3i6 



NATURE 



{August 1 6, 1877 



cast-inin by the introduction of the hot blast, the iron-s:nelter 

 was naturally led to seek profit, to tlie fullest extent, with respect 

 both to the great increase in the rate of production of pig-iron 

 atlainable thereby and to the economy achievable in regard to 

 the proportions and characters of the materials employed in the 

 production of pig-iron. But after a time the great falling-off in 

 the quality of a large proportion of the products of the blast- 

 furnace, and the difficulties experienced in the production of 

 mall .-able iron of even very moderate quality, aided by the great 

 impetus to competition in respect of quality, given by the first 

 International Exhibition in 1S51, directed the attention of our 

 more enlightened iron-masters to the likelihood of their deriving 

 important aid from chemical science, and more especially from 

 the investigations of the analytical chemist. 



Among the earliest to realise the importance of trustworthy 

 and detaded information regarding the composition of the iron 

 ores of the country was Mr. S. H. Blackwell, who, in presenting 

 to the Royal School of Mines a very extensive and interesting 

 series of British ores which he had collected with great labour 

 and expense for exhibition in 1851, placed at the disposal of Dr. 

 Percy the requisite funds for eng.aging the services of competent 

 analysts (Messrs. J. Spiller and A. H. Dick) who, under his 

 direction and with subsequent pecuniary aid from himself and 

 from Government funds, carried out a very careful and complete 

 examination of this series, the results of which have been of 

 great value, for purposes of reference, to tho;e actively interested 

 in the iron industry. It was, however, the first connection of 

 Messrs. Nicholson and D. .S. Price and of Mr. E. Riley with 

 two of the most important iron works of this country, about a 

 quarter of a ceitury ago {i.i. at the time when the above investi- 

 gation was commenced), that marked, I believe, the commence- 

 ment of systematic endeavours to apply the results of analytical 

 research to the improvement and regulation of the quality of the 

 products of our iron works. 



It is, perhaps, but natural that the primary object sought by 

 applications of the knowledge of the analytical chemist should 

 have been to eliminate or reduce the existing elements of uncer- 

 tainty in obtaining the most abundant yield of pig-iron capable 

 of conversion into railway-bar sufficiently good to meet the 

 minimum standard of quality, and to reduce stdl further the cost 

 of production of such bar-iron by utilising materials concerning 

 the composition of which {richness in iron, &c. ) the iron- 

 smelter was completely in the dark. The information accumu- 

 lated by the analyst respecting the composition of the ores, fuel 

 and fluxes available at the works, and the composition of the 

 pig-iton and slags or cinders, produced under varied conditions, 

 in regard to materials employed, and to the proportion of ore, 

 fuel, and flux used in the blast furnace, could not, however, exist 

 long without exerting a marked beneficial influence upon the 

 quality of iron produced, and generally upon the iron industry of 

 the country. 



Percy's invaluable work of reference on Metallurgy furnishes 

 abundant evidence of the scientifically interesting, as well as 

 practically useful, nature of the results obtained at that time by 

 the chemists above named, and others, working under Dr. Percy, 

 with respect both to the elaboration of important analytical pro- 

 cesses (in which direction Mr. Riley has continued to the present 

 day to do valuable work) and to the elucidation of the reactions 

 occurring in the processes of reduction and refining of the 

 metal. It is needless to dwell upon the fact that the aid of the 

 analyst has now long since become absolutely indispensable to 

 the iron and steel manufacturer ; but I may, perhaps, be allowed 

 briefly to refer to one or two recent illustrations of the indispens- 

 able part which analytical research has played, and continues to 

 play, in the extension of our knowledge of the chemical reactions 

 involved in the production of cast and wrought iron and of steel, 

 and of the influences which the chief associates of iron in its 

 mercantile forms exert upon its physical characters. 



Among the many valuable communications made to that most 

 important body, the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain, 

 by men wlio combine great practical knowledge and experi- 

 ence in iron and steel manufacture with high attainments in 

 mechanical science and such knowledge of chemical science as 

 insures a full appreciation of its value at their hands, one of the 

 most interesting and suggestive to the chemist is that on the 

 separation of carbon, sulphur, silicon, and phosphorus in the 

 refining and puddling furnace and in the Bessemer Converter, 

 contributed to the Transactims of the Institute's recent meeting, 

 by Mr. Lowthian Bell, whose valuable investigations in connec- 

 tion with the iron industry are as interesting to the chemist as 



they are useful to the manufacturer. Mr. Bell has brought 

 together the results of an extensive series of practical experi- 

 ments on the treatment of different kinds of pig-iron of known 

 composition, in the finery, the puddlingfurnace, and the Bes- 

 semer Converter, and, by comparing the results of analytical 

 investigation of the products of those experimental operations 

 with each other and with those of the materials operated upon, 

 he has obtained valuable confirmation of the views already heli.1 

 by mctallurgic chemists regarding the succession in which 

 carbon, silicon, sulphur, and phosphorus are attacked when 

 pig-metal is submitted to the above purifying processes, and the 

 extent to which those foreign associates of iron are abstracted or 

 resist removal, by the more or less thorough application of those 

 several modes of treatment. lie has also thrown new light on 

 the reasons why the most difficultly-available impurity, phos- 

 phorus, obstinately resists all attempts to effect even a slight 

 diminution in its amount by application of the Bessemer treat- 

 ment. The earnestness with which Mr. Bell wages war against 

 this enemy of the iron-master in one of its most favourite haunts, 

 the Cleveland District, not simply with the old British pluck, 

 which acknowledges not defeat, but systematically, on scientific 

 principles, calling to his aid all the resources which the con- 

 tinual advances in applied mechanical and chemical research 

 place within his reach, cannot fail to contribute importantly, if 

 it does not of itself directly lead, to the complete subjection of 

 this most untractable of the associates to which iron becomes 

 linked in the blast-furnace. Indications have lately not been 

 wanting that the existence of phosphorus in very notable pro- 

 portion in iron may not of neressity be inimical to its conversion 

 into steel of good quality, and it may be that this element, 

 which is now turned to useful account to impart particular 

 characteristics to the alloys of copper and tin, is even destined 

 to play a distinctly useful part in connection with the production 

 of steel possessed of particular characters valuable for some 

 special purpose. 



In the great development which steel manufacture has received 

 within the last few years, one most prominent feature has been 

 the production, with precision, upon a large scale, of steel of 

 desired characteristics, in regard to hardness, &c., by first adding 

 to fluid cast-iron of known composition the requisite proportion 

 of a rich iron ore (with or without the addition of scrap iron) to 

 affect a reduction of the carbon to the desired amount, concurrent 

 with a refining of the metal by the oxidising action of the ore, 

 and then giving to the resulting steel the desired special qualities 

 by the addition of suitable proportions of iron compound ot known 

 composition, rich in manganese and carbon (Spiegeleisen and 

 the similar product called ferro-manganese). The germ of this 

 system of producing steel varieties of predetermined character- 

 istics exists in crucible processes like that of Uchatius, which have 

 been in more or less extensive use for many years past, but it is 

 to such invaluable arrangements as are most prominently repre- 

 sented by the Siemens-Martin Furnace — wherein several tons of 

 metal may be fused and maintained at a very high temperature 

 with aliitle liability to change from causes not under control, as 

 if the operation were conducted in a crucible — that we are 

 indebted for the very great expansion which the direct application 

 of the analytical chemist's labours to the development of the 

 steel industry is now receiving. 



The production of steel upon the open hearth, to the elaboration 

 of which Dr.C. K. Siemens has so largely contributed since he first 

 established the process at Llandore in 1S6S, has in fact, become 

 assimilated in simplicity of character and precision of results to a 

 laboratory operation, and may be justly regarded as a triumph of 

 the successful application ol chemical principles and of the power 

 of guidance and control afforded by utilising analytical research, 

 to the attainment of prescribed results upon a stupendous scale, 

 with an accuracy approaching that which the experienced chemical 

 operator secures in the laboratory upon a small scale, under 

 conditions which he can completely control. The production of 

 sieel by a large number of small separate operations in pots has 

 now become supplanted with great advantage by the Siemens- 

 Martin system of working at some of our largest establishments 

 at Sheffield ; this system has also secured a footing at highly 

 renowned Continental works, which are formidable competitors 

 with us in the manufacture of steel, such as those of Essen, 

 Creusot, and Terrenoire. It is specially interesting to notice that, 

 in the hands of those who, on the Continent at least equally with 

 ourselves, have learned to combine the results of practical expe- 

 rience with the teachings of chemical science, the facilities now 

 existing for dealing in a single receptacle with large masses of 



