METALLURGY. (!EON AND STEEL.) 



351 



crats, and 2 others. Of the 13 Congressmen elected, 

 10 are Republicans. The vote on presidential 

 electors gave McKinley, 239,495; Bryan, 156,507. 



METALLURGY. Iron and Steel. Having 

 mentioned the part played in the industrial evolu- 

 tion of the world by the iron and steel metallur- 

 gists as evident to all, Sir W. C. Roberts-Austen 

 said in his address at the meeting of the Iron 

 and Steel Institute that the fact that they have 

 contributed with commensurate success to the 

 advancement of pure science is less generally 

 known. He therefore spoke of some of the in- 

 stances in which this had been the case. The car- 

 burization of iron offered the first example in which 

 the diffusion of solids in solids had been observed. 

 The study conducted by metallurgists of the asso- 

 ciations of carbon and iron afforded the most 

 complicated case yet known, and indeed the only 

 one which had been worked out, of metallic solid so- 

 lutions. It presented, moreover, a unique instance 

 of the importance of allotropy in connection with 

 metals. Metallurgists had carefully investigated, 

 and conducted daily operations of vast industrial 

 importance, in which the presence of a third body 

 enabled either elementary bodies or compounds 

 to react on each other. Habitually conducting 

 operations at high temperatures, which often in- 

 verted ordinary chemical reactions, had led to the 

 acquisition of a mass of information as to the 

 relations that occur and of the compounds that 

 are formed under such conditions. Pyrometric 

 records had, moreover, enabled the equilibrium 

 of the less fusible metals in their liquid as well 

 is their solid state to be studied a branch of 

 vork which chemists generally have not been in a 

 ssition to undertake. The necessity of submitting 

 the physical and mechanical properties of iron and 

 its alloys to rigorous tests as 1 a routine operation 

 works has afforded a rich store of information 

 to the molecular constitution not only of metals, 

 but of matter generally. Metallurgists have to 

 leal with cases in which a mass of metal is acted 

 jpon by added matter in proportions that are 

 oo minute to intervene directly by the formation 

 of chemical compounds with the whole of the 

 lass, while in some eases no compounds are formed, 

 ie influence of the atom must, therefore, be 

 tiore or less directly exerted. The author be- 

 lieved that the most comprehensive view possi- 

 le to take of the achievements of British 

 id French investigators and experimenters ad- 

 litted of concise expression in the brief state- 

 lent that the main characteristic of the metallur- 

 gical work of the century had shown the inter- 

 dependence of minute quantities of matter on the 

 "lasses of metal in which they are hidden. The 

 entury's work had, moreover, to a great extent, 

 evealed the way in which the small quantities 

 added matter act, and it had been shown that 

 ley exert profound influence even in solid metals. 

 " fact that certain varieties of steel are " solid 

 nlution " is now accepted, and the recognition 

 if molecular movements in solids has become 

 imiliar. In no branch of the work had the out- 

 ime of such knowledge been more striking than 

 Ilu> one to which all the members of the Institute 

 ere in different ways devoted. Metallurgists 

 ivc ;><rain and again shown that no dependence 

 to be placed on the once famous maxim oi the 

 uc de la Rochefoucauld that those who apply 

 themselves too much to little things commonly 

 become incapable of great ones. The influence of 



fie apparently little on the obviously great is 

 cognized, and the result is remarkable. By 

 Iding small amounts of matter to iron, the 

 ctalhirgist has literally made it possible to 

 lange the aspect of the world. 



Speaking of the several universal expositions that 

 have been held in Paris, the author said that the 

 progress made in the successive periods between 

 them might be indicated by the three words, " nov- 

 elty," " quantity," and " quality." In 1855 the 

 metallurgy of iron and steel was almost stationary, 

 and technical workers were seeking fresh guidance. 

 In 1867 the results of new efforts were shown in 

 the improvements contributed through the labor* 

 of Bessemer, Martin, Siemens, Cowper, and Arm- 

 strong. In 1878 the extraordinary development 

 the new processes had attained was shown, and 

 the quantity of the new products was remarkable. 

 Then came the period during which the quality of 

 material improved, and the metallurgical exhibits 

 in 1889 showed that a high point of perfection 

 had been reached. 



The Grondal-Dellwick method of magnetic con- 

 centration of iron ores is used with great sucros 

 at Pitkoranta, Finland. Magnetite is worked 

 there in large quantities, but the presence of sul- 

 phides copper pyrites and zinc blende unfit it 

 for use unless these minerals can be removed. 

 To do this the ore is first finely crushed in a net- 

 crushing ball mill. The separator consists of two 

 rotating cylindrical portions the separator proper 

 and the discharging drum. The former com- 

 prises four circular electro-magnets, with ends 

 separated by brass rings, but brought together 

 at the shaft. The discharging drums consist 

 of eight concentric rows of soft iron pins, set 

 in a wooden drum. Pulp is conveyed to the 

 magnets, which attract the magnetic part, while 

 the nonmagnetic part flies away. The points of 

 the discharging drum receive temporarily induced 

 magnetism as they approach the magnets. The 

 result of this arrangement is that particles of 

 iron ore adhering to the magnets are transferred 

 to the former. Whenever these iron points recede 

 from the magnets they lose their induced magnet- 

 ism, the grains drop off, and are thus delivered 

 to a separate trough, by means of which they are 

 carried away. The process is automatic, and one 

 workman can look after several separators. 



In a paper on the use of finely divided iron ore 

 obtained by concentrating processes, Prof. J. 

 Wiborg, of Stockholm, said that the advantage 

 arising from magnetic and other methods of sepa- 

 ration was very largely qualified by the circum- 

 stance that the product or concentrate was usu- 

 ally obtained as a comparatively fine powder, 

 which limited its utility to the smelter when com- 

 pared with that of similar or even poorer ores 

 obtained in large masses. The question, there- 

 fore, of how such material could best be applied 

 was now becoming of importance. The author 

 showed how this concentrate could be utilized by 

 direct addition to the charges in the blast furnace 

 by agglomeration previously to charging as a re- 

 fining or softening material in the open-hearth 

 furnace, and for the production of sponge iron for 

 use in the open-hearth furnace. The paper con- 

 cluded with an account of a furnace the author 

 had designed for reducing pulverulent ores. 



A new mechanical apparatus for casting sand- 

 less pig iron is described by Mr. R. Wainford, of 

 Stoke-on-Trent, as capable of maintaining a good 

 crystalline fracture equal to that of the pig iron 

 made in sand beds at a very reduced cost of pro- 

 duction. It is competent to deal with 60 tons of 

 iron per hour; and, assuming that the workmen 

 have eight-hour shifts, the labor cost is about a 

 half penny per ton cast. 



From results obtained in his regular business 

 practice rather than from laboratory experiments, 

 Mr. Charles James has found that in annealing 

 white iron the only change effected is one of con- 



