The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-02-20
A STARTLING ACHIEVEMENT.
COLD WATER USED TO MAKE
IRON RED HOT.
A New and Practical Application
of Strange Discovery About
Electricity - Burton's Liquid
Forge"

Few operations look more like a mir
acle than heating a piece of iron TO a
cherry hue, or an even more dazzling
incandeseence by thrusting ii into a
tank of cold water None of Herr
manns illusions could be more start
ling than this feat which, as now per-
formed. is practical reality, and not
merely an entertaining tricks Hitherto
the blacksmith has plunged q horseshoe
or other product of his art into a bath
beside his forge to lower the tempera-
ture of a piece of metal which has al
ready been heated in the FIRE It is now
proposed TO do away with the broad
hearth. the Goals. the blaze, and the
bellows, but to retain the tank and its
contents. Then. simply by. immersing
the iron therein. it Will be quickly
brought to the desired temperature.
Two or three trifling changes may be
made in the rank. a metal lining viii
be provided. perhaps Possibly some
other liquid may be substituted for
common water, although it has been
proven beyond a doubt that the latter is
entirely adequate for the work The
most important modification of the APP
paratus-the only essential one in fact
is provision for sending powerful cleo
trio current through the tank in the
proper manner. On this account, the in
vention is known as the electric liquid
forge
over in Newark the other day, when
tests of the device We're being made. il
was found that a railroad spike fully an
inch i'll diameter acquired cherry tint
fifty seconds after it was dipped INTO the
cold bath, while half-inch bolt came to
a white heat in eighteen seconds
When the new system is brought to
perfection and introduced into boiler
shops, carriage factories smithies and
similar establishments it is likely 10
show its superiority over the old one al
two or three points. For instance. in the
liquid forge only that part of the iron
which is actually submerged receives
the direct action of the heating process,
and ii is acted upon uniformly along
that much of its surface: whereas, when
1T is poked down into live Goals on a
hearth the chances are that either more
or less of the iron is heated than the
workman wishes, and that one part will
be much hotter and softer than another
Then again, when iron is worked in the
common forge it oxidizes and gives off
scales, thus wasting the material, weak
ening the article and perhaps spelling
the fit in some job. There lie much rea-
son for believing that the electric forge
will prove more economical and more
convenient for certain classes of work
than the other styles now in common
use.
The general arrangement of this Won
ttIc fnIi ~
tank is about as big as a kitchen sink,
and stands on four legs. 1t is a port
able affair. Two carefully insulated
wires, proceeding either from a dynamo
on the premises or from some general
power and lighting circuit outside, are
led into the room. The positive" wire
is connected with the metal lining of the
reservoir. The other wire is secured. by
welding or solder, or otherwise. to pair
of tongs. whose handles are covered with
insulating material. The negative wire
is long enough and flexible enough to al
low considerable movement by the work
man The latter merely grasps with
these insulated tongs the spike. bolt,
horseshoe or other object which is to be
heated and dips it into the liquid. That
is all. When it is hot enough he turns
to lbs anvil, and hammers the thing, or
drops it where another workman can
pick it UP, and then uses his magic tongs
afresh TO handle something else.
The why and wherefore of the OPP
GRAFTON here described are so simple as
to be understood by a child. When
the ends of two wires leading from q
battery, dynamo or other generator of
electricity are immersed in a fluid. the
passage of the current through the lat
ter, from the one terminal to the other.
tends to disintegrate the fluid into its
elements. Water, for instance, is sep
arated into oxygen and hydrogen gases.
If the liquid be solution of nitrate Of
silver. that salt is broken up into nitric
acid and pure silver. All known sub