AMElliCAN INSTITUTE. 585 



by a lengthy, uncertain and costly process, into iirst blister steel, 

 then melt that down in crucibles and cast it into ingots for the 

 manufacture of the bar steel of commerce, Capt Uchatius took 

 East India pig iron (now cheap,) and in a few hours converted it 

 into fine steel, whereas the common process requires several 

 weeks ! English pig iron is as good as India, The well known 

 fact that cast iron surrounded by any oxygenised materials and 

 subjected to a cementing heat for a given time, would yield up 

 a part of its carbon, which would combine with the oxygen driven 

 off from the surrounding materials, forming carbonic oxide or 

 carbonic acid gas. If this process is interrupted before comple- 

 tion, a partially decarbonised iron would result, the surface of 

 which would have been converted into a pure steel, while the 

 inner parts remain unchanged. In order, therefore, to expedite 

 the conversion into steel, the pig iron is first reduced to grains by 

 running it melted from the cupola (a blast furnace sometimes,) 

 into cold water agitated by mechanical means. This granulated 

 pig iron was then mixed with a proper proportion of pulverised 

 oxygen yielding materials of a very cheap kind, such for instance 

 as spathose ore (sparry iron,) adding if requisite a small quantity 

 of manganese This mixture is put into common crucibles and 

 subjected to heat in a cast steel blast furnace of the ordinary con- 

 struction. The cast steel thus obtained is increased about six 

 per cent by the conversion of the iron contained in the spathose 

 ore. The melting and casting are done as usual in steel making. 

 The finer the pig irou is granulated the softer the steel made of 

 it. The softer sorts of welding cast steel might be obtained by 

 adding good wrought iron in small pieces, and the harder kinds 

 by adding charcoal to the mixture, 



Mr. Lenz said that crude iron can be converted into steel ingots 

 in the incredibly short time of two hours ! He then, from a cru- 

 cible, run melted iron into a vessel of water, when it was instan- 

 taneously converted into shot like particles, to tliese (twenty-four 

 pounds weight of these) he mixed in six pounds of crushed ore 

 and peroxide of manganese, in the proportion of four pounds of 

 ore to two pounds of the peroxide of manganese and a small 

 quantity of fire clay. While this was in the furnace the company 

 present saw the process of hammering an ingot of the new steel 

 into a bar, and although the steam hammer was not adapted for 

 steel, nevertheless the bar steel produced under it was pronounced 

 to be of excellent quality, and tools made of it by Messrs Rennie 

 were tried and found to possess the qualities of fine English cast 

 steel. After the crucible had been in the furnace two hours and 



