The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1870-03-26
TIle Albailg 4egister.
How Iron is Made.


made at the Ironton furnaces, and copy
from it the following:
Fancy, gentle and unforced reader, a
huge s'stack" built of stone or construct
ed of iron, forty, fifty, sixty, or even sew
enty feet high. An enormous inverted |
wine bottle, if you please, fanked by
dish of edibles and a brigade of pig !
mics running about the spot it stands |
on, and you have glimmering
idea of the shape of an iron fur
mace; but if fancy viii cary you fur
ther and picture to you the roaring of a
cataract, the heat of - well, you know,
and the smell of the place where tt e
ghost of Sour last King Hamlet" mildly
suggested the necessity of rendering up
himself, you may have a realizing sense
OF the physical character of an iron fur
mace. 1t is, indeed, only better cou-
structed lime kiln, and the general hand
ling and work of that simple agent is the
same. Some furnaces are constructed of
iron of great thickness, powerfully hooped
and iued with friedrich. The ore and
fuel, with portion of limestone, are
thrown In above. But, first the furnace
is heated with charcoal, process requir-
ing several days, and then the ore and
charcoal or stone coal are thrown into the
crater in alternate layers, until it is
crammed. The ore and fuel are hoisted
by steam to the top, and slid down an in-
cGned plain into the fiery gulf. The
shoulder of the bottle keep that bottle
in your eye) prevents the ore and fuel
from crowding down into the neck and
choking that interesting organ. The
neck of the bottle is the receptacle of
the molten ore, and there it fumes and
froths like helibroth. subject to the
cold or hot blast of air which determines
the character of the iron The blast is
conveyed into the neck through a little
aperture called the s1tweer," and is, in
case of cold blast, simple stream of
atmospheric air pumped in by powerful
steam-enginc.
The hot blast is atmospheric air heated
by conveyance through huge coil of
pipes subjected to furnace heat, and
pumped into the furnace through several
"tweer" holes. In front of the furnace
and at the neck of the bottle is little
chamber converging toward a single
stone slab - the only thing that
now stands between you and the melting
iron and the fiery furnace. That is the
''dam-stone," but it is blessed stone
for it permits you to look at the big
burning bottle aud to draw off its fiery
contents unharmed. When what is called
the ''blast' is ready, hole Is punched
with an iron rod, under the dam stone,
through thick mass of clay, into the
neck of the bottle, and out rushes the
tsblast" or charge of melted ore,-the
iron in fact,-like wicked fiery serpent,
bright and beautiful to behold, but terri
bic to encounter. a plateau of smooth
dry sand lies in front of the furnace, and
In this has been cut furrow leading
from the mouth of the furnace outwards
for forty, fifty or more feet. Down this
furrow, which bears the the technical
term of the .'sow," runs the melted iron,
and as it fills up, side burrows are cut,
uniting with the 'ssow" ike the teeth of
comb. These furross are fed from the
sssow,' and are called the .spigs''-hence
the term "pig iron," and that is the tale
hanging from the sub head of ores above.
After cooling, the sow and pigs are bro
ken up into the lengths familiar to all
under the name of pig iron Ifyou have
never seen 1t, most unsophisticated read
er, come up here to Ironton and make
the acquaintance of the torso quadruped.
on the landing in front of the city. Ev-
erybody up here talks about it, dreams
about it, lives, and at last dies by it.
Something was said about making iron
with stone coal. That is rather a recent
method. Ashland, Kentucky, furnace is
supplied with peculiar coal, differing
from the coal in common use along the
river. 1t is said to be almost free from
lrnA. Al
eighty-four per cent. of carbon, that it
does not coke, and works as free as char
coal 1t is found at Cealton, four miles
back of Ashland, in sufficient quantities
for all the use this region will have for it
for the present and succeeding century.
The Ohio coal can not be used in the
manufacture of iron. It contains too
much sulphur and bitumen, which burn
the iron. The limestone thrown into the
furnace amalgamates the dross found in
the ore, and floats it on the top of the
material, and, like it, floats out into the
"sow," barren, however, and useless,
save as "flr' for roads. The ssblast" is
drawn twice day-that is, twice every
tWenty-fou hours, whether made of coal
or charcoal, and in this process lies the
art of making "pig."
AAO ePRAoACuuou SAHaustioH Ot tim
Der for charcoal greatly enhances the
importance of the Coalton discovery and
Ashland experiment. The furnaces con
snnse annually from tsoeloe 10 fourteen
thousand cords Of soood each. Heclo
Furnace alone consumed fifteen housano
cords IN 1869, and at this rapid rate the
mighty forests that shade the southern
part Of the State viii soon disappear
forever. Some of the furnaces depend
upon second growth, which requires from
twelve to fifteen years to produce, fo1
there are furnaces in the region that have
been in operation for forty years.
A furnace costs from sixty to eighty
thousand dollars, and employs on an av
erage two hundred and fifty hands
There are usually FIVE hundred peopl'
dependent upon the operation of . fur