Smelting Ores By Electricity 



Read before the Hamilton Scientific Association. 

 April 23rd, 1908. 



BY C. H. DARRALL 

 Engineer of Tests, Westinghouse Co., Hamilton 



The electro-smelting of ores and the making of steel 

 in the Electric Furnace is a process which has been receiv- 

 ing a great deal of attention in the last few years. 

 Numerous experiments have been made in Europe, and 

 later in America, to determine if the process could be made 

 a commercial success, and while it is regarded as a failure, 

 by some, on account of its not yet being able to fill all the 

 expected requirements, it has its advocates who pronounce 

 it, for a certain class of work, under certain conditions, a 

 decided success— one already worthy the attention of the 

 commercial man who is looking for a good investment. 



Up to recently it seemed to be the prevailing opinion, 

 that so far as the reduction of metals from their ores is 

 concerned, the electric furnace is not able to compete with 

 the modern blast furnace. Nor is it suitable for the 

 manufacture of steel for structural purposes or steel rails 

 on a large scale ; but for special, high-grade steels it has 

 already proved its usefulness and established a strong 

 claim to a position in the industrial world. 



The Electric Furnace was invented primarily with the 

 discovery that an electric current passing through a 

 medium produced heat, but more particularly on the 

 discovery of the electric arc by Sir Humphrey Davy, who 

 succeeded in producing an arc temperature of 6000'' F. 



When we consider that a very high temperature is 

 absolutely necessary for smelting ores, but that it was 

 very difficult to obtain and regulate, it is no wonder that 



