Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1866-09-29
IRON AND srEUL.

"fet Is kroSL fs the Iessemer process
[rr y 4" CCnT~s = o. p;%-'ro IN ST ~, ba-
worked u eompleie reyolu ION in manafac.
lures by redsc'ng the COS. o. maxim. steel a.
asst 500 per ton, thus L ding to lis substiic.
ton for iron in engine work, bridges, p,s.;og
Of ships, and Ior railway purposes. Oae d I'll
IN Liverpool has already constructed $4,000
tons Of shipping wholly or part, .iy OF Besse-
mer steel and it is being extensively used in
Europe and in this country for railroads, on
account of Its durability, II ha wing been proved
by experiment that one steel rail will stand
the wear and tear Of seventeen of the best iroa
ones To supply the increased demand the
works IN Great Britain now produce mo-
han 6,COO tons w-ekIy, or fifteen times the e.
tire production of cast steel in that count y
before the Introduction of the Lessemer plan.
For the information of our readers we pro-
pose to say word or two as to the proce,
which has produce such grand results. UI.
der the common name of iron there are Writ.
ally three metals, which differ from each eth, Y
even more than many chemically distip c.
metals, the difference resulting from the in II
ence Of carbon in causing a variation in toe
physical properties of the metal Thus whea
carbon rs alb emit (or present only in sma',
quantity we have ufo.,sit iron, son. ductIlr
and not susce 1tible Of tempering. When car.
bon is present in certain proportions we have
various kinds of st-el. increase these propof-
tons Of carbon to certain extent, and the re-.
suit is eastiron; hard, brittle, and not forgable
or weldable. This being So it will readily be
perceived that s,eel may be made either from
wrought iron, by the addition OF carbon; from
cast-iron by its Decentralization; or by the ad /.
dition OF malieable TO cIst-iron In the proper
proportion. OF the methods OF adding carbon
10 maileable iron to produce steel, there are
many One of the Oldest and that most COM
monty employed, is the exposure of straight
Hat bars OF iron Tin contact with ground char
coal, under covering impervioas to air,) to
she action of a glowing red heat for from To
20 days, the resulting mel being known az
s-blister st"el' To set I'd of he surplus ca
ben in cast-iron, and reduce il TO the proper.
non IN which it exists in steel, various methods
have been in use which it is unn- cessarv 10
reSer to here.
We, therefore, pass directly to the E.s I'm er
process, which is merely the decarbr -Izing OF
pug iron, while in the molten s'lte, by blowing
atmospheric air through it, thus producing
steel; a process accidentally discovered. ard
which, like other great discoveries, is so simple
fnat the wonder is IL was not thou yht of before
Bessemer. about the time cas-. iron cannon were
falling into disfavor, made a series of expert
ments, one OF which was that Of purifying the
iron to an unusual extent by blowing air
through melted pig iron. His first experiment
was rather alarming, and nearly led TO q disas.
trous fire. The only other result was "burnt
jron." His second trial VS. little more sue.
cGssful, and the product was malIeab,> iron
1t now struck him that by stopping the decar-
burization before IL was complete steel would
be produced He tried again and the result
was unmistakables steel. Not meeting with much
6ncourager emit from the iron and steel makers,
Mr.. Be. 'emer started works Of his own, and
the certainty, celebrity and cheapness Of his pro-
cess soon led to it universal adoption, with
The RESULT stated already.