544 Meeting of the British Association. [ Oct., 
solely for this purpose in the country. One of the great advan- 
tages of the process, and that which fits it more particularly for 
the Middlesborough district, is that by it a comparatively impure 
metal, as the Cleveland iron is known to be, can be converted into 
steel at a price inferior to that of the Bessemer steel, which requires 
tolerably pure hematite iron. The process, as described by Mr. 
Kohn, consists in adding to a bath of pig-iron, kept at a high tem- 
perature by means of the regenerative furnace, measured doses of 
wrought-iron, until the stage of complete decarbonization is arrived 
at; the operation is then completed by the addition of a certain 
percentage of pig-iron, or of the well-known alloys of iron and 
manganese. Generally, the Siemens-Martin process appears to have 
a wide range of applicability: it can work up the waste of other 
modes of steel manufacture, it can utilize old materials, especially 
wrought-iron and steel, and it is applicable to white pig-iron, or 
pig-iron poor in carbon. 
Mr. J. Jones, Secretary to the North of England Iron Trade, 
read a paper “On some Points affecting the Economical Manu- 
facture of Iron,” in which he introduced to the notice of the meeting 
the Wilson Fire-Grate and the Newport Furnace, both of which, he 
submitted, effected a considerable saving of material and fuel in the 
puddling process. Without diagrams or a longer description than 
our space admits of, it would be difficult to convey any clear idea 
of the manner in which these inventions work. The principle of 
the Wilson-grate is the complete combustion of the fuel before it 
comes to the furnace chamber, and, as has been proved from results 
obtained by working for a considerable length of time, the quan- 
tity of fuel required per ton of puddled iron is from 20 to 25 per 
cent. less than in the ordinary furnace. In the Newport furnace 
attention has been paid to the utilization of heat, and the waste 
heat is again made available: in principle, it partakes somewhat 
of the regenerative character of Mr. Siemens’ invention. By the 
use of this furnace it is stated that a saving of from 25 to 30 per 
cent. of fuel is effected. Mr. Jones also referred to the Radcliffe 
process of puddling, by which five or more balls are withdrawn 
simultaneously from the furnace, and treated together under a heavy 
steam-hammer with a quick action. He claims for this method 
the advantage of producing homogeneous iron, not liable to lami- 
nation, in a time considerably less than that required under the 
process ordinarily adopted. 
A paper of the greatest possible public importance was read by 
Mr. L. E. Fletcher “On Coroners’ Inquests and Boiler Explosions.” 
Starting from the fact that since the commencement of 1855 up 
to the 31st July last, 464 boiler explosions, by which 789 persons 
were killed and 924 injured, had occurred in different parts of the 
