7162 
in the centre of a pit about five feet deep, called the 
ingot-pit. Around the circumference of this pit are 
arranged the cast-iron ingot-moulds, and the steel is 
drawn off from the ladle into them. A sample from 
each charge is tested by bending, punching, etc., and 
by analysis; so that an exact record is kept of each 
ten tons of steel. After a short interval, the ingot- 
moulds are lifted off: the ingots, which are approxi- 
mately four feet long and twelve inches square, are 
taken from the pit, and loaded on cars, to be taken to 
the rail-mill. Thus far the methods are almost iden- 
tical for all kinds of Bessemer-steel work. 
The ingots arrive in the rail-mill at a dull red-heat 
on the outside, while the interior is at a much higher 
temperature. ‘They are therefore placed in gas re- 
heating-furnaces until at a uniform temperature, at 
which they can be easily worked. Following the 
course of one ingot, it is taken on a truck from the 
reheating-furnace to the rolls between which it is to 
be passed, and to emerge a long, perfectly shaped rail. 
The rolls are of cast-iron, and are in two sets, —the 
roughing-rolls and finishing-rolls. The first set con- 
sists of three rolls placed in a vertical row, and turn- 
ing in a strong frame at each end. The ingot, or 
bloom as it is now called, is passed between the lower 
and middle rolls near one end, and is reduced in sec- 
tion, and lengthened. The platform on which it now 
rests is raised, and the bar is sent back between the 
middle and top rolls. The platform is lowered again; 
and, as it descends, a row of iron fingers, projecting 
up from beneath it, turns the bar, and moves it 
toward the middle of the rolls. Thus it is sent, 
through and up, back and down, moved from one 
end of the rolls to the other, being thereby reduced 
in section and correspondingly lengthened, until it 
finally leaves the roughing-rolls, having the approxi- 
mate shape of a very large rail. As this bar goes 
through the roughing-rolls for the last time, another 
bloom is put on, and goes through for the first time 
at the other end of the rolls. Without a pause, the 
bar is carried along on revolving-rollers in a direct line 
to the finishing-rolls. ‘These are two-high and re- 
versing; being rotated first in one direction, and then 
in the other. The shape of the spaces between them 
is such that the last passage of the bar gives it the form 
and size of section required in the finished rail. After 
being sent through these rolls the necessary number 
of times, the finished rail-bar passes on in a direct 
line, as before, until it reaches a circular saw, which 
is swung up against it, and the rough or scrap end 
sawed off. The saw is swung to one side, and the 
bar moved along until the cut end comes against a 
stop-plate, which is at a distance equal to the length 
of one rail from the saw; and a slight motion of the 
saw cuts off the length. ‘The stop-plate is swung to 
one side, and the rail is carried along to a large plat- 
form formed of rails laid at right angles to its direc- 
tion. The rail is seized between a curved bar and a 
row of iron fingers which rise from beneath the plat- 
form or ‘ hot-bed,’ and is bent. This is necessary in 
order that the rail shall be approximately straight 
when cold, as on account of the irregular shape of 
its section, if straight when hot, it would bend in 
SCIENCE. 
[Vou. III., No. 72. | 
cooling. After being bent, the rail is slid by the 
curved bar to either end of the hot-bed, where it is 
left to cool. When cool, any curves in its length are 
removed under a press; the rough edges left by the 
saw are removed with hammer, chisel, and file; the 
holes for the joints are drilled at both ends simul- 
taneously; and it is loaded on a car close at hand, 
ready for shipment. 
Each ingot makes four rails with two scrap-ends. 
The rail-bar, as it leaves the finishing-rolls, is thus 
about one hundred and twenty-two feet long. ‘The 
weight of rail is regulated by adjusting the distance 
between the finishing-rolls, and gauging the length 
of the ingot in the mould. A different form of cross- 
section, of course, necessitates a change of finishing- 
rolls. From the time the ore is melted in the blast- 
furnace, until the rail is left on the hot-bed to cool, 
the temperature of the metal does not fall below that 
of a red-heat. ARTHUR T. Woops. 
THE GEOLOGICAL RELATIVES OF KRA- 
KATOA AND ITS LATE ERUPTION. 
Topographische en geologische beschrijving van een 
gedeelte van Sumatra’s westkust. Door R. D. M. 
VERBEEK. Batavia, Landsdrukkery (Amsterdam, 
Stemler), 1883. 204674 p. 8°. Atlas of maps, 
and portfolio of plates. [Our figures, 1, 2, are 
from this work, with slight alteration. ] 
Kort verslag over de uitbarsting van Krakatau op 26, 
27, en 28 Augustus. Door R. D. M. VERBEEK. 
Batavia, Landsdrukkerij, 1884. 
Ir happens well, that, just after the attention 
of the scientific world is called to the Dutch East 
Indies by the eruption of last August, there 
should be published an important work on the 
geology of a part of Sumatra, in which the re- 
lations and structure of the great Javanese 
and Sumatran chain of voleanoes are described 
with much thoroughness. We must congratu- 
late Mr. Verbeek on the opportune appearance 
of his volume and atlas on ‘ Sumatra’s west- 
kust,’ as well as on his prompt action in 
gathering material for a history of the outburst 
of Krakatoa, of both of which we can give but 
too brief a mention in this notice. 
Introductory to these reports, one should 
read over K. Martin’s review of the present 
knowledge of East-Indian geology,’ which con- 
tains in an appendix a list of forty-seven publi- 
cations on the subject; or the brief statements 
of the question by Verbeek himself that have 
been prepared for recent exhibitions ;* and, in 
1 Die wichtigsten daten unserer geol. kenntniss vom neder- 
liindisch Ost-indischen Archipel. Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-, 
en volkenkunde van Neerlandsch-Indié, 1883. : 
2 Descriptive catalogue of rocks, coal, and ores from the 
Dutch East-Indian Archipelago, prepared for the Melbourne 
international exhibition, 1880. (Batavia, Kolff.) Géologie des 
Indes néerlandaises, prepared for the international exhibition 
at Amsterdam, 1883. 
