1869.] Metallurgy. 461 



Metalluegy. 



Wolfram. — In the Academie des Sciences, M. La Guen, a 

 captain of artillery, has called attention anew to the remarkable 

 properties imparted to Bessemer steel by the addition of a small 

 quantity of tungsten. The question was put, could wohram, allied, 

 as it is, to the ores of tin, be obtained at a sufficiently low price to be 

 employed with economy? We may answer this by stating that 

 large quantities of this mineral can be obtained at East Pool Mine 

 in Cornwall ; and that at Drake Wales, Kit HiU, and some other 

 tin mines, it could be procured at a cheap rate, if the demand 

 became sufficiently large to warrant its extraction. 



Iron and Zinc. — Although it has long been known that ii'on 

 would dissolve in molten zinc ; it has not hitherto been determined 

 whether there was any definite alloy of those metals or not. We 

 find in Erdmann's Journal of ' Practical Chemistry,' an account of 

 an alloy in which the metals do appear to exist in definite propor- 

 tions, its formulae being given as Fe Zn 36 (Fe = 56 ; Zn 32 • 75). 

 The physical aspect of the alloy was very dificrent from that of 

 zinc ; it was whiter in colour and possessed a different crystalline 

 structure ; it contained 4 • 6 per cent, of iron. 



Coke. — The importance of obtainmg coke free from sulphur 

 cannot, especially for iron manufacture, be over-estimated. Numerous 

 experiments have, from time to time, been made, with a view to the 

 use of coal in which some pyrites occur, in the manufacture of a 

 pure coke for the blast furnace. 



Some experiments have been made in France which are stated 

 to have been remarkably successful. The coke when at a tempera- 

 ture of 300^ Cent, was submitted to a strong current of atmospheric 

 air strongly compressed. This current of air is said to convert the 

 sulphur into sulphuric acid and remove it. The coke is reported to 

 produce iron equal to that which has been made with wood charcoal. 



Aluminium. — The American journals announce that Mr. A. L. 

 Fleury, of Boston, has succeeded by a new process in smelting 

 alumina. He mixes pure alumina with gas tar or petroleum, and 

 forming the mixture into pellets, which are dried, they are placed 

 in a strong retort which is lined with plumbago. Into this car- 

 buretted hydrogen gas is forced until the pressure is from 25 lbs. 

 to 30 lbs. on the square inch. The aluminium is reduced, and 

 remains as a spongy mass, mixed with carbon. This is remelted 

 with metallic zinc, and the zinc being volatihzed, a pure mass of 

 aluminium remains behind. About four hours are required for 

 reducing a hundred-weight of alumina. 



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