New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-10-07
INDUS RIAL AND SCIENTIFIC INTEL
LIGENCE.

ain. Sept. s. 1855, an Improvement In making ifoo
and Steel" which gives promise OF great importance
Unlike the United States tina, country never reases
patent for of novelty leaving that matter TO De
settled entirely BY the Courts, and il appears that on
the eth Of December following smother patent for very
,ssrly the same thing ssued 10 Henry Bessemer
| n Ioudon name credtably distinguished by eonnec
| ton with many other mertorious improvements. Mr.
NJ least deserved the credit Of pushing the invention
s,ropey for tie EngLsh papers contain most cnthas
s,ie notices of it's success in several experiments at
which the editors reporters were present.
The process differs greatly from any OF the various
operations previously in vogue, but seems most ana
Icons 70 that in which strong blast Of air is blown
-. ~ -.,h,r INTO a Macs Of melted rsetal in fire,
IL. continually stirring it until it changes. The new
which BY the way not yet in practical ope-
,.,ion anywhere except as an experiment and may
-, NOV, an invention which, Ike the hot-ar engine,
;sc,nable of being fully developed only on paper-oo"s
a. air IN through passages under the melted metal and
slows il 10 bubble up through il. The great feature
md one sufficiently startling # itself TO command the
instant attention of ron-makers everywhere IL the ao'
.ence Of any fuel in this operation. Drawn out from
the furnace into separate receptacle called " con-
xs,tng ves-e" and blown with cold air, the iron Is
foprd Of itself to contain so much carbon that by It's
combustion the mass instead of cooling becomes heated
,iu more intensely for limited period. As an e1-
annie Of the interest Il il attracting II may be said
that Mr. Peter Cooper rather the firm OF Cooper q
Hewitt the Unknown iron manufacturers OF this city,
have nearly completed preparations for testing It's value
on an extensive scale and expect soon TO De aoie
TO publish the results.
The reduction of iron from the condition of cast iron
70 that of wrought is partly chemical and partly me-
cbanica process perfectly understood ether 4"
tk,orv or PRACTICE Very slight changes Frequently no
apparent ones) in the processes produce very widely
VARYING results Absolutely pure iron is not as strong
AZ that with Just enough carbon, silica, &c. Crude
pig iron contains or per cent OF carbon; when re-
duced to wrought this is mostly expelled, but IN
changing wrought iron to steel appears essential thar
| carbon be infused again. Cast irons can be found
containing little more, little less, and exactly the
same amounts of carbon the best cast steel, but
they are as different thereom as ley and grease from
.osp or a. the works of good watch from piece OF
brass kettle.
III, believed that wrought iron consists OF hbers
surrounded by cinder while cast iron has the cinder
chemically combined. But aside from any spccma-
tons on the subject, or any extravaganza expectations
Of the new process we may record the fact as scen-
cay demonstrated that pig iron, or at least NAT pig
iron expermented on in q little foundery at Baxter
House in London contains sufficient carbon TO support
nv s combustion the heat of the mass, when furousy
scitsted by the blast for some fifteen minutes. Hmay
| he reasonably presumed that the invention eau be
| made practically seryiceable in some way by econo-
zpe fuel in the iron manufacture but has not been
vet DONE Within our own observation, we pronounce
perfectly successful only those inventions which are IN
| actual and profitable operation.
| W,II.rAssEp HIpEs.-A large quantity Of leather,
reported to be in excellent condition. was lately found
in LYNN, in an old vat the existence OF which had
| been long unsupported, az it had been covered
with earth and the ground cultivated II appears that
| a tapnery was burned down there some seventy-hve
wears ago. SO the leather has had ample time TO COM
plete the tanning process. Singular az the affair seems
WE knew similar case in the southern part of Massa-
chusetts few years since exceptthat no hre occurred,
and there yas consequently no nducemeat TO ignore
the hides the sake Of insurance or other consider
stjons The tanning business had been abandoned
some thirty years before and the owner had died. but
the watts remained open. An examination previous to
filing them developed large number of hides, which
appeared to lose however after few weeks exposure
TO the air. the most valuable quality of lesther-its
aexiblity The hides became almost as hard o. horn.
SCRAP IRON FoRGIsGs.-Rairoad men are coming
out severely against the practice of forging axes and
other important parts Of railroad mechanism OF scrap
| iron The Railroad Adr0cate, the best mechanica
paper on account both of the practical Knowledge anc
the industry of It's conductors that has ever yet beer
published in any country urges with greatforce the hid
den impefections proved to exist in many large snc
most important shafts and the like, which were II
almost every made from scrap. Scrap iron ha'
been generally well worked over and is in that respect
superior TO that Just from the pudding furnace, but the
unequal character of the fragments causing some to
burn before others soft enough to weld induces In
many cases the most fatal accidents by, failure where
it could not by any have been anticipated. Good
American iron-whch, by the way il somewhat softer
and considerably stronger and tougher than English
well worked by repeated rolling and piling, il,
without doubt the most reliable material. Scrap Il
liable to contain all manner Of faults, and is VIGOROUSLY
too unequal in texture to bear casebardenng without
warping. Scrapiron work. for places where human
life depends its integrity, should never be EN-.
ployed.
| CoAL-BURsIsG LocoxoTVEs.-Mr ID. K. Clark
author Of the valuable treatise on locomotives known
as Clarks Railway Machinery, has been recently ex
perimenting with the locomotive Canutc on the Lon
don and Southwestern Railway, and has satisfied
himself that the perfect combustion of coal and the
consequent prevention Of smoke in locomotives can be
secured by the adoption OF very simple means Of
equahzng the temperature. He employed fire bricks
which serve 20 absorb the heat when in excess
and give it out when, by Of fresh supply OF
fuel otherwise, the temperature of the smoke was
too low. Pile of fre-bricks through which the pro-
ducts Of combustion must pass was deposited in a
combustion chamber joining the fre-bor and the
tubes, and the hind compartment Of the ire-boI was
also arched with ire-bricks. This is known as
Beatties system, and he urges that il is completely
successful and that raises the efficiency Of coal b