VARIETIES. 
561 
On  the  Manufacture  of  Iron  and  Steel  without  Fuel.  By  Mr.  W.  Bessamer, 
— Mr.  Bessamer  asserted  that  crude  iron  contains  about  10  per  cent,  of 
carbon  ;  that  carbon  cannot  exist  at  a  white  heat  in  the  presence  of  oxygen 
■without  uniting  therewith  and  producing  combustion ;  that  such  combus- 
tion would  proceed  with  a  rapidity  dependent  on  the  amount  of  surface  of 
carbon  exposed ;  lastly,  that  the  temperature  which  the  metal  would  acquire 
wTould  be  also  dependent  on  the  rapidity  with  which  the  oxygen  and  carbon 
were  made  to  combine,  and  consequently  that  it  was  only  necessary  to 
bring  the  oxygen  and  carbon  together  in  such  a  manner  that  a  vast  surface 
should  be  exposed  to  their  mutual  action  in  order  to  produce  a  temperature 
hitherto  unattainable  in  our  largest  furnaces.    With  a  view  of  testing  prac- 
tically this  theory,  he  had  constructed  a  cylindrical  vessel  of  three  feet  in 
height,  somewhat  like  an  ordinary  cupola  furnace,  the  interior  of  which 
was  lined  with  fire-bricks ;  and  at  about  two  inches  from  the  bottom  of  it 
inserted  five  tuyere  pipes,  the  nozzles  of  which  were  framed  of  well-burnt 
fire-clay,  the  orifice  of  each  tuyere  pipe  being  about  three-eighths  of  an 
inch  in  diameter.    These  were  so  put  into  the  brick  lining  (from  the  outer 
side)  as  to  admit  of  their  removal  and  renewal  in  a  few  minutes  when  they 
were  worn  out.    At  one  side  of  the  vessel,  about  half-way  up  from  the 
bottom,  there  was  a  hole  made  for  running  in  the  crude  metal,  and  on  the 
opposite  side  there  was  a  tap-hole  stopped  with  loam,  by  means  of  which 
the  iron  was  run  out  at  the  end  of  the  process.    The  vessel  should  be 
placed  so  near  to  the  discharge  hole  of  the  blast-furnace  as  to  allow  the 
iron  to  flow  along  a  gutter  into  it.    A  small  blast  cylinder  would  be  re- 
quired, capable  of  compressing  air  to  about  8  lb.  or  10  lb.  to  the  square 
inch.  A  communication  havingbeen  made  between  it  and  the  tuyeres  before 
named,  the  converting  vessel  would  be  in  a  condition  to  commence  work. 
It  would,  however,  on  the  occasion  of  its  being  first  used  after  re-lining 
with  fire-bricks,  be  necessary  to  make  a  fire  in  the  interior  with  a  few  baskets 
of  coke,  so  as  to  dry  the  brickwork  and  heat  up  the  vessel  for  the  first 
operation,  after  which  the  fire  would  have  to  be  all  carefully  raked  out  at 
the  tapping-hole,  which  would  again  be  made  good  with  loam.    The  vessel 
would  then  be  in  readiness  to  commence  work,  and  might  be  so  continued 
without  any  use  of  fuel,  until  the  brick  lining  in  the  course  of  time  became 
worn  away  and  a  new  lining  was  required.    The  tuyeres  are  situated  nearly 
close  to  the  bottom  of  the  vessel ;  the  fluid  metal  will  therefore  rise  some 
eighteen  inches  or  two  feet  above  them.    It  is  necessary,  in  order  to  pre- 
vent the  metal  from  entering  the  tuyere-holes,  to  turn  on  the  blast  before 
allowing  the  fluid  crude  iron  to  run  into  the  vessel  from  the  blast-furnace. 
This  having  been  done,  and  the  fluid  iron  run  in,  a  rapid  boiling  up  of  the 
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