The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-12-04
Mr.. BOWRON ONRAPID
STEEL MANUFACTURE
Vice President of Tennessee Com
pany Writes an Interesting Ar
ticle for New York Times.

larry divided into acid and basic, on the
same principles as above which need not
be repeated, does not involve the blowing
of air through the molten iron, but the
introduction of oxygen in solid form as OK
ide of iron-namey( rich iron ore, ground
and shoveled in in sufficient quantities
from time to time. In the Bessemer pro-
cess the combustion of the metalloids by
the air passing through furnishes the nee
essary heat to keep the metal liquid and
great heat is necessary for this purpose
as any one will find who tries to melt a
bar of iron and then pour 1T out. In the
open-hearth process the necessary heat is
supplied by melting the iron in reveroera-
tory furnaces and passing gas over the
surface of the bath u cistern.
In Alabama the iron contains too much
phosphorus to admit of being treated In
acid furnaces, but not enough phosphorus
to make it suitable for treatment IN the
basic Bessemer. Therefore, the basic open
hearth method remains the only one OF the
four available, and under this process the
very highest quality of steel Is produced
that can be produced by any known meth
cd. The process requires from nine 10
twelve hours and admits of samples being
taken in the ladle at any time, quenched
with water and subjected to laboratory
tests of hammer tests, indicating by the
granulations, to an experienced eye, the
degree of purity attained.
In the Ensley blast furnaces the ore is
brought from the mines of the Tennessee
Coal, Iron and Railroad company, SIX miles
away, and the iron is at present run into
large ladies and slowly poured over series
of slowly revolving mods extending in
row to the shipping track, al when point
the molds automatically discharge BLOCKS
of cast iron, still at a dull red neat, on the
cars to remove them to the steel works.
Upon these cars are stationed wrought iron
boxes, into waoa the blocks or slabs of
hot iron fall into other corresponding
boxes are loaded by hand suitable quanti-
tles of Scrap iron or steel for admiN.ure
On being switched 400 yards to the steel
works, Wellman charging machine, OPP
Grated by electricity, picks UP one of these
charging boxes by the end projects it for
ward into the melting furnace, turns it
over, emptying f,s contents, reverses ITSELF
and wibhdraws rom the cnargins door, all
in 80 seconds.
In the open-hcarth house there stand in
q TOW ten furnaces WIN d very Ildl
roof over eacn strongly encased in iron
and capable of holding fifty tons of steel
at a heat per furnace. 1his building is MS
feet long, and when running double turn"
will produce over 1000 tons of Steel each
Twenty -four hours lac heat is supplied
from row of thirty-two gas producers
with steam blast and the gas is injected
into the Open-hearth furnace at one end,
meeting with heated air and producing am
iqrtense combustion over the surface of the
metal, which has been charged as previ-
ously explained The resultant flame, the
product of combustion, passes out of the
other end of the furnace, through a mass
of brick checker work, parting With most
of its heat before. 1t finally caches the
chimney fue and the chimney stack, there
being a separate stack $50 feet high for
each open-hearth furnace At suitable in
tervals the valves are reversed and the air
is made to enter the furnace through the
brick work which mas just been heated up
by the escaping gas, while the flame passes
out of the opposite end and through a sim
liar amount of checker work, heating up
the opposite end in readiness for the next
reversal. This arrangement is common to
open-hearth steel works, and is known as
the regenerative system
When the examination of samples dipped
out from the furnace or bath or cistern of
metal shows that the proper quality has
been obtained by the elimination of detri-
| mental metalloids, the furnace, by the ap-
plication of hydraulic power, is tilted over
on one side the contents taken success
lively in ladies with a capacity of as much
as twenty tons to the ladle. At this june
ture carefully calculated amount of ferro-
manganese is thrown into the mixture, so
that the soundness of the steel may be
assured. Any surplus oxygen rising in the
bath goes to the manganese, for which it
has so strong an affinity, and rises to the
top of the ath scum or Stag. The cleo
trio crane with capacity of fifty tons,
running on supports along the sides of the
building, picks up the ladle and moves it
over a track on which stands a short train
of iron cars with ingot mods standing YER
tically upon them The steel is poured in
to the ingot molds, each ingot weighing
about three tons, being six feet long and
measuring at the ia lSx20 inches.
An electric storage battery locomotive i'm
mediatey switches away the train on the
ingot stripper, where, as soon as the ingots
are sufficiently set, the mold is lifted 10y
suitable machinery to another car on a
parallel track, and is ready to be switched
back again to begin the same duty to an
other furnace The ingot, .red hot as 1t is
by this time, is transferred to long pas
sage and passes slowly on a transfer car
(submerged over its wheels in water for its
protection) and operated by an endless
chain. At one end of this passage is the
relocating furnace, at the other end the
draft stack 100 feet high The draft stack
pulls the fame from the relocating furnace,
and the ingot travels through the fame,
heating up again on the outside, and al
lowing the intensely white-hot metal on the
inside to equalize itself.
In Europe this result has been attained
by "soaking pits" where the ingots are
put into iron molds in the ground and al
lowed to bask or SOAK in their own heat,
being covered over to avoid radiation.
On arriving at the end of this passage or