730 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. Xo. 541. 



have been largely brought about by methods 

 of transporting and handling 35,000,000 

 long tons of iron ore which form the prod- 

 uct of the mines of the United States. So 

 successfully has this transportation problem 

 been solved to cheaply handle ores from the 

 mines to cars and from cars through docks 

 to vessels, again from vessels to stock piles 

 or to ears, that a number of deposits of iron 

 ore are lying dormant close to blast fur- 

 naces because cheap transportation deliv- 

 ered iron ore of superior quality to the 

 furnaces at a lower cost than it is believed 

 the local ores can be won and used. The 

 excellent quality of the Lake Superior ores 

 and their very low phosphorus and sulphur 

 contents make these ores especially de- 

 sirable. The ore from the Lake Superior 

 region forms over three fourths of all the 

 iron ore mined in the United States. A 

 large portion of it is not touched by the 

 hand of man from the time it leaves its 

 bed in mother earth until it is charged into 

 the throat of the blast furnace. Steam 

 shovels, automatic chutes, drop bottom 

 cars, mechanical handlers, bridge tram- 

 ways, bins and skip cars take the place of 

 manual labor and permit handling and 

 transporting large quantities of iron ore at 

 a marvelously low rate. By this means 

 the American iron ores can be conveyed 

 long distances from the mines to the point 

 of consumption at an extremely Ioav rate 

 per ton. 



The paper will be found on page 56 of 

 the Iron Trade Review, March 16, 1905. 



'Science in the Foundry' was the sub- 

 ject of a paper presented by Alexander E. 

 Outerbridge, Jr., metallurgist of Wm. Sel- 

 lers & Co., Incorporated, of Philadelphia, 

 Pa. It was illustrated with lantern slides 

 showing the interiors of foundries in sev- 

 eral large industrial establishments, giving 

 realistic views of immense molds and of 

 castings made therein ; of the modern 'over- 

 head traveling cranes,' capable of raising 



fifty tons or more, and transporting these 

 heavy castings and materials with safety 

 and despatch over the heads of the molders 

 and other workmen on the floor. Pictures 

 showing the characteristic appearance of 

 fractured bars of iron, and of eastings of 

 different kinds, ranging from tiny castings 

 weighing a few ounces up to immense ma- 

 chinery castings weighing many tons, were 

 thrown on the screen. Photographs of bars 

 of cast iron which had been caused to 

 'grow' in cubical dimensions in a remark- 

 able manner, while in the solid state ; also 

 photographs of a number of castings which 

 had been increased in size by a novel treat- 

 ment were shown — for which discovery the 

 Franklin Institute recently awarded to the 

 author the * Elliot Cresson Gold Medal, ' the 

 highest in its power to bestow. Two bars 

 of iron cast in one mold, and of precisely 

 the same size, were presented for critical 

 inspection, one bar remained exactly as 

 cast, the companion bar had been caused 

 to grow gradually in cubical dimensions 

 until it is now 46 per cent, larger than the 

 other, the weight remaining the same as 

 before expansion. Both bars were 'ma- 

 chined' on one side to show the texture and 

 metallic appearance; it was difificult to de- 

 tect any change except the very apparent 

 difference in size. This extraordinary 

 change in bulk was produced by alternately 

 heating and cooling the bar to a 'critical' 

 temperature a number of times, in the 

 manner which has been fully described in 

 the 'Report of the Committee of Science 

 and Arts of the Franklin Institute.' Im- 

 portant practical applications have already 

 been found for this remarkable discovery. 

 The speaker said that formerly there was 

 no scientific method of supervision in 

 foundry practise, and a chemist in a foun- 

 dry would have been thought to be as much 

 out of his proper sphere as the proverbial 

 'bull in a china shop' ! That day has gone 

 by, and the substitution of scientific system 



