568 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



the ore, the pig, and the bar have been the subjects of unntimberecl experi- 

 ments. 



Turn back to Berthier's analyses of the ore, and it is obvious that the 

 blast furnace has not one of the impurities of other ores to carry off, except 

 one-quarter of one per cent of silica. And the zinc and manganese, in pass- 

 ing off, are able to carry with them the sulphur and phosphorus from impure 

 ores mixed in the same furnace. The reports of numerous esperimenta 

 through the last eight years, and in different countries, show that frank- 

 linite ore can purify from four to ten times it's own weight of other ores. 

 Experiments equally extensive leave no doubts that from ten to twenty 

 per cent, of franklinite pig in a puddle of fed-short and cold-short pigs 

 remove the phosphorus and other impurities on which their bad qualities 

 depend. 



Beyond all question the franklinite ore and the franklinite pig iron are 

 the specific remedies for the impurities of all other irons ; and, as such, 

 they will be found new and great economies in the production of iron. The 

 same ships which fetch us Scotch pig at twenty dollars a ton, carry back 

 franklinite pig at thirty-five dollars. 



The next point to be noticed is, that the portion of manganese in the 

 franklinite pig renders it the hardest of all iron, while the passing off of 

 that manganese in the puddle, carrying all other impurities, leaves the 

 franklinite bar extremely tenacious. 



In accordance with the last conclusion is the certificate from the testing 

 office of France, that the bar of franklinite sent there endured a greater 

 strain than any other bar ever tested at that place. Similar returns came 

 from other places. The comparative value of one kind of iron, which ia 

 more tenacious than any other in our country, needs no illustration. The 

 only question of importance in this connection may be answered by saying 

 that the supply is practically inexhaustible. 



The hardness of the pig metal, and some other qualities found in it, 

 have recently led to multiplied experiments with some very remarkable 

 results. 



One of these qualities is the low point at which the pig melts. This 

 point is so low that the franklinite pig, in the same fire with other cast or 

 rolled iron, flows over the latter and fuses inseparably into the unmelted 

 plate of cast or rolled iron ; so that one side will be a plate of tenacious, 

 infrangible iron, and the other side harder than the best drills, files and 

 chisels. The patent for this process is already appropriated by one of our 

 members (Mr. Butler, of the firm of Valentine & Butler), who is applying, 

 it to safes for the special amusement of burglars. But the possible appli- 

 cations of this process are without number. The franklinite pig crumbles 

 under the hammer, and easily grinds down to powder, which is already 

 displacing emery in the coarse work of polishing iron. An experiment has 

 just been made at the furnace of the Messrs. Cornell, of this city, to illus- 

 trate the use of water in smelting metals, as proposed by Mr. Ppmeroy. 



