Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1870-06-04
How Iron is Made.

We And in a late Missouri paper
eketch of the nianntr in which iron is made
ut the ironton furnaces, and copy from it
the following:
Fancy, gentle and unforced reader, a
huge stack" built of stone or constructed
Of iron, forty. fifty, sixty, or even seventy
feet high. An enormous inverted wine
bottle. if you please. fanked by dish Of
cdibes and Il brigade Of pigmes running
about the spot it stands on, and you have
a giumering idea Of the shape of an iron
furnace; but it fancy will carry you fur.
ther and picture to you the roaring Of
cataract, the heat Of - well, you know,
and the smell of the place where the ghost
Of our last King Hamlet" mildly sug-
gcstcd the necessity Of rendering up him
self, you may have realizing sense of the
physical character of an iron furnace. 1t
; is, indeed, only better constructed lime.
kiln, and the general handling and work
Of that simple agent is the same. Some
furnaces are constructed Of iron of great
thickness, powerfully hooped and lined
with fire brick. The ore and fuel, with
portion Of limestone, are thrown in above.
But. first the furnace is heated with char
coal, a process requiring several days, and
then the ore aud charcoal or stone coal are
thrown into the crater in alternate layers,
until it is cramne1. The ore and fuel
are hoisted by steam to the top, and Sid
Gown an inclined plain into the fiery gulf.
The should of the bottle (kcep that bot,
tie in your eyc) prevents the ore and fuel
IL, l. 1 L.
! is the receptacle of the IN ,licn ore. and
there it fumes and iroths like helibro,h,
subject to the cold or hot blast nf air
which determines the character of the
iron The blast is conveyed into the
neck through II little aperture ca''ci the
"twccr,' aud is, in case Of n cold blast, Il
simple stream Of atmosphere air pumped
in by powerful steam cu-.nc.
The hot bias, is o>phcric air heated
by conveyance thr"ugh a huge coil Of
pipes subjected to furnace heat. and
pumped into the furnace through several
twecr" hoes. In front Of the furnace
and ut the neck Of the bottle is little
cll,mhcr cunvcr"iny toward single stone
sAb--thc only thing tha. now stands be
tween y"u aud the melting iron and the
fiery furnace That is the d" dam stone
but it is b'csscl stone for it permits
you to 10 X at the biz burning bottle and
"a draw off its fiery contents unh,rmcd
When what is c,lIei rhc blast" is ready.
a hp'c is punched with an iron rod. under
the l,m s:one, through a thick mass Of
clay, in'o the neck Of the bottle, and out
ru,hcs the blast" or charge Of melted
.urc The iron in fact. like wicket fiery
serpent. bright and beautiful to behold
but terrible to encounter. \ plateau Of
smooth dry sanl les in front OF the fur
mace and in this has been cut i turrow
leading from the mouth of the furnace
ou,warls for forty. fifty or more feet,
Down this tnrrow, which bears the techni
cal term Of the SOW" runs the melted
iron, aud as it fills up, side furrow. are
cut. uniting with the "sow" like the teeth
of comb. These iurrows are fed from
the SOW" and are called the "pigs"-
hence the term "pig iron." aud that is
the tale hanging from the sub head Of
ores above. After c,olng. the SOW and
pigs arc broken up into the lengths famil
lar to all under the name of pig iron. If
you have never seen it. most unsophisti-
Gated reader. come up here to Ironton and
make the acquaintance Of the torso quad.
rupcd. 1t is piled up in any reasonable
quantity on the landing in front of the
city. Everybody up here talks about it,
dreams about it, lives, ana 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 a peculiar coal, differing
from the coal in common use along the
river. 1t is said to be almost FREQ from
sulphur and bitumen; that it contains
eighty.f"ur per ccut. of carbon, that it
does not coke, and works as FREQ as char.
coal. 1t is found at Coalton, four miles
back Of Ashland, in sufficient quantities
for all tho use this region will have for it
for tho present and succeeding century.
The Ohio coal cannot be used in the
manufacture Of iron. Itcontains too much
sulphur and bitumen, which burn the iron.
The limestone thrown into tho furnace
amalcamates the dross found in the ore.
aud floats it Oh the top Of the material,
and, like it. floats out into the SOW" bar.
ren, however. and useless, save as fill''
for roads. The "blast" is drawn twice a
day--,hat is, twice every twenty y-tour
hours, whether made Of coal or charcoal,
and in this process lies the art Of making
"pig,"
The unprecedented exhaustion Of timber
for charcoal greatly enhances the impor-
portancc Of the Coalton discovery and
Ashland experiment. TIE furnaces ron.
sume annually from t,Ue/ue to fourteen
thousand cords of 'cood each. Hecta Fur.
mace alone consumed Jflsen hio~son1 in
1869, aud at this rapid rate The mighty
forest that shades the southern part Of the
State will soon disappear forever. Some
Of the furnaces depend upon second
growth, which requires from twelve to 6f-