2l8 THE SCIENTIFIC PAPERS OF 



certainly have accomplished the desired object if the company had 

 displayed the least determination to succeed. The furnace-bottom 

 of bauxite did not succeed, as it was not solidified by the heat, 

 and rose to the surface of the liquid bath, but this defect was 

 soon rectified by the substitution of a white sand bottom. 

 Through some carelessness, however, the covering arch of the 

 furnace was damaged by excess of heat ; and this slight accident, 

 which proved nothing except an ample sufficiency of heating 

 power, sufficed to deter the company from pressing on to the 

 attainment of that success which was so nearly within their reach. 

 In the meantime I had granted a licence to Messrs. Eraile and Pierre 

 Martin, of the Sireuil Works, to melt steel, both in pots and on 

 the open hearth, and a furnace was erected by them in 1864 which 

 was chiefly intended for a heating furnace, but was at the same 

 time constructed of such materials (Dinas brick) and in such a 

 form as to be also applicable for melting steel. 



With this furnace, which was really less suitable than those 

 previously erected, MM. Martin have succeeded in producing 

 cast-steel of good quality and of various tempers, ard their pro- 

 duce was awarded a gold medal at the great French Exhibition of 

 last year. MM. Martin have since patented various arrangements 

 of their own, such as the employment of particular fluxes to cover 

 the surface of the molten metal, the application of a separate 

 furnace for heating the iron before charging it into the melting 

 furnace, and the employment of particular brands of cast and 

 wrought-iron, which may be useful under special circumstances 

 but which form no essential part of the general solution of the 

 problem. 



Having been so often disappointed by the indifference of 

 manufacturers and the antagonism of their workmen, I deter- 

 mined, in 1865, to erect experimental or " Sample Steel Works " 

 of my own at Birmingham, for the purpose of maturing the 

 details of these processes, before inviting manufacturers to adopt 

 them. The first furnace erected at these works, is one for melt- 

 ing the higher qualities of steel in closed pots, and contains 16 

 pots of the usual capacity. The second, erected in 1867, is an 

 open bath furnace, capable of melting a charge of 24 cwt. of steel 

 every 6 hours. Although these works have been carried on under 

 every disadvantage, inasmuch as I had to educate a set of men 



