Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-07-07
STEEL WITHOUT PIG.
A Process That is Expected to Revolu-
tionIze the Iron Industry.

A Process That Is Expected to Revolu-
tionIze the Iron Industry.
WASHINGTON, July 6.-Passengers by
the Queen and Crescent through line
from Cincinnati to Charleston will see
to the left of the train at Johnson City,
Tenn, a new furnace of large proper
tions. 1t was erected as a Bessemer
iron works, and is planned to be the
most extensive Of the kind in the coun-
try. 1t is soon to become the pioneer
establishment in the United States for
the production of steel directly from the
ore. The process is one heretofore
known to and used only by the Russian
government.
An inventor and artisan in iron, resi-
dent near Washington, has perfected
the plans for plant which is an I'M
provement on the Russian method, and
which experts In iron manufacture, after
due examination, have declared will I'M
doubtedly produce steel of the hrst
quality directly from the ore, without
the necessity of the usual preliminary
reduction to the pig.
In word, the ore from the mine IS
fed into the furnace, and in the course
of the reduction it becomes carbonized
and the product, as obtained by the
single operation, is steel in the state IN
which it is delivered by the various
other methods which begin with the
pig, after an independent reduction TO
this latter form.
A strong company has been formed
to develop this method. 1t Is easily
seen that if successful it must revolu-
tionize the steel industry Of the country
and bring the cost to very much lower
figures.
The new steel enterprises of the
South are of vast importance, not only
20 that section and the regions immedl-
ately tributary to it, but 10 the whole
country. One plant has been in opera
ton In Chattanooga some months, and
others are in process of construction.
There is another which expects to COM
pete for the new steel guns near Cum
berland Gap. The steel sheets for the
new American tin plates are likely TO
be nearly all produced in the Chatta-
nooga region on account of the low fig
ureS at which thew can be manufac-
tured.
The oars used at Johnson City are
from the famous Cranberry mines on
the border OF North Carolina. The
quantity of ore in sight is beyond com
putauon. 1t is mined and delivered
at the furnace at cost of fifty cents a
ton. Besides the advantages OF these
low figures it has also been proved to be
the hest ore FOR the manufacture OF
steel yet found in such quantities.
Whom these steel producing indus
tries arc fully established, and added TO
the already wonderful iron develop
ment in the region TO the southwark
and still at the doors Of Cincinnati, its
influence upon the manufacturing and
commercial interest of that city must
be of great moment.
The figures of the new census have
shown that hereafter the great iron CEN
terS Of the Eastern United States are to
be the East Tennessee and Northern
Alabama regions. To the former those
mountain sections of Virginia, Ken
lucky and North Carolina properly be-
long. These are all at the southern
door of Cincinnati. For her own in
terest that city should make an early
and close study of these changing ele-
ments of industrial development.