The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-12-09

~ NE of Europe's experimental
scientists claims to have dis
q covered that metals can be
killed by poison put to sleep
by chlOrOform, made drunk by
whisky and crazy by cocaine. He de-
clares with much confidence that met
ais possess many human attributes,
and broadly intimates that he is the
first man to prove it, But every foun-
dryman and blast furnace man for
years has known that one metal, at
least, has much akin to human in
it. This metal, called the most useful
Of metals. is always seeking it's affini-
ty. 1t is a sad firt; a veritable CO.
quette. In it's course from the crude
ore to the finished product it runs
the gamut of love and hate, and it's
intrigues and escapades keep the blast
furnace and cupOla In turmoil This
metal Is iron, and one would scarcely
think, looking at the cold, hard, I'M
same metal, in the blast furnace and
same metal, in the blast furnase and
the cupola Of the foundry, is married
and divorced a dozen times or more
and is a most susceptible, impression
able, reckless, unfaithful sort of
blade. The irOnmaster, knowing It's
ardent temperament and fickleness,
mplOyS the arts of love to make iron
do about as he wills.
Chemically pure iron has no COM
1nercial value. It's impurities, called
metalloids, are what give iron its char
acter and strength. The iron ores,
as they come from the mine, are a
combination Of iron. oxygen, silica.
phosphorus, sulphur, carbon and
other elements, and the blast furnace
Is employed to separate the metal from
the ore impurities. Pure iron ore is
a chemical combination of metallic
iron and oxygen, the most common
consisting Of about 70 per cent iron
and 80 per cent oxygen. But the
earthly impurities and combinations at
other elements enter so intimately into
the structure Of the iron ore that the
blast furnace man must reckon with
all of them in his efforts to separate
the metal from the dross. In the
process Of the reduction of the ore the
oxide of iron-the Ore-becOmes car
bide Of iron--pig iron.
The blast furnace is a huge brick
stack not unlike a gigantic bottle
standing on it's cork end. The ore,
coke and limestone are fed into the
stack on top, and the melted, refined
iron escapes from the tap hole in the
bottom and runs into open sand
1nolds, where it cools into the pig iron
of commerce. This pig iron contains
from 90 to "a per cent Of pure iron
and to per cent of impurities. Be
fore it can be used in the arts this pig
iron must be remelted in pudding
furnace--or some other kind of fur
nace-Or cupOla of a foundry.
Immense air com CreSSOrS are used
in the reduction Of the ore in the
blast furnaces, for each ton of iron
made requires from three to six tons
of air, which is forced into the blast
fJJ1.n 9In Of n
~ ten pounds to the square inch.
This blast of air is heated to tenn
perature up as high as 1900 degrees
Fahrenheit before it enters the fur
mace. The air pumped into the fur
mace exceeds in weight the combined
weight of all the ore. coke and lime
stone which is 'charged"' into the
Throat of the blast furnace.
A blast furnace 80 feet high is
about 23 feet at its largest diameter,
which is about 25 feet from the bot
tom. From this point the stack tapers
from the bottom the furnace becomes
a cylinder. The top of the furnace is
called the throat the lower part
the ''boshes" and the cylindrical
shaped bottom is the HEARTH" About
four feet from the bottom are the
"tuyers,' thru which the blast enters
the furnace, and the "tapering hole
Is almost at the bottom.
In order to separate the foreign
matters present in the ore from the
iron an intense heat must be used ant
the fuel is coke, anthracite or char
coal. Fluxes are required to facili
tate this separation, and limestone Il
the material most employed. The
fluxes transform the earths and ex
traneous matter into Stag, which il
used afterward for railway ballast ant
for making cement and bricks
The blast furnace is divided int
three zones; above the hearth comes