The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1921-08-30
Northwest Concern
Makes Iron From
Sand

Pig iron Il being manufactured
from the black magnetic sands OF
various beaches on Puget Sound
according to Information received
from sedro wooney. The interest.
ing work Is being done by the New
Era Iron and Steel Corporation OF
scdro- wooilcy. with Seattle offices
In the crary building. Black sand
triquettes are prepared first. the
blast furnaces turning out pig iron
from these br.quc,tcs.
The company's facilities at present
are restricted 10 preparing sand
briauettcs for the blast furnaces.
and In demonstrating the feasibility
Of taking the magnetic sands. in un-
limited quantities. from Puget Sound
beaches. and developing the iron
and steel industry Ia tho Puget
Sound country.
The difficulty IN working out
process by which iron can be ex.
trHcted from the sand has been the
fact tina, always sanf dlsintegratcs
before getting to the fusion point
Tho New Era company has dis
covered binder" process. II
claims. that Will hold the sand 10.
grlher.
Mr. James T. AVIS, netlilurxicaj
engineer. associated IN developing
the work. says the iron.bearins
black sands abound In unlimited
California. millions and millions Of
tons.
Virtually an these sands says
Mr. Avis. carry a large percentage
Of utanlum. an element. tho elimi
nation Of whose presence has always
constituted a tremendous problem
In the smelling OF ores containing
lt--as low as per cent being con
sidered by mctailurgists and blast
furnace men as too high q proper
ton 10 render economical smelling
possible.
Much time ana q great amount
Of money have been devoted in re.
cent years In an effort 10 produce
pig iron and steel from these black
sands. One OF the first steps OF
the process consists Of ethe neccs-
sity OF briquetting tho sands. The
binder used for briauetting must
function as "A binder unfii the fusion
point OF briluettes has been reached
In the furnace. Another equally
important step is that the binder
must act IA n scaycngcr or purifier
and remove the utanium.
ION these two steps hangs sue.
cess or failure and former efforts
have eitaer failed entirely or pro.
duction has been at prohIbitive cost
ms far as commercial purposes are
concerned. Experiments carried on
in the Middle Atlantic states. In
California and New Zealand in re
cent years have practically resulted
in such failure from the commercial
standpoint During the world war
Japan has been experimenting also
along these lines and has produced
pig irons and stcels-but far In CT.
cess OF commercial cost production.
This metal has been produced In
n thoroly modern ten.ton expert
mental blast furnace with sands
brought In from the Yakitat and
Iatouya vicinities. Not only has
the fine quality OF pig Iron been
determined but IL has been further
proven that high grade steeis--frce
from impurities-suitabie for all
purposes. either plain carbon. tool
and alloy stecls. are but a step
further in the process.
''The iron produced from the
black sands has been subjected 10
all forms OF tests and analysis and
have made n remarkable showing,
strength tests. chemical analysis.
machinery, drilling. threadcuttlng
physical structure and actual serv.
Ice. all proving the superiority OF
the metal"