812 Transactions of the American Institute. 



puddling. The phosphorus is entirely removed by the new process. 

 The iron may be heated to a higher temperature than it can be 

 worked at in hand puddling. The furnace is lined with the oxide of 

 iron, and instead of losing fifteen to twenty per cent by the process, 

 it is found that there is actually a gain of seven to ten per cent. 

 Ordinarily, we can make two to two and one-half tons before 

 re-lining. 



Dr. P. H. Van der "Weyde — I was not aware, until to-night, that 

 the oxide of iron was used for the lining. That is a most beautiful 

 method, for the oxide of iron is itself partly reduced, and there is a 

 gain instead of a loss in the charge. 



Mr. J. K. Fisher — How large a mass of iron can you make, to roll 

 into a boiler plate, for example \ 



Mr. Danks — There is scarcely a limit to the size of the puddled 

 ball. It depends upon the apparatus for reducing the lump. The 

 iron is more perfectly puddled than it possibly can be by man power. 



Dr. Yan der Weyde — I suppose it is as homogeneous as Bessemer 

 steel? 



Mr. Danks — A puddled ball is always homogeneous and crystal- 

 line. The fiber is due to the elongation of the crystals by rolling 

 and hammering. If you wish to retain a portion of the carbon, you 

 can stop the puddling process at any stage you choose, and then you 

 will have steel ; and that will remain steel, without showing fiber, 

 through a great number of workings. Or we can make the finest 

 quality of iron. We can make an iron that will bear a tensile strain 

 of 70,000 pounds, when the same material treated in the ordinary 

 furnace will not bear more than 50,000 pounds, for the simple reason that 

 the puddling is more complete. In the old hand process, the iron was 

 liable to have faults, and it was necessary, therefore, to weld several 

 bars together to make it homogeneous. In this, that is unnecessary. 



The President — What is the cost of the puddling, as compared with 

 the hand process ? 



Mr. Danks — It is about one-half, depending upon the quantity pro- 

 duced. It takes about the same number of men to man the furnace, 

 but the labor is less. It will bring another class of men into the pud- 

 dling field, for I have not found many of the old puddlers of any use. 

 I have found that a good man from the machine shop would make a 

 better puddler than the old puddlers, for the reason that the latter 

 will stick to the old ideas. 



- Mr. T. D. Stetson — In making balls of TOO or 800 pounds weight, 

 how much does the whole revolving mass weigh, charge and all ? 



