470 



METALS. 



cess. Mr. Bessemer admits that his awn process 

 could not make good steel from Cleveland iron, but 

 states that the 65s. and 70s. pig, that he does use, 

 makes cheaper steel than the cheapest Cleveland 

 pig + 28s. per ton for nitrates. 



As to the invalidity of the Heaton patents for the 

 use of nitrates, Mr. Bessemer replies at great length, 

 citing some old patents ; and stating that he was him- 

 self the first to make steel by purely chemical means, 

 by simply passing oxygen through the molten iron 

 without the use of fuel, and that his patents claim 

 the use, for this purpose, of any oxygen-bearing sub- 

 stance. Mr. Bessemer says he has recently obtained 

 patents for means of using the nitrates, in order 

 to protect himself from iurther inroads by Mr. 

 Heaton. 



Some tests have recently been made by Mr. Kirkal- 

 dy on a steel said to be Heaton's, the result being 

 very uniform, and showing 23 tons tensile strength 

 and 20 to 28 per cent, elongation in breaking. Mr. 

 Heaton states that a remelted tool steel in one-half 

 inch bars, from very impure Cleveland pig, stood 

 above 53 tons. 



The Siemens-Martin Steel Process. Mr. 

 F. Kohn, at the meeting of the British Asso- 

 ciation, explained this new process which 

 has been introduced from France into England 

 with considerable success. The steel is manu- 

 factured on the open hearth of a Siemens' fur- 

 nace, by the mutual reaction of pig-iron and 

 decarbonized iron, or wrought iron, on each 

 other. The process realizes the old and re- 

 peatedly-proposed idea of melting wrought 

 iron in a bath of liquid pig-iron, thereby con- 

 verting the whole mass into steel. The prin- 

 cipal elements of its successful operation, those 

 which distinguish it from all previous abortive 

 attempts, are: 1. The high temperature and 

 the neutral or non-oxidizing flame produced by 

 the regenerative gas-furnace of Mr. Siemens ; 

 2. The method of charging the decarbonized 

 iron into the bath of pig iron in measured 

 quantities or doses. These doses of wrought 

 iron are added to the bath at regular intervals, 

 so that each following charge in melting in- 

 creases the quantity of the liquid mass, and 

 adds to the dissolving power of the .bath until 

 complete decarbonization is reached. *The 

 charge is then completed by adding to the de- 

 carbonized mass a certain percentage of pig- 

 iron or of the well-known alloys of iron and 

 manganese, and the degre'e of hardness or 

 temper of the steel produced depends on the 

 proportion of the final addition. Mr. Kohn 

 said that the prime cost of the Siemens-Mar- 

 tin steel would be about 7 10s. a ton, pre- 

 cisely the same as the cost of 'the Bessemer 

 steel. As the two processes are worked with 

 different classes of raw material, he thought 

 they would never come into direct rivalry. 

 By working up the waste of the Bessemer 

 steel-works, the crop end of steel rails and 

 similar material, the, Siemens-Martin process 

 would assist in cheapening the prime cost of 

 Bessemer steel, in which the waste plays an 

 important part. Some discussion followed the 

 reading of Mr. Kohn's paper. Professor Coop- 

 er stated that the process would be found 

 valuable in altering the quality of steel, which 

 was not of uniform quality when produced by 



the Bessemer process, and could not be altered 

 by that process; whereas, by the Siemens- 

 Martin method, the quality of any part could 

 be regulated at pleasure. 



Other New Steel Processes. Two new steel 

 processes have recently been added to the 

 multitude. One is 'that of Park and Love. 

 They use a furnace consisting of two fire- 

 chambers, separated by a fire-bridge; one 

 chamber receiving a crucible, and the othei* 

 being a reverberatory fire-chamber. The cru- 

 cible, which is provided with discharge-holes, 

 is surrounded by fuel. Both fires having been 

 raised to a white heat, melted cast iron is 

 poured into the crucible ; vitreous fluxes are 

 added, and wrought-iron scraps, already 

 brought to a white heat in an adjoining fur- 

 nace, are introduced. The cast and wrought 

 irons, having been thoroughly melted and 

 mixed, the contents of the crucible are drawn 

 off through the discharge-holes. Puddlirfg can 

 be easily conducted in this furnace through a 

 hole at the top instead of at the side. 



Messrs. James and Jones claim the practical 

 application of carbonizing and nitrogenizing 

 gases under pressure to wrought iron in a gas- 

 tight receiver. The two gases are produced in 

 separate generators, and forced into the re- 

 ceiver through an accumulator or otherwise, 

 or the gases, wholly or partly, may be formed 

 in the receiver. Cyanogen gas is preferred for 

 nitrogenizing. The same firm claim the use, 

 under compression, of blast-furnace waste 

 gases, containing carbonic oxide, ammonia, and 

 nitrogen, and other waste .gases, for converting 

 wrought iron into steel. 



Mr. G-. W. Nasarow, of St. Petersburg, 

 proposes to make steel directly from the ore, 

 by treating it with a solution of sodic carbon- 

 ate in water, allowing the ore to remain for 

 some time in the solution. The proportions 

 are 1 part of carbonate of soda to 40 parts of 

 ore. Thus prepared, the ore is placed in a 

 reverberatory furnace, supplied with a hot 

 blast, and melted down. The same treatment 

 may be applied to scrap-iron, adding more 

 carbon where that is necessary. 



The Bessemer Process and Spectrum Analysis. 

 Professor Liellegg, of Gratz, who has for a 

 long time been engaged in spectroscopic obser- 

 vations of the Bessemer flame, has succeeded 

 in pointing out a sufficiency of marked changes 

 in the spectrum to enable the managers of 

 steel-works, where the Bessemer process is 

 employed, to watch and conduct the charges 

 intelligently and with great practical success, 

 by the use of the spectroscope. By adopting 

 the method of Professor Liellegg, the 'steel in 

 the Gratz works has been considerably im- 

 proved with regard to that exact uniformity of 

 hardness which formerly was more difficult to 

 insure under all circumstances. The spectrum 

 pointed out by Professor Liellegg belongs to 

 the flame of carbonic oxide. It can be seen in 

 the flame escaping from the mouth of the con- 

 verter during the preliminary operation of 



