The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-06-04

o,I,.. So.. Is and ~ Fourtesnth street,
IN. Iron Industry on the Eve Of Great
improvements. ,.l..,- y.

In hemanniacture Of malleable iron thu
.,,s,,l tendency to substitute steel iol
,nppbt iron continues to show itself IL
.rory direction, and tho tendency o.
nolrrn steel manufacture is clearly dc.
ireJ It's aim is the production Of cast
seeI. l. G steel produced in the liquid
s,, to the exclusion Of every material
,bicI has not been brought into state
A complete fusion, and which therefore
loes not possess perfect homogeneity
and continuity OF contact between It's In.
Iiydnal crystals.
few years since tho great desideratum
,,i,on manufacturers was to obtain a good
n,cbiue puldler. The "Danks" furnac g
b,. given very satisfactory results, but the
is,errs, in improvements in puddled iron
Drcc.ses has greatly abated in view Of
tbe rapil development Of the "Bessemerp
,Dl the "Sicmcns.SIartin's' processes,
which, by reason OF the better quality and
rbeapness Of their products, seem destined
nc1tircly supplant the pudding furnace
in the near future. Already one large
i.oa and nail manufacturing establish.
men. this side of the mountains has
erected Siemcns.Martin furnace and
designs adding three more to the
Dan,. These when completed, will con-
rs,, the entire product Of their two Blast
u,naces into homogeneous irons, or soft
stes, really to be worked into plates,
sheets, bars, nails, &c, for the market.
They will then have no further use for
pallIing furnaces. n
While We recognize the fact that the
lion manufacture is on the verge Of tran
s.ou, We admit that the change from
nIilel iron to steel cannot be made at
once. In the meantime 1t well to inquire
THAT economies may he effected under
hepresent system.
Atmills where blast furnaces are conye-.
nRnt to the pudding department an econ
ony Of fuel and time could be effected by
uhug the molten iron direct from the
blast furnace to the pudding furnace, thus
swing labor in handling the pig, and the
fuel labor and time required in re.melting.
By this process three turns could be made
Nlhe pudding furnaces in the twenty
tour hours instead Of two as now prac-
ticed, while the quantity of fuel used
would be but little more than is now re-
quircd for the two turns. This system has
been in successful operation at the Chill
iugton Works in South StafTordshire, Eng
land, for some years. The plan is also
being adopted by the Bessemer and the
Semens-Martin Works.
The most important improvement, how
ever, that our iron manufactures can
adopt is the gas furnace for re-heating the
products Of the pudding furnace prepara-
tory rolling. The loss ofiron by oxidation
in the ordinary coal burning furnace
ranges from eight to twelve per cent. In
the gas furnaces the loss is from three to
five per cent. A mill with the capacity Of
the Belmont (say 25 boiling furnaceO will
turn out 80 tons OF muck iron every "a
hours, or say 975 tons per week, costing
say go per ton or q total OF $3.50. gT
Allowing a saving OF four per cent. by
using the gas furnace tho weekly saving
would be s9S6, or, in run of forty weeks
yer mnum, would amount to sll,44O.
Dr., Siemen's gas furnace is giving high
y Unsatisfactory results where it has been
Introduced, but it is claimed for the "Pon-
nrd" furnace that it gives equally good re-
suits, and can be built at half the cost Of
the "Siemen's."