Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1860-02-21
VIII Coke 7IaI1c Good from,

! con;s;E:ng from 40 to 80 per cent Of bitumen,
/. while others contain from 10 io 2G. There
fore, il coke vii! nnt maize good iron, our vast
deposit: q! ,:oa! and ore ure in vain, and nr no
great practical value. sirce iron and coal ,ry
! intimately connected and the one calin0t be
o'taincr! without the other
We propose tn prove, however conclns;rcly.
that cokE will make good i,oa. and that btu
minouS coal is the best .iat! for iron making.
Ii is far more extensively used thar anthracite
throughout The world, wherever iron is made,
and it is only within the last few years that
anthracite coal has been in usc or since the
introduction OF shot blast" Most Of the iron
produced in Great Britain is made from coke,
or ra'e Jituminous coal uncokcd In fact, all
the best iron such as 'S:"tch, pig, dc, is made
with coke It is true there is a vast quantity
Of bad iron mado in England, Scotland and
Wales, and We get the Incest priced and con-
sc1ucntly the me.tntst iron. But the iron we
get is made from the lean aryi}iaciovs iron
ores, or the impure Suphurous cnr6onntes Of
tie coal .Reds. Those ores only yield about
% per cent Of metal and they arc the only
abundant ores 10 be found in that country
! 1000, COO! tons Of those two ores are used
annually there, while iess than half a million
Of the richer ores, such as we have here. Only
are used-that is, brorn and rsi henatitcs,
magnetic, &c
In the anthracite coal regions Of the North.
| none Of this impure exists. or it exists in
such limited quantities, that il could not be
used with economy or profit, consequently,
the coul is taken 10 the ore, Or the ore TO the
coal. Nothing but the best ores are used such
as the br0,cA hematites, n,dgHstic, fDssilife-
rOus, &C., corresponding with the ores on
! the line of The James river, and com.
paratively good iron is uniformly produced
But. where impure OF lean ores are used, no
kind Of fuel will make good iron. We may re.
fer to the ores Of Johnstnwn Mount Savage
and other places where coke is made use Of as
furl. Here they make llsc Of the ores Of the
! coa.iicd which are lean and impure bu, as tIcy
:
use the calcarcouS and the carbonates, which are
cheap and easy Of access, since they are found in
connection with the coal. But they cannot make
good pig.mctal with such ores, with any kind
Of fuel no matter how good or how pure.
In the Cumberland region, at the head Of
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal delivering its
freight at Alexandria, no good ores have yet
. been found, and consequently, no good iron
can he produced. They invariably make mil!
iron" at those furnaces for the production Of
railroad iron II answers hes, for this purpose,
but The .'astc is very great. and we cannot say
the rails arc very sood
Though the character, quality or purity of
the flr! used in smelling ores, bears az i'm
portanr part in making good iron, VIC cannnt
make good metal unless we have pure ores,
Notwithstanding the purity Of the fuel. 4
single fact, which VIC al! know. will prove
Ibis.
Charcoal is thc purchl form in which we find
fucl--it is nearly pure carJon-and, conse-
quentv, with good ores, such as we find gcnc-
rally on the line of the James River, it makes
qooi iron The iron from our mountain fur
naces proves this. But eren the pure charcoal
aul4 rot be made to produce anod iron al tie
! old Bt,r Gar.lcn Furnoce-and it is notorious
that the ores usci there were IMPURE mixed
with SILICA or sand, flint, quartz and manganese
/; The ore yields abnndantly Of metal, but the
! metal is hard and almost worthless, unless
! mixed with other ores. Jordan, Winn i Co.
are orenins one OF those old ore banks, for tho
purpose Of mixing small quantity with the
purcr ores, whom hara iron, for uill purposes,
is required We may cite many instances Of
this kind to prove that, however much depends
on the quality Of the fuel used, much more de.
pends on the chnrnctsr of The orr.
Bat to arrive at scientific rs well as prac-
teal conclusions, we must inquire into and
find out the causes that produce impure iron
and why one ore, or one coal, is better shan
another Charcoal is the purcst form in which
we find carbon, or the supporter Of combustion
caloric or heat 1t also combines with tho me
tai to make good, soft pig metal for foundry
such quantities, and at such prices, rs the iron
master requires. Nature, however. has pre-
pared for this emergency, BY providing i'm
Incnsc deposits Of mineral fuel, or we may say,
"mincral charcoal Of which is nearly,
if not quite, as pure as charcoal but generally
it contains less carbon, the essential quality in
the production of iron. Anthracite coal con
ta,ns from So to IS per cent. Of pure carbun,
the residue is either volatile matter or sllicious
or sunhurious impurities Therefore, only the
the best anthracite is made use of By the judi
cious iron-mastcr.
Btulninous coal contains generally from go
10 50 pcr cent of carbon. The residue is either
volatile matter, such rs gas, bitulnen sulphur.
&C., or fixed impurities, such as silica, &c,
which remains rs ashes on consumption Those
fixed impurities are generally from, 5 to S per
cent or the same as the fixed impurities in an
thractc coal. If there is any difference !, IS
in favor Of the bitunInous coal But in coke
ing btuminous coal, the sulphur, phosphero,ls
and other volatile impurities arc driven oil. aS
well IS the 6itumiR0us matter, which latter
cannot be termed an imp,lrty. In this respect
bitumnous coal has the advantage Of anthra
cite, since the sulphur, &C., cannot be expelled
from the latter. Therefore, in addition to m
eoual, il not greater amount Of fixed impu
rity, the anthracite also contains the volatile
impurities, or those impurities which are driven
out Of bituminous coal by cokcins.
It's a question not yet decided in this coun.
try, whether the cokeing or carbonizing of coal
is of any real service II is contendcd by
many practical men that it would he economy
70 use biturninous coarin its crude state, as it
comes from the mines, by adapting the form OF
the furnace to its use (which has been done
at Weslham.) In most Of the English furnaces,
using bituninous coal! it is put into the fur.
mace as it comes from the mines, and found TO
cconomlze 4 great amount Of fuel and labor,
and produced an iron. probably as good az
that produced by coke. Since the impurities.
in this case are mixed with greater per ccntuge
oc caloric or heating mower, the great difficulty
seems to be in ,he-iQyln Of the furnace. since