The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-13
MAKING BARBED WIRE.
Description of an Extremely Inter
esting Mechanical Process.

From the New York Advertiser
When passengers in the railroad trains
look from the car windows upon the end
less miles of sharp-pointed barbed wire
that is stretched upon posts upon either
| side of the roadway, they, no doubt, give
| but few thoughts TO the stages through
which the wire passes from the mine TO
the fence. Yet IL is an interesting study
and well worth knowing something about
in all its details. All the barbed wire is
now made of soft steel. When the ore is
| taken from the mine, it goes directly to
the blast-furnace, which is a huge iron
tower, forty or fifty high, lined with
brick. Powerful engines force a stream of
heated air called a blaSt) through open
ings in the sides of the furnace, near the
bottom. First, is put into the furnace
layer of fuel (coke), then layer of lime
stone (hux), then some ore; each of the
materials is carefully weighed, so that
just the req uired amount is placed in the
furnace. The limestone greatly assists
in the melting of the ore and it takes
from ten to twelve hours TO reduce one
charge" The iron sinks to the bottom
OF the furnace and the foreign matter,
called Stag, floats on the top of the iron
The Stag Is first run off and then the iron.
Attached to the furnace is a large shed
with a sand floor, in which are numerous
molds about three feet long and four
inches square. The iron runs into these
molds through a channel on which
the end of the molds opens.
When cold, the iron is taken out of
the mold and called pig iron. The pig
iron is taken to the steel mill, where it is
melted and combined with a certain
amount Of imported pig iron, after which
it is poured Into large and portable iron
vessel called converter A powerful hot
air blast runs through the bottom of the
converter and blows through the iron,
greatly increasing the heat and expeling
all impurities. The metal, which is now
steel, Is poured into large cast iron molds,
which hold from 100 to 500 pounds
These pieces are called ingots.
Everything about the steel mill is
handled by chinery-hydraulic cranes
carry the ingots from place to place-and
very little manual labor is necessary. The
ingots are heated and passed several
times between large iron rolls, which
gradually decrease the diameter of the
ingots until they are about 4X4 inches
The last time they come throu h the rolls
they pass under a huge machine which
cuts them into regular lengths, weighing
about $50 pounds. They then pass to the
rod mill. where they are heated and
passed between number of smaller rolls,
which run at very high speed Here
the steel is rolled INFO round rods about
three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter,
and are coiled into bundles by machine
while hot. They then pass To the wire
mill. In the wire mill the rods are first
immersed in bath of diluted suphuric
acid, which eats off all rust and dirt
After being washed free of acid they are
dipped in thick solution of lime water,
dried in furnace, pointed n'one end and
taken to the drawing room. The draw
ing machinery consists of heavy wood
table, called a bench on which are a
mum Der of revolving castiron cylinders,
called blocks. In front of each block,
fastened to the bench, is an iron die box
for holding the die. The die is of chilled
cast iron, perforated with a number of
holes, which are reamed out to the size of
the wire required. The pointed end of
the rod is put through one of the holes in
the die and fastened to the block, which,
in revolving, pulls the rod through the
die, reducing the size and coiling it up
This last operation is repeated twice for
each rod To- get it TO the size required for
fence wire No. 1917.
While drawing. the wire has become
very hard and brittle and has to be sof-
tened before it can be worked into fence
All barbed wire is either painted or gal
vanized. For painted fence the wire is
taken from the drawing room to the an
iron pots, which hold about ,000a pounds
each. These pots, which are incloseI in
furnaces, are heated until the contents
are red hot; they are then allowed to
cool gradually. This process is called
annealing and requires about twenty
four hours the wire is then very pliable.
For galvanized fence the wire is taken
from the blocks TO the galvaniHng de
partment. Here the coils of wire are
placed separately on wooden reels. which
revolve as the wire is first put through
a pan OF melted lead heated until it
is red hot this answers the same pur-
pose as the annealing process, the
lead being so hot does not stick to the
wire). After passing through the lead
pan, the wire is carried a distance over
rollers until it has cooled off: it then
passes through a vat of muriatic acid
which removes all dirt from the wire
Without this acid the galvanizing would
not adhere to the wire. From the acid
the wire passes through a large iron panof
melted zinc or spelter, which forms thin
coating on the wire, and then between
two pads of asbestos, which remove all
surplus metal and give the wire a smooth
finish The end of the wire is then fas-
tened to an iron pulley, which, as it turns,
coils the wire up aud pulls it through the
various stages of this process. Wire,
after being galvanized, will stand expos
ure for number OF years without rust
ing