Year: 1870

In the bottom. of the converter, said
our guide, shouting to make himself


heard above the roar, there are tweeTs


which admit cold blast Of sufficient
force to blow the molten iron all into
spray This brings the oxygen of the


air into contact with every minute drop


of the metal, and what took place in the


s9nelting-fuTnace is reversed; there the


carbon helped to burn out the oxygen OF


the ore, now the oxygen comes to burn


out the carbon


But what, we shouted back, pre-


vents the oxygen from playing the same


trick the carbon played before "


That is just what it viii do it the


blast is continuedtoolO lOng-the iron will


oxidize again. But the Oxygen has q
stronger affinity for the cOTbon and 9th


er impurities than it has for the iron,


and doesn't begin on that till those are


burned out"


"I see: you shut off the Blast ut a


moment when just enoeh carbon re-


mains to make steel.H


Not exactly, though that is what
Bessemer spent great deal of time and
money trying to do. But he found il


impossible always to determine the


time when the blast should be stopped,


and often too much or to little carbon


left in would spoil the product. So he
changed his tactics. You will notice


that we first burn out all the carbon
that is dOnein about fifteen minutes
You see that man in green glasses, on
thelittle platform over in the corner
watching the flame from the converter
| The instant he sees it lose its dazzling
colOrs and become pale, and decrease, he
knows the last of the carbon Is burning
and the blast is shut off. y


Meanwhile ii seemed very wonderful
that molten metal should contain fluid
enough to make so furious Il fire; moi


was our astonishment diminished when


we were told that the cOld-air blast ac-
/ tually raised the temperature Of the mass
from 2,000o to 5,000o Fahrenheit during


the brief process.


The blast off, the converter was turn
ed down on its belly again, i'll order tC
prevent The metal from running into the
/ tweers, now that the pressure was re-
moved. THE iron,' said Our guide, lis
left by the blast decarbOnized, and in q
slight degree re-OXidized. 1t also cons
tains q little sulphur, after all its doctor
ing. Now we add a certain quantity Of
pig iron of q peculiar quality-eithel
Franklinit or Splegelisen will do-con-
tanning known percentum Of carbon
and manganese The dose was poured
into the monsters throat, and a violent
cOmmOtion in his stomach ensued, ac-
cOmpanied- by a cOpiOUs OutpOuring OF
smoke and flame. After q minute Ol
two all was quiet The new ingredients
had burned out the oxygen and sulphur
/ from the mass-jUst enough of the fresh


ly introduced carbon remaining UncOn-
sumed to take up its permanent lodging
| in the metal and make steel.


The contents Of the converter were
now poured into a huge ladle swung up
under it by the long arm of crane
worked by invisible power, and after
ward discharged into the open months
Of the smaller monsters il the pit, These
We're, of COURSE merely mOlds; and into
each was cast al ingOt of steel weighing
some six hundred pounds. The metal


was discharged from the bottom Of the
ladle, and thus kept separate from the
Stag, which fiOated on its surface and
was retained until the last. In twenty.
five minutes from the time we entered
the building we had seen five tuns o.
pig iron converted and cast into siS
hundred-pOund ingOts of steel.


Having given one glance at Ecssemer's
method Of lining his ladies aId cOuver
teTs, to enable them to resist the intense
heat Of the charge, and another at the
hydraulic machinery by means of which


lad on the little platform in the corner


could rotate the converter, and lift ladies


and ingots, doing the work of fifty men,


we passed on to the rolling mill, where
each ingot is heated and hammered (the
enormous steam hammer coming down
upon it with q resOUnding thUmpL then
reheated, and rolled out into a rail, to
be sawed off red hot at the right length


twenty-five feet) by pair of shrill cir
cular saws that do their work neatly and
swiftly, as if the steel were soft pine,
and pyrOtecnic spark-shOwers thrown
out like saWdust. Lastly, we saw the
strength of rail tested under repeated
blows from a N-shaped tun-weight of
iron dropped upon it from height Of
eighteen feet; and came away inspired
with high respect for Bessemer, both
as an inventor and a public benefactor.'