The Iron Age 1892-02-25: Vol 49

‘THE Hydraulic Safety Stone Crusher. The Smith The principal feature underlying = construction of the stone crusher of ie drawings are here presented is the dis- placement of water in the cylinder by an entering plunger, the piston in the cylin being forced out and the der thereby movable jaw of the crusher operated. It +s evident at the start that this construc- tion by reducing the parts, and particu- larly by doing away with much of the friction always present in machines of or- dinary construction, not only reduces the wear and tear, but also decreases the amount of power required to operate the Baal He CO THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1892, the casing K. The screw R serves to reg- ulate the opening of the lower edges of the jaws of the crusher. It is evident that the stroke remains unchanged, since the displacement caused by the plunger is always the same, and, therefore, no matter what position the piston F may occupy in its cylinder the jaw H will move a cer- tain specified distance, which is always the same. If it is desired to increase the space separating the lower parts of the jaws the screw R is withdrawn, when the plunger F is then brought back by means of the spring K until its inner end strikes the end of the screw entering the cylinder and it is then ready for its forward stroke. A suitable by pass allows the water in the cylinder to accommodate itself to Vertical Section. IRON AGE Electro Aluminum-Plating on a Grand Seale. The vast difference separating the elec- tro deposition of metal upon an article the size of aspoon and doing the same work on the exterior surface of a building of massive proportions can be readily appre- ciated. The difficulties encountered in electroplating pieces of large size are far greater in proportion than when the work is applied to specimens of insignificant di- mensions. It is, therefore, conceivable that when a concern is ready to undertake the contract to plate electrically a surface of material amounting in the aggregate to nearly 100,000 square feet they must be End Elevation. THE SMITH HYDRAULIC SAFETY STONE CRUSHER. machine. Our views show the machine in section and in end elevation. Attached to | the wrist pin of the crank on the driving | shaft is a connecting rod, to the lower end of which is attached the upper end of the | plunger E, which is arranged to work | through suitable stuffing boxes in a cylin- der having connection with and placed at one side of the main operating cylinder, as shown in the end view. It is apparent that if the main cylinder and the hydraulic cylinder be filled with water and the plunger then be forced down the displace- ment resulting will cause a forward move- ment of the piston F, and through the strut B a forward movement also of the jaw H of the crusher. Upon the plunger E being withdrawn by the upward stroke of the crank, the movable jaw is drawn back or toward the left in position for a new stroke by means of a spring placed in these varying conditions. Since the di- ameter of the plunger is very small in com- parison with the diameter of the piston, and since the stroke of the plunger is long as compared with the stroke of the movable jaw, there is a great increase in leverage brought to bear on the material passing through the jaws, when we take into consideration the amount of pressure per square inch exerted by the plunger. A safety valve is provided, in order that should any material, like a lump of iron, drop between the jaws the water will be allowed to escape before the machine is broken. By regulating the screw R so that the jaws will attain the proper dis- tance required, any degree of fineness can be obtained in the crushed product. This machine is placed on the market by the Case & Redfield Machinery Company, 16 Court street, Brooklyn, N. Y. confident of their own ability to success- fully carry out the work, and must impart a like confidence to those for whom the work is to be done. And yet this is precisely what is now being carried on by the Tacony Iron and Metal Company at Tacony, Philadelphia. This establishment has the contract for plating the upper part of the tower of the Philadelphia Public Buildings. The un- usual part of the work is to be found not only in the great size of the separate pieces to be handled, but also in the material with which it is intended to cover the en- tire exterior. This, we believe, is the first case of any magnitude whatever in which an attempt has been made to plate iron with aluminum. The tower is now finished for a distance of 335 feet from the ground, and from that point the remain- der to a hight of 548 feet from the ground, 338 or 213 feet additional, will consist of au exterior of cast iron conforming in its ar- chitectural aspects with the lower stone portion and supported by an interior frame work of iron, The first story of the iron portion, the one immediately above the masonry part, will contain the clock faces, one face being upon each of the four sides. The frame work for this story is already in place, and the iron exterior has been fitted and assembled and dismantled, and only awaits plating with aluminum before final erection. ; A recent visit of a representative of The Tron Age to the works of the Tacony Iron and Metal Company showed that extensive prep- arations had been made in order to suc- cessfully carry out this work. A large building has been erected, at the en- trance of which one first sees six long tanks arranged in two rows of three each, and running down one side of the build- ing. These tanks are made of yellow pine and measure 26 feet long by 8 feet deep and about 5 feet wide, and in them all the Operations of preparing and plating the different members of the structure will be carried on. To illustrate the method pur- sued, we will suppose that a column of cast iron is to be plated with aluminum. A‘ its entrance into the building it is at- tached to an overhead trolley, running on a track extending parallel with the first row of tanks, or the one next the wall of the building In these tanks it is cleansed and brought to the proper condition, and at the end is taken by » cross track where it enters the first tank of the second row. In this the final work of preparing the column is accomplished, and in the next tank, or the fifth,from the start, the metal is electrically deposited. The final or sixth tank performs the washing operation, after which the column is taken from the build- ing. Each tank rests in a separate or inde- pendent cement pit, the top of which is on a level with the floor, which is also cemented and properly inclined so as to drain well, and in the cement pit so formed the wooden tank is placed. The pit is then filled with water, this construc- tion being followed in order that the pressure of water upon the inside of the wooden tank may be counterbalanced by water pressure upon the exterior. Any shape can be handled, and any dimension that will go in the tank, or that is not over 26 x 5 x 8 feet, can be plated. The plating will consist of pure aluminum placed directly on the iron. We were in- formed by H. C. Forest, the vice-presi- dent and secretary of the company. that they were now prepared to deposit any metal upon any other metal, provided the sizes were not too large to go in their tanks. An extended series of ex- periments which have been carried on at the works heve shown that it is possible to plate economically with aluminum di- rectly on the iron or to plate with the aluminum on a first deposit of copper. On the other side of the building are the several tools necessary for carrying on work of this character, and at one end is the electrical apparatus, which is being in- stalled by the Zucker & Levett Chemical Company of New York. Bronze Casting. The tower will be surmounted by a bronze statue of William Penn and at the base of the dome will be four bronze groups of the Indian and the early settlers. The statue of Pern is one of the largest ever cast, it measuring 38 feet in hight aod containing 50,000 pounds of bronze. It was cast in sections averaging about 4 inch in thickness. The edges of the seve- ral pieces were cast with flanges project ing toward the interior and through these flanges pass bolts holding the parts firmly THE IRON AGE. in place. The method of molding this statue was similar to that described in former issues of The Jron Age. —_—_———eE Random Shop Notes. Thin Iron Castings of Unusual Size. The Tacony Iron and Metal Company of Tacony, Philadelphia, now have the contract, which they are pushing rapidly toward completion, for furnishing the window frames for the new Congressional library building. These frames are built entirely of thin cast iron, the inside and outside moldings, the sash guides, sills and lintels all being of this material. Upon examining the work in progress we first noticed in one frame which we saw, measuring 18 feet high by 7 feet wide, the perfection of the joints. It will be understood that these casings are built up of many pieces of thin castings, and that the joints, both miter and square, occur very frequently, and yet it is not exaggera- tion to say that the workmanship here ex- hibited would compare most favorably with the same work had it been executed in wood. We were informed that they bad made castings of iron 17 feet long, 54 inches wide, and which were not more than ,°; inch thick in any part. These castings are of course not plane, being so molded as to conform with the out- line called for by the architect’s speci- fications. This work requires, in order that the proper degree of perfection shall be obtained, that the several parts shall be straight on the abutting edges and also that the miters and squares at the joints shall be straight and true. Two appliances which have been designed at the works are used to facilitate this operation, insure accuracy, and, above all, do away with the slow and expensive method of hand- chipping. In trimming down a beveled joint the piece whose end is to be beveled is secured at the proper angle on a bed which has a toand fro motion across the face of an emery wheel. The work can thus be fed to the wheel, thereby insuring not only a straight edge but also the proper degree, if it is a miter. The other machine is intended for the grinding of long edges which it is essential to make perfectly straight. In this case the piece to be straightened is bolted so that the edge to be operated upon hangs over the immovable bed to which it is secured. An emery wheel is then made to travel up and down in front of the work until the proper degree of accuracy has been attained. These machines have been found to serve their purpose admirably, and to do away with the noise and inconvenience resulting from chipping, and most essen- tially, to produce better work. Through the courtesy of the company we trust shortly to present an illustrated descrip- tion of what we may term the straight- edge grinding machine. The foundry of this company measures 200 x 140 feet, is equipped with cranes and all appliances for the handling of flasks and castings, and has a melting capacity of 32,000 pounds per hour. Emery Wheels for Tool Grinding. Recently passing through the shops of Pedrick & Ayer, in Philadelphia, it was noticed that their centrifugal emery wheel tocl grinders were distributed quite fre- quently through the several floors, and the question was asked as to what governed their location and also their number. It was stated in reply that they had found it economical in time to place one machine within convenient reach of every eight mep, this distribution being affected under the supposition that it was better economy to place the machines so as to be easily reached than it was to distrioute them less frequently, and, therefore, not February 25, 1899 a — only make the workmen go fi th ‘ also making them run the risk of mers but the machine and finding it already doin work for some one else, In the distriby tion they follow, placing Several machines on a floor, one to every eight men, the had found that it resulted in increased economy even when they considered the wear and tear in the machine itself, the cost of driving it and the interest on first investment. Working quietly in one corner of the shop we noticed a Millers Falls hack saw quietly cutting its way through a 4-inch steel bar. This saw, as perhaps most of our readers are aware, consists simply of a large hack saw arranged go gg to be driven by a pitman from a crank driven by a belt from the main shaft, It was stated that the saw did its work wel! although, of course, it was very slow in op. eration compared with saws of creater power, and that it had one advantage, jn. asmuch as the kerf was very small, not exceeding ,', inch, as compared with the kerf made by the ordinary cold saw arranged for doing the same kind of work which would be at least 4 inch. The Biggest Lathe in the World, William Sellers & Co., Incorporated, of Philadelphia, have just completed the first lathe cailed for in their contract with the Jovernment, intended for the turning and boring of 16 inch guns. This lathe is probably the largest ever constructed, and embodies the best practice possible in de- sigo, material and workmaaship. The lathe weighs 500,000 pounds and has a total length of 133 feet. Its greatest hight is 12 feet, greatest width 10} feet and its cost $76,000. This is the first of seven lathes to be built for the Washington Navy Yard. Some idea of the great mag- nitude of the tool may be had from the fact that the cast-steel face plate weighs 16,000 pounds and is provided with four adjustable steel jaws, and with a gear having 75 teeth of 4 inch pitch and 104 inch face. The lathe will have 14 speeds, rangivg in geometrical ratio from four-tenths of a revolution to four and three-tenths revolutions per minute. The bed of the lathe proper is of * cast iron, 79 feet 10$ inches long, with a depth of 9 feet. This is formed with four ways, two of which carry the tool carriage on one side, while the other two support the steady rests and tailstock. The bor- ing arrangement, or what we might term the tail extension of the lathe, is provided with a 6 inch steel screw 62 feet in length. All the other parts of the lathe are built upon the same generous scale. The face plate, of cast steel, was made by the Solid Steel Company of Alliance, Ohio. a Mexico has reason for renewed con- fidence in the United States, now that a committee of the Senate has reported ad- versely to hearing any propositions for the annexation of a slice of territory from the Northern States of Mexico, such as is supposed to be favored by Garcia and his adherents who are raiding the valley of the Rio Grande. This action is in accord- ance with the views of the present Secre- tary of State, who two years ago held ‘that the Government of the United ‘States is precluded by obligations of tra- ditional good faith from approaching the Government of Mexico with a view to acquiring any part of the Mexican ter- ritory.” Secretary Foster is opposed to the trans- fer of the revenue marine service to the Navy Department. He says: ‘‘The department which collects the major por- tion of the revenue for the support of the Government should have complete and undoubted control of the instrumentalities for its collection.” February 25, 1892 "The Mining Engineers. The Meeting at Baltimore. —_—_—_ annual meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers was openet at Levering Hall, Baltimore, by James Wes Tyson, chairman of the Local Committee, by introducing Mayor Latrobe, who pro- nounced the welcome to Maryland, - dially supported by President D. C. Gil- man of Johns Hopkins University. | After a suitable response by John Birkinbine, he institute, the secretary, The president of t Dr. R. W. Raymond, read obituary notices of Edward Nichols, the late presi- dent of the Brooks Locomotive Works, and of Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, the eminent chemist and geologist. The meeting was largely attended, among those present being: Dr. David T. Day of the United States Geological Survey, E. ©. Pechin of Roanoke, Va.; C. H. Roney, J. W. Cabot, E. V. D’Tnvilliers, J. F. Wilcox of the Pittsburgh Engineering Company, Pittsburgh ; David Baker of the Maryland Steel Company, W. M. Jolliffe, Buchanan; R. M. Blankenslip of the Old Dominion Works, Richmond, Va.; T. Eg- leston, 8. Stutz of Pittsburgh, W. H. Wiley of New York, American corres- pondent of London Engineering ; E. 8. Cook, president of the Warwick Iron Company, Pottstown, Pa.; W. H. Mor- ris of the Pottstown Iron Com- pany, Pottstown, Pa.; Harvey S. Mc- Leod of Troy, N. Y.; N. G. Roberts of Sparrow’s Point, Md.; A. 8S. McCreath, the well-known chemist, of Harrisburg; Chas. E, Billin and G. F. Knapp of the Pennsylvania Steel Company, Steelton, Pa.; W. H. Hoffman ot the Croton mines, Brewsters, N. Y.; R. P. Patterson, Philadelphia; James Gayley of the Edgar Thomson furnaces, Braddock, Pa.; J. D. Weeks, Pittsburgh, Pa. ; H. W. Lash, general manager of the Carbon Iron Company, Pittsburgh; Bur- dette Loomis, Hartford, Conn.; S. G. Valentine of the Colebrook Furnaces, Le- banop, Pa.; H. McCormick, Jr., of Har- risburg; Jos. Hartshorne, manager of the basic plant of the Pottstown Iron Com- pany, Pottstown; F. E. Bachman, man- ager of the Salem Furnace, Salem, Va.; F. B. Richards, manager of the Buena Vista Furnace, Buena Vista, Va.; W. B. Cogs well of the Solvay Process Company, Syra- cuse, N. Y.; Gus, C. Henning of New York; W. E. Coxe of Reading, Pa. ; Ober- lin Smith, Ferracute Machine Company, Bridgeton, N. J.; Chas. M. Schwab, gen- eral manager of the Edgar Thomson Steel Works; W. Burnham and W. Nieiison of Philadelphia, 8. H. Chauvenet, until re- cently general manager of the Virginia Development Compauy: 8S. T. Wellman, Wellman Iron and Steel Company, Thur- low, Pa.; H. M. Howe, Boston, Mass. ; Spencer Miller of the Lidgerwood Mfg. Company, New York; A. W. Fiero of the Robert W. Hunt Inspection Bureau, Chi cago, Ill.; Dr. Chatard of the United States Geological Survey, Dr. R. W. Ray- mond, New York, and C. Kirchhoff, editor of The lron Age. Among the large number of members elected were the following: George Best, Pittsburgh, Pa.; W. C. Coffin, Allegheny, Pa.; W. W. J. Croze, Negaunee, Mich. ; R. H. Dalgleish, Embreeville, Tenn. ; C. F. Frazer, Hastings, Pa.; Andrew Frost- berg, Republic, Mich.; Paul Farnum, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Isaac A. Harvey, Belle- fonte, Pa.; W. Keyser, Baltimore; H. McCormick, Jr., Harrisburg; Heinrich Macco, Siegen, Germany. E. V. Palmer, Negaunee, Mich.; George A. Pope, Balti- more, Md. ; George G. Stone, Chicago, LIl., and J. J. Williams, Youngstown, Ohio. The only paper uf the evening was an address by George F. Kunz of Tiffany & THE IRON AGE. Co., New York, on *‘ The Mining of Gems and Other Minerals in Hungary, Bohemia | and Russia,” bemg the observations made in a trip to the countries named. It was chiefly devoted to the deposits of the Ural Mountains. Among the interesting ob- jects shown were specimens of exceedingly tine castings made at the Kasli Iron Works, Asiatic Russia, the medallions and medals showing a beautiful surface. Mr. Kunz alluded also to the famous iron de- posits of the Demidoff estate and to the Russia sheet which is there produced. The session closed with an informal re- ception of the institute by President Gil- | man of Johns Hopkins University. The professional work was begun in earnest in The Second Session, | which opened with the reading of a paper by H. M. Howe of Boston, on ‘‘ The Copper Mines of Vermont,” followed by an abstract of a contribution by H. B. C. Nitze of | Chapel Hill, N. C., on *‘ The Magnetic Iron Ores of Ashe County, N.C.” As yet these magnetic deposits are inaccessible, but considerable prespecting done during 1890 has shown that they may be divided into three belts, having a general north- | east and southwest trend. The mest| easterly, the Ballou, or River Belt, crops out along the north fork of New River. | The ore is Bessemer, but the deposits do not appear to be very large at any one point. Two to three miles northward is the Red Hill or Poison Branch Belt, opened | at numerous points along the outcrop. At some points deposits of magnitude have been shown to exsist, the majority, how- | ever, being apparently mineralized belts | yielding ore comparatively lean. The third belt is the Titaniferous Belt, which is by far the most persistent and | shows a large quantity of ore. On the whole, the ores of Ashe County, so} far as developed, can be made available only by magnetic concentration, and none | of the deposits appear large enough to al- low of very cheap miving and the estab- lishment of the large plant which is possi- ble with great bodies of even very lean ore. | During the discussion, E. C. Pechin, Dr. Raymond and John Birkinbine re- ferred particularly to titaniferous deposits, their magnitude and persistercy geologic- ally. The president reported that efforts were being made to remove the ilmenite | in titaniferous magnetites by magnetic concentration. In one instance fair | success has been attained, about 70 per| cent. of the titanium being eliminated, | while the amount of iron carried off in the | tailings was relatively small. W. H. Hoffman of the Croton mines, Brewsters, N. Y., described the Sturte- vant mill, the features of which are widely known. He reported that on well roasted Croton ore he can granulate to 12 mesh 24 | gross tons per hour in a 20-inch mill, with an expenditure of 96 horse-power. The | cost for renewals compares as follows with | the different appliances used at various | times at the Croton mines: Common single-jaw Blake soft-steel cover rolls, 1% cents; Blake multiple crusher, 3 cents; rolls with chilled cast-iron covers, 44 cents ; Buchanan rolls with soft-steel cov- ers, 2 cents; Sturtevant mill, cent per | ing, 339 winter. He expressed the opinion, also, that the amount of gossan ore available has been considerably overrated, and that the deposits are in reality neither so wide nor so deep as often represented. S. G. Valentine of Lebanon, who has done much to bring the Davis-Colby roaster into successful use, stated that the re- ported shipment of heap roasted mundic from the Gossan Lead has not yet arrived. The object is to experiment in the Davis- Colby kilns with second roasting. The danger of matting during the heap roast- ing was pointed out. As soon as a par- tial fusion takes place in the first calcin- | ing, then it is practically impossible to get rid of the sulphur in any subsequent work inakiln. The difficulty of surmounting this trouble is such that heap roast- with its irregularities and the inability control them, is ruled out. W. H. Hoffman reported the to | results of an experiment made at the Croton magnetic mines with a lot of 100 tons of mundic sent there by A. S. Patterson. It was roasted in the Davis-Colby kilns at Brewsters, modified so as to use Lima oil. Sixty tons was roasted for 85 hours with a consumption of 800 gallons of oil, the sul- phur being brought down to 10} per cent. The experiment was then stopped, because it was necessary to use the kiln for other work. E. V. D’Invilliers of Philadelphia objected to the following statement by Mr. Moxham: ‘* The higher and more rugged the hills, the greater is the depth of the gossap; the mundic, as a rule, remaining in place with comparative uniformity.” He instanced a number of localities where the mundic rises with the crest of the hills. During the discussion the ship- ment of Ducktown gossan to the Middles- | borough furnaces was alluded to as a com- mentary of the claims for great local iron ore deposits made by Middlesborough boomers. The afternoon session was taken up with the presentation of a series of papers and the discussion on phosphates. The con- tributions were: ‘‘ The Phosphate Deposits of Florida,” by Geo. H. Eldridge of Wash- ington, D. C ; ‘* Phosphate Chemistry as it | Concerns the Mines.” by Dr. T. M. Chatard of Washington; ‘‘ Apatites of Quebec and | New York,” by John Stewart; ‘‘ The Asso- | ciation of Apatite and Magnetite, and a Con- tribution to the Early His:ory of the Phos- phate Industry of the United States,” by W.P. Blake. ‘‘The Green Maris of New Jersey,” by Professor Smock; ‘‘ Notes on the Geological Origin of Phosphate of Lime in the United States and Canada,” by Wal- ter B. M. Davidson, and ‘‘ The Phosphate | Deposits of Navassa,” by E. V. D’In- villiers. The Fourth Session. After the presentation by Spencer Miller of a series of lantern views, illustrating the handling of materials with the aid of aerial cables, the event of the meeting fol- lowed, in the paper by James Gayley of the Edgar Thomscn furnaces on ‘‘ The Preservation of the Hearth and Bosh Walls of the Blast Furnace.” We present this paper in full elsewhere. Duriag the discussion, in which a number of details were referred to by Mr. Gayley, E. C. Pechin described the bosh plates intro- ton of rock. The secretary then read an abstract of a paper by Edgar C. Moxham of Pulaski, Va., on ‘* The Great Gossan Lead of Vir- ginia,” which presented substantially the same information contained in a letter by Mr. Moxham to The Iron Age, December 31, 1891, page 1153. From the stand- point of the furmacemen, E. C. Pechin dwelt upon one of the serious drawbacks of the gossan ore, its high moisture, which at times brings the grade down to 33 per cent. He urged that the mining be done only in the summer season, and that the ore be kept stored under cover during | duced by him as early as 1876 at the Dun- |bar Furnace. W. H. Morris of Potts- | town, followed with THE CONTROL OF SILICON IN PIG IRON. | At the Glen Summit meeting the ques- | tion of controlling the silicon in pig iron | was raised; and as this has been deemed | by most furnacemen for years past a mat- | ter of special difficulty, an account of our | experience in the matter may be of inter- | est. | When running on mill iron, some years | 880. we aimed to keep silicon between 0.75 and 1 per cent. and were fairly suc- 340 cess‘), but when we had to make iron suitable for our basic Bessemer process we realized that much narrower limits and more uniform work were required. We endeavored as far as possible to obtain ores low in silicon, and by closely watch- ing the conditions of our furnace we have succeeded in securing an iron which runs below 0.45 silicon and 0.05 sulphur. Our best week’s work averaged 0.265 silicon and 0.05 sulphur: only 7 per cent. of the metal exceeding 0.08 sulphur. This was done with iron stoves. After remodeling our furnace and adding fire-brick stoves we have run for weeks at a time on ‘such standards as were fixed upon, with a varia- tion not exceeding 2 to 3 hundredths, though we have varied our requirements considerably from time to time. We have made a great deal of iron below 0.10 sili- con, and even down to a trace, in which sulphur did not exceed 0.017; and we have also run our phosphorus as high as 4.5 per cent. Such metal is very fluid in the runner and very brittle when broken inthe bed. The successful manufacture of a special iron of this grade requires very regular furnace work. Both ore and limestone should be as nearly unirorm as possible in quality as well as size, and the fuel should not be high in sulphur. We have tried varying proportions of coke and coal, and the size of our hearth seems well adapted to about half and half. If the furnace works more slowly or has a stoppage, it means higher silicon in the pig, and in case of a slip the same thing is true, with risk also of increased sulphur. If the furnace is run too cold the sulphur will all be in the iron. The sulphur in our pig runs from a trace to not over 0.03 per cent. and our phosphorus averages about 3 per cent., making white iron, somewhat resembling spiegel in its fract- ure. In a general way the control of the silicon in the iron means good manage- ment of the furnace, especially where close results are required on sulphur as well, avd this can snly be obtained by constant care and watchfulness in keeping all the conditions uniform. Of course the quality of the cinder and the heat r quired to melt it are important considerations. Our practice is to take and cast in chills samples of iron from the ruuner at the first and the latter part of the run, and the same from each flush of cinder. All our materials are analyzed as well as these samples of iron, and daily analyses are made of cinder, so that we can watch the furnace, not only in its running, but in the changes indicated by the iron and the cinder. If buyers wish iron of special chemical composition, they should name it in their specifications, and must be willing to give up the old method of grading. For in- stance, all furnacemen know that an iron graded as No. 2 or No. 3 foundry may sometimes run as soft on remelting as an ordinary No. 1, and the chemical compo sition vf such an iron would correspond to that of a No. 1, though under the present method of grading it would not be ac- cepted as such by a foundryman. I annex a few anylyses of casts show- ing remarkably low results in both silicon and sulphur, and also the average weekly run of our iron, which all speak well for the fidelity of our furnace manager. The figures for 1887 were got with iron stoves, and in running under a specification re quiring silicon not over 0.75 and sulphur not over 0.08. In 1891 we had fire-brick stoves and aimed at silicon not over 0.50 atid sulphur not over 0.05. Selected Casts Showing Remarkably Low Silicon and Sulphur. Silicon. Sulphur. Silicon. Sulphur. Trace. 0.017 Trace. 0.025 Trace. 0.086 Trace. 0.039 Trace. 0.041 0.0238 0.028 0.035 0.083 0.047 0.030 0.047 0.047 047 0.033 0.093 SP akbane ten 0.093 0.022 0.093 0.021 0.093 0.080 0.093 Ce a see kee, | saseen THE IRON AGE. Weekly Averages. Per ct. of 8 yrodauc Average. Highest. ee Week for. ending. Si. Ss. Si. s. Si. s. 1887. April 16....) 0.455 0.052 O.887 0.196 6.75 6.25 April 30.... 0.452 0,065 U.677 0.006 ...... 7.30 May 28...... | 0.265 0.050 0.658 0.001 ......) 7.40 June 4....../) 0.281 0.053 0.490 U.688 2.2... 6.25 1891. June 6...... 0.245 0.085 0.747 0.170 6.50) 16,00 July 4.. 0.312 0.024 0.700 | 0.098 8.25 | 11.25 August 8&.. 0350 0.024 0.980 0.082 13.15 | 10.60 August 9. 0.519 0.020 0.5138 0.050) 2.50)...... Sept. 5... .. U.285 0.021 0.560 | 0.083 11.50 TA October 10, U.298 0.029 0.746 0.148 12.60 13.60 An animated discussion followed, in which a large number of blast furnace managers present participated. Dr. Rav- mond read a communication by B. F. Fackenthal, Jr., from which we take the following: The analysis of the ore mixture at Dur- ham Furnace, and which was made up of seven eighths high-phosphorus magnetic ore and one-eighth puddling-furnace cin- der, was as follows: High phos. Puddling Lime- maynetic. cinder. stone Metallic iron . .........54.98 55.76 0.54 Aluminum... én oe 2.00 aia ou . 6.99 27.62 Magnesia . 1.2 a3 18.75 Silica ae yt 7 70 8.84 Phosphorus . 1% 2.31 0 027 Sulphur... se SEA RAR ‘ 0.€20 Tartaric acid.... . 1.38 : Previous to putting on this mixture the furnace was making Bessemer pig, the grade for several days previous being all No. 1. The slag was gray and carried about 37 per cent. of silica. When the basic mixture came down the color and fluidity of the slag remained the same, the additional proportion of lime being the only change noticed, even when makiog white pig iron, the grade aimed at being gray mottled. A complete analysis of the slag, being an average for four days, is shown. as follows: Ne. |. atpntn de meckeeeeneases yaeereen 32.73 Protoxide of iron............. 0.98 PI bi -ses~cenoe 9 51 Oxide of manzanese__...... ..... . 077 Lime ... = a 32 s4 PEOSRONS... «0 «sve oom 17.98 Sulphide of calcium...... ‘ 5 oss Bae Phosphoric acid... ae vee O22 Titanic acid , 2.35 Other analyses of slag showed 32.40 per cent., 33.50 per cent. and 32.94 per cent. of silica. Some of the white pig iron carried as low as 0.063 per cent. of silicon ; other tests showed 0.070 per cent. and 0.084 per cent. Seven different lots of gray forge and mottled showed, according to the Pottstown Iron Company’s analysis, but a trace of sulphur. Complete analyses of certain lots of pig iron are given in the following table, although they do not represent an average of all the iron made. The No. 2 was taken from a cast before the mixtnre was fairly at work: Gray Mot- No.2 forge. tiled. White. Phosphorus...... 2.900 3.920 3.980 3.620 ee 0.605 0.329 0.312 0.006 Sulphur .... 0.024 0.010 O.PR4 = 0.055 Manganese...... - 0.225 0.333 0.314 0.13) Combined carbon 1.045 1.258 0.816 2.271 Graphitic carbon 2. 1.936 1.987 0.079 Titanium.. .. ... 0.259 0.170 = 0.0238 Iron (by dif.)..... 91.755 92.396 93.725 Totals......... 100.000 100.000 100.000 100.000 It is interesting to note the decrease of titanium (after the mixture was fairly down) as the grade is lowered. During the time of our experiment the furnace worked uniformly and the output con- tinued to be about the same as it had pre- viously been running on our Bessemer mixture. The iron in running was ex- ceedingly fluid, and I was not able to dis- tinguish the different grades while run rr February 95 1899 i =" as ning. It cooled rapidly, and on beekin, from the sows was very dry. The ja the pigs appeared full and smooth being practically free from honeycombs bh owing to the high phosphorus the shrink. age was great. This was shown by > large, irregular wavy depressions op the face of the pigs, often 2 inches to3 inch : long, ¢ inch to § inch deep, the sides of the depression being square and not rounded, the sides and bottom of the pigs showed ; wrinkled surface and some of them oan checked and the tron was quite weak, often breaking by ordivary handling, A great many theories have been aq. vanced as to the control of silicon jn pig iron, I claim that the controlling influence is due to the character and composition of the ores, more than to the composition of the slag, temperature of the hearth, ash of the fuel, or to the management of the furnace. An ore mixture suitable for making basie pig iron (leaving out the question of phosphorus) will not produce iron high enough in silicon for f undry purposes, At Durham we are using 4 mixture made up mostly of magnetic ores and producing gray forge pig iron con. taining less than 1 per cent. of silicon, and we cannot produce iron from this mixture high enough in silicon for foundry pur. poses, but when substituting, say, one- half of brown hematite ores or any other ores in which the silicon is combined with the oxide of iron (the composition of the slag, fuel and other conditions remaining the same) the silicon is at once increased, our last experiment with a foundry mixt- ure produced iron carrying 3 per cent. of silicon. Several years ago, when making Besse- mer pig both at Durham and Pequest fur- naces, we experienced some difficulty in getting our silicon high enough. It could, of course, be controlled to a certain extent by an increased fuel consumption and by the composition of the slag, but the good and economical working of a_ furnace should not be disturbed, and besides there are other conditions and other chemical properties to be considered besides the silicon. At the Pequest Furnace, with a mixture made up largely of foreign ores, we produced Bessemer pig carrying about 14 per cent. of silicon; a substitution in the mixture of 10 per cent. of brown hematite ore (from Dutchess County, N. Y., carrying 0.04 per cent. phosphorus), immediately gave us iron with 2} per cent. silicon, the slag, fuel and other conditions remaining the same. If the silicon can be so easily controlled by the operation of the furnace, we might ask why our friends in the Bir- mingham (Ala.) district make iron so high in silicon. I am told that some iron arriv- ing in Philadelphia market some time since contained over 7 per cent. of silicon. Mr. Jamme says that rapid driving isa sine qua non for reducing high silicon in his pig. Pig iron low in silicon is not suitable for foundry iron, but with the Clinton ores from Red Mountain the trouble seems to be to get it low enough. In Mr. Robertson’s paper (Trans. XVII page 94), read at the Birmingham meeting, he gives the silicon in Birmingham iron as varying between 2.44 per cent. in No. 2 mill to 7.09 per cent. in No. 2 C; his gray forge (being one-half of each No. 1 mill and No. 2 mill) contains 2.65 per cent. of silicon. He mentions 13 different grades, including gray forge and silvery mill. I take it that these high silicons are beyond the control of the furnace manager and due entirely to the ore mixture. Mr. Cook of the Warwick Furnace, dur- ing 1888(Trans. XVII, page 127), was passing stock through his furnace in from 14 to 15 hours; his silicon averaged from 0.588 per cent. to 0.945 per cent. This iron, already too low in silicon for ordi- nary foundry purposes, could not be im- proved by fasterrunning, which Mr. Jamme as ros * i ne ; re ; % ? 5 SP GE ie 25, 1892 THE IRON AGE. 341 ential. Mr. Cook runs a very | ore and for shipping the products of the| with tables for handling the bars from the ay" gig I take it that his low os is ‘due, within certain limits, to his ~~ wT Bech of Salem Famnese mee that the use of heating furnace cinder de- d no tendency to make high-silicon velope hile W. E. C. Coxe reported that _ co hich-silicon iron in the Hocking 7 SS ae to 12 per cent. of sili- bs there was no trouble when using cin- or. nd native ore. E. C, Pechin re pete that in Virginia high-silicon and fow-silicon irons are made from the same stock, while G. F. Knapp of the Pennsyl- vania Steel Company stated that without changing the stock iron is made to speci- fication at the works In question at.any point within the range of 2 to 0.5 silicon at 24 hours notice. Dealing with the manufacture of low-silicon and low-sul- shur irons, Mr. Knapp presented the fol- lowing record: In one month the highest silicon was 1.14 per cent. and the lowest 0.03 per cent., the average 0.53 per cent., the average sulphur being 0.04, with 0.09 as the maximum and a trace as the mini- mum, In one week the silicon averaged 0.2 and the sulphur 0.04, while in three weeks of one month the average was 0.43 silicon and 0.03 sulphur, 80 per cent. of the make being below 0.5 silicon and 90 per cent. of the product below 0.05 sul- phur. . ; The meeting closed with an outline, by Johu Birkinbine, of the material collected by him for an address on ‘* The Influence of Market upon the Development of the Pig Iron Industry.’ Some of the data to complete the address have not yet come to hand, so that it will be presented in full at a later date. John F. Wilcox of Pitts- burgh, commenting on the address, stated that there will be an addition to the ca- pacity of the Pittsburgh district of 160, - 000 tons annually by three new furnaces. Two of these, we understand, are the fur- naces to be built at the Duquesne works of Carnegie Brothers & Co. Thursday was devoted to a trip to An- napolis, under the guidance of James G. Dagron, bridge engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, who furnished a spe- | cial train. The State House and the Naval Academy were visited, and a reception was tendered to the institute by the Gov- ernor of Maryland. In the evening the usual banquet was held at the Hotel Rennert. Friday was excursion day, the party starting by boat on a tour of the Patapsco River, the first point visited being the Cheasapeake Potwery, followed by an in spection of a part of the plant of the Balti- more Copper Company, one of the largest copper refining plants in the country. Then the party proceeded to the famous works at Sparrow’s Point of THE MARYLAND STEEL COMPANY, whose famous plant was inspected under the guidance of H. W. Wood, the president. _ The manufacturing plant at the present time consists of four blast furnaces, of which three have been in operation, and the fourth is ready for work at any time, Furnace C being the only one in blast at present; a Bessemer plant and rail mill; the marine department or ship yard, machine shop, pattern shop and foundry partly completed and in operation. All the buildings and other improvements on the property have been placed since the Penn- sylvavia Steel Company commenced opera- tions in 1887. In addition to the railroad facilities, a ship channel 27 feet deep and 150 feet wide connects the company’s wharves with the main ship channel 1 mile distant. Of the piers, No. 1, 40 feet wide and 600 feet long, was built in 1887; No, 2, finished in 1890, is 900 feet long and 100 feet wide. These piers will ac. commodate six steamers, are designed chiefly for the handling of cargoes of iron works; they will be equipped with the anost approved appliances for this work. The four furnaces now built are each 85 feet high and 22 feet bosh. The blast is supplied by double vertical condensing engines, built from designs of the com- pany. The blowing cylinders of these en- gines are 84 inches‘in diameter by 60-inch stroke. Steam is supplied by Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 4000 horse-power being allowed each pair of furnaces. The blast is heated in Whitwell stoves 70 feet high and 22 feetin diameter, of which there are four for each furnace. The blowing en- gines have been described and illustrated in The Iron Age. It may be noted that when the Bessemer blowing engine was off for repairs the blast for the ves- sels was furnished by one of the furnace engines. A very interesting feature of the plant is the arrangement for conveying the stock barrows from the bins to the hoist. Along the whole line of the stock house run on a depressed track two electric cars, on whose platform the stock barrows are run. They convey them to the stock hoists. Thus the labor of wheel- ing is reduced to the short distance be- tween the stock bin and the electric car, and from the latter to the stock house platform, the electric cars, of course, also handling the empties. The Bessemer plant is equipped to work with either direct metal from the blast furnaces or remelted metal from the cupolas. The plant is designed for four 18 ton converters, two being now in operation. When running on _ direct metal, the iron is put through a mixer, whick discharges on the general level, whence the ladle is lifted by a by- draulic elevator to the Bessemer platform. The most interesting feature of the Bes- semer department is, however, the casting operation, which was witnessed by the party. The pit has been abandoned, and the whole of the casting area is com- manded by an overhead ladle crane. The molds are placed in a vertical position on cars so designed that their mechanism is not subject to injury from splashing metal. The ladle hangs over the train of molds in a stationary position, the cars carry- ing them being moved mechanically as mold after mold is filled. When two ingots have been cast the car carry- ing them is taken off by a locomo- tive. In case of need, of course, the ladle can be moved by the overhead crane from mold to mold. The whole operation is exceedingly smvoth, and the effect of the abandonment of the pit upon the cleanliness and comfort of the Bessemer plant is striking. There can be but little question that the system in which the Maryland Steel Company have taken the initiative will become the standard ar- rangement for large Bessemer Back of the converter house is a very com- modious and complete building for work- ing and drying bottoms, &c. From the Bessemer department the in- gots are conveyed to the blooming mill. They are stripped by a double vertical | stripper and go to two blocks of pit heat- ing furnaces. The blooming mill is of the ‘‘ two- high ” reversing type, with rolls 36 inches in di- ameter, driven by a pair of 42 x 60 revers- ing engines. Beyond the rolls is a hy- draulic shear for cutting off the ends of the blooms. The blooms pass direct from the blooming mill table through the shear to the rail train, where ‘they are rolled into rails without reheating. The rail train is ‘‘three-high,” with rolls 26 inches in diameter, driven by two 48 x 66 Porter- Allen engines. When work is slack the train can be driven by one en- gine alone, one of the principal considera- tions kept in view in designing the plant being to allow of slow running economic- ally in dull times. This train is fitted plants. | different passes mechanically, and is ar- ranged for turning out finished rails six lengths (180 feet) each. The six-length rails are rolled on the lighter sections, the number of lengths being reduced as the weight of the section increases. The ob- ject is to keep the weight of the ingots uniform. Beyond the rail train are the sawing, straightening and drilling appli- ances, One particular feature of the hot beds is that the rails in cooling do not touch one another, so that little subsequent straight- ening work is necessary. On that portion of the property lying east of the Bessemer and rail department an extensive plant of open-hearth furnaces is projected, the product of which will be distributed among the blooming mills, plate and structural shape mills, to be erected in connection with them. The marine department, although not complete in its various details, is in active operation. - On the fitting-out pier, alongside which vessels will be taken as soon as launched, to receive their machinery and outfit, is being erected a machine shop of magnificent dimensions, and a hoisting shears of 100 tons capacity, the legs of which were being completed in the marine department. The other build- ings comprise the tool sheds, smith and ma- chine shop, joiner and plane shop, and dry house. There are now completed four slips for vessels 250 to 300 feet long, and others for larger vessels are to be added as re- quired. One steel seagoing tugboat has been recently completed, another is nearly finished. A side-wheel steamer 210 feet long anda propeller steamboat 305 feet long, for the service of the Baltimore Steam Packet Company between Baltimore and Norfolk, are now under way. In order to reduce the vibration toa minimum the triple-expansion engines will have two low- pressure cylinders. The machine shops, one section of which is now erected and partly in opera- | tion, are intended to produce the appa- jratus required for the extension of the manufacturing plant, and the engines and other machinery required by the ship- building department. The present shop is | one of three bays, of which the other two will be used as erecting and light tool shops. In the foundry heavy castings for the works and for the shipyards are being made and handled by hydraulic cranes, to |be aided by a 50-ton electric traveling crane which is nearly completed. On the return from the works, during | transit to the city, a brief business meet- ing was held. For Saturday a series of excursions to local points of interest were on the programme, while a small party went to the Indian Head proving grounds to witness a test of some of the modern guns. — $$$ The proportion of the exports of all arti- cles of food during the calendar year 1891, |as given by the Bureau of Statistics, is as follows: To Great. Article. Total exports. Britain. CBEIB i axicd cxcintvns - $28,365,894 $27,132,380 Ro a wiks aetaae 19,876,526 10,651,183 WEB i caccses 133,178,442 54,422,586. Wheat flour... 64,783,861 39,761,357 Beef, canned... 7,561,220 5,489,781 Beef, fresh ........ 16,634,448 16,590,965. Beef, salted... 4,291,023 2,187,559 I cs cdedacke S000 36,334,080 29,808 5 DS. ak caus wads 8,025,544 6,048,110 WOM avs aaaddases ? 4,475,409 1,174,054 ME eGad & és-.ecveded 31,073,394 8,951,151 C5. seseaeia --ee 7,198,719 6.006.793 OG i cc cccticuds $36] ,796,560 208,224,509 This makes the amount of the above articles exported to Great Britain fully one- half, or 50 per cent. of the whole, against two-fifths, or 40 per cent., for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891. 342 Blast Furnace Slags.—I. Their Calculation by Graphic Methods. BY A. J. ROSSI, NEW YORK. The operations described in previous articles (Zhe Iron Age, volume LVII, pages 426, 528, 578, 723, 821) take a longer time to explain than to execute. We will resume them in a practical man- ner, taking another example and illustrat- ing them by diagrams. Suppose that, having a mixture of ores of which the average composition is (first ore) : sass hs Slain Wieden Oe Li ) DN ere ... 3.90 | DN has 555 ceckaksinnetes 3 | 11.50, SEL. jon insissasnnmcai 4 {Sum of bases. eee 1 | and disposing of a coal conteining 10 per cent. of ashes, of which the analysis in per cent. of the coal is as follows: RC Eecetiwn UXneteckamae 6 Alumina 03.40 } Ta ale 0.60 | 4. NS rrr errr 0.30 Sum of bases. NEO cassie cenncxchssee 0.35 we have decided to use } ton of such coal per ton of ore. Were such an amount found deficient or in excess, it can, of course, be altered by the ironmaster. In the amount of coal used, } ton, there is then only as hundredths of a ton of each constituent: - 4. Silica, 6 x 94 = 4.50% of aton, or 100 ton. 3.00 All bases, 4 x 34 = 3.00 %, or —— tons. 100 Wishing to use a limestone containing: Spanien Sah Sausiew es 8 BN soe cxcieehnancend 48.50 } 51. ne 2.50 ) Sum of bases. We desire to calculate how much of such a stone ought to be used with 1 ton of ore and } ton of fuel so as to obtain a slag containing 35 per cent. of silica, the quantity of silica expected in the com- plete analysis and judged proper to insure for the slag a certain character of fusibil- ity and composition corresponding to the production of a certain grade of foundry iron aimed at. Taking a sheet of profile paper ruled to the millimeter, for instance, (or to the decimal of an inch), see diagram B, assume 2 mm. for each 1 per cent. of the constituents. The paper being ruled to the millimeter, each division will repre- sent + of 1 per