Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1870-04-20

4 WRITER in the atlantic Monthly for
March gives a very graphic account Of
the manufacture of steel by the Besse-
mer process, which we copy.
"Our entire party thrOnged the build
ing, some passing directly to the floor of
the casting house, while others mounted
the high platform of the cupOIa furnaces,
to see the beginning of the famous 'Bes-
semer process used i'll the manufacture
of steel at this establishment For me,
who knew nothing of steel-making ex-
cept by the Old-fashiOned, roundabout
methods, this new shortcut as it is fit
Iy termed, possessed a surprising inter
est. LaboTers were casting into one of
the furnaces harTOw-lOads of coal and
pig, each fragment of which had been
carefully examined, for not every quail
ty of iron and anthracite can be used i'll
this process. The molten metal was run
off into a huge bucket, weighed for
FprecisiOn us to proportions is also neces-
sarJl, and finally poured like some ter
rible, fiery beverage, a SOUP of LIQUID
iron, into the stomach Of monster with
an egg-shaped body, and a short, curved,
open neck, resembling some gigantic
plucked and decapitated bird In place
of wings a pair of stout iron trunnions
projected from its sides, Upon these It
was so hung that it could be set upright
or turned down on its belly. It was
down, receiving its pOttage, when we
first saw it. Presently it was full-fed-
five tuns Of HoltGn iron haying been
cOmplacently swallowed. Then, moved
by an invisible power, the creature, slow
ly turning on its wings, sat, or rather
hung, upright. Now they are going to
blow, said our guide,
In the Casting-ruOin below, iInlnedia-
tely beneath themouster, was a semicir-
cular pit, round the side Of which was
ranged a row of smaller iron vessels, re-
minding me of Ali Baba's oil jars, each
capable of containing bandit Or, if
we regard the large bird as q goose,
these may be called goslings, They We're
all sitting on the bottom Of the pit, with
expectant mouths in the air, waiting to
be fed. But the mothers food was to
undergo a remarkable change before it
could become lit RQtFimenU for Uhem.-.
Iron ore, besides containing silicium,
sulphur, and other earthly impurities is
combined with large proportion Of oxy-
gen. The smelling furnace burns out
the oxygen, and removes a portion of
the impurities, but only to replace them
with another nterlOpeT-CarbOn, absorb
ed from the coal. Cast iron contains
from four to five per cent Of carbon
steel, only about one quarter as much,
or even less, according to its quality. To
refine the crude cast iron, eliminating
the excess Of carbon, and yet retaining
enough to make steel-or to reduce il
first to wrought iron or iron contain
ing no carbon, and then to add the
proportion required for the tougher
and harder metal seems simple enough;
yet the various processes ny which civil
lied men, from the time Of Tubal Cain, |
have aimed to produce this result, have
hitherto been slow, laborious, and ex-
pensive. Bessemer's method of doing
this very thing on q simple aud grand I
scale was what We were now 10 witness. /
The moment the monster was turned /
upright he began to roar terribly, and to |
spout flame in n dazzling volcanic jet, /
which even by daylight east its glare
upon the uphmed faces Of the specta- |
tors grouped about the floor of the cast /
ing-hOuse. Az we had seen only molten /
metal enter the converter so the huge |
iron bird is callcd-the appearance of
such furious combustion was not little |
astonishing.