522 



METALS. 



Sebastian, in 1813, for which service he after- 

 ward received the naval war-medal. In the 

 Spanish Navy, which he subsequently joined, 

 he rose to the rank of post-captain, and during 

 the revolutionary troubles of 1820-'23 was re- 

 markable for his conservative and royalist 

 opinions. When Ferdinand VII. was arrested 

 by the Cortes and thrown into prison at Cadiz, 

 Don Francisco Merry proposed to run in his 

 ship and carry the King off in triumph to 

 Gibraltar: but the intention became known, 

 through some oversight or folly on the part of 

 the King himself, and Don Francisco, who had 

 gone to Seville to make certain arrangements 

 with reference to the affair, was astounded to 

 read in the revolutionary official journal the 

 entire details of the plot, together with his 

 own name as that of the prime mover. He 

 managed to rejoin his ship in disguise, and 

 when the King reentered Madrid Don Fran- 

 cisco was, on the occasion, created a Knight 

 Commander of the Koyal Order of Charles III. 



METALS. Resonant Alloys. Prof. Benja- 

 min Silliman, of Yale College, has devised a 

 method for imparting resonance to pewter, 

 white-metal, britannia, and similar alloys. As 

 now manufactured these alloys are notorious- 

 ly deficient in resonance, giving when struck 

 only a dull, leaden sound. Whatever degree 

 of resonance or ring the ingots or casts of the 

 alloys may possess is entirelj destroyed by the 

 mechanical processes of rolling or lamination, 

 of spinning and striking up, by which means 

 the products of this industry are chiefly brought 

 into the desired forms during their manufact- 

 ure. Many attempts have been made to im- 

 part this desirable quality of resonance to such 

 wares by changing the proportion of their in- 

 gredients, and otherwise, but hitherto without 

 success. The new process consists in submit- 

 ting the manufactured wares to the action of 

 a regulated and well-determined temperature, 

 just short of the melting-point of the alloy, 

 for a brief but measured time. By this simple 

 process all vessels of whatever form or dimen- 

 sion, and all other articles of the class of me- 

 tallic alloys named, are endowed with the 

 resonance so justly esteemed, but hitherto 

 wanting in these wares. 



In applying 'the invention, a bath or ves- 

 sel is provided of capacity sufficient to accom- 

 modate the largest articles to be treated. It 

 may be made of copper or iron, as may be 

 most convenient, and must be provided with 

 an easily-regulated source of heat, such as is 

 found in a good gas-furnace. This bath may 

 be filled with either paraffin or a heavy min- 

 eral oil, freed in manufacture from all the 

 Kghter oils of low boiling-point, and capable 

 of withstanding a temperature of at least 500 

 Fahr. without boiling. The temperature of 

 this bath must be raised to about 220 Cent., 

 or 428 Fahr., and then more gradually to 

 about 230 Cent., or 446 Fahr. that is, just 

 below the average melting-point of britannia- 

 metal. 



In every case it is essential that the expert 

 using this invention should determine, by the 

 thermometer, the exact melting-point of his 

 own alloy, and also its temperature of solidi- 

 fication. These two points being experimen- 

 tally determined, the bath should be kept with- 

 in, say, 10 Fahr. of the melting-point of the 

 alloy, and the articles to be treated immersed 

 therein for a brief time, which will vary with 

 their size and weight. For small and rather 

 thin pieces fifteen to thirty seconds is a suf- 

 ficient time. For larger articles of greater 

 weight, like urns, soup-tureens, etc., the time 

 may be safely extended to a minute or more. 

 Articles thus treated lose part of the density 

 imparted by the mechanical pressure of rolling, 

 etc., but do not become porous like the cast 

 articles. They also acquire a sensibly increased 

 stiffness or temper, enabling them the better to 

 stand rough usage. 



New Iron-Making Process. A new .process, 

 the invention of Mr. G. Lowthian Bell, having 

 for its object the production of malleable from 

 pig iron, has been brought to public notice 

 during the past year. The process is carried 

 on in the Bessemer converter, or Martin-Sie- 

 mens furnace, and consists mainly in taking 

 iron from the converter or the furnace, add- 

 ing spiegeleisen, and placing it in a puddling- 

 furnace, whence it issues puddled iron. The 

 process is also specially intended to facilitate 

 the working of iron in rotary puddling-fur- 

 naces. Crude iron by preference from the 

 blast-furnace is submitted directly to the action 

 of a current of air, by means of the Bessemer 

 converter. The extent to which this opera- 

 tion has to be carried will depend on the quan- 

 tity of silicon contained in the pig-iron. When 

 this amounts to from \\ to 2 per cent, five min- 

 utes' exposure to a blast of 15 to 20 pounds on 

 the square inch will suffice. 



When the metal has been sufficiently blown 

 it is run direct into the rotary puddling-fur- 

 nace, and puddled. Instead of stopping the 

 blowing operation while the iron contains suf- 

 ficient carbon for puddling, the blowing may 

 be carried further, and the carbon afterward 

 replaced by adding spiegeleisen or other pure 

 cast-iron rich in carbon. 



It often happens that the relative quantities 

 of silicon and phosphorus in pig-iron are such 

 that before the former can be sufficiently oxi- 

 dized, the carbon it contains is burned off to 

 an extent which interferes with the subsequent 

 operation of puddling. In such a case the iron 

 in the puddling-furnace " comes to nature " be- 

 fore the phosphorus is properly acidified and 

 removed by the oxide of iron always present. 

 When, therefore, it is desired to obtain mal- 

 leable iron as free as possible from phosphorus 

 it is found useful to prevent the too rapid ex- 

 pulsion of the carbon by blowing into the con- 

 verter along with the blast carbonaceous mat- 

 ter, such as ground coke, charcoal, or other 

 similar substances ; or, as already explained, 

 the carbon may after blowing be replaced by 





