Metallurgy of Iron. 13 



ARTICLE II. — On the Metallurgy of Iron and the Processes 

 of Chenot* 



The new metallurgical processes of Adrien Chenot attracted 

 in a particular manner the attention of the Jury at the Exhibition at 

 Paris in 1855, and were the object of a special study by the Jurors of 

 the first class, who awarded to the inventor the Gold Medal of Hon- 

 our. M. Chenot there exhibited a series of specimens, serving to 

 illustrate the processes which bear his name, and which have 

 been the result of extraordinary" labors on his part, continued 

 through the last twenty-five years. As the industry of iron- 

 smelting promises for the future to be one of great importance 

 to Canada, it may be well to advert briefly to the history and 

 theory of the metallurgy of iron, in order to explain the processes 

 now in use, and to prepare the way for an exact understanding of 

 those of Chenot. 



The most ancient and simplest mode of obtaining iron from 

 its ores is that practiced in the Corsican and Catalan forges? 

 where pure ores are treated with charcoal in small furnaces, and 

 by variations in the mode of conducting the process, are made 

 to yield at once either malleable iron, or a kind of steel. But 

 this method requires very pure ores, and a large expenditure 

 of fuel and labour, while from the small size of the furnaces 

 it yields but a limited quantity of iron. It is scarcely used ex- 

 cept in the Pyrennees, Corsica, some parts of Germany, and 

 northern part of the State of New York. 



The high or blast-furnace, which converts the ore directly into 

 cast metal, furnishes by far the greater part of the iron of com- 

 merce. This furnace may be described as consisting essentially 

 of a crucible in which the materials are melted, surmounted by a 

 vertical tube or chimney some thirty feet in height, in which the 

 reduction of the ore is effected. Into this furnace a mixture of 

 ore and fuel is introduced from the top, and the fire, once kindled, 

 is kept up by a blast of hot or cold air, supplied by a proper ap. 

 paratus, and admitted near the bottom of the furnace. The ores 

 submitted to this process are essentially combinations of iron with 

 oxygen, often containing besides water and carbonic acid, and 

 always mingled with more or less earthy matter, consisting of 



* From the recently published volume of Reports of the Geological 

 Survey of Canada for I853-54-'55-'56. Pp. 392-404. 



