Birmingham state herald., 1897-07-09
THE PHILOSOPHERS STONE Found for Converting Iron Into
 -SteeI by RS... CHARLES W. STANTON V
 f Mobe-Leadiug Chemists Astounded at His Dscovery-Stakes Fortune on the PIa,-
 tcal ResuIts-Patents Pending.
i. CHARLES W. STANTON

Mobile, Ala, July S.-(Special)- )-Mr. Charles w. Stanton. young man of Mo bile today exhibited ingots of soft and hard steel, which he asserts he had con- verted direct from crude ore of the Bir- mingham mineral district by a single furnace manipulation and without the aid of fluxing. His specimens exhibit a. fine, close grain, are easily and perma- nently magnetized and withstand all the tests of chemical analysis MT. Stanton claims that his discovery is the applica- ton of natural law by which crude ore of every nature may be freed from mpu- rities and converted into steel at the first run from the smelting furnace, and as cheaply as any and more economically than crude ore is now converted into pig iron.
 MT. Stanton is well known In every section of the Union through his connec- ton with the grain export business in Mobile, in the conduct of which he has rapidly amassed a fortune. He has staked all of his means upon the success of his experiments and investigations. He has convinced pr. Charles A. Mohr, of Mobile, one of the most eminent chem ists and geologists in the south. as well as a number of his friends, that he cou- verts the intractible red hematite ere of the south, highly charged with phospho- rous, sulphurates and silicon, into com mercial steel by a process that amazes them from it's simplicity and practica- bilty.
 MT. Stanton claims that his discovery and its application accomplishes results that have hitherto been vainly sought by experimentation and scientific re search since the success of Sir Henry Bessemer's discovery, that is it shows that the presence of phosphorous and sulphurets in iron ore is no bar to it's conversion into steel, and that his method secures the finished product from the crude ore by a single manipulation. He has applications for patents upon hls discovery pending in Washington and in every capital of the civilized world.
 To secure to hims If the fruits of his discovery, he has staked a fortune of quarter of a million. Up to a month ago Stanton was actively interested in sev- eral business interests here. He was manager and leading stockholder in the Terminal Elevator company; he owned the largest grain mill in this section; his grain export business from Mobile to Mexico and continental Europe paid the Mobile and Ohio Railroad $900,000 yearly in freight charges, and he was active -ly. interested in other enterprises The city was startled recently with the an- nouncement that Stanton had turned Into cash nearly a quarter of million dol- lars of active capi.al. It transpires that these transactions were for the purpose of securing capital to pursue system of patents upon a process that if his claims be correct, will revolutionize the iron trade of the world in manner more startling even than has resulted fnom the success of Sir Henry Beesemer's pneumatic process. A fact universally recognized is that the pregnant problem of he century is the praoicability of con- verting 1t into steel cheaply Clinton Cor Red moun,ain) ores which are most abundant in this country. More than $5,000,000 has been spent and lost in Bir- mingham, Ala, in the past five years testing the application of what is known as the Henderson process to the basic patents for making open-hearth s.eel. This process undertook to eliminate the phosphorus and silicon in the iron by the agency of fiux of lime and fourspar. The Henderson plant did succeed in making soft steel, but at a cost that did not per- init competition with the Bessemer prod uct. for which Ala bama ore was not avail able The possibilities of such a dscov- cry as Stanton now claims are so amaz- ing that they are received with skepti- cism and ridicule, such as assailed Sir Henry Beesemer when the English in- ventor in 1856 announced the result of his process to the British Institute. Conserv- ative men of science here, however, be- lieve that Stanton has found the philos- onher'S etdne