into plates or 

 bars as required. 



Now the great defect of this process was the unsound state of 

 the iron, as the least rust or scoriae on the surface of the piled bars 

 prevented the welding or fusion of the metals, and hence followed 

 what are called blistered plates, or laminated bars of unsound 

 construction. 



The new process it will be observed obviates all these difficulties, 

 as in the Bessemer process the melted iron is deprived of its carbon 

 by the action of an artificial blast — the same as formerly prevailed 

 on the hearth of the refinery — and thence it is cast into ingots of the 

 weight required, either for the hununer or the rolls. From this it 

 will be seen that the risk of pihng and welding is entu'ely dispensed 

 with, and the article produced, whether of ii'on or steel, is perfect in 

 its homogeneity. It may be of good or inferior quality, hard or soft, 

 but by this process it is free from the risk of being unsound in its 

 homogeneous state. 



As regards the steel, of which we have to submit the results, as 

 produced by the principal manufacturers of this country, it will bo 

 observed that in making steel from the puddling-furnace, similar 

 combinations may be produced, but with less certainty as regards 



