Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1883-06-12

| INTO tnelr open mouths.
A little to the left of us are the ele.
vators, by which the crushed ore, the
charcoal and lime, each carefully weighed
and rightly proportional, are carried up
several stories high and poured down into
the great smelling furnace.
One of our party, more adventurous
than the rest, proposes that we go up
and look down into that fiery vortex.
We demur at first, but he is not to be
put off, and has gained the consent of
the man who tends the elevators to our
going in the charcoal elevator-the other
he considers unsafe. Yielding to the
wishes of our leader, we take our stand
upon what seems but rickety old trap
door, and, clinging close to each other
and to the car of coal, are drawn up, up,
through the darkness, expecting each
moment the old rattle-trap will give way
and we be hurled unceremoniously back
to our starting point at last the light be-
gins to reveal our rough surroundings, and
we are soon at the top-breathing out
door air and looking from dizzy height
to the ground below. But It's not the
hight that makes one dizzy, after all
It's the terrific roar Of that mighty furnace,
which from top to bottom is seething
mass Of molten iron, belching out flame
and smoke. To look into it is out of the
questionable heat is too intense for that,
so we stand back and watch the man
whose duty it is to tend it, as he tits
the charcoal from our car into the terrible
abyss, where it is greeted with roar of
delight, and a cloud Of sparks mounting
in air. We can easily imagine our
selves upon the crater's edge of vol
cano, with an eruption every moment
imminent; and Mrs. B. suggests that
this would give an old-fashioned preacher
a good illustration Of the bottomless pit.
At last the empty car is ready to re-
turn, and we begin our perilous descent.
To the question Of our leader, whether
we are sorry we came up, we defer the
answer until we shall reach the bottom.
Once safely down, and we are all glad
to have had the adventure.
Out in the yards are great number of
charcoal kilns, which are kept in con-
slant operation to supply the Unsuitable
nav Of the mighty furnace. Of course
so many kilns throw off vast amount of
smoke, which until quite recently was
considered waste product. A process,
invented, we were told, by DR.. Pierce Of
Bangor, Maine, now renders this smoke
very valuable. 1t passes from the kilns
through large pipes to a condenser,
where it is carried in small pipes through
cold running water, and isthus condensed
to a liquid, and runs into tank. This
liquid contains several ingredients, the
heaviest of which, settling at once to the
bottom in the form Of tar, is drawn out
into barrels; thus twenty barrels of tar
per day is the first thing obtained from
the seemingly worthless smoke. Lime
is now added to the remaining liquid,
and the acetic acid it contains is thus
precipitated, and from eight to nine
thousand pounds Of acetate OF lime is
shipped to different parts of the country
and converted into acetic acid. The res
idue is now distilled and produces from
six to eight barrels Of wood alcohol per
diem. This alcohol stands test at 80 f,
and is used for every purpose for which
alcohol can be used, except for medicine !;
and lately has even been re-distilled IN
in y. Y. and used incidentally. We
were told by friend that the only other
factory in the world where smoke is thus
utilized is located at Bangor, but is on
much smaller scale. Having gone
through the Chemical Works, inhaling
all sorts of vapors and getting into all
manner of precarious places, we returned
once more to the Iron Furnace to see the
blast run off.
Stationed near the foot of the long line
of molds, we watch the men as they make
ready to open the furnace and let out the
molten iron. Soon we see it coming-a
river of fire running heavily toward US,
through the channel prepared for it, and
from which the men turn 1t deity aside
until row after row of molds is filled. AS
it nears US we are glad to beat retreat
from its scorching heat, wondering how
the men who work over it live. Great
ladlefuls of the red-hot liquid are dipped
up from the main channel and carried to
the workshop for castings. AS soon as
the iron in the molds begins to stiffen
sufficiently, it is covered with the same
sand in which it is run, and there re-
mains until cold, when it is taken out in
the form of "pigs," ready tor foundry
use.