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By N. Lilienberg

The success of European experiments in melting iron and steel with gases resulting from the decomposition of steam by incandescent coal, has encouraged me to design, with the valuable assistance of Mr. George S. Dwight, a plan for producing and burning these gases in a manner economical and efficient for metallurgical purposes. That this direction is the right one, is demonstrated by the repeated efforts made in practice, to introduce as much steam as possible with the blast in ordinary producers, thus displacing a certain amount of nitrogen. Such attempts, however, must always be limited by the cooling influence of the steam. The accompanying drawings represent the producers and the steel-melting furnace, arranged according to our first ideas which may be susceptible of improvement in details when put into practical

Jan 1, 1885

By Arthur F. Wendt

In the manufacture of charcoal-blooms, washing or cleansing of the ore from adhering gangue has been practiced for many years. A sluice-box is even to-day used for that purpose in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. For the Lake Champlain bloomaries hard magnetic ores are crushed with stamps and then sluiced or jigged in hand-jigs. The stamps used in the Lake Champlain region are of the most primitive kind. They consist of a trip-hammer, dropping on a perforated cast-iron plate, through which the crushed ore escapes. Only friable rock can thus be successfully treated. To render the raw ore friable, a calcining or burning in piles on a bed of cordwood is resorted to. An expense of 35 cents per ton of crude rock treated is thus incurred. The crushed ore is shovelled or otherwise fed into jigs without previous sizing, except such as is incidental to crushing through the perforated bottom of the stamping-machine. In jigging this ore, it is allowed to pass through the bedding into the "hutch." The tailings are scraped off and wasted. They contain a large percentage of fine ore. In many instances, this is regained by subsequent sluicing. Such was the condition of the industry, when the writer's attention was first called to it in 1882. No attempt had been made to introduce into thiS branch of ore-dressing the notable improvements adopted in concentrating the ores of other metals. The result of the writer's investigations was the building in 1882 of the "Crown Point Separator." At the Crown Point Mines, N. Y., lean ore unfit for the blastfurnace (containing less than 331/3 per cent. of iron), was concentrated and used in the bloomary connected with the mines. The ore was burned here as elsewhere, and treated as described. The plant designed by the writer for Crown Point, is nearly a counterpart of that since erected by Messrs. Copeland and Bacon, contractors, for the Theal mine, Putnam County, New York, which is illustrated by the accompanying plate. The only difference is in

Jan 1, 1885

By James P. Kimball

Jan 1, 1885

By George W. Maynard

In the Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute for the year 1878, in the account of the proceedings of the annual meeting in March of that year, when Mr. Bell read his paper On the Separation of Phosphorus from Pig-Iron, occurs the following statement, as part of the reported discussion of that paper: " Mr. Sidney Thomas stated that he had succeeded in effecting the almost complete removal of phosphorus in the Bessemer process. Experiments had been carried on at Blaenavon, with the co-operation of Mr. Martin, on quantities varying between 6 lbs. and 10 cwt., and some hundred analyses made by Mr. Gilchrist (who had the conduct of the experiments from the first) showing the removal of from 20 per cent. to 99.9 per cent. of phosphorus in the converter. He believed the practical difficulties in the way had been overcome, and that Cleveland pig might be made into good steel without any intermediate process. He hoped on a future occasion to lay full details before the Institute." I was present at that meeting, and I doubt if any one in the hall knew, either by sight or name, the young man who had dared to rise in that august body and claim that he had accomplished that after which the great metallurgists of Europe had been unsuccessfully striving ever since Mr. Bessemer's great discovery. I remember distinctly the pitying smile of derision and the stony stare

Jan 1, 1885

By Josef Westesson

No question in the metallurgical chemistry of the present day seems to be so difficult to agree upon as the determination of phosphorus in iron and steel. To my knowledge, there are at present at least three different methods in use in the iron laboratories of the United States, viz.: The citric acid method, the molybdate-magnesia method, and the direct molybdate method,—the last-named method having been lately adopted. Each of these methods has its advocates, who take every pains to prove its advantages, and the incorrectness of the others; and much has been written for the purpose of securing the use of a standard method—as yet, however, without any result. There is no doubt, or ought to be none, that each of these methods gives correct results, when it is carefully conducted and every precaution is taken. But it is not only correct results that we want nowa-days. The demand is great, also, for getting results in the shortest possible time. I think it has been sufficiently proved that the direct molybdate method, the weighing of the precipitate, answers well in both respects. Being a pupil of Prof. Eggertz, I have myself used his method for years until quite recently, as it is described by Mr. Troilius in our Transactions, vol. x., p. 166 (but with some slight modifications), and I can safely say that the results of this method agree well with those of the molybdate-magnesia method. I have, moreover, been checked, in a few instances, by some of the

Jan 1, 1885

By Robert W. Hunt

HAVING devoted considerable time to the investigation of the Clapp-Griffiths converter and the metal produced in it, it may perhaps be of interest to the Institute to learn the conclusions which I have formed. Of course, it is well known that the stationary converter of small size is the very oldest type of vessel used in the pneumatic process. Hence it will be only necessary to call your attention to the points which are special features of the Clapp-Griffiths. This converter has a slag tap-hole, situated at such a height in relation to the metal under treatment that, when the cinder is formed and boils up as the blow progresses, it can run off and thus be removed from contact with the iron, and will also be out of the way when the decarbonized metal is tapped into the casting ladle and the manganiferous alloy added. The manner of shutting off the blast, when the process is completed and the metal is being tapped, is another distinctive feature. The tuyeres are situated around the sides of the vessel, and enter the interior some little distance above the bottom; they are provided with plugs through the centers of which there are small openings. When the blow is completed, these plugs are forced forward into the outer orifices of the tuyeres, thus shutting off the blast, excepting the small quantity' entering through the passages named. While this is sufficient to keep the metal from running into the tuyeres, it reduces to the minimum the action of the blast while the metal is being tapped. Of course, this is of great importance, as in an ordinary stationary converter any delay in getting open the tap-hole means overblowing, and even while the first part of the charge is running out the oxidation is in frill force. Duplicate or movable bottoms are used, thus more than doubling the possible output of the plant. The pressure of' blast is quite light, never ex-

Jan 1, 1885

Jan 1, 1885

William Kent, New York City: I regret that I have not had the time since the Cincinnati meeting to make as complete a study of Mr. Salom's paper as I wished. I regard it as one of the most important papers that have been presented on this subject, and worthy of complete study. I started out, on the limited time I had, on a system of study which I would recommend to any one else who has leisure to complete the investigation. I took the original report presented at the Cincinnati meeting, and selected from it' such tests as had the analyses reported along with the physical tests, giving the amounts of carbon, phosphorus, manganese, etc., taking only those in which all these elements are given.

Jan 1, 1885

By Joseph D. Weeks

Manganese has, until recently, been most highly esteemed as a good thing to keep out of steel. Its value in the process of mannfacture has been fully recognized, but after it has played its part in the crucible or the converter, then the less of it the better. It is true that the mission of this metal and its influence upon the character of steel has been a source of much controversy. Our own Holley, in one of his special reports on ferromanganese: I, states that ''it has been suspected by some, and believed by a few, while it is still denied by many, that manganese as an ingredient in steel has not only a body-giving and toughening influence, but a positive neutralizing influence upon any excess of hardening or cold-shortening substances, as phosphorus." In another paper on the same subject he states that " it should appear from such facts as we have that manganese toughens" the structural steels, "increases their soundness and prevents red-shortness." Notwithstanding these rather guarded assertions as to its value, the general belief, it will be found, is with Dr. Siemens, that manganese is " merely a cloak to hide impurities," and its presence in steel has been endured, not welcomed. But whatever may have been the difference in opinion as to the

Jan 1, 1885

By Samuel B. Christy

At the last meeting of the Institute, several contributions were made to the subject of miners' aid funds. Such matters will always form important factors in the administration of large industrial enterprises. From the frequently remote and isolated position of mining properties, it is a subject that often forces itself upon the attention of the mining engineer. Local conditions are usually so variable that no single method can be found equally well adapted to all localities. At the same time, a study of different types is often suggestive and valuable, and it is with this in view that these notes are presented. The Miners' Fund of New Almaden is a remarkably successful example of what may be done for miners by a wise and at the same time firm management, by simply directing their own efforts and without incurring any great expense to the stockholders,—a practical consideration not without importance in most cases. The quicksilver mines of New Almaden are situated at a distance

Jan 1, 1885

By C. A. Stetefeldt

FoR the convenience of those who do not care to enter into the details of this long essay, I begin with a summary of the most important results it presents. The extraction of silver by the lixiviation-process from ores which have been subjected to a chloridizing-roasting, is based upon the fact that silver chloride is easily soluble in solutions of sodium or calcium hyposulphite, and that silver is precipitated from such solutions by an alkaline sulphide, with regeneration of the hyposulphite salts. In case the ore contains lead a large portion of the latter is and dissolved, lead sulphate being soluble in hyposulphite solutions. If, at the same time, copper is present, the sulphides precipitated from the solution, contain silver, copper, and lead, a combination of metals not desirable for subsequent treatment. Mr. E. H. Russell, of Park City, Utah, is the inventor and the patentee in the United States and several foreign countries of a new lixiviation-process, based upon the chemical facts discussed in this paper. Mr. Russell has discovered that lead can be completely separated from a sodium hyposulphite solution, as lead carbonate, by sodium carbonate or purified soda-ash, without precipitating any copper or silver. After decanting the solution from the lead carbonate, silver and copper are obtained from it in the usual way. This method of separating lead prohibits the use of calcium poly-sulphide as a precipitant for the sulphides, because any calcium entering the regenerated lixiviationsolution would also be precipitated as a carbonate with the lead by soda-ash. Hence, a sodium sulphide must be employed. A full investigation has demonstrated that this is by no means detrimental. Sodium sulphide and hyposulphite are more advantageously used in the lixiviation-process than the corresponding calcium-salts. Another defect in the lixiviation-process consisted in the necessity of a very perfect chlorination of the silver in the ore, because silver in

Jan 1, 1885

By W. Lawrence Austin

Jan 1, 1884

By W. P. Shinn

In a paper contributed by W. A. Goodyear, M.E., on "Water Gas as Fuel," read at the Boston Meeting, February, 1883,* the following statenlent was made: "The latest experiments on a scale of some magnitude in our citier, in the way of heating buildings and furnishing power for manufacturing purposes, have been by the distribution of high-presslire steam through pipes laid in the streets. Hilt these experiments (1) have not hitherto been very successful; and when we consider the high cost and (2) the great and unavoidable loss of heat and power, which always accompany the conveyance of high-pressnre steam to any considerable distance in pipes, to say nothing of (3) certain practical difficulties in the management of the pipes themselves, (4) it is evident that all such methods must eventually disappear before a system which can furnish a cheap gas of great heating power, easily distributed wherever wanted, without requiring pipes to stand pressures of 50 to 75 pounds per square inch, and (5) without keeping the whole mass of ground in the streets through which it passes hot, gratis, for a distance of ten or fifteen feet, in all directions around the pipes!' For the purpose of controverting Mr. Goodyear's statements in regard to steam-distribution in cities, I hare numbered the points made in his indictment, my principal object being, not a professional discussion of the technical and theoretical merits of steam vs. watergas, but a simple statement of facts, in regard to the present state of the street system of steam distribntion. Taking Mr. Goodyear's points in their order: 1. Concerning what he terms " These experiments," saying that they " have not hitherto been very successful," I propose to show, that the problem of stearn-distribution has passed beyond the experimental stage, and that its practical solution is highly successful. This will be shown by the facts hereinafter fully set forth. 2. "The great and unavoidable loss of heat and power whicn always accompany the conveyance of high-pressure steam to any con-

Jan 1, 1884

By W. L. Dudley

It is my desire to call attention to a new industry which was started about four years ago, through the discovery by Mr. John Holland, a resident of this city, of the methods employed in working the metal iridium. This metal has been known since the year 1803, having been discovered by Smithson Tennant while investigating the metallic residue which remained when platinum ores were dissolved in aqua regia. The metal is classed among the rare metals, as it is not found in large quantities, although it is quite widely distributed geographically. It is found in California, Oregon, Russia, East India, Borneo, South America, Canada, Australia, and in certain parts of France, Germany, and Spain. The principal sources of supply of the metal are Russia and California; it is nearly always found with either platinum or gold, is extracted from those ores as a by-product, and is always found in small grains or fine powder, the largest pieces being about the size of a grain of rice. In nature it is generally alloyed with other metals, and the two metals with which it is most commonly alloyed are platinum and osmium; the platinum alloy is called platin-iridium, and the osmium alloy osmiridium, or iridosmine. The grains of platin-iridium are

Jan 1, 1884

By Frank Firmstone, Kenneth Robertson

Peculiar crusts having appeared on certain irons made at Glendon and Pequest, which, in our experience, were entirely new, some analyses of them were made; and these analyses, together with an account of the manner of appearance of the crusts, are herewith submitted to the Institute. At Pequest the ores mere: & Peters, from Ringwood, N. J.; + roasted sulphurous ore, from Charlotteburgh, N. J.; and + red ore (decomposed magnetite), from Chester, N. J. The fuel was 7/8 Lehigh anthracite and + Connellsville coke, and the limestone a dolomite from Andover, N. J. The resulting iron varied in silicon from 0 84 per cent. in No. 1 foundry to 0.51 per cent. in gray forge; in phosphorus, from 0.81 per cent. to 0.55 per cent.; sulphur, 0.035 per cent.; manganese, 0.375 per cent. It was highly "chilling" in its properties, and very strong. In running, it invariably appeared to be of a lower grade than it really was; the higher grades scintillating as much as hard iron usually does. After getting into the moulds, and beginning to cool, a black crust began to show itself, seeming to exude from the pigs, till finally, when the iron was cold enough to break, it completely covered the face of the pigs. At this time it was dense black, but after some exposure to the air it ac .

Jan 1, 1884

By N. M. Langdon

ON account of its greater economy and cleanliness, and the extent to which iuferior fuels can be utilized for its generation, there has been of late a rapidly increasing tendency to substitute gaseous for solid fuel for metallurgical and other industrial purposes, which has led to various improvements both in the process and apparatus for its manufacture, notably among which may IN mentioned the Tessie Gas Producer* described by Mr. A. L. Holley. A considerable experience by the author with producers of various kinds using anthracite fuel, in connection with the Taylor ore-roast ing furnace at Chester, N. J., with more or less unsatisfactory resnlts, finally led to the erection of the experimental producer described below, which combines in its construction, simplicity, dorability, and accessibility for cleaning and removing the ash and manipulating the fuel. It is adapted to the use of various kinds of fuel, and is capa ble of generating a steady and uniform supply of gas at a minimum cost. It has been in constant use day and night for about five months, and has given very satisfactory results. The producer, as shown in the accompanying sketch, consists of a cylindrieal furnace, preferably inclosed in an iron jacket or casing, having a bosh or inverted cone-shaped base as in a blast furnace. It is provided with a bell and hopper, the bell being hung to a forked lever, and having guide flanges to prevent it from swing ing, and an opening at its apex through which to insert a bar for manipulating the fuel, which when not in use is closed with a plug or stopper. Cleaning is effected through two small doors placed opposite each other at the hearth level, which in order to facilitate the operation is elevated above the floor. The doors are removable, and when closed are by their own weight and by means of bevelled lugs held tightly against their frames, forming a practically tight joint. A blast of commingled steam and air is injected into the fuel through a series of tuyeres underneath the bosh communicating with steam jet injectors. A small flue also connects the door

Jan 1, 1884

By J. S. Harris

AS a result of the study of social problems to which so much thought has been given in this country and Europe in the last half century, many employers of labor have come to think that some provision should be made for their workingmen in case of injury. There has been a growing tendency so to administer the laws governing industrial pursuits in these countries as to add self-interest on the part of capitalists, to the plea urged by humanity, that every possible care should be taken to guard the workers from accident; but as no care can guarantee immunity, there is a necessity to supplement these precautions by some method of providing pecuniary aid that shall be available when disabling accidents do occur. It was once a favorite idea of theorists on political economy, that in the ideal state of society every man should take care of himself, and that the less care or control there was assumed by any man over others' private affairs, the better; but this gospel of selfishness has had its day, and it is now generally recognized that in the existing state of affairs the stronger and richer cannot escape the duty of being to some extent, the keepers of their less fortunate brethren ; and, on the other hand, that an assumption of care for them involving to some extent an exercise of authority, is not a thing to he necessarily and always resisted. Out of these convictions, many efforts for the amelioration of the condition of workingmen have grown—which or one result have produced various plans which combine the con-

Jan 1, 1884

By Alfred E. Hunt

The charge to be described was made in a seven-ton furnace, with a hearth twelve feet long and eight feet wide, with three gas and three air ports on each side. The stock of the entire heat was charged cold in one hour and five minutes, a part of the pig being first placed upon the bottom to protect it, then upon it the plate-scrap and blooms, and finally the remainder of the pig—some two thousand pounds. In fire hours and twenty-five minutes after beginning the charge the metal was melted down level, and two hundred pounds of hot twelve-per cent. spiegel was charged, care being taken to have it entirely immersed in the bath. In two hours more the bath was thoroughly melted and hot, and began to boil, i. e., the carbon began to be oxidized and evolved through the bath of covering slag as carbonic acid and carbonic oxide gases. Seventy-five pounds of lumps of Republic specular iron ore were added at this time, increasing the action, so that in ten minutes after the metal was in active ebullition. A test of the metal showed it to have about 0.90 per cent. carbon. One hour after the first ore was added a test was again taken, after thorough rabbling of the metal, and it was found to be 0.37 per cent. carbon. One hundred pounds more of lump Republic ore and about seventy-five pounds of limestone were then added, and fifty minutes later, after the bath was thoroughly rabbled, a -test showed the metal to have 0.23 per cent. carbon. Twenty-five pounds more of Republic iron ore were added and the metal allowed to boil for twenty minutes, when a test, after rabbling, showed the carbon to be 0.18 per cent. and the manganese to be 0.01 per cent.; the slag fracture was vitreous and of a very dark-green color. About forty pounds of limestone were added, and, the metal being hot and in a state of quiet ebullition, a hickory pole of twelve feet length and about four inches diameter, was run through the aperture in the centre door and held in a steady inclined position in the bath, with the end touching the bottom, the pole being shoved in further as it was burned away. The bath was carefully watched to see that the action that ensued was not too violent, the pole being several times

Jan 1, 1884

By Magnus Troilius

The method of using the bromine process of determining sulphur in steel, described below, is in successful use at the Midvale Steel Works. Ten grams of drillings are weighed out and put into the 1/2-liter flask A, with long neck. The flask is connected with a wide glass tube C', which, in its turn, is connected with the absorption bulbs B, containing HCI, 1.12 specific gravity, and ahout 5 C.C. of bromine. The wide tnbe C causes the vapor to condense and flow back into the flask A during boiling. The bulbs B connect with a long glass tnbe, which may be made to carry off the bromine fumes through a hole in a window, or, better still, through a flue with powerful draught. The connections being made, 100 C.C. of boiling water are run in through the thistle tube T. The air is thus completely driven out of the flask. 100 C.C. of HC1 (about 1.19 specific gravity) are then run in. When the gas begins to run rattler slowly through B, heat is applied until boiling gradually ensues. The steel being completely dissolved, the apparatus is disconnected, and the contents of B rinsed out into a beaker of 100 C.C. capacity, into which a few C.C. of a concentrated solution of BaCI, have been previously introduced. Heat is then applied (best by means of the hot iron plate) until the bromine is completely driven off and the BaSO, has settled nicely to the bottom. The BaSO4, is then filtered off on a small

Jan 1, 1884

Jan 1, 1884