The Press.
London, England, 1856-08-16 00:00:00

THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL WITHOUT FUIL

The principle of the process described by Mr.
Bessemer was, that as crude iron contained

AUGUST 16, 1856.

five per cen:. of carbon, and that carbon could
not exist a white heat in the presence of oxygen
without uniting with and producing combustion,
such combustion would proceed with a rapidity
dependen. on the amount of surface of carbon ex-
posed; end that the temperature which the metal
would scquire would be also dependent on the
rapidit' with which the oxygen and carbon were
made to combine, and consequently that it was only
necessary to bring the oxygen and carbon so together
that s vast surface should be exposed to their mutual
scum, and a temperature hitherto unattainable in
our largest furnaces then produced. Upon experi
melt the result proved highly satisfactory, the loss
of weight during the process, including the loss of
metal during the finishing rolls, being only eighteen
per cent., against twenty-eight per cent. by the ordi-
nary system now in use ; and, continued Mr. Bes-
semer :

The masses of iron thus formed will be perfectly free
from any admixture of cinder, oxide, or other extraneous
matters, and will he 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 process, requiring
no manipulation or particular skill, and with only one
workman, 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 furnace with
an equal charge of iron, and with the consumption of no
other fuel than is contained in the crude iron.
One of the most important facts connected with the new
system of manutacturing malleable iron is, that all the
irrn 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 there-
from will in consequence be perfectly free from those
injurious properties which that descnption of fuel never
fails to impart to iron that is brought under its influence.
At the same time this system of manufacturing malleable
iron offers extraordinary fertility for making large shafts,
cranks, and other heavy masses, for 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 into the
forms and shapes required, provided that we increase the
size and power of our machinery to the extent necessary
to deal with such large masses of metal.
In conclusion, allow me to observe that the facts which
I have had the honour of bringing before the meeting have
not been elicited from mere laboratory experiments, but
have been the result of working on a scale nearly twice as
great as is pursued in our largest iron-works—the ex-
perimental apparatus doing 7 cwt. in thirty minutes, while
the ordinary puddling furnace makes only 41 cwt. in two
hours, which is made into six separate balls, while the
ingots or blooms are smooth—even prisms, ten inches
square by thirty inches in length weighing about equal to
ten ordinary puddle balls.

With respect to the manufacture of cast steel, Mr.
Bessemer observed :

At that stage of the process immediately following the
boil the whole of the crude iron has passed into the condi-
tion of cast-steel of ordinary quality; by the continuation of
the process the steel so produced gradually loses its small
remaining portion of carbon, and passes successively from
hard to soft steel, and from soft steel to steely iron, and
eventually to very soft iron ; hence at a certain period of
the process any quality of metal may be obtained ; there is
one in particular, which by way of distinction I call semi-
steel, being in hardne►s about midway between ordinary
cast-steel and soft malleable iron. This metal possesses
the advantage of much greater tensile strength than soft
iron; it is also more elastic, and does not readily take a
permanent set, while it is much harder, and is not worn or
indented so easily as soft iron ; at the same time it is not
so brittle or hard to work as ordinary cast steel. These
qualities render it eminently well adapted to purposes
where lightness and strength are specially required, or
where there is much wear, as in the case of railway bars,
which from their softness and lamellar texture soon be-
come destroyed. The cost of semi•steel will be a fraction
less than irun, because the loss of metal that takes place
by oxidation in the converting vessel is about two and a
half per cent, less than it is with iron ; but, as it is a little
more difficult to roll, its cost per ton may fairly be con-
sidered to be the same as iron ; but, as its tensile strength
is some thirty or forty per cent. greater than bar iron, it
follows that for most purposes a much less weight of metal
may be used, so that taken in that way the semi-steel will
form a much cheaper metal than any that we are at present
acquainted with.

The usual president's dinner passed off with great
eclat on Tuesday. The Earl of Ellemborough and
Earl Ducie were among the guests.

ART UNION OF LONDON REPORT.

THE council of the Art Union of London have pub-
lished their twentieth annual report, by which we
learn that the pressure of the war on the general
finances of the country has had less injurious effect
upon their subscription-list than could have reason-
ably been anticipated. The receipts for the year in
round numbers amount to 14,0001. The council ex
press a belief that this sum might have been increased
had they thought themselves justified in offering to
"ocal agents a larger commission than they now
receive, in expending more money on advertisements
of various kinds, and schemes to obtain greater pub-
licity, but they felt that they would not be adhering