Birmingham state herald., 1896-06-18
STEEL. BY. HAWKINS PROCESS Work Is Progressing on the
 Furnaces. ONE TO BE IN BLAST JULY 10 A Very Interesting and Instructive interview With the Patentee-What He Claims
 for His Method.

About thirty hands are now at work on the new steel plant of the Jefferson Steel and Manufacturing company at North Birmingham. One fifteen ton Hawkins furnace will go into blast about July 10, to be followed by nine more to be erected at the same place as soon as practicable, and the combined capacity will be about 600 tons per day of ingots and slabs.
 representative of the State Herald had very pleasant interview yesterday afternoon With MT. F. w. Hawkins patentee of the Hawkins steel making process, who is experimenting in person the erection of the new furnace.
 MT. Hawkins says his process of steel making differs from all others in every particular. 1t has a combustion cham Der, in which the metal runs directly from the cupola, and is there treated at the option of the smelter who can utilize the steam and hot air at his pleasure. The object of the combustion chamber Is to hold the metal while 1t is being treated if excessively high in either silica or phosphorous.
 From here the metal is conducted into the furnace through @ slot in the com bustion chamber, which regulates the flow to any desired quantity, passing in
 
 to the bosh. On It's way from the com bustion chamber to the bosh the metal passes through jets of highly super heated steam. The flame chamber is re- verberating in it's action, and the blow pipes from the combustion chamber talk ing the flames, which pass over the bridge wall, unite with the metal in it's downward course at the point of convul- gence between the molten metal The top blast and the steam produce an in- tense heat, from the fact that the oxygen in the steam, which is 90 per cent, is im- mediately taken up by the iron, forming ferric oxide. It then is disassociated ana attacks the impurities forming OK ides, silicon, magnesia and phosphorus, golng off in slag, the carbon and sulphur being burned out. The absorption of the oxygen by the molten metal leaves free the hydrogen, which combines with the oxygen from the top blast and forms water. and Is immediately decomposed by breaking up of the molecules of the water and forms hydrogen gas.
 by thlS process, MT. Hawkins claims the very highest degree of heat Is obtain apie, Whlch IS one Of the most essential teatures in the manufacture of steel
 Hard iron, says Mr. Hawkins, will fuse at 2S00 degrees Farenheit, but there is as yet no means of ascertaining the exact polling point of metal, but 1t has been es- timated at 5000 degrees Farenheit
 The Hawkins process has been tested by many of the leading metallurgists both of this country and of Europe, and It has never met with any disap- proval from any source, and many say it is the most rational way of steel making yet discovered
 MT. Hawkins says his last patents were issued the 18th of last April, and he has taken out patents covering his new steel making process in all of the foreign coun- tries.
 He corresponded with the Messrs. En- slen of this city, owners of the steel plant in course of construction, for several months prior to securing his latest pat ent, and he comes to Birmingham be- cause, as he states, that he had realized the fact that this is the greatest field for steel making in America.
 This process, he says, is purely a chem fcal one and in strict conformity with the exact laws of chemistry as applied to the manipulation of metals and that he IS sustained by metallurgists of more than national reputation In saying that by the Hawkins process he can accom- plish all that can be accomplished by the Bessemer, open hearth, basic or cru