Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-01-28
THE BASIC PROCESS.
Talk With Celebrated PNtentee on the
Subject of steel Making.
FROM The Birnain5Aan. Age.


From tho Birmia 5Aan. Age
Mr.. Jacob Reese, of Pitts5urg Penn,
metaliurgical engineer aud inventor of
the Basic process for the manufacture 81
ingot iron and steel. is stopping at the
| Florence. He comes 10 the city at the re-
quest of Col. Enoch Ensley, of Pratt mines,
and will be in the city several days, dur
ing which time he will meet the leading
iron men of Birmingham.
A reporter called on Mr.. Reese yester-
day and asked him numerous questions
| about the nam features of the cele-
brated process. lie courteously complied,
talking with grear directness, vigor and
animation.
'ln the old Bessemer process" said Mr..
! Reese, 1.-THE molten cast iron is blown with
an air blast until the silicon and carbon
| are eliminated. The vessel in which the
molten metal Is thus blown holds $4,000
/ pounds and is a pear-snaped iron pot lined
with canister, which is composed princi-
pally of siliclc acid. Phosphorus cannot
! be eliminated from iron or steel while the
metal is in the presence of Silicic acid.
Therefore, the Bessemer and the open
hearth processes, both of which are con-
Quoted IN the presence Of sIhcic acid are
incapable of eliminating particle OF
prosperous from the metal.
"ln the north there are found many iron
ore mines almost free from phoshporous,
from which 100000 tons of pig iron are
! annually made suitable Tor steel. This pig
| iron is called Bessemer iron because 1t
| contains less than one-tenth of | per cent
| of PHOSPHORUS that being the limit of
! PHOSPHORUS allowed in steel rails. Now,
! as far as we know, not a single ton of pig
iron was ever made in the south suticl-
emily low in PHOSPHORUS to be used in
making Bessemer steel by the Bessemer
| acid process. All The economic iron ores
! of the south are highly phOsphOretic,
| and could never be utilized for making
Bessemer or open hearth steel by the acid
method"
I'm our basic process we take out the
acid lining and line the vessel with lime,
which is basic material, because the
base OF lime is calcium, metal. Then 10
tons of molten phosphOric metal Is run
| into the converter and then 3 tons of
hot lime is poured IN on top of the molten
| iron, the converter Is then turned up and
and an air blast is blown through the
molten iron until the silicon is burned into
s1icic acid, and the silicic acid Is taken
up by the lime and held as a silicicate of
lime. This only takes about three minutes.
! The blow is then continued until the car
bon is burned out, and escapes as car
bonic oxide gas. When the carbon has
disappeared, which requires about ten
| minutes, the blast is continued until the
| phosphorus is burned out into phOsphOric
acid, which takes from three to five min
utes. The phOs phorlc acid is taken up by the
lime Stag and held as phosphate OF lime.
The whole duration OF the blow runs from
sixteen to twenty minutes. Then 20 tons
of phesphorIc iron can be converted into
the purest and best steel in twenty min
utes.
when the metal is highly phosphoretic,
nh Of Enaa
tanning 20 per cent. of phosphoEc acid.
This phosphate is worth $2l per ton as a
fertilizer, and as there will be One-third of
| a ton of phosphate made ter every ton of
steel produced, the phosphate Will reduce
the cost of the basic steel 81 per ton,
thus making the basic iron and steel not
only the best, but the cheapest in the
world"
"Wnat do you think basic plant would
do for Birmingham
ut would be the key Of success for the
iron business of the south. l'll tell you
why: In the first place you are shipping
metal away at from $l2 TO $l4 per ton. If
you mad a basic plant here, all OF this
would De converted into basic ingOt iron
and basic ingot steel, and ready market
could be had at from $50 to $40 per ton,
thus more than doubling the cash receipts
of this region. And this would double the
value OF real estate in this city; for the
value of real estate, you know, depends
largely upon the balance of trade. When
we export more value out of town than it
takes 10 pay Tor the goods coming into
town, then property goes up, and when
we buy more than we sell, down 1t goes.
80 that so large an increased value of
sales as the basic process would produce
will most certainly greatly enhance the
value OF real estate, and put our iron
men on the solid rock OF economic produc-
ton where the best and cheapest steel
that has ever been produced or can be
made"
The Bessemer Steel Association, a COM
bination OF all the Bessemer steel com.
panies o. the North, are dong all they
can TO prevent Mr.. Reese from putting
the basic process into use in the South, of
course, so as to keep the south from go
ing into competition with Northern manu-
| facturefs.