The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1881-05-20
IRON AND STEEL.


CRATES and the tenders and the fire-irons,
many of the kettles and sancepans, the
garden tools, and more articles than L
have time to mention, besides the steel
goods, such as the pens you write with,
the knife with six blades that was given
you on your last birthday, and the keys
with which mamma locks up her draw
ers aud cupboards. Where does all this
useful metal come from? aud how is il
that we see it in so many different forms
Well, let us see if we cannot help you to
understand first of all how the iron is
obtained. and then the processes it goes
through before being made into the tools
and utinsils we handle every day.
There is not much to be seen outside
al iron mine-just one or two tall CHM
neys, and an arrangement of strong
wheels and pulleys over shaft sunk
deep in the earth, up and down which
the miners go in cages or buckets, whose
safety depends on the strength of the
machinery which lowers and raises them.
When the ore is first dug out OF the
ground it contains great MANY sub
stances besides iron, which have to be
separated from it, and this is done in
blast furnaces, the great round hollow
towers of which may be seen near the
pits mouth. These towers are in reality
chimneys, and vary from thirty to n
hundred feet in height; the tops of them
are called the el-heads, and the
place where ore and fuel are flung in
from barrows is known as the ''throat
Towards the bottom are two holes,
through which the blast rushes when it
is turned on. The fire has to be built In
most methodical manner. First of all,
ten or fifteen hundred weight of wood is
laid in the bottom of the furnace, five or
six tons of coke put on the top, and then
coal, more coke, lime and ore are added
till the huge cylinder is three parts full.
1t is now time to set light to the wood,
and when the whole mass is fairly red
hot a further quantity of ore is added,
and the heat is gradually raised. In n
day or two the various gases from the
materials below act on the molten iron,
and drive off the water and carbonic acid
contained in it. The fluid metal sinks to
the bottom, where there Is a vertical slit
closed with q plug, and the mass Of
melted cinder is carried away as Stag,
and forms the great heaps which give
the neighborhood of iron works such q
peculiarly black and desolate appear
ance. Outside the furnace bed of sand
is prepared with straight furrow in it,
from which four or six smaller burrows
branch off ut right angles. The plug is
removed by machinery, and the liquid
iron flows out III bright stream into the
burrows. When cold enough to be solid,
these are lifted up and stacked together
in piles, the pieces from the main fur
rows being called ''sows, and from the
shorter ones ''pigs.
This pig iron is still, however, very
far from being pure, and the next opera
ton to which it is subjected is called
pudding" This is done in another
furnace, well lined with pudding clay"
which is red hematite and refuse ciuder,
technically known as "bull dog" which
is trodden by the feet with water until
it is pretty much the same consistency
as mortar. Some hammer Stag is thrown
in at the bottom, next about four humid
red weight of pigs, and then the furnace
door closed. Before very long the
masses of metal are melted, and then
the puddler and his assistant, armed
with stout iron bars called "rabbles, !"
STIR and rake 1t about most vigorously.
This is very exhausting work, and they
are obliged to take it by turns; the bars
get softened by the heat, and have to be
cooled by being thrown into water.
Very much Of the goodness of the iron
depends on the thorough stirring it re-
ceives at this stage and when the work.
men perceive that the fluid has reached
the right thickness, they diminish the
heat and weld it into balls.
The iron is now ready for other pur-
poses; some of it goes TO ohe blacksmith
forge, where it is madered hot in fierce
fire, famed to great intensity by tho
action of huge pair of bellows sus.
pended from above. When sufficiently
soft, it is taken out by the tongs G, pin
GERS and laid upon She anvil Then
one or two sturdy smiths bring their
heavy hammers down upon it alternately
with the greatest rApidity, and fashion il
into horse shoes, bars, or whatever they
want to make.
But great deal of the iron is con-
verted into steel and for this purpose
only the best gray pigs are selected
These are melted in a cupola lined with
| ullc Clay, huu lne llllO i)OuItu iDenCt
into pear-shaped receptacle, with small
cylinders at the bottom and spout a!
the top. Then the blast is turned OF.
and the air pours through the mass of
molten metal, causing the splendid
flames, which vary in color according t.
the stage of the operation, being first
red, then yellow, thirdly white, and
finally beautiful purple. The erup.
tons of sparks are also very splendid,
especially the last one, which sends mp O
whole sheaf of coruscations, which de-
scend again like hail storm of stars.
While all this is going on, preparation,
called from its brightness spiegeieisen
(Which is merely the German for iook-
ing-giass IRON, is melted in another
converter, and the two are then mixed
together. Spiegeleisen is iron cast by
means Of charcoal instead of coal and
coke, and the ores used for making il are
exceedingly rich ones, containing great
deal OF manganese. After the fusion
| of the two kinds OF iron. they ore sub
/ raofoI IN .ptanoa haok o,I xvon o.~ol<~.