44
MESSES. SCHNEIDER AND CO.’S WORKS.
covering, coolecl by a continuons stream of cold water.
The inside is divided into two equal parts by a separator,
which is also cooled by a stream of water. This separator
divides the charge, which is worked into two parts, the
charge being made into balls weighing each 10 cwt.
The inside lining of the chamber consists of a layer of
thin bricks, on which are placed in a red hot state,
for their object the production of chemically pure iron, i.e.,
iron containing no sulphur and no phosphorus, to be used
instead of Swedish iron in the manufacture of steel for
guns and armour-plates, for which purity of metal is
necessary to a very high clegree. The results obtained
have always given complété satisfaction. The numerous
analyses made every day show that with pig iron con-
Fig. 104. Multitubular Boiler ; Rotary Puddling Plant.
Blocks of ore held together by the liquid iron oxide,
which penetrates every joint.
Each furnace produces 15 charges of 1 ton each per
twelve hours, 6C|U(il to 30 tons of iron por twønty-foui
hours, or, for the three fui-naces, about 25,000 tons per
year. But as the consumption in the Siemens-Martin
furnaces averages 12,000 to 15,000 tons, the rotary
puddling plant is only in work during six or eight months
in the year, and two furnaces are used at a time.
The Creusot rotary puddling furnaces, which are built
on the same system as that of the Danks furnaces, have
taining .04 per cent, sulphur and .06 per cent, phosphorus,
the rotary puddling furnace yields iron containing hardly
appréciable traces of these impurities, while the iron
obtained in the ordinary hand-puddling furnaces shows
.015 to .020 per cent, of both. Messrs. Schneider and Co.
tried the rotary puddling furnace on one occasion with
pig containing .815 per cent, phosphorus ; the analysis of
the iron obtained, showed a residue of only .082 per cent.
The cost of transforming pig into refined iron with
these furnaces averages 30 francs (24s.) per ton of iron
manufacturée!.