VARIETIES. 
563 
there  to  receive  it.  The  masses  of  iron  thus  formed  will  be  perfectly  free 
from  any  admixture  of  cinder,  oxide,  or  other  extraneous  matters,  and  will 
be  far  more  pure  and  in  a  sounder  state  of  manufacture  than  a  pile  formed 
of  ordinary  puddle  bars.  And  thus  it  will  be  seen,  that  by  a  single  pro- 
cess, requiring  no  manipulation  or  particular  skill,  and  with  only  one  work- 
man, from  three  to  five  tons  of  crude  iron  passes  into  the  condition  of 
several  piles  of  malleable  iron  in  from  thirty  to  thirty-five  minutes,  with 
the  expenditure  of  about  one-third  part  the  blast  now  used  in  a  fiery  fur- 
nace with  an  equal  charge  of  iron,  and  with  the  consumption  of  no  other 
fuel  than  is  contained  in  the  crude  iron.  To  persons  conversant  with  the 
manufacture  of  iron  (said  Mr.  Bessamer,)  it  will  be  at  once  apparent  that 
the  ingots  of  malleable  metal  which  I  have  described  will  have  no  hard  or 
steely  parts,  such  as  are  found  in  puddled  iron,  requiring  a  great  amount  of 
rolling  to  blend  them  with  the  general  mass  ;  nor  will  such  ingots  require 
an  excess  of  rolling  to  expel  cinder  from  the  interior  of  the  mass,  since 
none  can  exist  in  the  ingot,  which  is  pure  and  perfectly  homogeneous 
throughout,  and  hence  requires  only  as  much  rolling  as  is  necessary  for  the 
development  of  fibre  ;  it  therefore  follows  that,  instead  of  forming  a  mer- 
chant bar  or  rail  by  the  union  of  a  number  of  separate  pieces  welded  to- 
gether it  will  be  far  more  simple  and  less  expensive  to  make  several  bars 
or  rails  from  a  single  ingot.  Doubtless  this  would  have  been  done  long  ago 
had  not  the  whole  process  been  limited  by  the  size  of  the  ball  which  the 
puddler  could  make.  I  wish  to  call  the  attention  of  the  meeting  to  some  of 
the  peculiarities  which  distinguish  cast  steel  from  all  other  forms  of  iron — 
namely,  the  perfect  homogeneous  character  of  the  metal,  the  entire  absence 
of  sand-cracks  or  flaws,  and  its  greater  cohesive  force  and  elasticity,  as 
compared  with  the  blister  steel  from  which  it  is  made — qualities  which  it 
derives  solely  from  its  fusion  and  formation  into  ingots,  all  of  which  pro- 
perties malleable  iron  acquires  in  a  like  manner  by  its  fusion  and  forma- 
tion into  ingots  in  the  new  process ;  nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  no 
amount  of  rolling  will  give  to  blister  steel  (although  formed  of  rolled  bars) 
the  same  homogeneous  character  that  cast  steel  acquires  by  a  more  exten- 
sion of  the  ingot  to  some  ten  or  twelve  times  its  original  length.  One  of 
the  most  important  facts  connected  with  the  new  system  of  manufacturing 
malleable  iron  is  that  all  the  iron  so  produced  will  be  of  that  quality  known 
as  charcoal  iron ;  not  that  any  charcoal  is  used  in  its  manufacture,  but 
because  the  whole  of  the  processes  following  the  smelting  of  it  are  conducted 
entirely  without  contact  with,  or  the  use  of,  any  mineral  fuel ;  the  iron 
resulting  therefrom  will  in  consequence  be  perfectly  free  from  those  injuri- 
ous properties  which  that  description  of  fuel  never  fails  to  impart  to  iron 
that  is  brought  under  its  influence.  At  the  same  time  this  system  of  manu- 
facturing malleable  iron  offers  extraordinary  facility  for  making  large  shafts, 
cranks  and  other  heavy  masses.  It  will  be  obvious  that  any  weight  of 
metal  that  can  be  founded  in  ordinary  cast  iron  by  the  means  at  present  at 
our  disposal  may  also  be  founded  in  molten  malleable  iron,  to  be  wrought 
