The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-20
A LIQUID FORGE.
New and Practical Application Of q
Discovery About Electricity.

n new and PRACTICAL Application OF q
Discovery About Electricity.
New York Tribune.
Few operations look more like miracle
than heating a piece of iron to cherry
hue, or an even more dazzling incandeS-
cence, by thrusting it into tank OF cold
be more startling than this feat, which, as
now performed, is a practical reality, and
not merely an entertaining trick. Hitherto
the blacksmith has plunged horseshoe or
other product of his art into bath beside
his forge to lower the temperature or a
piece of metal which has already been
away with the broad hearth, the Goals, the
blaze and the bellows, but to retain the
tank and its contents. Then simply by I'M
mersing the iron therein it will be quickly
brought to the desired temperature.
Two or three trifing changes may, pe
made In the tank A metal lining will 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 modl-
flcation of the apprenticeship only essential
one, in facts provision for sending pow
erful electric current through the tank in
the proper manner. On this account the
invention is known as the electric liquid
forge"
over in Newark the other day. when tests
Of the device were being made, 1T was found
that railroad spike fully an inch in diam
eter acquired q cherry tint fifty SECONDS
after 1t was dipped into the cold bath, Whlle
a half-inch screw bolt came to a white
neat in eighteen seconds.
When the new system is brought TO per-
lection and introduced into boiler shops,
carriage factories, smithies and similar es-
Establishments it is likely to show its super
iority over the old one at 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 processes, and it is acted upon uni
fOrmly along that much of its surface;
whereas, when it 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 is much reason 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 wonder
full apparatus is as follows: The tank is
about as big as kitchen sink, and stands
on four legs. 1t is a portable 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 posi-
tive" wire is connected with the metal lin
ing of the reservoir. The other wire is Sc
cured, by welding or solder, or otherwise,
to pair of tOngS, whose handles are COW
cred with insulating material. The mega
tive wire is long enough and flexible enough
to allow considerable movement by the
workman. The latter merely grasps with
these insulated tongs the spike, bolt horse
shoe or other object which is to be heated
and dips it into the liquid. That's all.
When 1t is hot enough he turns to his anvil,
and hammers the thing, or drops it where
another workman can pick 1T up, and then
uses his magic tongs afresh to handle
something else.
The why and wherefore of the operation
here described are so simple as to be under
stood by a child. When the ends of two
wires leading from a battery, dynamo or
other generator of electricity are Immersed
in fluid the passage of the current
through the latter from the one terminal
to the other tends to disintegrate the fluid
into it's elements. Water, for instance, is
separated into oxygen and hydrogen gases.
If the liquid be a solution of nitrate of sill
yer, that salt is broken up into nitric acid
and pure silver. All known substances un-
der such circumstances show q disposition
to gather about one or the other of the two
terminals or poles. That fact is turned to
advantage in electroplating. The silver
which is gradually liberated by electric dis
solution Tor electrolysiS) is deposited on
some object "a fork or spoon, say at the
end of wire, and the acid accumulates
around the other. In an electric forge, if
the liquid used be water, then the oxygen
gas seeks the metal lining of the bath and
the hydrogen goes to the immersed iron.
If some other kind be used the same phe-
nomenon occurs, one element going in one
direction and the other one in the other;
Another familiar principle comes into play
here also When an electric current is sent
through q circuit it proceeds quietly If the
conductor is large enough and of the right
conductor, or a short link in it. be reduced
In size or be poorly suited to the flow, then
the resistance which is offered at that par
ticular point produces heat This is the rea-
son that carbon filament grows white hot
in an Edison lamp as soon as the electricity
is turned on.
Now in an electric forge the copper wires,
the metal lining of the tank, the water, the
tongs, and the iron spike which the work
man wishes to heat are all excellent con-
ductors of electricity. But the film of n.y.
drogen gas which forms around the mega
tive pole, the immersed iron, is poor one.
The resistance which it offers produces in
tense heat, and does so instantly. That
effect would not be observed If feeble cur
rent were employed. But a powerful cur
rent requires better facilities of travel than
a weak one, and if its demands are not
complied with it gets "hot in the collar"
The heat thus generated is impaired to the
iron rather than the water, at the point of
contact. Hence the effects which have
been observed.
The apparatus which has recently been
the subject of experiment in Newark, and
which eventually ought to prove serviceabe
in certain lines of industry was devised
by a Boston man, George d. Burton. But
the fundamental idea OF it was discovered
about five years ago by two Belgians, La
grange and Hohe, who took out patents in
Germany. 1t was believed at one time that
the system could be applied on a very
much larger scale than Mr.. Burton pro-
poses, and that it might prove useful in the
treatment for armor plate. Negotiations
were conducted for trial of the process at
the Krupp works in Essen.