Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-08
Through trreguu

notable change in the practice OF a modern
steel plant. Once the molten river before
you would have been decoyed through a
series of burrows connected with the main
channel and allowed to cool partially. Then
the iron In the smaller melds-the pigs
would have been broken with siedse ham
naers from the large masses-the sows- II
was warm business and strenuous. But the
world moves. Nowadays the fiery stream
pours directly into the waiting ladies and
an electric engine whisks II away. still
glowing across the yards to the Bessemer
works. Cold pig Is made only when the
converters are idle. and even then n neat
device does away with the heavy task of
pig making. The fluid Iron is run into
series OF metal molds, working on the end
less chain principle, and passed through the
"chflf'-tanks filled with cold water-com-
Ing out at the other end sufficiently cooled
and shrunken to be slipped from the molds
and loaded upon trains bound for the Bes-
semer works.
Wholesale Pyroteehnics.
Pyrotechnics await you within the dark
Bessemer mill. A fierce gush OF binding
white fire streams kissing athwart the dim
Enclosure, accompanied by a vivid rain OF
bursting stars. A squat. black retort Is
belehlng from its short thick neck this
broad stream of glory. II Is Bessemer
converter. The long-drawn Kissing roar Is
the sCreech of the hot blast tearing It's way
through the fluid metal winnowing out i'm
pu-itles and making of iron steel. Every
moment the name grows more furious. me
twentS-tOn converter trembleS under the
violence of the surgng within Splashes OF
fluid Stag begin TO be thrown out and fall in
| increasing showers Of crimson sparks into
the black pit below.
Suddenly a tinge of amethyst comes over
the Wilderness Of the fire; the flame dwindles
and dies down The carbon Is burned
| out. Quick comes a warning signal; an
! other moments burning may sp3. the
! fiery broth. The huge iron egg Is tipped
| on one side, vomiting stream Of sparks
/ which break harrlessly against the opposite
! wall. From out the dark swings round
/ big ladle and administers chaser dose
| of spelgeleisen. which is nothing more or
| less than a preparation of manganese. The
| converter responds with a fine Spdrt OF
blush fire. Another massive ladle. swung
| from rumbiing. overhead crane. presents
Itself before the converter. which. tipping
| still farther down, pours out It's charge OF
| binding scarlet metal.
Away goes the crane across the pit to
/ where, on a long electric train. rows of tall
earthern ingot molds are standing. A fire.
clay plug is removed from the bottom OF
| the ladle, and a slender stream OF fluid
steel, bright fame. drps into the fore
most mold. When that is full the train
| moves up one mold space. and so on until
| the ladle Is empty of all but stag. Then 1t
goes, splitting fire, across the pit again. to
await the charge from the next converter.
The mold-train rattes away to the rolling
MILL
Filling the Converters.
You mount grimy staircase to a gallery
overhanging the pit. and watch the filling
of a fresh converter. This is its first charge
today, and 1t first must be heated by fire
of coke, else even its refractory canister
| lining would not stand the sudden on
slaught Of white. hot metal. 1t turns up
side down to discharge the burned out coke.
and then gets passively it's side to re-
ceive it's dose from the blast furnace It
lies on it's side during the operation, be-
cause, as you easily can see from the gal
! lery, its bottom is speckled all over with
holes Those admit the blast. The melted
meta lies in the hollow of its rounded side
below the level of the outermost row of
openings. When 1t is turned upright there
, is no fear lest the fluid iron run out. for
as the converter rises the hot blast Is turn
, ed on, and through each of the holes goes
rushing mighty scorching wind. lifting
the mass OF metal and dancing it about un-
, | til it seethes to the very mouth Of the big
|, converter.
At first the spectacle is a tame one. a
| mere spoueing Of sparks A little silicon ts
| burning. But as the silicon becomes ex-
, | hauSted, the oxygen blast lays hold upon
: the carbon and a long fierce flame appears.
, growing in strength until, as before. the
, | fame suddenly drops Then since a specific
amount of carbon is wanted In steel. the
j charge is recarburized by the addition of a
dose of spielgeleisen.
All this spectacular display is the result
of an inspired guess. Sir Henry Bessemer
was neither a practical ironmaster nor an
: expert theoretical chemist His daring
scheme of rendering iron malleable by a
| powerful air blast blown throughout the
charge was at first so variable in results
as to court predictions of ultimate failure.
: But capped by Mushets tonic of ferro-
manganese. it has reyolutfonfzed modern
: metallurgy.
Rolling the Ingots.
Now to follow that train Of ingot molds
across the yards to the blooming mill No
! sooner arrived there than the metal that
L | far1 ,,nIoS 10 Cpf
and cool enough to leave the moIds. which
: are plucked off the shrunken ingots, leaving
those rectangles of fire standing the
iron cars Subject one of those crimson
, blocks to the pressure of the rolls, and 1t
would instantly go to pieces. Like badly
baked muffin. it is pasty at the heart. 1t
must be allowed to crystalline before 1t is
) rolled.
: Rut this does not mean that 1t is allowed
to cool. A crane seizes the glowing thing
3 and hurries 1t toward pit. where leapng
s tongues of fame and fierce roaring pro-
p. claim a buried fire. Somewhere in the
dark lever is touched; sliding doors glide
! apart, and a sheet of flame screeches up
! from the gas pit. Consigned to this bed
of flame, the ingot is closed In by the iron
) doors and Semi-dafknesS falts upon lhaI
e part of the mill.
But see, here is an ingot, bound for the
rolls Lowered to the roll table the scarlet
,
j straight and narrow way. Before the rolls
7 are reached it must have its upper end
i nipped off, for the top Of every ingot is. in
4 | shop dialect, rotten. So here comes
e screaming circular saw. biting its way
| through the white hot slab and sending out
0 a great pinwheel Of Kissing sparks. Spit
| ting and grooming, the glowing mass Is
caught by the rolls, forced and squeezed
and pfnehed through. and what moment
before was an incandescent cube comes out
| a long, narrow bar of crimson, Strange
iron hands rise between the rolls and finger
r the glowing bar, turning II over and pre-
$ senting 1t to fresh set of rolls. Once
, | more it is strained through, coming out
still longer and thinner and more darkly
red. Through the dim air, qutverinS with
4 | reflected heat, the long red rail-rihbors
: seem to writhe and twist grotesquely as
. they glide on, ever longer and longer. clang-
4 | ing and clashing harshly as they fall from
e the crushing rolls. The men prowling
a about the flaming gas pits look like so many
. imps of darkness Behind long, black
C screens shielding their eyes from the glare
e | of the incandescent metal work the men
n who guide the sliding rails A delicate task.
n | for should red hot bar Of metal thirty
n feet long evade its groove. it would writhe
!. | up to deal murderous blows to the men
tad ha