Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1905-12-23
MAKING
COAST
STEEL

AS the result Of experiments in tn,
concentration Of black sands which b,
conducted At the Lewis and Clark cen,
tennisl exposition in Portland, during
the past summer, DT. David T. Day
Of the United States geological survey
makes the noteworthy statement that
conditions FOR the production Of steel
by electricity are fully as good in Ore.
gon as they are in Germany, where pig
iron has been obtained in similar cleo.
trio furnaces at slightly lower cost
than In ordinary blast furnace prac.
tice.
A preliminary report on the subject
Of smelling by electricity the mag
netic iron ores obtained from various
points on the Pacific beach has been
submitted by DR.. Day TO the director
Of the geological survey.
After considerable correspondence
with the patentees Of various forms Of
electric furnaces, arrangements were
made with the wilson Aluminium Com.
pany, Of New York, for the services
Of Mr.. g. r. Wilson, their expert in
electrical smelling Mr.. Wilson r.
rived in Portland on october IL. and
at the end Of one week had erected a
small but efficient electric furnace and
was making Steel lie had procured in
tho east 2 carbon electrodos-each as
inchcs long and inches square-sucb
as are ordinarily used in electric fur.
naoes Tho rest Of his equipment was
obtained In Portland from materials
kept IN stock or easily made AZ n foun.
dry.
In building tho furnace a course Of
ordinary Carnegie frcbricks was laid
upon tho ground Upon this single
course was laid castiron plate 6vo.
cights of an inch thick 3 feet long
and 2 foot wide. ON this was placed
an oval shect.iron drum Of No. 10 iron
? feet hong by . feet high. Tho sides
of this drum were lined with hrebricks
10 form a crucihlo isxis inches and "a
inches high. The bottom of tho cruel
bio was covered from tho casiiron plate
up 20 the tapping hole with broken
carbon electrode. Tho carbon oloctrodc
20 carry The current was suspended by
a pulley above ihis furnace and con
necied with a balanced axle and wheel.
BY which q could be readily raised Jr
lowered. Tho top ~ tho furnace was
covered with two double plates u riv.
cted wrought iron between which cold
water run. IN ihc center ~ this Wa
teriarkeied cover an opening was
left sufficient 90 allow tho free play up
and down of carbon oloctrodo. This
furnace b. referred 10 M "sman fnr
mace or "furnaee A."
Through tho cooperation of the
Portland General Electric company a |
~ cial wire bearing a e.3o0.volt alter
mating current was run from the city
supply lo ihe smeher This was ear j
Tied into "a sfr'rs of six transformer /
and yielded q current varying from go
20 go volts by ioO0 20 5000 amperes
On che afternoon OF October i7 a |
current of 81 volts and 5000 amperes
was passed through tho furnace aud |
the are established The furnace was
then led with a mixture OF magnetiite. |
coke and lime. This consisted of POO
pounds of magnetic, obtained from
tho sand az Hammond station, near As
torla, Or, at the mouth of the Colum
bia river "A pounds of "airfaN coke.
which contained about 20 per cent of
ash, and "a pounds Of lime.
About so pounds Of this charge was
slowly introduced into the furnace,
and within AN hour there was tapped
from the furnace 90 pounds of steel
which contained s per cent Of iron and
bS per cent OF titanic acid.
On tho following day the furnace
was again heated aud filled with a mix
tuTe similar 20 that used on the first
run, except that ID contained less lime.
Steel was successfully east twice, max
ing for that days run OF two hours a