OUGHT IRON DIRECT FROM THE ORE.[1]

[Footnote 1: A paper read at the Cincinnati Meeting of the
American Institute of Mining Engineers, by Willard P. Ward, A.M.,
M.E., February, 1884.]

The numerous direct processes which have been patented and brought
before the iron masters of the world, differ materially from that now
introduced by Mr. Wilson. After a careful examination of his process,
I am convinced that Mr. Wilson has succeeded in producing good blooms
from iron ore, and I think that I am able to point out theoretically
the chief reasons of the success of his method.

Without going deeply into the history of the metal, I may mention the
well known fact that wrought iron was extensively used in almost all
quarters of the globe, before pig or cast iron was ever produced.
Without entering into the details of the processes by which this
wrought iron was made, it suffices for my present purpose to say that
they were crude, wasteful, and expensive, so that they can be employed
to-day only in a very few localities favored with good and cheap ore,
fuel, and labor.

The construction of larger furnaces and the employment of higher
temperatures led to the production of a highly carbonized, fusible
metal, without any special design on the part of the manufacturers in
producing it. This pig iron, however, could be used only for a few
purposes for which metallic iron was needed; but it was produced
cheaply and with little loss of metal, and the attempt to decarbonize
this product and bring it into a state in which it could be hammered
and welded was soon successfully made. This process of decarbonization,
or some modification of it, has successfully held the field against
all so-called, direct processes up to the present time. Why? Because
the old fashioned bloomeries and Catalan forges could produce blooms
only at a high cost, and because the new processes introduced failed
to turn out good blooms. Those produced were invariably "red short,"
that is, they contained unreduced oxide of iron, which prevented the
contact of the metallic particles, and rendered the welding together
of these particles to form a solid bloom impossible.

The process of puddling cast iron, and transforming it by
decarbonization into wrought iron, has, as everybody knows, been in
successful practical operation for many years, and the direct process
referred to so closely resembles this, that a short description of the
theory of puddling