THE IRON SAND EXPERIMENTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4860, 19 October 1876, Page 3

THE IRON SAND EXPERIMENTS.

(FROM a COIIHESfONDENT.) New Plymouth, September 24,

The excitement' of the week has been iron sand. On the failure of Mr. Whatton in his experiment'with the Titanic' Company’s furnace to produce metal from the iron sand, Mr. E. M, Smith delivered a lecture on the subject of iron sand smelting, referring particularly to the unsuccessful trial just then concluded. He gave his . opinion as) to the reason of the failure, and made intolerably clear to all that he considered himself j fully equal to the’ task of successfully solving the iron-sand problem',, if only he was allowed the use of the! company’s plant and a fair trial. In his usually enthusiastic style he . took the matter up. A sum of money was subscribed, and Mr. Smith started for Wellington oh what; even most of the, subscribers thought, to he a forlorn hope. In duo course however he returned,, having got the directors of, the Titanic Company to sanction the , spending , of i£3oo, and' giving ! Smith the use of the furnace on condition of his getting a substantial guarantee that the furnace should be returned in as good condition as received. Considering that it was through Smith the company got Government to transfer, the land which all. the. shareholders, had longed for, it was thought most unreasonable that such a guarantee should be required, The agreement sent for signature was of a most stringent character. A guarantee committee was however formed, and the furnace was handed over and got ready, the committee in the meantime having endeavored to get the agreement modified. On Mr. D. Anderson’s (chairman of directors) arrival last Wednesday, it was hoped he would be prepared to sanction the proposed . alterations in the agreement. He would not, however, abate one jot —that or nothing the committee would have to'be bound by. - ■, , Hard as were the terms, the, order was given . to blow, in the furnace, and on Thursday the fires were , lighted for the trial. On Eriday morning, about half-past one, the, process of charging was commenced, and at a quarter past eight o’clock the blast was put on gently. The charges consisted of Smith’s patent compound; bricks, of prepared ore, beach stone, quicklime, and fuel (charcoal, and wood). It ,jir«B. calculated that- the, charges;would.travel

downwards at the rate of one foot per hour, the furnace being thirty-five feet. During. Friday and Friday night large numbers ,of persons went from town to the works. All sorts of absurd rumors were set afloat. It was generally believed the experiment would, prove a failure, The hearth was opened between 5 and S o’clock bh Friday night. Everything appeared to be right, but there was no appearance of either molten ,slag or iron. Mr., Whatton had been taken on by Smith as fumacekeeper.for one shift, and about four o’deck on Saturday morning he had come to the conclusion that it was all up, andadvisedthat the fur-, nace should be blown out to prevent gobbing. Mr. D. Atkinson and others thought differently, and on his suggestion a stronger blast was put on, and an alteration made in the charges. . As the first tapping had been so long delayed, little hope was generally felt that any good would come of the trial. About half-past one o’clock, however, on Saturday two horsemen came, galloping to town with the news that about half a ton of iron had been run from the furnace.. Ail who could possibly spare the time rushed off to the works. Specimens were soon brought to town. The next tapping was expected to take place about twelve at night. The extra force of blast arid other slight alterations appeared to bring the metal down quicker, and fit eight o’clock the furnace was again tapped for metal with a better result than at first. 1 The slag had run tolerably free, though rather stiff, from directly after the first tapping, Messrs. Smith and Atkinson remained on the works from the time the furnace fire was lighted. Mr. Blanchard, a furnace-keeper under Mri Whatton, also engaged by Srnith, stuck steadfastly at work for thirty-six hours. After the first tapping, and being satisfied. that all was going well, he went home for a rest, intending, to turn to again at six o’clock this (Sunday) morning. . After the second tapping the entrance to the furnace was attended to in the usual manner, and the greatest confidence was felt that all trouble in regard to smelting the; iron sand was past, and that, each tapping would -increase ■ the quantity of metal. About nine o’clock it was noticed that the slag.had not started to ruri, but little heed was taken. It was expected a few minutes would see it flowing. As it did not show by ten o’clock, endeavors were made to start it. Bars and sledgehammers had to be set to work, for it was found that the slag was caked hard on top of the dam stone. Under Mr. Smith’s direction vigorous efforts were then made to break through the wall of slag. For several hours the sledging and bar process continued. Shareholders and a large number of onlookers felt glum. The knowing ones amongst the crowd said it was all up—.the furnace was gobbed. All sorts of expedients were tried. Mr. Blanchard, who is about the only thoroughly capable furnace keeper amongst tie workmen (he having lately come out from England) was sent for, and with others set to work. Fears were entertained that the charge would have to be drawn, but by about four o’clock the caked mass of slag was broken through, and with a puff the furnace cleared itself of a mass of molten metal and slag. The furnace was refettled, and very soon everything was going along all right. The slag from the beach stone being found to be too stiff was discarded, and instead of it a quantity of common clay bricks was thrown into the furnace with the changes of ore. That alteration was made about five o’clock on Saturday morning. About eleven o’clock this morning (Sunday; the slag was found to be running freer than before. The common clay was beginning to have effect. A large crowd of onlookers was assembled in the castinghouse. For a long time Mr. Anderson was present. Mr. E. Ohilman stood out the experiment. The slag running so free, and the furnace on being opened showing all right, hopes of success ran high. Finally the metal showed itself on bars inserted in the crucible through the slag hole. Although the crucible of the furnace was not full, it was decided to tap for metal. ’ The result was awaited anxiously. The trough along which the metal should run to the moulds was cleaned out, and a stopper inserted so as to ensure the running of at least three pigs of metal- if possible. In a very short time after Mr. Blanchard had been applying a bar to the tapping hole, ’he was noticed to skip on one side lively. The metal - was running. For a few seconds there was no sound from the crowd present. Themetalcamealongin astrong broad stream, quickly filling the three first moulds, audit was found necessary to move the stopper further back. There was now great excitement, and short sharp cheers were given. Eleven bars, the size of ordinary pig iron, was the result of the tapping, besides which there was a long broad channel of iron extending from the furnace to where the moulds had been made. At a rough guess there would be a ton of iron that cast. The experiment was voted to be a thorough success. Messrs. Smith, Atkinson, Blanchard,andallwho were properly qualified to give an opinion, were thoroughly satisfied. The guarantee committee, on the metal being run the second time, being themselves satisfied that the experiment had proved that Mr. E. M. Smith had successfully overcome the main difficulty—he had shown that the iron sand could be smelted—desired to hand over the works to Mr. Anderson. He, however, refused to take charge on Saturday, and it had been partly agreed to order the furnace to be blown out. A meeting of the guarantee committee will be held to-morrow (Monday), when probably the order will be given to blow out, unless the directors take charge and continue the work. Mr. Sriiith would like to go on as long as fuel, lasts. , ’ The success of the smelting to-day has set all doubts at rest. . With Smith’s compound bricks, and practical furnacemen any quantity of metal can be made; and from the experience latterly gained, there is not the shadow of a doubt in the minds of those capable of judging but what the steel ,will he produced so as to P a - ■