1 98 HEROES OF INVENTION AND DISCO VER Y. 



molten metal, and on the opposite side at the bottom was the 

 tap-hole, by which the metal was to be run off at the end of the 

 process. 



The first experiment was not made without occasioning con- 

 siderable alarm. It was a most unusual process, and it looked 

 dangerous, as indeed it proved to be. When the charge of 

 pig-iron was melted, the blast was turned on to prevent its 

 running into twyer holes, and then the fluid metal was poured 

 in through the charging-hole by the attending stoker. A tre- 

 mendous commotion immediately took place within the vessel, 

 the molten iron bounded from side to side ; a violent ebullition 

 was heard going on within ; while a vehement violet-coloured 

 flame, accompanied with dazzling sparks, burst from the throat 

 of the cupola, from which the slag was also ejected in large 

 foam-like masses. A cast-iron plate, of the kind used to cover 

 holes in the pavement, that had been suspended over the mouth 

 of the vessel, dissolved in a gleaming mist, together with half-a- 

 dozen yards of the chain by which it hung. The air-cock was 

 so close to the vessel that no one durst go near to turn it and 

 stop the process. The flames shot higher and higher, threat- 

 ening the destruction of the building, and the fire-engines were 

 sent for in hot haste. Before they arrived, however, the fury of 

 decarbonisation had expended itself, and the product was run off. 



The result was not quite satisfactory : the product was for 

 the most part " burnt " iron ; but the experiment was sufficiently 

 encouraging to induce Mr. Bessemer to make a second trial, 

 and the product was found to be malleable iron. 



In the course of further experiments, it was found that, bj 

 interrupting the process before the decarburisation of the iron 

 was complete, the product was unmistakable steel, which was 

 tried and found of good quality. 



