The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-01-11
The Manufacture of Steel.

|
will be determined in a short time. Last
spring Mr.. Jacob Reese, of Pittsburgh, sold
to the Harrison Wire Co. number OF in
ventions, principally relating to the man.
the company is now preparing to erect ex-
tensive works in Jackson CO., Ill. Against
| this company the Bessemer Steel Company
has instituted suit. 1t is claimed by the
Bessemer company that it owns these pat
ents, and in its bill sets forth that sin 1879
the Bessemer Steel Company entered into
an agreement with Jacob Reese, the in
ventor Of valuable processes for the manu-
facture of steel and iron, for the purchase
Of letters patent, applications for letters
patent and inventions expressly described,
and all improvements upon the same, con-
nected with or related to what is commonly
known as the basic process for the manu-
| facture of iron or steel, and all such in
ventions and processes in the metallurgy
Of iron and steel as should relate to the
manufacture Of pig iron, iron or steel in
gots, blooms, billets, and plates as Reese
should afterward invent
| MIR. Reese claims that the agreement is
void, owing to the failure of the Bessemer
company to pay $500 due on the con-
tract.
| The decision in this case will be looked
forward to with no ordinary interest,"
| Should the claim of the Bessemer company
be denied by the court, it will throw open
the doors for general introduction of the
basic process and the conversion of the
greater part of our iron furnaces into
steel manufactures. Among those who
have already entered into negotiations with
Mr.. Reese, for license to manufacture
iron and steel by this process are the Vir-
ginia Iron and Steel Company, the Shen-
andoah Iron and Steel Co.-works,to be
located n ear Waynesboro, in this county
the Low Moor Iron Company, in Virginia !;
the Burden Iron Company, Troy, N.
Y; the Rome Iron and Steel Company,
Chattanooga, Tenn; the st. Louis Steel
Company, composed of five manufactur ing
| firms outside OF the Vulcan and the Harr is
defendant in the suit referred toy; the
Wheeling Iron and Steel Company, COM
posed of eight firms the Valley Iron Com
pany, Youngstown, Ohio the Monongahela
Steel R. R. Spike Company, and number
of others.
The increase in the manufacture Of steel
has been remarkable within the past year,
and should the basic process be generally
introduced it would have the effect of sup
planting iron by steel in very many ways.
According to recent estimate OF the Amer
acan Manaf acturer, soft steel bars can now
be made at a cost of s44SO per gross tor.
or two cents per pound. Under the basic
process the cost will be greatly reduced.
and it is claimed that some of the works
would be able to produce ingot iron or steel
by the basic process at 81 per ton less than
the present cost by the acid process. I'm
der Mr.. Reese's patent there is still greater
economy. The metal may be taken directly
from the blast furnace, thus dispensing
with the casting house at the blast furnace,
the cupolas, fans or bloYers, ladies and
troughs. 1t is claimed that it saves the
coke in melting, labor in moulding, hand
ling, breaking and changing pigs, and the
waste of metal in remelting. The ingots
are taken from the moulds, and put into
an ingot regeneration, and therein pre-
pared for the blooming mill without the
use of any fuel, thus obviating the neces-
sity for the heating or reheating furnaces.
1t is also proposed to Use all the steam re-
quired In rolling, &C., from the blast fur
mace Stag, SO that either iron or steel may be
made direct from the ores by the basic pro-
cess without the use of any other fuel than
that employed in the blast furnace, and at
a cost, Mr.. Reese claims, fully $40 per ton
less than steel rails are now manufactured
in Pittsburgh.
But this is not all. Virginia will espe-
cially participate in the advantages Of
fered by the new process. Heretofore OBJ
lection has been raised to much of the
ores found within her borders on &C.
count OF the amount of phosphorus con
tanned in them. This objection will be OBJ
waited, for under the new process, as expe-
riments in England have demonstrated, ore
carrying as much as three per cent. of phos-
phorus has been used.
AS bearing upon this subject We transfer
to our columns the following article from
the Chicago Journal of Commerce
At meeting of the Liverpool Polytechnic
Society, Mr.. Vaughan w. Jones read pa
per on "Bull's process for manufacturing
iron and steel direct from the ore. In the
course of his remarks, Mr.. Jones said that
in the process he had to describe no solid
carbon was used in the furnace, which was
charged with nothing but iron ore and flux
usually limestone. The furnace was
worked exclusively with gas, which was
delivered into it in very highly heated
state, direct from the producers. Highly
heated air was also introduced in sufficient
4 quantities to burn about 10 per cent. of the
gas and maintain the furnace at the high
temperature necessary to allow the with
drawal of the iron or steel and cinder
in fluid state. Under this system the
gases rising through the ore and tlux were
carbonic acid and hydrogen, in equal vol
umes, together with the nitrogen derived
from the air which had been blown into the
furnace. These gases being produced en-
tirely outside the furnace, there is no zone
Of Justification, but only the zones of fusion,
reduction and carbonization. The zone of
preparation was removed from the furnace
by an apparatus, together with the system
OF heating the air, producing the gas, and
constructing the crucible of the furnace to
support the intense heat required. After
explaining the process most infinitely, with
the aid OF drawings, the speaker (continu-
ing) said that the silicon having been re-
duced from $40 to Is, the sulphur from
1.6l to %, the phosphorus from 1.76 to
Ito, the manganese to nil, the combined
carbon to 80, and the graphite to II.
proved conclusively that the mildest grades
OF ingot iron and steel, suitable for rails,
cutlery. and the highest class of tools.
could be produced from the most inferior
ores direct, in the blast furnace. At the
same time, the output from the furnace
was increased enormously, and the quantity
OF fuel required was decreased in almost the
same ratio. The patentee, finding that
greater heat was necessary, designed a
special furnace calcining oven for heating
the ore and f1ux, and air-heating stoves, and
gas producers for producing carbonic oxide
and hydrogen. The drawing which he had
explained gave very clear and exact de-
scription of the process, the advantages of
which were that iron or steel ingots could
be produced in any district SIT a cost much
lower than the most inferior pig iron under
the present. systems, owing to, the enormous
increase of the output of the. furnace and
fhQ prnnf Alrr1f TO-. +