SMELTING ORES BY ELECTRICITY 



scientists have investigated so closely the adaption of the 

 electric arc for smelting. The blast furnace, after a hun- 

 dred years' trial and improvement, is probably \iow as 

 nearly perfect or highly eflScient as it ever will be ; but it 

 has its limitations and its faults. Every ton of pig-iron 

 produced by the blast furnace requires nearly a ton of coke; 

 two-thirds of this is saved by the electric furnace. 



In sections of the country where coke is expensive, 

 and where water-power for electric development is plentiful, 

 it would appear that there is already a very good reason 

 for the electric furnace. Especially does this seem so in 

 Canada (in Ontario and Quebec), where w^ater-power is 

 abundant, and where suitable coke can be cheaply produced 

 from the refuse wood-cuttings from mills in our extensive 

 lumber districts. The control of temperature in the 

 electric furnace is ideal as compared with that of the blast 

 furnace, and moreover the heating is not necessarily 

 directly associated with the products of combustion. 



There are man\7 tj^pes of electric furnace, but the}'' 

 may be roughly classified as the type requiring electrodes 

 and those not requiring electrodes, the latter being of the 

 induction type. The most important of these are the 

 " Keller " and " Heroult " furnaces for the production of 

 pig-iron and steel, and the " Kjellin " and " Gin " for the 

 production of high-grade steel. 



In 1904 the Canadian Government appointed a Com- 

 mission to proceed to Europe to examine the above 

 furnaces and their operations, and a complete description 

 may be found in the Report published by the Government. 



The Keller Furnace, for the reduction of iron ores, 

 resembles, somewhat, an ordinary blast furnace in appear- 

 ance. It is of the resistance type, in which the 

 resistance of the charge to the electric current produces 

 heat in the charge. It consists of two iron casings of 

 square cross-section, forming two vertical shafts which are 

 lined with dolomite or other refractory material. The 



