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 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 ALFRED R. C. SELWYN, Director. 
 
 NOTES 
 
 ON 
 
 IRON AND IRON ORES; 
 
 BT 
 
 . T. STERRY HUNT, LL.D., F.R.S., 
 
 OHXUIBT AKD NINERALOOIBT TO THS 8DRVKT, 
 
 J^XTRACTED FROM A REPORT 
 
 ADDUK88£D TO 
 
 SIR AVILLTAM E. I^OGAN, F.R.S., 
 
 LATE DIBIOTOR OF THB BURVBT. 
 
 From the Reports 0/ the Geological Survey of the Dominion of Canwlafor 1867-09. 
 
 DAWSON BROS. : MONTREAL. 
 
 n. WEHTERMANN k CO.: NEW YORK. 
 
 SAMPSON, LOW, SON A MARSTON : LONDON. 
 
 F. A. BROCKHAUS: LKIPSIO. 
 
 BALLlbRK; PARIS. 
 
 Ib70. 
 
V 
 
 
 I n 
 
mm 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA 
 
 ALFRED R. C. SELWYN, Director. 
 
 NOTES 
 
 ON 
 
 IRON AND IRON OR 
 
 BT 
 
 T. STERRY HUNT, LL.D., F.R.S., 
 
 CHEMIBT AJiD MINERALOGIST TO THE 8UBVEV, 
 
 EXTRACTED FROM A REPORT 
 
 ADDRESSED TO 
 
 SIR WILLIAM E. LOG- AN, F.R.S.. 
 
 LATE DIRECTOn OK THE 8CBVBV. 
 
 From the R'tports of the Geological Surveij of the Dominion of Canada for 1867-6!). 
 
 DAWSON BROS. : MONTRRAL. 
 
 B. VVESTER.MANW k CO.: NEW YORK. 
 
 SAMPSON, LOW, HON k MARSTON ; LONDON. 
 
 F. A. BROCKEIAUS: LEIl'SIC. 
 
 BALLlfcRE; PARIS. 
 
 1870. 
 
t 
 
 * « • • • • • 
 
 ••• • • ••• 
 
 . • * • • 
 
 - • • 
 
 • • • • . 
 
 Ml 
 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 
 Iron ores op Swedes, Norway and Canada compared I 
 
 Mining ores and making clmrcoal 2 
 
 Weight of chBrcoal ; its cost 3 
 
 Mining laws In Sweden 4 
 
 Sulphur in iron ores ; roasting 5 
 
 Pliosphorus in ores ; manganese ; titanium 6 
 
 Ores of Dannemora and Taberg ^ 
 
 Working tiianiferous ores 8-9 
 
 Analyses of some iron ores 9 
 
 Hull ores ; Hull blast-furnace : cost of smelting 10-11 
 
 American blast-furnaces ; St. Maurice 12 
 
 Ore of South Crosby 13 
 
 Ores of Xorih Crosby and Helraont 14 
 
 Ores of Madoc and MacNab 15 
 
 Ores of Gros Cap and Hay of Seven Islands 16 
 
 Iron sands j their origin ; gold alluvions 17 
 
 Great lakes, St. Lawrence, Atlantic coast 18 
 
 Early workings ; Elliot in Connecticut; Naplea 19 
 
 Moisie sand-ore, occurrence, extraction, specific gravity 20-21 
 
 Bersimis, Seven Islands, Mingan, etc 22 
 
 Magnetic separation ; analyses 22-25 
 
 Making iron and steel by direct methods 2G 
 
 Catalan, Corsican, Osmund iind Genoese forges 27-28 
 
 German or American bloomary forge 29 
 
 Advantages and use of bloomarics in the United States 30-31 
 
 l'r('i)aration of ores ; Palmer ore-bed 32 
 
 Construction of bloomary hearths 33' 
 
 Mode of working ; New Russia and East Middlebury forges 34-35 
 
 Moisie forges ; comparative results, nature of sand-ore 3()-37 
 
 Impurities ; fluxing, loss of iron ; analyses of slags 38-39 
 
 Quality of Moisie iron ; cist of making blooms 40-41 
 
 Direct and indirect methods compared 41-42 
 
 Purifying oies ; Larue's magnetic separator 42-43 
 
 Direct processes ; Chenot's ; its cost ; Clay's and Renton's 44-45 
 
 Harvey's ; Guvlt's plan ; carbonizing iron by gases 46 
 
 Plans for working sands; Stenson, Moreau, Hodges, Wliclpley and Storer. 4 7 
 
 Treatment in crucibles ; Ponsard, .lohnson, Larue 48 
 
 Cast steel ; Heath's patents ; Ucliatius, Obuchow 49 
 
 Martin, Hessemer, Heaton 50 
 
 Sicmens's direct process ; Leckie's process 51 
 
 Siemens's regenerai i ve gas-furnace 52 
 
 Burning wet fuel ; the Lundin furnace 53 
 
 Boctius's gas-furnace 54 
 
 The Ellersiiausen process for Mali-karle Iron. . 54 
 
 Malleable castings ; old Welsh process, Tunaer's, Ellershausen's discovery 55 
 
 Theory of Eller»liau3cu's process 56 
 
 Dr. Wuth's analyses ; conclusions 57 
 
 Suggestions for practice ; clioic of ores 58 
 
 Mode of working; advantages of the process 59 
 
 Use of granulated cast iron ; Hewitt's results 60 
 
T 
 
 
T 
 
 NOTES ON IRON AND IRON ORES, 
 
 
 BY 
 
 T. STERRY HUNT, LL.D., F.R.S. 
 
 The following pages are extracted from the Reports of the Geological 
 Survey of Canada for 1867-69, and form a part of the author's report,* 
 dated Nov. 1, 1869, and addressed to Sir William E. Logan, F.R.S. , late 
 director of the Geological Survey of Canada. They have been written 
 especially for the design of aff ling information with regard to some of 
 the iron ores of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and the best modes 
 of working them. In a subsequent report, Ht is proposed to continue the 
 subject, and to add details respecting the ores of New Brunswick and 
 Nova Scotia. The reader will find, prefixed, a table of contents, which will 
 serve to shew the points herein discussed. 
 
 The iron ores of the Laurentian system are, for the greater part, of the or.>8 of Norway 
 
 '' ' o 1 . 5„|i .Sweden. 
 
 magnetic species, and are similar in geological relations and in mineralo- 
 gical characters to the ores which occur in the same system in northern 
 New York, and in the Highlands of southern New York and New Jersey, 
 where they have long been mined to a great extent. Similar ores, more- 
 over, abound in Norway and Sweden, where they occur in rocks of the 
 same age, and furnish great quantities of very pure iron, which is famous 
 throughout the markets of the world. Having had opportunities at the 
 Exposition at Paris, in 1867, to learn many facts about the iron-industry of 
 these countries, I have thought it would be well to embody some of them 
 in the present report, as likely to prove valuable to the mining interests of 
 the Dominion. A large portion of both Norway and Sweden is occupied 
 by old gneisses of the Laurentian system, which also comprise the greater 
 part of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. This geological resemblance, 
 with somewhat similar conditions of soil and climate, gives to any facts 
 relating to the mineralogy and metallurgy of those northern regions, a special 
 interest to the people of Canada. 
 
 In the year 1865, according to oflScial data, there were extracted in walking, 
 Sweden 492,474 tons of iron ore, employing 5,062 workmen. The mines 
 or openings from which this amount of ore was raised, are stated to be 524 
 in number, and some of them are evidently worked on a very small scale. 
 The workings are ordinarily by open cuttings upon the beds or masses of 
 ore, which are described aa being very generally in a nearly vertical atti- 
 
 • The numbers at the heads of the pages, in the outer corners, commencing with 245, 
 correspond with the pages of the volume from which these notes are extracted, and are 
 referred to in the text ; while the numbers in the inner corners are those of the prefixed 
 table of contents. 
 
Charcoal 
 making. 
 
 246 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [2 
 
 tude, and in solid crystalline rock, recjuiring but little support by tim- t 
 boring. The mineral is mined with powder, although nitro-glycerine ha:^ 
 been tried to some extent. The pay of the workmen ranges from thirty to 
 fifty cents per day, and the cost of the ore, when raised, is said to vary from ' 
 one to two dollars for the ton of 1000 kilogrammes (2205 pounds avoirdu- 
 pois). With the exception of a small quantity carried into Finland, the 
 whole of this ore is smelted in th ountry. The production of iron ores 
 in Norway is much less than Sweden ; about 22,000 tons are raiseil 
 annually, of which 2500 tons are exported, the remainder being smelted 
 in blast-furnaces with charcoal. At one of the most important of these, 
 that of Laurvig, where a remarkably fine iron is made for the American 
 market, the cost of the ore at the furnace is stated at §1.80 the ton. ^ 
 
 In Sweden, and in Norway, charcoal is the only fuel employed for the I 
 reduction of the iron ores, except in some rare instances, where a mixture " 
 of charcoal and dry wocd has been used in the blast furnace. Careful 
 trials, however, appear to show that this admixture offers no advantages 
 over the use of charcoal alone. About one-third of the surface of Sweden 
 is covered with forests, which constitute an important source of wealth to 
 the country, and of late years have been the object of care and attention, 
 with a view to a due economy of fuel and lumber. The trees of the Swedish 
 forests, with the exception of the southern peninsula, where oak and 
 beech are met with, are chiefly of coniferous or sof^woodcd species, and 
 the pine of the country (Pinus sylvestn%) is the one principally used for 
 metallurgical purposes, the timber being sawn or hewn for lumber, while 
 the branches are employed for the manufacture of charcoal. The wood is 
 cut in the months of March and April, before the I'ising of the sap, and is 
 divided into lengths of about eight feet, which are allowed to dry during 
 the summer months. The charcoal-burning takes place in October and 
 November, and is generally carried on in circular piles about twelve feet 
 ■high and from twenty to thirty feet or more in diameter. The burning of 
 a pile lasts from two to three weeks from the time of kindling. Expe- 
 rience has shown, in Sweden, that the economy is much greater when the 
 wood is laid upon its side in the piles than when placed on end. In the 
 latter case the yield of charcoal is from 60 to 62 per cent, of the volume of 
 the wood, while in the former it is not less than 70 per cent. According 
 to a Report to the Swedish Minister of Agriculture, Commerce and Pub- 
 lic Works, published in 1866, the average cost of labcr for a pile yield- 
 ing from twelve to thirteen tons of charcoal, is 8-4 francs, which is e(iual to 
 about f 1.30 for the ton of 1000 kilogrammes. This price includes the 
 cutting and drawing of the wood. 
 
 The cubic meter or stere of 35'317 cubic feet of pine charcoal in Sweden 
 flveighs from 142 to 145 kilogrammes, so that the ton of 1000 kilogrammes 
 
 -1 
 
 ar 
 
 81 
 he 
 
 us 
 
 Clll 
 
 thj 
 
 ac| 
 Ok 
 
1 
 
 [2 
 
 le support by tim- 1 
 aitro-glycerine has 
 nges from thirty to 
 s said to vary from 
 5 pounds avoirdu- 
 
 into Finland, the 
 iction of iron ores 
 D tons are raised 
 ler being smelceil 
 iportant of these, 
 for the American 
 .80 the ton. 
 employed for the 
 
 where a mixture 
 arnace. Careful 
 rs no advantages 
 irface of Sweden 
 rce of wealth to 
 re and attention, 
 !3 of the Swedish 
 where oak and 
 led species, and 
 icipally used for 
 1- lumber, while 
 1- The wood is 
 ' the sap, and is 
 i to dry during 
 in October and 
 )Out twelve feet 
 The burning of 
 idling. Expe- 
 eater when the 
 1 end. In the 
 f the volume of 
 t. According 
 lerce and Pub- 
 i' a pile yield- 
 liich is ecjual to 
 !e includes the 
 
 SJ 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. STERRY HUNT. 
 
 247 
 
 I 
 
 !oal in Sweden 
 ) kilogrammes 
 
 I 
 
 (2205 pounds) would measure very nearly 7 steres, or 247 cubic feet, 
 and the weight of the cubic foot of charcoal would be a little over 4 kilo- charcoal, 
 grammes, or 8.8 pounds, nearly. According to figures given by Grill, 
 however, (Percy, 3Ietallurgy of Iron, page 596) a ton of the charcoal 
 used in the Lancashire hearths, in Sweden, measures not loss than 297 
 cubic feet. In the American iron-regions charcoal is bought and sold by 
 the bushel, which is an arbitrary measure of about five pecks, equal, 
 according to Overman, to 2000 cubic inches, and according to Osborn to 
 2675 cubic inches, (the United-States standard, or Winchester bushel, 
 measuring 2150.42 cubic inches.) Taking the latter figure, we find that 
 the American charcoal-bushel of Swedish pine-charcoal would weigh a 
 little over 13.5 pounds avoirdupois. 
 
 The experiments of Francois, in the Pyrennees, give for the weight of the 
 cubic meter of charcoal of beech and oak, from 218 to 235 kilogrammes, 
 that of alder being 141, and that of pine and spruce from 152 to 173. lie 
 deduces as the mean for hard-wood charcoal 227, and for soft-wood, 170 
 kilogrammes, corresponding respectively to 21.9 and 16.4 pounds avoir- 
 dupois for the charcoal-bushel as above. (Jules Francois, i)es Min- 
 erais de Fer, etc., page 177.) The elaborate studies of Mr. Marcus 
 Bull on the charcoal from North American woods, give the following as the 
 weights, in pounds, of a bushel of dry charcoal from these kinds, among 
 others : red cedar 12.52, white pine 15.42, yellow pine 17.52, white 
 birch 19.15, and several varieties of maple and oak from 21 to 23 pounds.* 
 This last is confirmed by the observation of Mr. Kennedy, at the Hull Iron- 
 works, who informed me that a bushel of mixed beech and maple, such as 
 there used, weighed from 22 to 23 pounds. 
 
 The cubic meter is equal to about 22.8 charcoal-bushels of 2675 cubic 
 inches, and the price of the cubic meter of charcoal, which reaches at some 
 furnaces, $1.30, is on an average, in Sweden, 85 cents, or abort tostofcoai. 
 four cents the bushel. At the iron furnace of Laurvig, in Norway, the 
 cost of good charcoal is said to from to 60 to 70 cents the cubic meter. 
 
 In a few localities in Sweden, where water-courses afford facilities for 
 floating the wood to the furnaces, the charring is effected in ovens of a 
 peculiar construction, furnished with an arrangement for condensing the 
 acid and tarry products given off during the process. The plan of one of 
 these furnaces, shown at Paris, in 1867, was similar to that figured by Dr. 
 Percy, on page 125 of his first volume on Metallurgy, in which will be 
 found discussed in great detail, the whole subject of charcoal-burning, 
 on pages 107-142. 
 
 • Tbese results were published in the Transactions of the American Philos. Society, 
 for 1826, new series, pp. 1-GO, and are reproduced in the American edition of Knapps 
 Technology, i, 24. 
 
248 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [4 
 
 Law concerniii;; 
 mines, 
 
 Although the Swedish ores vary considerably in their richness, it may 
 be calculated that, in general, about two tons of ore are required for one 
 ton of cast iron, to produce which are consumed on an average about a 
 ton of charcoal. It is evident ther3fore that, for the same cost of pro- 
 carryingftiei. duction, the fucl Can be transported much farther than the ore. Charcoal 
 is often carried from localities where wood is abundant, to blast-furnaces in 
 the vicinity of mines, a distance of twenty or thirty leagues. This is done 
 in part by water or by rail, but for the transport of the ores from regions 
 not easily accessible at other times, sledges are much used in the winter, 
 which becomes the most favorable season for getting both the charcoal and 
 the ores to the furnaces, which are generally as near as possible to the 
 mines. In some cases the ores are carried for distances of ten or more 
 leagues ; but this is generally when there is a back-freight of iron or other 
 materials. The wages of a carter, with his horse, vary from $0.80 to #1.40 
 per day, and the cost of transporting the ore is from 6t\ to 9y% cents the 
 ton for the English mile. 
 
 The law with regard to mines in JSweden is as follows : The discoverer 
 becomes the owner of one-half, while the other half remains the property of 
 the owner of the land, who can work it by sharing the cost with the dis- 
 coverer, or dispose of his share in the mine. A permission to work a new 
 mine must be given by the magistrate ; and if left unworked during a cer- 
 tain number of years, without obtaining a special authorization from the 
 magistrate to do so, or without performing annually an amount of labor, 
 stipulated as necessary to retain possession of the mine, the permission 
 lapses, and the mine can be taken up again by another party on the same 
 terms as a newly discovered one. 
 
 Many of these mines are worked on a small scale, by little proprietors, 
 who sell their ore, or in other cases join their forces and construct, between 
 them, a blast-furnace at a cost of from 112,000 to $14,000. Much of 
 the iron manufactured in Sweden has, from the earliest period, been in the 
 hands of peasants and small proprietors. The manufacture of cast iron in 
 Sweden goes back aboiit 200 years ; previous to that time wrought iron was 
 made from the ore by a diroct method. Those regions where ore and fuel 
 furnished conditions favorable to mining industry, were formerly consti- 
 tuted into districts, which were invested by the state with certain privi- 
 leges, and subjected to certain restrictions, one of which was to export 
 beyond their limits all the cast iron manufactured within their respective 
 districts. All of these restrictions aie now, however, abolished. 
 Biatt-fiirnacu". The total number of blast-furnaces in Sweden is about 300, of which 
 219 were in blast in 1866, and instead of being grouped together, as in 
 some other countries, they are, with few exceptions, isolated ; a single 
 furnace being erected in some spot where a wator-power and facilities 
 
 of 
 
 a 
 
 bu| 
 
 491 
 
 full 
 
 or( 
 tlif| 
 
 3ull 
 
 pre 
 add 
 
[4 
 
 leir richness, it may 
 ire required for one 
 an average about a 
 e same cost of pro- 
 the ore. Charcoal 
 to biast-furnaces in 
 gues. This is done 
 J ores from regions 
 ised in the winter, 
 th the charcoal and 
 as possible to the 
 !es of ten or more 
 ;ht of iron or other 
 )ma0.80to#1.40 
 r to 9^V cents the 
 
 ' : The discoverer 
 ns the property of 
 cost with the dis- 
 ion to work a new 
 fed during a cer- 
 rization from the 
 amount of labor, 
 N the permission 
 arty on the same 
 
 ittle proprietors, 
 iistruct, between 
 000. Much of 
 'iod, been in the 
 3 of oast iron in 
 Tought iron was 
 ere ore and fuel 
 formerly consti- 
 1 certain privi- 
 
 was to export 
 heir respective 
 ihed. 
 
 300, of which 
 together, as in 
 ited; a single 
 
 itnd facilities 
 
 5] 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. 3TERRY HUNT. 
 
 249 
 
 v)f transportation are met with in proximity to forests sufficient to afford 
 a supply of charcoal, the deposits of ore being pretty widely distri- 
 buted. The amount of ore raised in 1865 has been already stated at 
 492,474 tons, employing 5063 workmen. The production of the various 
 furnaces in the same year was 226,676 tons of cast iron, employing 
 
 1 3683 workmen, whose wages ranged from 80.30 to $1.40 per day. 
 
 Composition of 
 
 ore*. 
 
 The ores vary in richness from the nearly pure magnetic or specular 
 ores, containing as much as 70 per cent of iron, to those yielding not more 
 than 28 per cent. The Swedish ores and irons have been made the 
 subject of very minute and extended chemical studies, with reference to the 
 proper composition of the charges, the nature and quantity of fluxes to be 
 ,; added, the various impurities in the ores, and the influence of all these 
 I upon the quality of the iron. Foremost in importance are considered 
 the influence of sulphur, phosphorus and manganese. Both sulphur and 
 I phosphorus are regarded as especially detrimental to the iron destined for 
 ' the forgo, or for the manufacture of steel, and from these impurities the 
 Swedish ores are generally very free, when compared with the ores of 
 England and France, a purity which they may be said to share in common 
 with the Laurcntian ores of North America. The observations which have 
 lieon made with regard to the Swedish ores, in this respect will, therefore, 
 for the most part, be equally applicable to our own. The sulphur of the suiphur. 
 Swedish ores is generally present in the form of pyrites or sulphuret of iron, 
 and may be expelled by resisting at a red heat, which completely oxydizes 
 this substance. If, however, carbonate of lime is present at the same 
 ; time, a portion of sulphate of lime is formed, by which some of the sulphur 
 is retained, and can only be removed by subsequent washing with water, in 
 which the sulphate is slightly soluble. It does not appear whether the 
 use of water is ever thus resorted to. The ingenious furnace of West- ciiciuation. 
 inann, by which tlie waste gases from the blast-furnace are employed to 
 effect the roasting and desulphurizing of the ore, is said to have been found 
 thoroughly efficient in Sweden, and is now in use at Kingwood, in New 
 Jersey, in connection with a blast-farnace, by Messrs. Cooper, Hewitt and 
 Co. In some cases the roasting of the ores in Sweden is two or throe 
 times repeated. The heat is so greai that they are more or less softened, 
 and show a commencement of fusion. The magnetic ores, after this 
 process, appear to be more readily rcduood than before, though the roasting 
 seems, from the result of analyses at Fahlun, to have but little affected tlio 
 state of oxydation of the iron. The favorable effect is probably duo, in 
 part, to the Assuring of the ore by the heat. The presence of even small 
 portions of sulphur in wrought iron renders it, as is well known, brittle 
 when hot, or red-short, as it is termed. For certain purposes, however, the 
 presence of sulphur in cast iron is not objectionable. Thus, for casting 
 
260 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 re 
 
 ( 
 
 cannon, according to Rinman, a very strong metal is obtained by adding 
 to the charge a small amount of suliihuret of iron, and in general for this 
 purpose a charge is preferred free from phosphorus, but somewhat sulphu- 
 rous. The sulphur causes a larger proportion of carbon to remain in a 
 combined state ; a very tenacious mottled cast iron is obtained, holding 
 about 0.09 per cent of sulphur, and the quantity may even rise to 0.30 
 or 0.50 per cent. The use of sulphurous ores, according to Rinman, like 
 that of manganesian ores, enables us to obtain ^Yhite iron when the furnace 
 is running at its ordinary rate, and without any overcharge of ore. 
 
 rhosphonis. Phosphorus, in like manner, though it renders wrought iron cold-short, 
 
 gives to it a hardness which renders it peculiarly valuable for some 
 purposes, as for boiler-plates, roofing-sheets, spades, shovels and hoes, and 
 other utensils which are exposed to severe wear. In the metal for these, 
 at least 0.1 per cent of phosphorus, and in that for fine castings as much as 
 0.5 per cent, is considered advantageous, as contributing in the latter case 
 to give greater fusibility and fluidity to the melted metal. But for the 
 manufacture of steel, phosphorus seems to exert a highly prejudicial 
 influence, and it appears from carefully-made analyses of Swedish irons, 
 that their value in the Sheflfield market, where their relative fitness for the 
 manufacture of steel has been determined by experience, is, as shewn by 
 Rinman, directly in proportion to their freedom from phosphorus. 
 
 The amount of phosphorus in the ores of Dannemora, Bispberg, and 
 some other of the Swedish mines does not exceed 0.005 per cent., while in 
 some others, as Gellivara and Graengesberg, it rises to 1.3 and even 2.0 per 
 cent. Some of these ores, like similar ores in northern New York, contain 
 imbedded grains of phosphate of lime or apatite. It is, however, to be 
 remarked that the whole of the phosphorus in the charge does not pass 
 into the ores, and moreover, that the proportion of this element varies in 
 diflfcrent parts of the deposit, so that liy a judicious admixture of the 
 phosphurctted with purer ores, the resulting cast iron will not contain 
 more than 0. 15 per cent, of jihosphorus, which does not render it unfit for 
 ordinary uses. 
 
 Mangnnesf. Manganese is also conceived to exert an important influence, in more 
 
 ways than one, upon the (juality of iron. The Swedish ores not unfre- 
 (lucntly contain a jiortion of this element, and when absent from any ore 
 it is sought to be supplied by mixtures containing manganese. While the 
 greater part of it passes intu the slags, a certain portion remains in the cast 
 iron, and to its presence it is customary to ascribe a jjeculiar fitness in the 
 resulting malleable iron for the manufacture of steel. It is, however, 
 remarked that manganese is often wanting, without any observed inferior- 
 ity in the cast iron. 
 The presence oi titanium, and its influence upon iron, is a subject which has 
 
 of 
 
 otl 
 st 
 a 
 on 
 
 U'O 
 
[6 
 
 ned by adding 
 general for this 
 lewhat sulphu- 
 :o remain in a 
 ained, holding 
 n rise to 0.30 
 ' Rinman, like 
 !n the furnace 
 )f ore. 
 
 ■on cold-short, 
 ble for some 
 ind hoes, and 
 3tal for these, 
 ;3 as much as 
 he latter case 
 But for the 
 7 prejudicial 
 wedish irons, 
 itness for the 
 as shewn bj 
 rus. 
 
 ispberg, and 
 3nt., while in 
 even 2.0 per 
 fork, contain 
 wever, to be 
 loes not pass 
 ent varies in 
 dure of the 
 not contain 
 r it unfit for 
 
 ice, in more 
 3 not uufre- 
 •om any ore 
 While the 
 3 in the cast 
 tncss in the 
 i, however, 
 ed inforior- 
 
 t which has 
 
 7] 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. STERRY HUNT. 
 
 251 
 
 of late been very much debated. While claimed by Mr. Mushct, and some 
 others, to exert a special and most beneficial influence on the quality of 
 steel, this is denied by others. When ores containing titanium are smelted, Titanium, 
 a small portion of this element, amounting in some cases to a little over 
 one per cent., passes into the cast metal, and is said to increase its strength, 
 besides giving it a peculiar mottled aspect. It seems, however, " doubtful 
 whether any titanium remains in the bar iron or steel made from such pig 
 iron, so that the improvement attributed to the use of titaniferous ore is 
 probably due to some indirect action, rather than to the actual presence of 
 titanium in the finished product. The evidence on this point is not suf- 
 ficiently clear to allow of any positive conclusion being formed." To the 
 above statement of Bauerman, I may add that I have failed to detect any 
 titanium in bloom iron made by the direct method from an iron ore con- 
 taining 16 per cent, of titanium, which will be described further on. 
 
 Some remarks upon the composition and the results of analyses of the 
 Swedish ores may not be without value, as serving for comparison with the 
 iron ores of Canada. The iron, both of Sweden and of Norway, is made, 
 with but few exceptions, from ores of the magnetic species. That of the 
 famous Dannemora district, which supplies a great number of blast-fur- JJ.^'in*™"" 
 naces, and produces an iron regarded as superior to all others for the manu 
 facture of steel, occurs as an irregular interrupted belt, a mile and a half in 
 length, which is imbedded in crystalline limestone, with a kind of petrosili- 
 cious rock, and has been mined to a depth of more than 100 fathoms. The 
 composition of difl'erent portions of the deposit presents considerable varia- 
 tion. Average specimens from one of the most important masses, sent ta 
 the Paris Exhibition in a roasted state, as prepared for the furnace, showed 
 considerable admixtures of silica, lime and magnesia, with some alumina. 
 The sum of the united protoxyd and pcro.\:yd of iron for these two ores, was 
 respectively about 54 and 08 per cent., equalling 88-5 and 48-0 per 
 cent of metallic iron. These two ores were almost destitute of sulphur 
 and phosphorus, and had the advantage, when mixed, of yielding 
 .1 fusible slag without the addition of any limestone for flux. Others 
 of the Swedish ores are much richer in iron than these, while others, 
 still, are very much poorer. Thus, at Taberg, an ore is mined, which tuIjitb ore. 
 consists of magnetic iron disseminated through a serpentine, (sometimes 
 described as a diorite), the magnetic oxyd constituting not more than one 
 half of the mass. This ore, which contains at the same time, from 
 t! to 10 per cent, of titanic acid, yields only about '2o or oO per cent of iron. 
 It is melted with about one-fourth its weight of limestone as a flux, and 
 gives a white mirror-like ca«t metal, which yields an iron much esteemed for 
 wire-drawing. Fuel being cheap in the neighborhood, tliis ore is exten- 
 sively mined and smelted. Bauerman states that attemjits were made to 
 
 . 
 
252 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [8 I 9] 
 
 ■Working 
 titauic oriM. 
 
 treat this ore, previously dressed so as to yield 43 per cent of iron, but for 
 this purpose it was necessary to bring it to such a finely divided condition, 
 that it was judged better to smelt it in its natural state, the expense due 
 to the increased consumption of fuel, being counter-*: alanced by greater faci- 
 lity in treatment. Besides this of Taberg, other similar ores have long 
 been smelted in Norway and in Finland. The ore from the Cristine mine 
 at Krageroc, in southern Norway, is described as a brilliant black titanife- 
 roiis magnetite, not very strongly attracted by the magnet, and intermixed 
 with grains of quartz, and of greenish-black hornblende, with a little magne- 
 tic pyrites. It contained no phosphorus, but gave by analysis 42.0 per 
 cent, of metallic iron, besides 15.10 of titanic acid and 19.9 of silica, with 
 a small amount of earthy bases. Inasmuch as many of our Canadian 
 ores are more or less tltauiferous, the following notes with regard t > the 
 smelting this and other titauiferous ores are of much interest. They are 
 extracted from a communication by Mr. David Forbes, in the Chemical 
 Neivs for Do raber 11, 18GS. 
 
 " The experience of the Scandinavian iron-masters has shown that the 
 only objection to the use of titaniferous ores is that they are found to be 
 more refractory in the blast-furnace, in proportion as they contain 
 a greater percentage of titanic acid ; and if much titanium is present 
 they require a so much larger amount of charcoal to smelt them as not to 
 render their employment profitable in a country where other ores free from 
 titanium can be obtained at a reasonable rate. After considerable expe- 
 rience in smelting the ore of Krageroe, which yielded a very good iron, it 
 was found unprofitable to smelt it alone, for the above reason ; but its use 
 was found beneficial when employed in about equal proportions with the 
 other ores of the district, which were free from titanium." Mr. Forbes 
 found, in his experience, that by employing a mixture of crushed quartz and 
 limestone as a flux, when the proportion of titanium in the ore did not 
 exceed eight per cent, or was reduced to this amount by admixture of 
 ores free from titanic acid, no difficulty was experienced in working this 
 ore cleanly and profitably. The iron produced was free from phosphorus, 
 gave but a trace of sulphur, and only <)'05 of titanic acid, which was sup- 
 posed to be mechanically present rather than chemically combined with the 
 iron. Another very similar ore from Eger, which contained 38'89 per 
 cent, of iron and T'lO of titanic acid, was found to contain too much 
 sulphur and phosphorus to be fit for bar iron, but yielded a good foundry-pig 
 metal, which gave by analysis 0'2C) of titanic acid. When smelted alone it 
 •was refractory, and did not yield a liquid slag, but it was readily fused when 
 mixed, as at Krageroe, with ores destitute of titanium. 
 
 The experience of the irou-masters in New York, who have endeavored 
 to smelt the titaniferous ores of Lake Champlain, generally in admixture 
 
 wil 
 sul 
 
 eni 
 ne| 
 coil 
 onl 
 
 viil 
 
 111? 
 
 inc 
 
 reel 
 
 se^l 
 
 ort 
 
 ma 
 
 ad 
 
[8 
 
 ; of iron, but for 
 vided condition, 
 he expense due 
 bj greater faci- 
 ores Lave lonit 
 e Cristinc mine 
 t black titanife- 
 and intermixed 
 I a little raagno- 
 lysis 42.0 per 
 ' of silica, with 
 our Canadian 
 regard to the 
 St. Thej are 
 the Chemical 
 
 hown that the 
 e found to be 
 they contain 
 m is present 
 hem as not to 
 ares free from 
 -lerable expe- 
 good iron, it 
 ; but its use 
 ons with the 
 ^Ir. Forbes 
 . quartz and 
 ore did not 
 admixture of 
 ing this 
 phosphorus, 
 ich was sup- 
 ned with the 
 38'89 per 
 n too much 
 foundry-pig 
 ted alone it 
 fused when 
 
 endeavored 
 admixture 
 
 w 
 
 9] 
 
 REPORT OF DB. T. STERRY HDNT. 
 
 253 
 
 with other ores, has been very unfavorable, but an attention to the above 
 suggestions might probably enable them to overcome the difficulties hitherto 
 encountered. Besides the great bed of ore at Bay St. Paul, holding 
 nearly half its weight of titanic acid, Canada has large deposits of ores 
 containing more or less titanium, some of which will be described farther 
 on. In the G-eology of Canada, page 501, I have shown that a massive Titanic ores, 
 granular titaniferous ore from St. Francois, on the Chaudierc, in the pro- 
 vince of Quebec, consists of a mixture of about two-thirds of nearly pure 
 magnetic oxyd of iron, and one-third of a titanic iron or menaccanite hold- 
 ing not less than 48 per cent of titanic acid. Tlie two are, however, 
 readily separable by a magnet, and it is probable that by a magnetic 
 separating machine it will be possible to make use of this and of similar 
 ores for the preparation of iron in the direct way, to which tlie purified 
 magnetic oxyd is well adapted. The iron sands, which contain a large 
 admixture of titanic iron, will be noticed in their placr. 
 
 In this connection I quote from Osborp's recently published volume on 
 the Metallurgy of Iron and Steel, page 47 J, the following statements, which 
 he gives as a communication from a Mr. Henderson, according to whom an 
 ore from Norway, holding over 40 per cent of titanic acid, is now sue 
 cessfully smelted at Norton, in England, by a process patented by Player 
 of New York. The ore is said to be smelted in small furnaces, with a 
 blast at lOOO'' temperature ; 2 tons of coal being required to 2i tons of 
 the ore, with 15 cwt. of limestone, and about 10 cwt. of basalt. The 
 pig-metal thus produced is stated to contain very little carbon, and to be 
 very easily puddled, producing a malleable iron of great tensile strength. 
 Such ores are necessarily poor in iron, as compared with magnetic ores, 
 and even if they can be readily smelted by the above treatment, it 
 remains to be seen whether their use offers any real advantage. 
 
 ANALYSES OF SnMK IRON ORES. 
 
 The bed of magnetic ore, which has long lieon known at Ilidl, is de.>- 
 crilied in the (.rcolomj of Canada, page 074. TIic association of a portion 
 of a red hematite with tlie magnetic ore, and of graphite with both, is des- 
 cribed in the Report of the Survey for 1800, p. 210. Since then a large uuii, oniaiio. 
 blast-furnace has been erected here, which for some time produced a 
 superior (piality of pig-iron ; but the working has been since aliandoned, 
 the economic results not being satisfactory. The two samples whose analyses 
 are here given had been prepared for that purpose hy Mr. Kennedy, the 
 director of the works, and selected so as to represent the average of the 
 ore smelted. One of these, designated at the furnace as the red ore, was 
 ci.ilnrcd by an admixture of hematite, while the other was known as the 
 black ore. The red ore jiave as follows : — 
 
 I 
 
254 
 
 Hull, red ore. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. [10 
 
 Perosjd of irou C6.20 » 
 
 Protoxjdofiron 17.785 = metallic iron 58.78. 
 
 Oxyd of manganese traces. 
 
 Lime, as silicate 76 
 
 Magnesia, as silicate 45 
 
 Carbonate of lime 2.66 
 
 Silica 10.44 
 
 Graphite 7i 
 
 Pliospliorus 015 
 
 Sulphur 280 
 
 99.295 
 
 11' 
 
 in 
 
 Call 
 
 witf 
 
 fl 
 
 The black magnetic ore of Hull contains a considerable amount of silica, 
 together with a portion of a hydrated silicate of iron and magnesia, which 
 causes the ore to yield an olive-brown powder. When the magnetic 
 portion is removed from the pulverized ore by a magnet, there remains a 
 considerable proportion of dull olive-colored earthy matter, which gives a 
 pale brown streak, and is readily attached by hydrochloric acid, with sepa- 
 ration of flocculent silica. In the following analysis of an average sample 
 of the ore the whole was treated together, and all of the iron is represented 
 as magnetic oxyd. Neither of the ores from Hull yielded any titanic acid. 
 
 and the black ore contained neitlier lime nor manganese. 
 
 It gave 
 
 .Magnetic oxj'd of iron 73.90 = metallic iron 53.20. 
 
 .Magnesia • 1.88 
 
 Ahiminn .61 
 
 Silica 20.27 
 
 Water 3.27 
 
 Pliosphorus 027 
 
 Sulpiiur 085 
 
 100.042 
 
 The height of the Hull blast-furnace is 38 feet, its diameter at the 
 boshes being 10 /j feet, and at the throat 4 -^^ feet ; the twyers are six in 
 rurnnce-chflrpo number. The charge at the time of my visit, in August 1868, consisted of 
 19 bushels of hard-wood charcoal, 460 pounds of the above ores, previously 
 calcined, and mi.xcd in equal proportions, and 110 pounds of flux consisting 
 of white crystalline limestone Go, clay 27, and silicious sand 18 pounds. The 
 furnace was then yielding gray pig-iron, at the rate of 56 per cent for the 
 ore, while the consumption of charcoal for the ton of metal, was 170 bushels. 
 This was made from beech and maple, and as I was informed by Mr. 
 Kennedy, Aveighed from 22 to 23 pounds to the bushel, beuig at the rate 
 of 34 or 35 cwt. of charcoal to the ton of iron. 
 
 The furnace was for a time in blast in 1867, and for a longer period, 
 
[10 111] 
 
 metallic iron 58.78. 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. STERRY HUNT. 
 
 255 
 
 in 1868. By the kindness of Mr. Phillip S. Ross, the secretary to the 
 Canada Iron-Mining and Manufacturing Company, I have been furnished 
 with a statement of the -working results during that season. 
 
 The furnace was in blast from April 27 to October 5, 1868, or 163 
 days, during which time there were coiisumed as follows : — 
 
 Working at 
 Hull. 
 
 imount of silica, 
 magnesia, which 
 
 the magnetic 
 bere remains a 
 
 which gives a 
 icid, with sepa- 
 verage sample 
 
 is represented 
 ny titanic acid, 
 It gave 
 
 lie iron 53.20. 
 
 meter at tlie 
 ers are six in 
 , consisted of 
 s, previously 
 ux consistiiii: 
 pounds. The 
 
 cent for the 
 170 bushels. 
 lied by Mr. 
 
 at tlio rate 
 
 Igor ]ioriod. 
 
 Hull ore 1835^;'^ tons. ^ 
 
 Arnprior (McNab) ore eOjf"^ tons- J 1896 tons. 
 
 Scrap iron T^^j " 
 
 Limestone (clay and sand not estimated) 211 " 
 
 Charcoal, soft wood at 4jc 133.573 bushels. % 
 
 " hardwoodatSc 95.947 " \ 242,782 bushels. 
 
 " mixed wood at 5Jc 13.262 " ) 
 
 Wood at $1.25 25J corda. 
 
 Peat, 80 tons, yielding of coke 21^?, tons. 
 
 Pig iron produced 1040-/u- " 
 
 The cost of the iron thus produced was as follows, per ton : — 
 
 For ore, fuel, and wages of men S22.C0 
 
 Salaries and general expenses 3.10 
 
 Cost of a ton of pig iron at Hull S26.50 
 
 If we deduct from the total amount of metal produced, the scrap iron 
 added, we obtain, as the average results during the season of 18G8, the 
 following figures : — 
 
 Daily production of pig iron 6^ tons. 
 
 Yield of ore per ton 54.5 per cent. 
 
 Charcoal consumed per ton of iron (at 5/|f(, cents.) 235 bushels. 
 
 Peat-coke " " " 47 pounds. 
 
 If we leave entirely out of the account the amount of peat-coke, and take 
 the average weight of the charcoal at 18 pounds to the bushel, we shall 
 have a consumption of 373 cwt. of charcoal to the tou of iron, while, with 
 hard-wood charcoal, there were consumed, as above, from 34 to 35 cwt. 
 In Sweden, according to Baucrman, the average consumption of charcoal, 
 for the whole country, is from 16 to 17 cwt., for the ton of white or mottled 
 pig iron, and about one-third more, or from 21 to 22 cwt., for the ton of 
 gray metal suitable for foundry purposes or for Bessemer steel. At 
 Langshytta, the consumption is as low as 13i to 14 cwt,, for the produc- 
 tion of white or mottled iron, while the very poor ores of Taberg, already 
 referred to (page 251), where the charge contains only 20 per cent of 
 ron, require as much as 50 or 60 cwt. of charcoal per ton. 
 
256 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 American 
 furnaces. 
 
 Hull iron. 
 
 [12 
 
 At the Greenwood furnace, near Marquette, on Lake Superior, is a 
 charcoal furnace in which the unroasted ores of the region are smelted 
 with a little crystalline limestone for flux, and yield 55 per cent of iron. 
 To produce a ton of gray pig iron are consumed 140 bushels of charcoal, 
 chiefly of maple, weighing from 16 to 20 pounds each, or about 23 cwt. of 
 charcoal. At the Wyandotte works, near Detroit, where the red slaty 
 hematite of Lake Superior is smelted, and yields on an average 65 percent 
 of iron, there are consumed 140 bushels of soft-wood charcoal, weighing 
 14 pounds to the bushel, or 17^ cwt. to the ton of iron. (Bauerman, 
 Metallurgy of Iron, 1^. 206). The recent returns from American blast- 
 furnaces, published by Prof. Egleston, of the School of Mines, New- York, 
 show that while many American charcoal-furnaces are still working in a 
 very wasteful manner, the consumption of charcoal in some in New York 
 and Michigan, is as low as lOU and 105 bushels. At the large blast- 
 furnaces of Port Henry, on Lake Champlain, where magnetic ores similar to 
 that of Hull are smelted with anthracite coal, the average consumption is 
 from 1.10 to 1.14 tons, equal to 22 or 23 cwt. of anthracite to the ton of 
 pig iron. 
 
 With these facts before us, it is clear that the rich ores of Hull, with 
 proper management, should be smelted with 22 or 23 cwt. of charcoal, 
 instead of from 35 to 38 cwt., the quantity actually consumed. This 
 alone is sufficient to explain the failure to produce iron profitably at Hull, 
 where the supply of rich ore is abundant, and the quality of the iron 
 made was excellent. 
 
 It is evident from the analyses of the ores above given that the addition 
 of sand and clay to the charge was unnecessary, and that limestone alone, 
 in proper proportion, would have been sufficient for the purposes of a flux. 
 A series of samples of pig iron made at the Hull furnace, was taken by 
 me for analysis, but the results not being yet complete, are reserved for a 
 future report. It may be stated however that a sample of the white iron 
 made Avith a mixture of peat-coke and charcoal, contained 0.085 of phos- 
 phorus and 0.28 of sulphur. This amount of sulphur may be due to the 
 considerable proportion which, in the form of sulphate of lime, I have 
 found in the ashes of some Canadian peats. 
 
 St. Maurice. — In the well known blast-furnaces of Messrs. McDougall at 
 St. Maurice, near Three Rivers, in the province of Quebec, where the 
 bo^' ores of the region are smelted with a hot blast, the charge consists 
 of 500 pounds of ore, with 25 pounds of limestone, and 16 bushels of 
 mi.xed charcoal. The results for the month of December, 1868, showed a 
 consumption of 26,272 bushels of charcoal and 372 tons of ore, with a 
 yield of 163i tons of iron, of which about eleven-twelths were soft grey 
 pig. This gives a production, for the ore, of 43 per cent of iron, with a 
 
 L3] 
 
 :onsl 
 \nal] 
 he 
 
 ess 
 fysisl 
 
 letl 
 
[12 13] 
 
 ake Superior, is a 
 ■egiou are smelted 
 5 per cent of iron, 
 ushels of charcoal, 
 or about 23 cwt. of 
 lere the red slaty 
 /erage 05 per cent 
 :liarcoal, weighing 
 ■on. (Bauerman, 
 a American blast- 
 ^lines. New- York, 
 still working in a 
 •mo in New York 
 Lt the large blast- 
 )tic ores similar to 
 ge consumption is 
 cite to the ton of 
 
 )res of Hull, with 
 cwt. of charcoal, 
 C'lisumed. This 
 rofitably at Hull, 
 ality of the iron 
 
 that the addition 
 limestone alone, 
 irposes of a flux, 
 e, was taken by 
 e reserved for a 
 f the white iron 
 I0.085ofphos- 
 y be due to the 
 'f lime, I have 
 
 5. McDougall at 
 5CC, where the 
 hargo consists 
 
 10 bushels of 
 8(38, showed a 
 
 of ore, with a 
 ivore soft grey 
 
 r iron, with a 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. STERRY HUNT. 
 
 257 
 
 lonsumption of 161 bushels of charcoal to the ton. The results of several st. Jiauri(», 
 malyses of the ores of this vicinity, made by me in 1852, are given in 
 ;he Geology of Canada, page 511, and show them to contain more or 
 ess manganese, and a considerable proportion of phosphates. The'ana- 
 ysis of a specimen of grey pig iron made at St. Maurice, in 18G8, gave 
 e the following results for 100 parts. 
 
 Iron not determined 
 
 Graphite 2.820 
 
 Carbon, combined 1.100 
 
 Sulphur 025 
 
 Phosphorus 450 
 
 Silicon 860 
 
 Manganese 1.240 
 
 The average produce of the St. Maurice forges is about eight tons of 
 iron daily, which is employed for foundry purposes, and is much esteemed 
 for railway wheels. Some four years ago, a small quantity of Avrought 
 iron was manufactured from it, in a hearth-refinery, but the quaUty of the 
 product was somewhat irregular, and the manufacture was abandoned. 
 It is proposed, in a subsequent report, to give the results of farther studies 
 of these and other irons. 
 
 South Crosby. A large deposit of magnetic iron ore is found on an 
 island in Mud Lake, on the Rideau Canal, in the township of South Crosby, 
 and not far from Newborough. (See Geology of Canada, page 674.) 
 Considerable quantities of this ore have been mined, and shipped to Pitts- 
 burg, and to Chicago, for use in puddling-furnaces. This ore, however 
 Jcontains, besides an admixture of chloritic matter, a considerable proportion 
 lof titanum, and more or less sulphur in the form of disseminated grains of 
 jpyrites. The specimen selected for examination was frctn a largo block 
 
 !sent to the Museum of the Survey, by the Messrs. Chaflfoy, some years 
 since. Its analysis showed the presence of considerable am > mts of 
 3 alumina, magnesia and water, which belong to the intermingled cliloritic 
 I mineral. The iron is calculated as magnetic o.xyd, although a portion, 
 I uncertain in amount, doubtless exists as protoxyd, in combination with the 
 ■ titanic acid, and with silica, besides that wliich enters into the com position 
 I of the sulphuret of iron present. An average sample yielded as follows ; 
 
 Magnetic oxjd of iron 69.77 = metallic iron 50.23. 
 
 Titanic acid 9.80 
 
 Magnesia 4.50 
 
 Alumina 5.65 
 
 Silica 7.10 
 
 Water 2.45 
 
 PhoBpborus 085 
 
 .South Crosby, 
 Ontario. 
 
 Sulphur 1.520 = pyritea 2.85. 
 
 100.875 
 
 1 
 
258 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF DAXADA. 
 
 [1^ 
 
 An analysM of another portion of this ore, by Dr. A. A. Hayes of Boston, 
 gave 1.49 of sulphur, 5.04 of silica, 4.42 of magnesia, and 16.45 of titanic! 
 acid. When the pulverized ore is treated with a magnet, it is partiallji 
 purified, the non-magnetic portion retaining the sulphur, and a large par 
 of the titanum. The magnetic portion equalled 74.2 per cent, and con- 
 tained 54.76 per cent of metallic iron and 5.70 of titanic acid. 
 North Crobby. North Groabij. A specimen of iron ore examined from what is said t< 
 be a large deposit on the land of Hon. George W. Allan of Toronto 
 is a bright crystalline magnetite, free from any visible trace of pyrites, and 
 containing but a small amount of sulphur. Its analysis gave 
 
 Magnetic oxyd of iron 30. 14 = metallic iron C-t.90. 
 
 Titanic acid 1.03 
 
 Uxyd of manganess traces. 
 
 Alumina 1.33 
 
 Lime 82 
 
 Magnesia .84 
 
 Insoluble 5.25 
 
 Pbospborus .COT 
 
 Sulpbur 120 
 
 99.537 
 
 The protoxyd and peroxyd of iron in this ore were separately determined, 
 and found to be exactly in the proportions required by theory for the 
 magnetic oxyd. The insoluble residue was chiedy white quartz, with a 
 little black mica and green pyroxene ; it was found in another specimen 
 to equal 10.80 per cent. This is a very fine and valuable ore, and the 
 deposit would seem to be worthy of careful examination. 
 
 Belmont. Bflmont. The great deposits of iron ore at Belmont have been des- 
 
 cribed in the Q-cologtj of Canada, page 676 and in the report for 1866, 
 page 100. Since that time, extensive mining operations have there been 
 carried on, and the ore has been shipped to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. 3Iuch 
 of this was found objectionable, on account of the considerable proportion 
 of sulphur which it contained, but an e.\«avation made in the immediate of 
 
 Sand-pit ore. the former workings, and on what is called the Sand-pit bed, has yielded "a 
 much purer ore, to which reference is made in Mr; Vennor's Report in 
 this volume, page 161. I obtained, by crushing several fragments of the 
 ore, taken from a pile at the furnace of Messrs. Shoenberger & Blair, in 
 Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, what seemed an average sample. It was reddish 
 from an admixture of hematite, and yielded 
 
 Magnetic oxyd of iron 72.80 = metallic iron 52.41. 
 
 Magnesia , 4G 
 
 Lime 35 
 
'•'■ [14 
 
 ^. A. Hayes of Boston, 
 'ia,ancl 16.45 of titani 
 magnet, it is partiall 
 )hur, and a large j_.' 
 ^•2 per cent, and con 
 titanic acid. 
 I from what is said t, 
 W. Allan of Toronto.^ 
 
 e trace of pjrites,andi 
 rsis gave 
 
 ^ = metallic iron O-t.90. 
 
 )arate] J determined, 
 I bj theory for the 
 kliite quartz, with a 
 1 another specimen 
 uablo ore, and thej 
 1. 
 
 3nt have been des- 
 e report for 18(36, j 
 as have there been 
 Jnnsjlvania. Much 
 derable proportion 
 1 the immediate of i 
 bed, has yielded a 
 Jnnor's Report in 
 fragments of the 
 erger & Blair, in 
 '■ It was reddish 
 
 stallic iron 52.41, 
 
 15] REPORT OF DR. T. STERRY HUXT. 259 
 
 Carbonate of lime 40 
 
 " "magnesia g^ 
 
 ^"'^ '.'. 3:50 
 
 Insoluble j^ -o 
 
 Phosphorus ^og 
 
 Sulphur f,,^ 
 
 101.142 
 
 The analysis of another sample of the Sand-pit ore gave of metallic Iron 
 48.99, water 3.(35, carbonate of lime 8.03, carbonate of ma-iosia U 48 
 and insoluble residue 1(3.52. The carbonates were removed, in botli 
 analyses, by acetic acid. The ore contains a considerable admi.xture of a 
 magnesiau silicate decomposable by hydrochloric acid, so that the inso- 
 luble residue contains a proportion of soluble silica, which, in the second 
 analysis here given, was equal to 4.25 per cent. The remainder was a silicate 
 of magnesia, iron and a little lime, approaching to pyroxene in composition. 
 The determinations given in this paragraph a. by my chemical assistant, 
 Mr. (jrordon Broome. 
 
 Madoc. The Seymour ore-bed in Madoc is described in the Geoloff>/ of Mad„c 
 Canada, page 6 1 0, and is further noticed in the Report for 18(36, pa<'e 98 
 It was formerly mined and smelted to a small extent, and is a fine -rained 
 magnetite, free from pyrites. The analysis gave me 
 
 Magnetic oxyd of iron 89.22 = metallic iron 04.23. 
 
 insoluble j0^2 
 
 Phosphorus „p, 
 
 ^"^p'"^^ ''.".!".!;;".! !o73 
 
 99.725 
 
 The solution of the ore in hydrochloric acid held neither lime nor man- 
 ganese. The insoluble residue was decomposed by heating with a mixture 
 of auorid and sulphate of ammonium, and gave magnesia 17.15 lime 11 01 
 protoxyd of iron 11 . 95, silica, by difference, 59 . 89. This is the compo' 
 sition of actmolite, a mineral which is occasionally found in radiatin- 
 masses in the midst of the ore. ° 
 
 iMcNab. The hematite of McXab is described in the Geolo.pj of Mo-ab 
 C««ai« page 6, 7. It has been mined to some extent, and shipped to tli^ " 
 Umted btates, and was also used in a small amount at the Hull iron- 
 furnace hi 1868, as already described. It is a purplish-red compact or 
 finely crystalline ore, and holds small quantities of silicious matter and of 
 carbonate of l.mo irregularly disseminated. An analysis by me made in 
 1847, and cited in the Geology of Canada, gave peimyd of iron 84 10 
 carbonate of lime 8.80, silica 4 . 00. A more complete analysis of anodic^ 
 specimen has since given me as follows : 
 
260 
 
 McNab 
 
 Peroxjd of iron 
 
 Carbonate of Jime.V.'.', 
 
 , , ^, " ningnesia 
 insoluble 
 
 Phosphorus 
 
 Sujpbur 
 
 """'"•'" «™VET 0. CV.... 
 
 [16 
 
 Oros Caj,. 
 
 ®5;^*J="«'«llic iron 59.09. 
 
 1.05 
 7.16 
 ■ 030 
 .065 
 
 99.125 
 
 Gros Cap, Lake Superior Th. A ■ 
 
 Bay of Seven 
 ■Jslnnci?-. 
 
 _Pero.X3-,lofiron... 
 ^iisolulile 
 
 Phosphorus ,'. 
 
 Sulphur 
 
 Tliis ore contained n„ 1,^ a„^ « ■ , °''°" 
 
 Tr"? tf P™ '"■■"»■ " '° '■"*''°' """" ™ "toe 
 
 ■"".^ ^ ofj;^^ Islands O ' 
 
 aver rtioh ea,ptie, in,„ lie Bav\rs " '"'r™ ''°»™ "» 'ho Ea„i<l 
 
 hundred yards frnm •* -^ °^ ^^ven Island^! thr, 1^^'' 
 
 "»'"e orlaio •: ta't '""' ■"»'' °f '-^0 l\Xd'-^ fr 
 
 Protoxydofiron. 
 Titanic acid .... 
 insoluble.... 
 
 '•'•''.'.'.'.■.■.■.';;; si's" =''"''""'■'= ■■■•o'' ss.^o. 
 
 C.35 
 
 90.42 
 
 XT '::;;" "r^'^ ^^ne ?:;x%"r" ■' "' '^f""»^^° 
 
[16 
 
 nietallic iron 59.09. 
 
 17] 
 
 UEPOhT OF DR. T. STERRY HUNT. 
 
 261 
 
 ^vhich occurs at 
 'een described hy 
 cimen of the ore, 
 '"ng results. 
 
 98.642 
 
 'licli was white, 
 
 as the Rapid 
 ' occurs, a few 
 ibedded in the 
 e e.vception of 
 y the bed and 
 lated at about 
 'J south, but, 
 t ascertained, 
 Jds imbedded 
 d some iron 
 ?e amount of 
 00 parts 
 
 iron 38.70. 
 
 not deter- 
 irated into 
 remainder 
 d of iron. 
 
 besides 8.30 of insoluble residue. The magnetic portion, contrary to what 
 might have been expected from the readiness with which it was attracted 
 by the magnet, contained not less than 24.80 per cent of titanic acid. It 
 was nearly free from silicious impurities, and almost wholly soluble in 
 hydrochloric acid. The existence of a highly magnetic compound, con- 
 taining so large a proportion of titanum, is interesting, and the substance 
 deserves further study, — meanwhile, as an iron ore, it must take its place 
 Avith the highly titanic ores, like that of Bay St. Paul, to which reference 
 has already been made. Should it ever be found advantageous to work 
 such ores, the deposit at the Bay of Seven Islands may be made to 
 furnish a very large quantity. 
 
 IRON SANDS. 
 
 The silicious sands of most regions contain a greater or less proportion 
 of heavy black grains, which consist chiefly of some ore of iron. The 
 source of these is easily traced to the crystalline rocks which, by their ' ""'< -muu. 
 disintegration, have given rise to the sands, and which, in addition to occa- 
 sional beds or masses of iron ores, generally hold disseminated grains of 
 magnetite, hematite, titanic iron (menaccanite or ilmenite of mineralogists) 
 and more rarely chromic iron ore. In the process of washing earth and 
 sand for gold, diamonds, or tin ore, considerable quantities of these black 
 iron sands are met with, and, from their high specific gravity, remain when 
 the lighter portions are waslicd away. The chromic iron ore is compara- 
 tively rare, and confined to certain districts ; the hematite, with the 
 exception of some crystalline varieties, is generally too soft to resist the 
 abrading forces which have reduced the solid rock to sand, so that the 
 black grains, in most districts, consist chiefly of magnetic and titanic iron 
 ores. In the gold-bearing alluvions of the Chaudiere region in Canada, 
 the sands obtained in washing for gold, when purified as much as possible t.oi«' »iiuvions 
 by washing, were found to hold eighteen per cent, of magnetic iron. The 
 non-magnetic portion was soluble in acids and fused bisulphate of potash, 
 with the exception of 4.8 per cent, of silicious residue, and the solutions 
 contained, besides iron, a considerable proportion of chromium, and 23,15 
 per cent, of titanic acid, derived from the titanic iron ore, which made up 
 a large portion of the sand. {Geology of Canada, page 520.) 
 
 The proportion of these ores to the whole mass of ordinary silicious 
 sands is, generally, by no means large, but the action of moving water 
 effects a concentration of the mixture, separating the lighter silicious grains 
 more or less completely from the heavier portions, which consist chiefly of 
 the iron ores, generally with a small quantity of grains of garnet. This 
 separation is eflFccted, on a large scale, by the action of the sea, under the 
 
262 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SmVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 Iron-3aud beds. 
 
 NewZoalaiicj. 
 
 "'ostorn iiikr 
 
 l^vol, ha., ,ome,i„,o, an-an^d "„ ; ! "'■''"""' "' ''^'«'"= "bo" e the .e 
 
 ■^"Tf ' wi.h the hghto,. mti^lZrZ'n 'T' "•"'=" "^» »-"■ 
 
 Accumulations of these ir„„ sanS,, '^°''°'''"'' '»-<'V- 
 
 Jbey are found on the she Jof G et 1.™' f"' ''" """^ -»«™s. 
 Baltic and the Jlcditen-aueaa, and al !?! ' *"« "'" l»*'^ of the 
 
 1° some parts of Hindostan and M. ■^'"' "'""""of New Zealand 
 
 "traced h, .ashing f^nuhe and fotrr '!'° «™"^ "' ^ - - 
 "atives m their primitive furnaces fl!, '''' ''""' ™r'»J""l by the 
 
 »cale- The iron sands of Ne,v Jah ™""f^"""'> of iron on a sJaU 
 
 attention from their groat .Z^ItkZ T" ""™'°'' ?"« "' 
 1^ shore of the northern island fromK'' ^""''''"'S to Hochstetter 
 180 .ndes, is bordered ,vith a thick ht'T '° ''"""''''' » "^'ta^o f 
 accordmg to different analyses, f™„j:^;;?!'™ »'-'"J. »hich contain 
 . ^" N"--"' America, black ir „ san, , ° ,™ P" «»*■ °f "tanic acid 
 ;n great quantities in the lo"er s j" ' "™^ f'""^' ^^'-^ occur 
 deacnbed, and are met with in sin ■^"™»«. «' "ill be hercafle 
 -uth.west.ard. along the v I e".." te' Tr"' "' ""»- P"'»^' " 
 Tims, a deposit of black sand ,"t (L ^'■>»™"oo and the great lake 
 attracted „„e attention, a w ' e , ".!'' f ..^^^^^Inron, „!ar S f„ ' 
 Lake Er,e this sand is, in some .la !%? '" "'""S ""' ""th shore „ 
 
 -ere it is said, made more tXulf^f '" "='' ''""""'^ *»' attomp s 
 "Oil .t with an admixture of bo^r Cf ^ ^°'™ ™"' '° '^»"«t it and 
 
 Zl' t, 'T™"*' N«f„,?co:rt ;j^^^ "'™ '~'«^ » " "last- 
 ■those black sands arp i;i-. • ^' ^'"ano. 
 
 ;-' of the Dnited'is^ ™^;;' "f J? ™™™ poi.t, along the 
 
 Mr Home, a steel-maker and cutle o T ". ^^'^''^'' ^^ '"^ letter from 
 
 17^.3 that, at that time, the Socie y Cly^'^ '' ^'^^^n, Mareh 3, 
 Manufactures was occupied with tho T ^"'^'^"'•^yonient of Arts and 
 - it was calied. Ah-eid; te i74 " o" T' '^^'^^''"-^ '^^^ - ' 
 Society, had made some un;ucce Ifu e'l '' ^^^"^'''"' '^ «>« ^W' 
 
 o< th.s magnetic sand, but i^tl veTr'n '' ''^'"•'""- ^'-^ "'^ 
 juantityofit, succeeded, as he to I ' ' ■'^''■"'^' ^''^^ving nrocured n 
 
 ^^^'^ ^^ ^^« weight of tine i^i^^:';:;;" r:::: ^ ^^ -^-^ ^'- - 
 
 ^io stems, however, to have'pub- 
 
[18 
 
 tion occasionally 
 ron sands, alon^ 
 luring the depo- 
 3 above the sea- 
 hich are seen to 
 I of to-day, 
 nanj countries, 
 borders of the 
 )f New Zealand, 
 of iron ore are 
 mplojed by the 
 iron on a small 
 !ted particular 
 
 Ilochstetter, 
 i> a distance of 
 ■hich contains, 
 of titanic acid. 
 es. They occur 
 
 be hereafter 
 3 points to the 
 'c groat lakes. 
 5 near Sarnia, 
 lorth shore of 
 that attempts 
 collect it and 
 ed in a blast- 
 its along the 
 Connecticut, 
 >d were suc- 
 tails relating 
 'resting that 
 
 1 letter from 
 3 Mr. John 
 
 , March 3, 
 f Arts and 
 black sand, 
 
 tlio lloyal 
 
 tlic nature 
 
 •rocured a 
 > than one- 
 
 have'pub- 
 
 19] 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. STERRY HUNT. 
 
 263 
 
 lished nothing upon the subject until after Mr. Jared Elliot had made known, 
 
 twenty years later, by a pamphlet and a letter addressed to the Society 
 
 of Arts, and subsequently by a letter in reply to Mr. Home's inquiries, EUiot's triau. 
 
 that he was then making malleable iron from the black sands, in blooms of 
 
 fifty pounds and upwards, by direct treatment in a common blooraary fire, a 
 
 process which seems, from his letters, to have been one familiar to him. He 
 
 describes the ore as yielding 60 per cent, of malleable iron, and as being 
 
 very abundant, and so free from impurity as to require the addition of 
 
 cinder or of bog ore. This nianufactnre of iron from the sand had 
 
 evidently been somewhat developed, for, according to Mr. Elliot, his son 
 
 had already erected a steel-furnace, before the Act of Parliament was 
 
 passed prohibiting the manufacture of steel in the colonies. Specimens of 
 
 the steel there produced wore examined by Mr. Home, and found to be 
 
 of excellent quality, very tougli, and not at all red-short.* 
 
 Throughout the essay of Mr. Home the sand-ore is spoken of as coming 
 from Virginia, a name which in the reign of Elizabeth was given to the 
 whole American coast from Canada to Florida, although in 1G43 the name 
 of New England was applied to the region which still bears that name. 
 It appears, hoAvever, that the so-called Virginia sand was from the coast of 
 Connecticut. Mr. Elliot's letter to Mr. Henry Home was dated Kill- 
 ingworth, Oct. 4, 1762. Killingworth is a town in the state of Connecticut, Connecticut, 
 on the shore of Long Island Sound, twenty-five miles east of New Haven, 
 and Avas the residence of the Rev. Jared Elliot, D.D., who was not only 
 a divine, but a physician, and a naturalist of great roput:. It is recorded of 
 him that " some considerations had led him to believe that the black sand, 
 which appears originally on the beach of the sound, might be wrought into 
 iron. He made an experiment upon it in the year 1761, and succeeded. 
 For this discovery he was honored with a medal by the society instituted 
 in London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Com- 
 merce." * 
 
 Notwithstanding this successful result, the iron sands seem to have 
 been neglected for the Inst century, both in America and in Europe. We 
 read, it is true, that such sands arc treated in open hearths (bloomaries) 
 at Avcllino, near Naples, and within a few years attempts have been made 
 in England to turn to use the iron sands of New Zealand ; but the first 
 successful attempts in this country were on the north shore of the lower 
 
 * These curioug details are extracted from a rare volume entitled E$tays concerning 
 Iron and Steel, (the first of the three essays being on " The American Sand-Iron,") by 
 Henry Home, London, 1773. 12mo., pp. 223. A copy of this scarce book is in the 
 possession of W, M. B, Hartley, Esq., of New York. 
 
 * Harber's liislurical Collections qf Conneclicut, page ,')31, The Rct. Jared Elliot, who 
 was a grandson of the celebrated John Elliot of Massachusetts the " Aiiostle of the 
 Indians," died in 1TG3, aged gcreuty-cight years. 
 
264 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [20 
 
 St. La\Trence. The great deposits of black iron sand on the beach 
 near the mouth of the Moisie River, having attracted attention, various 
 attempts to reduce it -were made. In January, 18G7, Mr. W. M. Molson 
 of Montreal, had the ore successfully treated by the bloomary process, in 
 northern New York, and the result proving satisfactory, several bloomary 
 furnaces were, in 1867, constructed by him at Moisie, and have since 
 been in successful operation. 
 
 It will hero be well to notice the nature and the composition of the 
 Moisio. iron sand at Moisie, as observed by myself in the summer of 1868. The 
 
 stratified sands at Moisie, lying about ten feet above high-water mark, 
 penetrated by the roots of small shrubs, and holding marine shells, were 
 observed to be banded by irregular dark colored layers, in which the iron 
 ore predominated. The same thing was afterwards remarked by me in 
 stratified sands at much higher levels in the vicinity. Where these sands 
 form the beach, they are exposed to the action of the waves, which effect 
 a process of concentration, on a grand scale, so that, it is said, after a preva- 
 lence of certain winds, great belts of nearly pure black sand arc exposed 
 along the shore. At the time of my visit trenches were being sunk to a 
 depth of five feet, on the shelving beach, about half-way between high antl 
 low-water mark. The sections presented alternations of nearly pure 
 silicious sand and of black iron sand, the latter in layers of from half an 
 inch to six inches in thickness, often with a small admi.xture of grains of 
 red garnet, which sometimes formed very thin coatings upon the surface 
 of the black layers. One of these latter, six inches in thickness, was 
 taken up by myself, and found to be very pure, as will be seen from its 
 analysis, farther on. It was easy, from these trenches, by means of 
 shovels, to remove, without much admixture, the thicker layers of the 
 moist black sand, which wotild measure from one and a-half to two feet out 
 of the five feet excavated. This material was piled upon the beach, and 
 afterwards carried to the washing-table. The supplies of sand-ore have 
 hitherto been obtained from the deposits of wet sand below high-Avater 
 level. Those at the surface, on the beach, have doubtless been recently 
 moved by the waves, but from the inspection of the layers in the trenches, 
 I was led to the opin')n that thoy were lower strata, similar to tliose seen 
 above the high-water mark, and, like- them, of considerable antiijuity. 
 They were found to contain marine shells in a crumbling and decayed 
 condition. It is said that these mixed sands of the higher levels yield, on 
 an average, by washing, about fifteen per cent, of black iron sand. When 
 this poor sand is spread upon the shore, and exposed to the action of the 
 waves and the tide, it is found to become concentrated through the washing- 
 away of the silicious grains. This process helps us to understand the mode 
 in which the irregular layers of rich iron sand have been formed in the 
 
[2a 
 
 on the beach 
 ttention, various 
 ■• W. M. Molson 
 lary process, in 
 3voral bloomary 
 md have since 
 
 iposition of the 
 of 1868. The 
 ;li-wator mark, 
 le shells, were 
 wJiich the iron 
 fked by me in 
 re these sands 
 ', which effect 
 I after a preva- 
 d arc exposed 
 iag sunk to a 
 "cen high and 
 
 nearly pm-e 
 from half an 
 ' of grai)i3 of 
 I the surface 
 ickness, wa::i 
 een from its 
 means of 
 yers of the 
 •0 feet out 
 
 hcach, and 
 nd-ore hnve 
 
 liigh-water 
 ou recently 
 10 trenches, 
 
 those seen 
 
 antiipiity. 
 
 1 decayed 
 s yield, on 
 
 k1. When 
 ion of the 
 > waahini'- 
 
 the mode 
 led in the 
 
 21] 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. STERRT HUNT. 
 
 265 
 
 midst of the deposits of silioious sand, in the strata which are now above 
 the sea-level. 
 
 The washing of the ore at Moisie, preparatory to smelting, is done upon washing tue 
 a shaking-table, about twenty feet long and four feet wide, with a sloping "'"'^" 
 and somewhat concave bottom. Upon this, by the aid of a gentle current 
 of water, a large part of the lighter grains, chiefly of quartz, are washed 
 away. 
 
 The specific gravity of the sand, in bulk, was determined by weighing «pooiflc graTity. 
 100 measured cubic centimeters of it, equivalent to 100 grammes of water ; 
 and the proportion of grains of magnetic ore was also deternlined. Of 
 three specimens from Moisie ; A was an average sample of several hundred 
 tons gathered in the manner just described, preparatory to washing ; B, 
 a portion taken by myself from a layer six inches thick, about three feet 
 below the surface of the beach ; and €, the washed ore, as prepared for the 
 bloomary fire. In this connection are given the results of some similar 
 determinations with iron sandj from other localities. 
 
 Svecijic gravity. Magnetic. 
 
 Moisie, A 2.82 46'3 per cent. 
 
 Moisie, B 2-88 49-3 
 
 Moisie, C 2-97 fi2'0 
 
 Mingan 2-84 48'3 
 
 liergiinla 2-81 34-3 
 
 Natasquan — 55-7 
 
 Kagaslika — 24°0 
 
 13ali3can — 65-0 
 
 The specific gravity of the siliclous sand with which these iron sands 
 are associated, was found, when determined in bulk, as above, to be about 
 2.00. It consists chiefly of quartz, whose real specific gravity is about 
 2.05 ; that of magnetic iron ore being about 5.18, while the titanic iron 
 ore is about 4.70, and the associated garnet not far from 4.0. The amount 
 of material removed in the process of washing at Moisie is not very great, 
 as may bo seen by comparing the proportion of magnetic grains in A and 
 C, the Moisie sand before and after washing. The latter was found by 
 analysis to contain about 6.5 p. c. of insoluble matter, chiefly silicious 
 sand, the remainder being almost entirely oxyd of iron and titanic acid. 
 
 The sand of Batiscan, mentioned above, had been purified by washing. 
 Considerable deposits near Ghamplain, contain, according to Dr. Larue, 
 about 10.0 per cent, of magnetic ore, the remainder being chiefly silicious 
 sand. The specimens from Bersimis, Mingan, Natasquan and Kagashka, 
 however, though collected, as I was informed, without washing, compare 
 favorably with those from Moisie, and, with the exception of Bersimis, even 
 
266 
 
 «^O.OGI0AL SURv.y OP a.X.D.. 
 
 BersiiD's, 
 
 •Bay of Seven 
 JslaiiUs, 
 
 Jlingan. 
 
 Q«ebec,who has paid mucra „«„„ It™'''^ '" 1™' UniveSj 
 l«™ce, and colkcted himself ,l! " "■"" '»"'"' "^ «>» lower & 
 
 locah.^ he has given n,e Sevres i,r'r " '""^ ^'-'"''^' of "hfch 
 ;>.ccu„„lati„„, of sand on fte be, 'f r'"' ^'^'*» *e considelb e 
 
 mt:?" ™*' *"° '«^- of's :: Tow'' "'r' *- '-'"»- 
 
 ma«nel,c ore, and separated by a strati „ft«- "T' ^° P""- ««'• of 
 containing very little ir„„. j.,' , ™f 7 ""o"-- mehes of a gray sind 
 
 fr : rf'f '" "»»» f-' * I't s rr t™ 't' """-««- 
 
 and h d\ 'f ''™''"« "ontai^ed b„ 343 1' ™ '""' «™. "■" =a».I 
 iind had a speeifle gravity of " si . ,i. ° P" '™'- of magnetic ore 
 
 :r.h s?:^;';f ih '"^'^'^•^^'tt "»"; '°"- " 
 
 wese ^vil] be found farther on. " ' ' ^^'^^ ^"^lyses of both 
 
 ;^ ^;Sd at ^b- :':,:! r: ^r- '» ^'"'■-' - «- -^ ^oisie 
 
 ^^■B»y »f S«venIsla„ds°to tl°„ tr:?;r«'^.''" "'"* <"»tanee f Z' 
 ft Sf" "'■* '^ »™''°"-l»''o aX :,fr^-' '»'■-■• l'l.o sand from 
 ft|'l'oi- .», ,s said to be fro,n the T.f i V" "'""y^'" "'" !•<> «ive„ 
 ^J'"gan, but is .teeribed as s ret U, ! A 't ""^ •''" ®'' J"!"' Kiver a" 
 
 f " ;?' Nalasquan and at Ka^ashh a'^-e ,7 "''•■""*• ^''° ''oposils of 
 »"^Hc Mingan, favorably sitS')" ,,e I: "'"' f '° '"^ "'-* 
 
 An mspeetion of the iron smdrr f = »' ''osscis. 
 
 "ontioned, shows that they all »v ,'" ."° ™"»"^ 'oealities .bove 
 
 irrr "'r' =-■"'•-'»' os,^;t "r-"" »' "■»■■• »"- 
 
 '•"t, m the specimens sub. t^ '!vr •' "^'"'^ '^ '^'^'^y ^i^an^ 
 '>7 « n^agnet, tbe poles of wbichCr, ^T' °'"''''"^ ^^^''^ ^a^en un 
 
 anaiy.od separately, the el 7,:°'" ■ V"" "'•" "^ ^I'^^ZZ 
 » ..ch as is well k„o,v„, disso^ '^ t:';*^^^^ ':^''-'"»« "" 
 and, n th certan, preeaiuions, may be "l"n ,? ,"'™ "'"' S™' facditv 
 "ta,.,c n-on ore. For this p,,rpofc tUt ""'"S™'»'j' employed to dissolv'e 
 '■-■y fi..oly powdered and ift, 1 ;,""'''""" P»«'»". '»'"'« eon 
 -■«'■• of Mroehlorie acid of''^ ^ effi! '; If^Vr!' "'""," '™ «"« »" 
 
 biavit;- I.Iil, or thereabouts, for 
 
[22 
 
 lebted for all of 
 ival Universitj, 
 )f the lower St. 
 •simis, of which 
 he considerable 
 hree feet above 
 30 per cent, of 
 of a grajr sand 
 with consider- 
 seon, the sand 
 magnetic ore, 
 id, however, a 
 lalyses of both 
 
 'lat of Moisie, 
 distance from 
 'he sand from 
 will be given 
 m lliver, at 
 mco of three 
 ' deposits of 
 y extensive, 
 
 ties above 
 on, a small 
 The latter 
 '>y careful 
 separate 
 ai'Iy pure 
 taiiic iron, 
 5f silicious 
 eparating 
 taken up 
 and this 
 s far as 
 lod were 
 'I'ie acid, 
 fiicilitv, 
 'lissolvo 
 ,1,' been 
 lines its 
 II ts, for 
 
 23] 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. STERRY HUNT. 
 
 267 
 
 several hours, or until the undissolved residue is no longer black, but 
 grayish or brownish in color. If the process has been conducted with care, (.homicai 
 and without over-heating, the whole of the iron, and all of the titanic acid 
 which -was combined with it, will be found in solution, and may be sepa- 
 rated by the ordinary methods. The residue, apparently, contains little 
 else than graias of quartz, with a small proportion of garnet. The finely 
 pulverized ore may also be fused with bisulphate of soda, a process which 
 is more expeditious, and yields equally good results with the last. 
 
 Moisie. — A specimen of unwashed black sand from Moisie, holding MoiMujauii. 
 49.1 per cent of magnetic grains, was decomposed by digestion with hydro- 
 chloric acid, and the residue fused Avith bisulphate of soda. The titanic 
 acid having been thrown down, by boiling, from the united solutions, the iron 
 was directly determined, the other bases being neglected in this partial 
 analysis, which gave me the following results : 
 
 I. 
 
 Protosyd of iron 70.10 = metallic iron D5.23 
 
 Titanic acid 16.00 
 
 Insoluble, chiefly quartz 5.92 
 
 92.02 
 
 A part of the iron in these ores is in a higher state of oxydation than 
 here indicated, but the determination of the degree of oxydation of the 
 iron in titanic ores is difficult, and, as even the magnetic portion of the 
 sands contains some titanic acid, it is thought advisable, in the present 
 analyses, to represent the whole of the iron in these ores as protoxyd, 
 giving, at the same time, the amount of metallic iron, and, in the case ot 
 the magnetic portions, the magnetic oxyd corresponding thereto. In the 
 non-magnetic portion of the Bersimis sand, however, as will be seen, the 
 proportions of the two oxyds of iron were determined. The magnetic grains 
 liaving been removed from the above sample of Moisie ore, the non- 
 magnetic portion gave 58.20 of proto.xyd of iron, iO.l-i of titanic acid, 
 and 6.14 of insoluble residue. 
 
 Further and more complete analyses were subsequently made of the 
 washed ore from the Moisie iron-works, which, as already stated, contained 
 ")2.0 per cent, of magnetic grains. These were analyzed separately, (II) 
 while the non-magnetic portion gave mo the results under III. Sulphur 
 and phosfihorus are present in this sand in very small (piantities, the 
 determinations of Mr. Broome giving for the washed mixed ore .070 
 per cent, of sulphur and .007 of phosphorus. 
 
268 
 
 "'^^'^^^^^^ «^«VEr OF CAN,,,. 
 Moisie sand. [24 
 
 Protoxydof iron.. "• Hi 
 
 Titanic acid... 85.79 gg gg ^ ■*• 
 
 Oxydofmauganele!! "■'« 28.95 J«t^ 
 
 Lime .40 J jQ ^^•S'^ 
 
 Insoluble "._' •• .90 ^g 
 
 1.95 o'-r • 
 
 ■ _^^^ 5. .S3 
 
 Magnetic ox^d of iron.. "^ -!!f """^ 
 Aletallic iron... ^2.68 " 
 
 66.73 43V" 
 
 *'^-^'» 55.27 
 
 P'-otoxyd of iron I^'- 
 
 Titanic acid 85. 5G 
 
 OiJ'J of mangauesV." ". ] S**^ 
 
 Lime undet. 
 
 Wagnesia ' _'_" traces. 
 
 Insoluble 
 
 3 85 
 
 go p ] 
 
 Magnetic osyd of iron... ' - 
 
 Metallic iron 92.44 
 
 66.56 
 
 . ■''J'-O'Woric aoiJ, „u,°of contacw, „ "'"™^ '""^ ™ '"i^lrnl i 
 
 Piotoxjd of iron V. 
 
 Peroxvd of iron . . .*.'. 24.66 
 
 Titanic acid ."'"_" 22.24 
 
 Oxyd of manganese 26.95 
 
 I-'n'e ■■' i.io 
 
 Magnesia '' 1.12 
 
 Insoluble .72 
 
 23.80 
 
 IOC. 59 
 
 Metallic iron — 
 
 34.94 
 
N#W 
 
 [24 
 
 III. 
 
 1 A. 
 
 .38 
 
 71.08 
 
 95 
 
 16.55 
 
 10 
 
 
 95 
 
 5.35 
 
 55.27 
 
 as magnetic oxyd, 
 ippose II and III 
 ■ A, which agree.s 
 
 icribeJ, contained 
 s portion is given 
 
 ^nietic oxjd, is 
 
 IS dissolved in 
 
 s of protoxyd 
 
 Ijsis gave mo 
 
 25] REPORT OF DR. T. STERRY HDXT. 269 
 
 Mingan. — The iron sand from the mouth of the St. John river, at 
 Mingan, contained 48.3 per cent, of magnetic grains, whose analysis is *''"-''" ^''"''• 
 given under VI, while that of the non-magnetic portion of the ore is 
 found under VII. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Protoxyd of iron 80.46 
 
 Titanic acid C.50 
 
 Oxyd of manganese 52 
 
 Lime 75 
 
 Magnesia .70 
 
 Insoluble 4.20 
 
 93.13 
 
 Magnetic osyd of iron 80.92 
 
 Metallic iron C5.53 
 
 vir. 
 
 46.31 
 
 31.60 
 
 1.35 
 
 1.06 
 
 ..•50 
 
 15.50 
 
 9C.32 
 
 36.00 
 
 Tlic sum of the analysis VI, if the iron be estimated as magnetic oxyd, 
 is 09.59. 
 
 In the above analyses of the iron sands it will be remarked that the 
 magnetic portion retains a little adherent silicious matter, and small amounts 
 of titanium, both of which vary in the sands from different localities, 
 although the separation by means of the magnet was in all cases effected 
 with the same precautions. Observations and experiments on other samples 
 of these sands go to show that different layers from the same locality vary, 
 not only in the proportion of silicious sand, but in the relative proportions 
 of magnetic and titanic ores and of garnet. This might be expected when 
 we consider that the differences in density between each of these consti- 
 tuents of the sand, should, under the influence of moving water, lead to 
 their partial separation from each other. 
 
 A specimen of iron sand from Quogue, on the south side of Long Island, 
 near New York, where these sands arc about to be employed for the manu- 
 factui-* of steel, closely resembled those of Bersimis, and contained ol per 
 cent, of magnetic grains. The unpurified ore, which was mingled with a 
 considerable amount of quartz sand, and some garnet, amounting together 
 to about 17 per cent., gave by analysis about 40 per cent, of iron, and 15 
 I'cr cent, of titanium, besides a proportion of manganese greater than 
 the iron sands from the lower St. Lawrence. 
 
 VaryniK oom- 
 lic-fitioti. 
 
 OX THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL BY DIRECT METHODS. 
 
 Although by far the greater part of the wrought iron and steel now 
 used in the arts is made from cast iron produced in the blast-furaaco, 
 
270 
 
 OEOLOOICL SUKVEY OP c.VxD.. 
 
 [26 
 
 Furnaces 
 
 Catalan torg, 
 
 even ^"eZ »-er„CitTatoI,l" r,'!'' '" '"'^ '™« "■""oable iron '„,, 
 
 pr.«.„, »c latter, m fact, date only f,„„ , „ ' ■"'« ■"Mufaotare and us. of 
 "»'.ve, of I„di„, ji„„,^ ^ ^'O" J omparativei^, recent period The 
 
 2. ; . ""•■"" '''^"ieta of I„,li., ■ '""•''"'° »'»'« in snni 
 
 .w nt. "7T "*'' "'"^ ^™" i» =^d '':;"""'"■'''">«'' i"to steel 
 "enty to forty pounds of iron in a /,„ ,f , '° ""' "">'» U'an from 
 
 "n,andwithagreat™te„for"a„UfT *" '""" "' tlno. or Z 
 Tf "{ P-lvmed, or the gratas of' ''™'"- ^'« "">' «"Kve o e, 
 
 ^™ls of eortain districts, areCedtirV™ °'"'""'^'' '^ "^in-Io 
 
 nveision of ores mto malleable iron H « f "'"'""^^ ^^^ «»e direct 
 torsican and Catalan forces Lr ^"' ^"^^^"^ '" Europe areZ 
 
 f^»-«ace, and the Gorman ^jSi- / ^''"^■'*" '^'^^'"ary for^e thoO ? 
 nri I,; 7 „ " ^'^^ickofcn or fiifri. n^ -^'o^j "le Osmund 
 
 readier is referred to D Pet ' T'^' '" '" ^^^^^^ ^^ -'-J^- 1. ml 
 ^n^J^teel. Inasmuch J^oJve;^^^^^^ "'^'•^' -^ ^he metallu^g! o 'i '' 
 
 are still largely used on , "''.^"'"ac<^^i'eiated to the Gorrr,! n " 
 
 iMn ;.v, . •'^ "^^ ""s cont ncnt i.>,l v, • ^c'TOian bloomarv 
 
 a We nnportance to Canada it ,.-ii i ' P^"'^'"'^'^<^ to become ofonn^-i 
 
 from thepr^inoo 'c, Xf^ '? t° -"-'"'t" "■"'■»«« ^ f«r"e so eal, , 
 
 Olopartment of AriO-p^ „ "^^ ^^''^ -^^-f^nch Pyrenoo, , " ^'^ 
 
 liv.?.-r.„a ) -^>i<-ge; the ore jrrenerilKr „o i • /'*^"^cs, however, 
 
 '' ^«^alan forge consists of a rec^an^l^ , T'""'' '^ ^'''^'<^- 
 
 octangular hearth, constructed chiefly 
 
[26 
 
 I malleable iron, and 
 nthout tlie previous 
 lufacture and use of 
 ecent period. The 
 
 'me parts of Africa, 
 :allic state in small 
 malleable iron thus 
 'actured into steel ; 
 ot more than from 
 T of three or four 
 'le rich native ores, 
 I by washing the 
 ifill furnaces, until 
 Somewhat similar 
 1 in various coun- 
 still followed, and 
 cos for the direct 
 1 Europe are the 
 'ge, the Osmund 
 ace, which latter 
 blast-furnace, of 
 I For a detailed 
 I'l^ing them, the 
 »^'Sy of iron 
 Jrman bloomary 
 "'■ of consider- 
 some points 
 
 27] 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T: STERRY HUNT. 
 
 271 
 
 >me 
 fly 
 
 ''gc, so called 
 y much used, 
 
 cut of Ariegc, 
 'lucing' oS'jO 
 le remainder 
 
 lice probably 
 " the Italian 
 the province 
 
 iilar iron ore 
 ^, howevci', 
 
 irnaces is a 
 
 of iron, and 
 Quebec, 
 cted chiefly 
 
 of heavy iron plates, which, in the largest size, is about forty by thirty- 
 two inches, and from twenty-four to twenty-seven inches deep, or from 
 fourteen to fifteen inches below the twyer. In some districts, however, 
 furnaces of not more than ona-half these dimensions are built. The pres- 
 sure of the blast employed does not exceed li or If inches of mercury, 
 and the twycr is directed downwards, at an angle of thirty or forty 
 degrees. The wall facing the twyer, slopes outward toAvards the top, and in 
 working, the greater part of the charge of ore is heaped against it, 
 and occupies from one-third to one-half of the cavity of the furnace, the 
 remaining space being filled with ignited charcoal. The ore is previously 
 broken so that the large lumps are not more than two inches in diameter, MoJoof^oT* 
 while from one-third to one-half of the material will pass through a screen, 
 the bars of which are four-tenths of an inch apart. This finer ore is 
 thrown on the surface of the fire, from time to time, during the operation, 
 which is conducted with many precautions as to regulating the blast, 
 stirring, supplying the fine ore and coal. At the end of six hours, in the 
 ordinary routine, there is withdrawn from the bottom of the furnace an 
 agglomerated mass of reduced but unmeltcd iron, which is then forged 
 into blooms or bars. The operation, lasting six hours, consumes, in one 
 of the larger sized forges, about 9i cwt. of ore and 10^ cwt. of charcoal, 
 and yields 3 cwt. of bar iron. According to another calculation, there are 
 recjuired for the production of 100 pounds of iron, 340 pounds of charcoal 
 and 312 pounds of an ore containing from 45 to 48 per cent, of iron. Of 
 this about seven-tenths are obtained in the metallic state, the remaining 
 three-tenths passing into the slag. 100 pounds of ore yield 31 pounds 
 of bar iron, and 41 pounds of slags, which are dark-colored basic silicates, 
 very rich in oxyd of iron. 
 
 The Corsican forge is a more primitive form of furnace than the Catalan, corsican forge, 
 and without interest, except so far as it belongs to the history of iron- 
 working. It is said to have consumed more than 800 pounds of charcoal 
 for the production of 100 pounds of iron. Some few of these forges were 
 still in operation in Corsica forty years since. 
 
 Another form of furnace, described by Dr. Percy under the name of the 
 Osmund furnace, was used during the last century in Norway and Sweden, o-munarurnacfc 
 It was a rude hearth, with walls around it, and an opening in one of the 
 side near the tap-hole, which was built up with stones, and taken down 
 when it was required to extract the loup or mass of reduced iron. This 
 furnace was not capable of yielding more than IJ ton.s of iron in a week, 
 but is still used in Finland, and it is mentioned as a curious fact, that 
 certain bog ores which contain so much phosphorus as to yield l)ut a poor 
 and hot-short iron by treatment in the blast-furnace, and subseiiucnt dccar- 
 buration, afford a good malleable iron when reduced by the direct method, 
 
272 
 
 OEOLOOICAL SrKVEV OF CANADA. 
 
 Improveil c»t::. 
 J«n, or Oeneusu 
 
 ;° "le Osmund fur„ace ; a «3„1, „., • , "^ 
 
 f"".ace, eacape, redaction '^1. J'"? '"'" "'' '™. » "'= b 
 furnace. . '!>« lower temperature of the OaJuS 
 
 wh.eh was a vertical chamber, Lnn tic J-^^^^^^^^^^^^^ -thin and above' 
 
 a Side-door, and a g.-ating at tr^t 1 "f "'''' *'^^ ^^i^^ney, and haviV 
 
 secular oxyd containing°68 n r cen of ''" '''^ S^'-^""- «- ore, ^ 
 
 J -^^t, winch roasted it, el-pollin ' ^ n ''"' ''"' ^''"^^ '^^ <^-^Posed to he 
 
 ; ;V'-^^^ for son. ti^ ' I 3 :^ ,Pf '- «^ -Iphur. ifter be ! 
 
 an coarse powder, it was spread outoVf ° '" '^'■'^■^" '"^^ '^^^^ lu^pl 
 ^^"'"^ ^^-J'-^J' the bottom of tSe rev 1 . •" "V '^^^^ '^ '^^oken chared. 
 ;overed, and was here exp ed « t™, T '^'^^"^ ^"^ P-viousi; ' 
 f-n the forge, during the w t t m o ". ? '^"* ^^ *^'^ -^^« Aam 
 In this operation the bed of I! , ^'''^'"= * '^'^arge in tho htfPr 
 or twelve per cent, of ts w'L T "" """"^^' ''^"'J ^he o ,o i 
 
 -»'.ouv,„e!,arc„alJ„p,,„,3;ff " '«"ty-fo»r houra, with gj 
 
 "■:«"<;.■ J-ield. Separa e f„, ° "' '° ''f "^ "^ '™"' "ud a sotnerta 
 
 ;■"' 'l'«o works, for reheati, j,.!!" f V»"3'™cled i„ eouuect on 
 
 the waste heat from these ,v, °aL , '" ''° •''•'"™ »»« «>'<> blooms and 
 
 above e.plai„ed, "' "''" '"'"'''^''' ""«.in,, reverberator; "t 
 
 """"""■"• , 0"« »f the Catalan for.-es ,,i.l, ., • 
 
 °f -^- ;%s, thirty boats ofLr i ;T ""'•-•<»'™«"'^^ yW* in a week 
 lioat, of 05.30 kilogramme, of o I '""'■'«'' ""'"n^ption, for eacb 
 
 o -ought,ro„ scrap, Z S. ^f" ^ ''f^""' .•"Powder .," 
 W^^ramme,, of bar ir„„. This i e ,ual t^' '""', " ^'*' "' 1^^.00 
 fo" l;ours, with a consumption „ 070! ,° , '^'"'* "f'™" "' '"'onty. 
 over, to be noticed that about 09' 7 ' "'' ""^ "'""■"""I- I' is, liow- 
 ™ a*Iod in tbe conditi „ tZl "'"''' P-^'-'- or 349 p„„ I 
 consume eompuativelj little cSiri''""''' *»^ "^tiuS "ol 
 
 P'o.luct,o„, from .bo ore, of imZZr^'', ", "°"'^ ''!""' '° «- 
 
 pounds of „.„„, ,,l„„|, ,s at the rate of 50 
 
[2 
 
 due to the fact tha 
 5 iron, in the blast 
 •e of the Osmund 
 
 iced in the province 
 n of the waste heat, 
 luce, the ore before 
 Ided reverberator^' 
 me from the forge, 
 within and above 
 limney, and having 
 grating, the ore, a 
 ind exposed to tlie 
 Imr. After being 
 wn into water, bj 
 n into small lumps 
 f broken charcoal, 
 i previously been 
 f the waste flame 
 fge in the latter. 
 i the ore lost ten 
 ed. Some scrap.s 
 lalf-reduced ore, 
 gh the charging- 
 waj, five heats, 
 urs, with great 
 and a somewhat 
 in connection 
 ito blooms, and 
 erberatories, as 
 
 icids in a week 
 
 'tion, for each 
 
 owder, 31.75 
 eld of 143.00 
 
 ■on in twentj- 
 It is, how- 
 t" 349 pounds, 
 
 orking would 
 
 ance for this, 
 
 O'lual to the 
 
 le rate of 50 
 
 !9] 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. 8TERRY HUNT. 
 
 273 
 
 pounds of iron for 100 pounds of charcoal consumed, and is about the 
 result obtained with the American bloomaries, to be noticed farther on ; 
 while the proportion obtained with the unimproved Catalan forge, des- 
 cribed above, is only at the rate of 30 pounds of iron to 100 pounds of 
 charcoal. 
 
 Mention has already been made of the German high-bloomary furnace, 
 or Stuckofen, which is of no particular interest in this connection, and is 
 not to be confounded with another furnace known simply as the German 
 bloomary. This was formerly used in Silesia and the Palatinate, and is 
 described at some length in the classic work of Karstcn, written a little 
 more than half a century since (181G), but is dismissed with a few words 
 in Bruno Kerl's treatise on metallurgy, published in 18G4 (Ruttenkumh, 
 iii, 427), from which its use would seem to be nearly or quite abandoned 
 in Germany. According to Karsten the German bloomary consisted of an 
 iron pot, or a box of iron plates, in either case lined with refractory bricks, 
 and having an internal diameter of from fourteen to twenty-one inches, 
 and the same depth, the dimensions varying with the fusibility of the 
 ore, the force of the blast and tlie (juality of the coal. The twyer 
 was horizontal ; the furnace having been filled and heaped up with bumini; 
 charcoal, the ore was thrown ujjon the fire by shovels-full at a time ; thi^ 
 process was continued, the supply of fuel being renewed, until a loup n; 
 sufficient size had been formed at the bottom of the hearth, as already 
 described in the Catalan method. When the blast is too intense, or t'.ic 
 coal very dense, it may happen that the reduced iron becomes carburettt-d 
 to such an extent a« to produce steel-like iron, or even molten cast-iron, 
 instead of a loup of soft malleable iron. A similar state of things some- 
 times occurs in the Catalan forge, and is occasionally taken advantage of 
 to obtain an imperfect kind of steel. 
 
 From the above (lescri})tion it will be seen 
 German bloomary differs from that by the Catalan forge, in tin' fact that, 
 in the latter, the greater part of the charge of ore is placed, at the com- 
 mencement of the operation, in a coarsely broken state, on the sloping 
 wall of the furnace, opposite to the twyer, while the remaining portion is 
 subsequently projected, in a more finely divided comlition, upon the surface 
 of the fire. h\ the German method, on the contrary, the wii ile of the 
 ore is reduced to this finer condition, and is added by small portions, a plan 
 which dispenses with the charging of the furnace after each operation, as 
 in the Catalan method, and permits of a continuous working, interrupted 
 only by the withdrawing of the loups from time to time. The German 
 bloomary, in an improved form, is extensively used for the reduction of iron 
 ores in the United States, where it is known by the name of the bloomary 
 fire, the Jersey forge, or the Champlain forge, and is also frequently called 
 
 (Jortnan blom- 
 
 ary. 
 
 that the method bv the uistinKuish..k 
 
 iioiu Catalau. 
 
274 
 
 OEOLOOICAL SURVEY OF CAX.DA. 
 
 proceeding to describe in detail 1 a ""^"'^^ '^ ^'^ ^'^''ked. Before 
 
 to notice son^e of the J.aTJZ^^^^^^ ^^e, it .,„ ..t; 
 
 f'-om Its ores, and to point oS the t V^' ''''^"'^' '^ ^•^'•'^etin. iro 
 "sod with advantage. *''' ''"^^'^^'^'^^ "nder which they may b" 
 
 — .. .X:^t t :i:r r ^ ^ ^^-^ — ^^ o.en or . 
 
 ^Hheore is e«.eted by a SI ^^^^^^'^ ^f the foreign .Itll: 
 
 ; ' ^oreover, that certain mvnrCti^^^ f/V" '^ ''''^^''' ^^^'-^ '• 
 
 ^>^th the n-on at Jiigher temperatu el' n ^ ^ '^^ ^"•^^^"^^^^ ^'^"d unite 
 
 "-educed state, at the lower ^rof , ! '"'"' °^ '^^ "- «^ags, in a^ 
 
 tra ion of that Juis been given a ovl ?'" ''»'• ^ «^'''^^'"'^ iHu 
 
 -^^ts use in Finland. C^:^2:r^;i^ '' ''' ^^-"'» ^-at 
 
 "^ ««^e regions, and with certain ores h ''"' *^^*''^ «P""on that 
 
 T" f ^'"tageous than the uJof ,; t 'T ^"°"^ ^-^' P-hap 
 
 finery hearth. This, however, wa ^ i '"^"'■"''^'^*^ '^^"^'-^^e^ vvith the 
 
 "meantime, great improvements have b. ' T"'"''^ ^'"^^' ^»d, in 
 
 ";n, as well as in iLldlin. t Z.. .'"''^' ^" *'^^ ^anufactu e of ca 
 
 o all these facts, and of the°;re oZ rl'"° "^^ ^^'°--^'^'- ^ - w 
 
 < ay Dr. Percy observes (in 1 ) t^.^, ""^^"^^^ «* the present 
 
 tively fow localities in Eurone .1 f ''° '^'^'^ ^"^7 be comnari 
 
 conducted with profit, t Tun H '''''' (Catalan) forges can ^ 
 
 -san.u.od suitable for^ir:^^^^ '^'-"^^"^ i? nriro 
 
 <^atalan process may hold its <.round I . '"accessible to railways the 
 
 -- unprotected b^ high ratefof et- h^T^l^^^ ^" ^^^ 
 
 o ^petition with iron smelted and manS' n '^'^' ^^^^'^'^^tances, from 
 
 advantages are that the outlay andTolt '' ^^ '"°^^^" P'-«<^esses. It. 
 
 -considerable, and the consum';Ln o^c frclT ''''''''' ''' ^ ^-=- ar 
 
 -ilie German bloomary process w., , J,"^ 
 America early in the Jt intZ l^ll^ i"^-^-ed into North 
 
 xVwJerseyandPennsylvaniainl856 Les? VT' ^" <^P*^'-ation in 
 ^jnde, mentions one as having b en ± r-^' ^^"^ ^'"^^ ^^-^"/«^^«mV 
 
 t t W n^'"^ ^""' P^^^'^P^' bloom rielt^^^^^^ " '''•'' ^"^ -««-'• - 
 the Walloon method, which was us!d n .1 ^''^'''^'^^<^rsion of pig.iron by 
 
 ^t IS evident, from facts cited a eadl ' 0/'°'''" ^* ^" ^arly date • bu^ 
 
 vemed iron ores in the Ger^ ItrnTv f ' ""^ '^^ ^''^^^^"^ '^'h- 
 
 Connecticut as early as 1761. It was Ir.h kV'^I''''^^^^ P^-a^tised in 
 
 immigrants which led to the use of t' T^ ^ ^' ^^' ^°^^"S ^^ German 
 
 ^orge, which, so far as I ca "rn i ttr"" '''''' '''' ^'^ ^"aln 
 
 -nd eastern parts of the United SteT'-'* '''''' '' *^^ "-thern 
 
 '• ^^"^"3 improvements have 
 
 Bloomarie8 in 
 America. 
 
[30 
 
 ■n, it is distinct in 
 worked. Before 
 ire, it will be well 
 )f extracting iron 
 lich thej may be 
 
 )ces3 is often of a 
 e foreign matters 
 complete fusion ; 
 ?duced and unite 
 y the slags, in an 
 A striking ilkis- 
 3smund furnace, 
 ' the opinion that 
 33 was, perhaps, 
 mbined with the 
 3e, and, in the 
 nufacture of cast 
 metal. In view 
 •n at the present 
 ilj be compara- 
 [ forges can be 
 in rich iron 
 railways, the 
 ocalities where 
 mstances, from 
 processes. It^ 
 or a forge are 
 ely small." — 
 
 d into North 
 oj)eration in 
 ''anufacturers'' 
 id another in 
 pig-iron by 
 y date ; but 
 ment of pul- 
 practisod in 
 of German 
 the Catalan 
 he northern 
 ments have 
 
 81] 
 
 REPORT OF I)R. T. STERRT HUNT. 
 
 275 
 
 been, from time to time, made in the construction of the furnaces, the 
 most important of which has been the introduction of the hot blast. 
 Favored by supplies of rich ores, and protected, to a certain extent, from [•',','","js{ate*. 
 foreign competition, by duties on imported iron, the manufacture of iron by 
 this method has been widely extended over the United States, and has 
 assumed considerable importance. In the districts where it was first 
 introduced, including northern New Jersey and the adjacent portions of 
 New York and Pennsylvania, the bloomary process is falling into disuse, 
 since wood has become scarce, and extensive workings of coal in the 
 vicinity, with the great facilities for transportation, have rendered it more 
 profitable to treat the ores in the blast-furnace than in the bloomary fire. 
 In northern New York, on the contrary, the use of the direct process 
 appears to have considerably extended during the past few years. 
 
 The works for producing iron directly from the ores, by the present 
 method, are known in the United States as forges or blooniarics, and 
 sometimes consist of twenty forge-fires or furnaces, but in many cases of 
 not more than two or three. According to the report prepared by Mr. 
 Charles E. Smith, for the Iron MamifadurerU Guide (page 760), and 
 published by authority of the American Iron Association, there were, in 
 the year 1856, produced directly from the ore, 28,033 tons of malleable 
 iron, from 203 forge-fires. Of these, 42 were in New York, 48 in New 
 Jersey, 36 in North Carolina, 14 in Alabama, and 50 in Tennessee. 
 There were besides, at that time, 35 abandoned fires, of which not less 
 than 29 were in New Jersey. The average production from each forge- 
 fire was thus 141 tons. Since that time 1 have no means of knowing the 
 conditio", of this manufacture in the south and west. In New Jersey, for 
 reasons already given, the direct method is almost abandoned, while in 
 northern New York, on the contrary, it has greatly increased. Instead of n.-w vork 
 the 42 fires reported in 1856, there were, in 1867, according to the Iron 
 and Steel Association Bulletin, 136 fii-es in activity in Essex and Clinton 
 counties, the principal seats of this industry. The aggregate product of 
 these forges was supposed by a competent authority, in 1868, to be nearly 
 40,000 tons of malleable iron, a large portion of which is consumed at 
 Pittsburg for the manufacture of steel by cementation, a process for which 
 this iron is eminently fitted, and for which that reduced from the ore of 
 the Palmer ore-bed, near Keeseville, is especially prized. Two establish- 
 ments in the neighborhood work the ore of this deposit ; one, that of Messrs. 
 Rogers, of Ausable Forks, had 21 fires, and the other, that of the Peru 
 Company, of Clintonville, 18 fires, in 1868. 
 
 The direct method of reduction cannot be applied to poor ores, which, 
 to yield good results in the German or Catalan forge, should not contain 
 much less than 50 per cent, of iron, while much richer ores are to be pre- 
 
276 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [32 
 
 ferred. Some of the iron ores of North America consist of an aggregate 
 of crystalline grains of magnetic oxyd, mingled with so large a proportion 
 of calcareous or silicions matter as render them unfit for the bloomary fire, 
 without purification. This is generally eft'eoted by crushing and wash- 
 ing, after a previous partial calcination, and leaves the ore in a coarsely 
 granular state, which would not be adapted to the Catalan, although well 
 suited to the German or American method. This condition of things is 
 I'aimer oi.-bcii. illustrated by the ore of the famous Palmer bed, just mentioned. I was 
 informed at the works of Messrs. Rogers, that from four to five tons o^ the 
 average cruile ore were re(juired to make a ton of blooms. The , , as 
 raised from the mine, is chiefly magnetite, Avith grains of white quartz, and, in 
 some portiivis, of flesh-red feldspar. It is slightly roasted, to render it fria- 
 ble, then stumped and passed through screens with openings of about one 
 eighth of an inch, and purified by washing. Two tons of the washed ore were 
 required to make a ton of lilooms. 1 took what seemed an average sam- 
 ple of the crushed ore from the stamps, and having further reduced it so 
 that it would pass through tbe mcshoa of a sieve having sixteen holes lo 
 the linear inch, carefully separated the magnetic from the non-magnetic 
 part, which contained a proportion of grains of siieoular iron ore, but was 
 chiefly (piartz. The magnetic portion e([ualled 45 per cent, of the whole. 
 A sample of the dressed ore, such as supjiliod to the bloomaries, was 
 treated in the same manner, by fui-ther crushing, and separation by the mag- 
 net, and contained ti4 per cent, of magnetic ore ; the non-magnetic portion, 
 besides silicious matters, holding a considerable proportion of grains of 
 specular iron, which would probably raise the amount of oxyd of iron 
 in this samiile of the water-dressed ore to about 85 per cent., or a little over 
 00 percent, of metallic iron. In other districts of northern New Vork,as 
 in the vicinity of Port Henry, the cruile ore^ are richer than those just 
 mention' d, and often contain very little extranoinis matter, so that the 
 ojierat' .n of washing may sometimes be disjiensed with. At the Mew Rus- 
 sia ibrge, in Moriah, the ore, which is mingled with a little ipiartz, is 
 roasted in j)iles. with wood, during two or three days, then crushed and 
 treated as above described. Two tons of the crude ore yield one and a half 
 0*" dressed ore, which is caIo\dated to give one ton of blooms. The wash- 
 ing process removes not only the foreign matters, but a jiortion of fine ore, 
 which is lost, and may be seen accumulated in the vicinity of the washing- 
 tables. The bloomers, as the iron-makers arc called, object to this fine ore. 
 as being unfit for use, but it will be seen further on that this prejudice i.-< 
 withmit foundation, and that the finer grains can be used with advantage, 
 though they are now rejected, and cimsiderabte loss is thereby incurred. 
 
 The magnetic ores of Lake Chamjilain are exported to Vermont, wliere, 
 for several years, a few bloomaries have boon supplied with iron ore from 
 
[ 
 
 
 )f an aggregate 
 ■ge a proportion 
 e bloom ary fire, 
 ling and wash- 
 re in a coarsely 
 1, although well 
 tion of things is 
 tiuned. I was 
 five tons of the 
 5. Tho ( , as 
 e quartz, and, in 
 render it fria- 
 igs of about one 
 ivashod ore were 
 in average sam- 
 !r reduced it so 
 sixteen holes to 
 e non-magnetic 
 on ore, but was 
 t. of the whole. 
 )loomaries, was 
 tion by the mag- 
 netic portion, 
 o[' grains of 
 oxyd of iron 
 or a little over 
 New Vork, as 
 lan those just 
 r, so that the 
 the New Rus- 
 tle (luartz. is 
 1 crushed and 
 )i;e and a halt' 
 I. The wash- 
 on of fine ore , 
 r the washhig- 
 this fine ore, 
 prejudice is 
 h advantage, 
 »y incurred, 
 'uiont, whore. 
 liron ore from 
 
 33] 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. STERRY HUNT. 
 
 277 
 
 the west aide of the lake. Three forge-fires were, in 1868, in operation vomont 
 at Salisbury, and three at East Middlebury, Vermont, five miles from the *°'''*''' 
 Middlebury station on the Rutland and Burlington Railway. The ore for 
 this purpose is brought by water from Port Henry or Port Kent to Bur- 
 lington, and thence by rail to I\Iiddlebury station. This is brought partly 
 in lumps, which are crushed and washed at the forge, and partly dressed to 
 a high degree of purity, and ready for use. 
 
 Overman is, so far as I am aware, the only writer who has given any 
 account of the American bloomary ]irocess. In his Treatise oti 3Ietallur(/if 
 (sixth edition, 18(J8, page 5-il), will be found a description, accompanied 
 by figures. My own observation, as here given, have enabled me to verify 
 the general correctness and trustworthiness of Overman's statements 
 with regard to this subject. 
 
 The bloomary hearths or furnaces in ditferent localities exhibit some lit- jnoomary 
 
 •' . . _ lifartlij. 
 
 tie variations in size and in the details of their arrangements. The size of 
 the hearth varies from twenty-seven by tb.irty to tv;c:ity-c-lght by thirty-two 
 inciies, and the height, from twenty to twenty-five inches above the twyer, 
 and from eight to fourteen inches below. The sides are made of heavy 
 cast iron plate, and the bottom, although often of beaten earth or cinders, 
 is, in the best constructed hearths, also of iron, made hollow, and kej)! 
 cool by a current of water, which is made to circulate through it. In the 
 East Middlebury forges this bottom-plate is four inches thick, and lias 
 within it a hollow space of two inches. The side-plates, which slope gently 
 inwards, in descending, and rest on ledges on the bottom-plate, are one 
 and a-quarter inches thick, A water-box, measuring twelve by eight inches, 
 is let into the ♦■ vyer-jjlate, and a stream of cold water circulates through 
 this box, and through the bottom-plate, as well as around the twyor. The 
 length of the hearth, from the twyer-plate to that opposite, is twenty-four 
 and a half inclies, and the breadth from front to rear is twonty-nim^ inches. 
 The twyer enters twelve inches above the bottom, and is inclined downwards 
 at such an angle that the blast would strike the middle of the hearth. The 
 (ipening of the twyer has the form of the segment of a circle, and is one 
 inch high by one and three-quarter inches wide. In front of the furnace, 
 at sixteen inches from the bottom, is jtlaced a fiat iron hearth, eighteen 
 inches wide. The side-plate beneath it is provided with a tap-hole, through 
 which the melted slag or cinder may be drawn oif, from time to time. The 
 iron plates used in the construction of these furnaces last for two years. In 
 the furnaces used at the New-Russia works in M(n'iali, already nientioneil, 
 the iron bottom-plate is not made use of. the bed consisting of beaten-down 
 earth or ashes. These fu/naces have a depth of twenty-four inches, and 
 ineasuro twenty by thirty-two inches nt the top, but arc somewhat 
 smaller towards the bottom ; the twyer, in those, enters one of the narrower 
 
278 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [34 
 
 AVorking of 
 
 ■blooimiricf. 
 
 sides of the rectangle. While these are somenvhat smaller than the forges 
 at East Middlebury, those lately constructed at Moisie are somewhat larger, 
 measuring thirty by thirty-two inches, the bottom-plate being fourteen inches 
 below the twyer, which is placed nearly horizontal, but of the same size as 
 that described above. 
 
 The blast employed in the American bloomaries has a pressure of from 
 li to If pounds, and is heated by passing through a series of cast-iron 
 tubes, placed in an upper chamber, above the furnace. These are in the 
 form of inverted siphons, each limb being about seven feet in length, 
 their exterior diameter seven, and their interior diameter five inches. At 
 the East Middlebury forges the air is made to pass successively through 
 three such tubes, heated to dull redness, and attains a temperature estima- 
 ted at from 550*^ to GOO'' Fahrenheit. The use of the hot blast hastens 
 the operation, and enables the workmen to produce a larger quantity of iron 
 in a given time, than with the cold blast, while, at the same time, it effects a 
 considerable saving in fuel. It is said that where 240 bushels of charcoal 
 will produce a ton of iron with the hot blast, 300 bushels of the same coal 
 would bo consumed if the cold blast were used. The quality of the metal 
 is supposed to be deteriorated if too hot a blast is used. With judicious 
 management, however, the use of the hot blast offers great advantages over 
 the cold blast, and has been very generally adopted in the American 
 bloomaries. 
 
 The working of these furnaces is conducted in the following manner : The 
 fire being kept active, and the furnace heaped with coal, the coarsely pul- 
 verized ore is scattered, at short intervals, upon the top of the burning fuel, 
 and in its passage downwards is reduced to the metallic state, but reaches* 
 the bottom without being melted, and there accumulates, the grains agglo- 
 merating into an irregular mass or loup, as it is termed, while the earthy mat- 
 ters form a liquid slag or cinder, which lies around and above it, and is 
 drawn off from time to time through the openings in the front plate. At 
 the end of two or three hours, or when a sufficiently large loup is formed, 
 this is lifted by means of a bar, from the bottom, brought before the twyor 
 for a few minutes, to give it a greater heat, and then carried to the hammer, 
 whore it is wrought into a bloom ; the bloomary fire itself being generally 
 used for re-heating. This operation concluded, the addition of ore to the 
 fire is resumed, and the production of iron is thus kept up, with but little 
 interruption. In this way, a skilled workman will, with a largo sized fur- 
 nace, bring out a loup of 300 pounds every three hours, thus making the 
 produce of the day of twenty-four hours, 2,400 pounds of blooms ; in some 
 cases, it is said, 1,500 pounds, and even more, are produced by twelve hours 
 working. 
 
 In this connection may bo mentioned an arrangement, described and 
 
 ml 
 
 of 
 
 air 
 
[34 
 
 ban the forges 
 aewhat larger, 
 burteen inches 
 
 6 same size as 
 
 issure of from 
 !S of cast-irou 
 lese are in the 
 set in length, 
 /e inches. At 
 ively through 
 rature estiraa- 
 1 blast hastens 
 aantity of iron 
 QC, it effects a 
 ils of charcoal 
 the same coal 
 
 7 of the metal 
 Viih judicious 
 vantages over 
 the American 
 
 Banner: The 
 
 coarsely pul- 
 
 jurning fuel, 
 
 but reachea 
 
 grams agglo- 
 
 VQ 
 
 earthy mat- 
 it, and is 
 late. At 
 p is formed, 
 e the twyor 
 the hammer, 
 g generally 
 ore to the 
 th but little 
 ;o sized fur- 
 making the 
 IS ; in some 
 wclvc hours 
 
 Bcribcd and 
 
 35] 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. STERRY HUNT. 
 
 279 
 
 figured by Overman, in which *:hc waste heat from the forge, (or rather from 
 two forges united,) passes into an oven or stove, placed at a level above the 
 bloomary-fire, and there serves to re-heat the blooms, when it is required to 
 draw them out into bars. A set of small blast-pipes, placed just above the 
 forge, serves to heat a portion of air, which is led into the oven, and 
 there burns any escaping carbonic oxyd gas. The air and gases from 
 the re-heating oven are afterwards employed to heat the blast for the 
 bloomary hearth, in the usual manner. I have not seen this arrangement 
 in operation. 
 
 The following observations will serve to give some notions of the working 
 of the bloomary process in the United States. At the Ausable works, as 
 already stated, the somewhat lean ores are dressed so as to yield about fifty 
 per cent, of iron, two tons of ore being required for one ton of blooms, 
 while at the New Russia forges, in Moriah, near Port Henry, where a 
 nearly pure magnetite is employed, three tons of the dressed ore are stated 
 to yield two tons of blooms. When it is considered that perfectly pure 
 magnetite contains only 72.0 per cent, of iron, this proportion of GU.G pci-' 
 cent., said to be obtained, shows a great economy in working. These 
 figures, furnished me by the proprietor of the forges, Mr. Putnam, were 
 afterwards confirmed by Mr. Pearson, the director of those at East Miil- 
 dlebury, where the very rich ores from the same region are treated. The 
 dimensions and construction of the New Russia forges have already been 
 given. The pressure of blast employed was from Ih to It pounds, and 
 the average produce of iron for each fire, 2,400 pounds of bloom-iroi> in 
 twenty-four hours; the amount of charcoal consumed being from 2o(i to 
 000 bushels to the ton of blooms produced, and the weight of the charroal 
 from sixteen to eighteen pounds to the bushel. 
 
 At East Middlebury, where, as just stated, the conditions are very 
 similar, the estimated consumption of charcoal was 270 bushels to the ton 
 of blooms, a result which is the mean of the figures obtained at the New 
 Russia forges. Some of the ores here used contain a little phosphate of 
 lime, and it was observed that when too hot a blast was used, although tlic 
 production of metal was rapid, the iron from these ores was hot-slinri. 
 while 'vith the cold blast, formerly employed, the iron, although produce,! 
 ir;>re slowly, was never hot-short. The force of the blast at these forges 
 was equal to one and three-ijuarter pounds, and even two pounds to the 
 inch. Mr. Pearson, the director of the East Middlebury forges, made, in 
 the autumn of 1807, experiments on several tons of the iron sands from 
 Seven Islands, page 200, and succeeded in obtaining from them about three- 
 eighths of their weight of good iron. lie, however, found it necessary, in 
 order to treat these fine sands, to reduce very much the force of the blast, 
 an experience which has been confirmed by the practice at Moisie. It 
 
 Waste beat. 
 
 Now Kussi» 
 
 I'orgc-. 
 
 Kii^l Mlddl.- 
 bury lorge.'. 
 
MoUie forges. 
 
 Consiirapli" 
 01" cluire-Ml. 
 
 Blief> of 
 heartUa. 
 
 280 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. [36 
 
 appears to be from ignorance of this fact, that the bloomers of New York 
 had always rejected the fine sandy ore separated during the process of 
 Avashing, as being unsuited for treatment in the bloomary fire. 
 
 At Moisie, although eight forges have been constructed, but four of them 
 were in operation at the time of my visit in August, 1868, and the same 
 number, I am informed, in October last, two of the furnaces not having 
 yet been completed. A reverberatory furnace has, since my visit, been 
 constructed, in which it is proposed to re-hcat the loups for the second ham- 
 iiioiing, instead of returning them, as in most cases is done, to the forge-fire 
 for that purpose. The opening of the twyers used measured one inch by 
 one and seven-eighths ; they were inclined downwards at a very small 
 angle, it having been found by experience that the considerable inclination 
 which is used with the coarser ores cannot be advantageously employed 
 with the fine sands. In like manner, as remarked above, it has been 
 necessary to reduce the force of the blast, to from f to li pounds, the 
 iverage working-pressure being about one pound to the inch. According 
 to the latest accounts, there were, in October, four hearths in regular opera- 
 tion, requiring four bloomers, one assistant to furnish coal, etc., and one 
 liaramerer, being six men in all for each shift of twelve hours. Each 
 hearth furnished eight loups daily, and the aggregate yield of iron was 
 estimated at three tons, or three-quarters of a ton for each hearth, every 
 twenty-four hours. The consumption of charcoal was 1400 bushels daily, 
 being at the rate of 460 bushels to the ton of blooms, or 350 bushels to 
 each fire. This charcoal is chiefly produced from spruce and fir, with some 
 admixture of birch, the wood being mostly small, and the weight of the 
 coal is stated to be fifteen pounds to the bushel. This gives a consumption 
 of G990 pounds of charcoal for the production of 2240 pounds of blooms, 
 being at the rate of 3.12 pounds of charcoal for the pound of iron. If 
 we compare this result with the figures given above, for those forges 
 wbich treat nearly pure magnetic iron ores, we find that to produce a ton of 
 blooms there are consumed, at East Middlebury, 270 bushels, and at New 
 Russia from 250 to 300 bushels of charcoal, weighing from sixteen to 
 eighteen pounds to the bushel. If we assume, in both cases, the greater 
 weight, of eighteen pounds to the bushel, we have for 250 bushels, 4500 
 poimds, and for 300 bushels, 5400 pounds of charcoal, the former corres- 
 ponding to 2.01 pounds, and the latter to 2.41 pounds of charcoal to the 
 pound of iron, or, taking the mean of the two, 2,21 pounds, as compared 
 with the 3.12 pounds said to be consumed at the Moisie works. 
 
 If now, we consider the relative sizes of the difi'oreut bloomarv hearths, 
 we find them to be as follows : — 
 
 New Russia 20 x 32 iuches = C,400 square ioches. 
 
 E(i9t Middlebury 24 X 29 ,, = 0,900 ,, „ 
 
 Moisie 30 X 32 „ = 9,0U0 „ „ 
 
[36 
 
 f New York 
 3 process of 
 
 four of them 
 ind the same 
 3 not having 
 Y visit, been 
 second ham- 
 the forge-fire 
 I one incli by 
 a very small 
 Ic inclination 
 ily employed 
 it has been 
 : pounds, the 
 According 
 3gular opera- 
 etc, and one 
 lours. Each 
 I of iron was 
 loarth, every 
 )U3hcls daily, 
 >0 bushels to 
 with some 
 weight of the 
 consumption 
 s of blooms, 
 of iron. If 
 lose forges 
 uce a ton of 
 and at New 
 sixteen to 
 the greater 
 shels, 4500 
 mcr corrcs- 
 ooal to the 
 ,3 compared 
 
 .rv hearths. 
 
 hies. 
 
 37] 
 
 REPORT or DR. T. STF.RRY HUNT. 
 
 281 
 
 The area of the Moisie hearths 's, then, in round numbers, one and a-half 
 times tha*; of the others, and, with an equally powerful blast, they should 
 consume one-half more charcoal. This increased size is, however, counter- 
 balanced by the feebler blast, and we find that each fire at Moisie con- 
 sumes, in twenty-four hours, 350 bushels of charcoal, equal to 5250 
 pounds, which, from the calculations already given for the New Russia 
 forges, should produce, with an ore such as there treated, 2375 pounds 
 of iron. In fact, the Moisie forges, according to the data before us, with 
 an area one-half greater, consume daily the same weight of charcoal as 
 those of New Russia, and produce only two-thirds as much iron. 
 
 I have very recently been informed that, with careful management, it 
 has lately been found possible so far to reduce the consumption of fuel 
 at Moisie, that a ton of blooms can be made with 350 bushels of properly 
 prepared charcoal. The consumption of ore, which formerly amounted to 
 three tons or more for a ton of blooms, is also said to have been considerably 
 reduced, the daily production of iron from each hearth, however, remaining 
 the same as before. 
 
 The cause of this small production of iron, as compared with the area causes oniio 
 of the furnace, and with the consumption of fuel, is not, in my opinion, to '■"'»">-''• y"-'''- 
 be found either in the reduced force of the blast or in the mechanical 
 condition of the ore. A great heat is not required for the reduction of the 
 o.xydof iron to the metallic state, and other things be equal, the finer its 
 subdivision, provided it be not dissipated by the blast, the more rapid and 
 more complete should be its conversion to the condition of metal, by the 
 action of the reducing gases, as it passes downward through the mass of 
 burning charcoal. Such coarse grains of ore as pass, incompletely reduced, 
 through the ignited fuel, and in this state reach the slag below, have no 
 chance of further reduction in the forge. Ilcnce we may conclude that, 
 the fineness of the ore, should, under favorable conditions, render the 
 reduction more complete. 
 
 The principal cause of the small yield of the Moisie furnaces is appa- 
 rently to be found in the incompletely purified condition of the ore. It will Nature or orci 
 be seen in the detailed analyses on page 267, that the iron sand, as now 
 prepared for the forge, may, by the use of the magnet, be divided into two 
 nearly equal portions. One of these is magnetic, and consists, for tho 
 greater part, of magnetic oxyd ; it contains over two-thirds its weight of 
 iron, and is nearly equal in richness to the magnetic ore used in the New 
 Russia forges. The other half is a highly titaniferous oxyd, mixed with 
 more or less silicious matter, and containing only 44 per cent of iron ; and 
 its admi-xture with the magnetic oxyd, which reduces the proportion of iron 
 in the whole to 55 per cent, appears to be not merely useless, but actually 
 prejudicial. 
 
282 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [38 
 
 giliclous inipii 
 rltiw. 
 
 When an impure ore of iron is treated in the blast-furnace, certain 
 substances, called fluxes, are added, which form fusible combinations with 
 impurities. Thus, if the ore contains P'^'''a, a sufficient quantity of lime 
 is smelted with it, and a silicate of lime is formed, while the oxyd of iron, 
 being left free, is wholly reduced to the metallic state. In the direct 
 method, on the contrary, no fluxes arc used, and if silica be present in the 
 ore, it combines with a portion of the oxyd of iron, forming a silicate of 
 >aturc of slug.". iroH, which melts into a slag or cinder, from which the iron cannot be sepa- 
 rated in the forge. Thirty parts of silica will, in this way, unite with 
 soventy-two parts of protoxyd of iron, equal to fifty-six parts of metallic 
 iron. In the case of the somewhat silicious ores of the Pyrenees, treated 
 ill the Catalan forge, we have seen that three-tenths of the iron present 
 ill the ore pass into the slag, and the loss would be much greater did not 
 these ores hold a considerable proportion of manganese, lime and other 
 bases, which help to satisfy the affinity of the silica, and to leave the iron 
 tree. Such substances as these, play the part of fluxes with a silicious ore, 
 liut if they are wanting, a portion of the oxyd of iron itself is consumed 
 lor the purpose, forming, in fact, the only flux for the silicious impu- 
 rities, when such an ore is treated by the direct method in the bloomary 
 fire. Whenever, in the Catalan forge, the American bloomary fire, or 
 any other direct method, we have to treat an ore containing free silica, 
 provided other bases are not present, we must always allow oxyd of iron, 
 in the proportion already indicated, for the saturation of the silica, being at 
 the rate of nearly two parts of metallic iron for each part of silica present 
 in the ore. It is for this reason, it may bo remarked, that kiln-burned 
 charcoal is to be preferred, for the bloomary hearth, to charcoal made in 
 piles ; the latter being generally more or less impure from adhering silicious 
 earth, which, by combining with o.xyd of iron, causes a waste of the ore. 
 The quartzose sand which is mixed with the iron sands, is nearly pure 
 silica, and the oxyd of titanium which they contain, appears, from the 
 analyses of slags given below, to require, for fluxing it, as much oxyd of iron 
 as the silica itself. These slags, in case no other bases than oxyd of iron 
 are present, should approach very closely to. the composition of a tribasic 
 silicate of protoxyd of iron, which, as already explained, contains 30 of 
 silica to 72 of proto.xyd of iron, or 29.40 per cent, of silica, and 70.00 
 of protoxyd, equal to 54.1) per cent, of metallic iron. The highly titani- 
 ferous slags produced at the Moisie furnaces, contain, in some oases, a 
 still large proportion of oxyd of iron. 
 
 Of the following analyses, I is of a crystalline, black, brilliant magnetic 
 slag, which contained canties lined with large pyramidal crystals, apparently 
 dimetric in form. It was produced at tlie Moisie forges in the autumn of 
 of 1807. II was a portion of the ordinary slag produced at the time of 
 
[38 
 
 CO, certain 
 ations with 
 ity of lime 
 :yd of iron, 
 the direct 
 (Sent in the 
 L siUcate of 
 lot be sepa- 
 , unite with 
 of metalUc 
 jes, treated 
 ron present 
 iter did not 
 ! and other 
 ,ve the iron 
 iilicious ore, 
 13 consumed 
 icious impu- 
 le bloomary 
 lary fire, or 
 free siUca^ 
 Kyd of iron, 
 ca, being at 
 ica present 
 dhi-burned 
 )al made in 
 ing siHcious 
 of the ore. 
 icarly pure 
 from the 
 )xyd of iron 
 .vyd of iron 
 f a tribasic 
 tains 30 of 
 and 70.G0 
 hly titani- 
 le cases, a 
 
 magnetic 
 ipparontly 
 I autumn of 
 Ihe time of 
 
 39] 
 
 REPORT OE DR. T. STERKY HUNT. 
 
 283 
 
 vcij visit, in August, 1868, and was similar to the last, but somewhat moimc 
 vesicular, the cavities being lined with very small brilliant crystals. Both 
 of these slags readily gelatinized when treated; in powder, with hydro- 
 chloric acid. The residual silica, however, showed a portion of grains 
 of undecomposed ore, which was larger in the second specimen ; it was, 
 in each case, deducted from the analysis. The whole of iron in both 
 of these slags is represented as protoxyd, and the results are compared 
 with those of two analyses of the non-magnetic portion of the ore, copied 
 from pages 267 and 268, and here given under III and IV. 
 
 Protoxyd of iron . . 
 Oxyd of manganes'" 
 
 Lime 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 Alutniua 
 
 Titanic acid 
 
 Silica 
 
 I. 
 
 II. 
 
 III. 
 
 IV. 
 
 G7.14 
 
 52.31 
 
 53.20 
 
 50.38 
 
 undet. 
 
 2.04 
 
 
 1.10 
 
 1.37 
 
 
 
 .95 
 
 .80 
 
 .18 
 
 
 
 . . • 
 
 .56 
 
 .... 
 
 • • • 
 
 20.07 
 
 34.05 
 
 30.74 
 
 28.95 
 
 8.75 
 
 11.29 
 
 6.14 
 
 8.75 
 
 Metallic iron. 
 
 98.13 
 
 52.22 
 
 100.42 
 
 40.68 
 
 45.20 
 
 43.85 
 
 From a comparison of the above analyses it will be seen that the first slag 
 
 contains more oxyd of iron than the non-magnetic portion of the ore ; which? 
 
 in the conditions of working, at the time the slair was produced, actually 
 
 dissolved and carried away a considerable portion of the reducible ore- 
 
 If we were to regard one half of the washed ore as composed of pure 
 
 magnetic oxyd, this, were it wholly reduced, could only yield an amount 
 
 of metallic iron equal to 36 per cent ; but the magnetic ore, as we have 
 
 seen, still retains more than 6 per cent of silica and titanic acid, which must 
 
 1)0 removed by fluxing with a portion of the o.xyd of iron present, givhig 
 
 rise to a certain amount of slag. Meanwhile the non-magnetic ore, in 
 
 molting, removed another portion of iron oxyd, so that when this slag 
 
 was made, more than three tons of a mixed ore, having the composition 
 
 aV)ovo given, must have been consumed for the production of a ton of 
 
 blooms ; while, of the magnetic portion of the ore, one and a-half tons, or a 
 
 very little more, would suffice. (In the production of the slag II the loss 
 
 of iron was somewhat less.) This explains why the Moisie furnaces 
 
 have yielded, when compared with those of New York and Vermont, so 
 
 small an amount of iron for the labor employed and the fuel consumed. To 
 
 produce a ton of iron it has been necessary to handle twice as much ore as 
 
 i.s required in forges where a pure ore is treated, and moreover one and 
 
 a-half tons, or more, of worthless material have been fused, and got rid of 
 
 as slag, thus involving a great waste of fuel, as well as of labor. It may 
 
 here be remarked that a portion of slag taken by me from the East Middle. 
 
284 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [40 
 
 Reduction in 
 crucibles. 
 
 bury forges, contained according, to Mr. Broome's analysis, 48.2 per cent 
 of iron (equal to 62.06 of protoxyd), and 16.70 of silica, besides 17.33 of 
 alumina, and 1.82 of oxyd of manganese. The amount of slag produced by 
 the rich ores which are treated at these forgeS,is comparatively very small. 
 It would seem probable that by a judicious management of the working, 
 the waste of iron in the slags at Moisie, might be considerably reduced, 
 and this result, we are assured, has lately been attained ; but it will still 
 remain true, that a large amount of iron-oxyd must be consumed to flux the 
 considerable proportions of silica and titanic acid, which are present in the 
 mixed ore, even after careful washing. 
 
 It should here be explained that the result would be far otherwise if this 
 ore, with all its impurities, were to be fused in a crucible with carbon- 
 aceous matters, with, or even without proper fluxes. In the former case, 
 as in a blast-furnace, the whole of the iron which it contains, amounting 
 to not less than 55 per cent., might, by judicious admixture, be set free, 
 and reduced ; and in the latter cases, without fluxes, it has been shown by 
 Percy, that by fusion at a high temperature, in a crucible lined with 
 charcoal, the tribasic silicate of iron, already noticed, gives up two-thirds 
 of its iron, which is reduced to the metallic state, so that the amount of 
 unreduced oxyd retained by the slag would be inconsiderable. From this 
 it is evident that the results of fire-assays, or trials on a small scale in 
 crucibles, cannot serve as a guide to the working of iron ores in the direct 
 method. 
 
 A certain amount of lime added to the ore, would doubtless reduce the 
 waste of iron in the slags, and thus allow more iron to be obtained from 
 the mixed ore ; but although such an addition is useful in the blast-furnace, 
 it would require experiments to determine whether the practice could be 
 advantageously introduced in working in the bloomary-hearth. In a region 
 where the ore is so abundant and so cheap as it is at Moisie, the saving 
 of iron is a consideration which should be subordinate to the economy of 
 fuel and labor, and the most profitable way of working these iron-sands 
 would seem to be by separating and rejecting the non-magnetic portion, 
 by some apparatus like that described farther on. 
 Quality ofironj The quality of the iron produced at the Moisie forges is superior. As 
 the result of experiments made upon it in England, it is said to possess a 
 tensile strength greater than that of Low Moor iron, and to work easily 
 both hot and cold. It is now employed at Montreal for the manufacture 
 of railway axles. 
 
 The fact that those objectionable elements, sulphur and phosphorus, 
 occur in but very small quantities in the iron-sand of Moisie, has already 
 been noticed. It is probably *o the absence of these that the excellence 
 of the Moisie iron is due. In a specimen taken from a bloom which was 
 
[40 
 
 i.2 per cent 
 ie8 17.33 of 
 )roduced by 
 ' very small, 
 he working, 
 ly reduced, 
 t it will still 
 d to flux the 
 eaent in the 
 
 Twise if this 
 rith carbon- 
 •ormer case, 
 , amounting 
 be set free, 
 }n shown by 
 I lined with 
 p two-thirds 
 1 amount of 
 From this 
 lall scale in 
 n the direct 
 
 reduce the 
 
 tained from 
 
 ast-furnace, 
 
 e could be 
 
 In a region 
 
 the saving 
 
 conomy of 
 
 iron-sands 
 
 |tic portion, 
 
 |)enor. As 
 possess a 
 york easily 
 [anufacture 
 
 [hosphorus, 
 las already 
 lexcellence 
 Iwhicb was 
 
 41] 
 
 REPORT or DR. T. STERRY HUNT. 
 
 285 
 
 ary iron. 
 
 made in my presence, at the Moisie forges, the presence of sulphur could 
 be detected by delicate tests, but its amount was only .0094, or less than 
 To.ios > while the quantity of phosphorus present was equal to '0184 
 per cent. This iron contained no trace of titanium in its composition, 
 and a small mass of white crystalline cast iron, which had accidentably 
 been formed in one of the forges, was equally destitute of titanium. 
 
 The cost of producing a ton of iron blooms directly from the ore, by the cost of^bioon»- 
 bloomary process, varies greatly with the price of the dressed ore, which 
 will depend on the proximity of the mine to the forge, and the richness of 
 the crude ore. Thus, the cost of the two tons of dressed ore employed to 
 make the fine iron of the Ausable forges, was estimated by Mr. Rogers, in 
 1868, at not less than |>18-00, while the one and a-half tons of ore con- 
 sumed at New Russia, would not probably cost more than one-half that 
 sum. The followmg estimate made by a highly competent iron-master, 
 in 1868, may serve as a guide to the cost of producing iron at that time 
 in New York : — 
 
 2 toni of ore $10.00 
 
 300 bushels of charcoal (& 8c 24. 00 
 
 Wages 9.00 
 
 Gtneral expenses 3.50 
 
 Cost of the ton of blooms $46.50 
 
 The above prices are in American currency, which, at that time, was 
 equal to about j^^, making the gold-value 837-20. The estimate of 
 another manufacturer, in Clinton county, gave -f 7*00 for wages. It will 
 be observed, moreover, that the amount of charcoal, in the above estimate, 
 exceeds the average consumption for the production of a ton of blooms, 
 which may be taken at about 270 bushels. 
 
 To produce a ton of blooms from cast iron, in what is known in Sweden, 
 as the Lancashire hearth, there are consumed, according to an authority 
 cited by Percy, 28 cwt. of pig iron, and j\ tons of charcoal. In New Jersey 
 and Pennsylvania the conversion of the pig iron, is, for some purposes, 
 efiected by a somewhat similar process, which involves two operations, the 
 melting in the running-out fire, and a subsequent treatment in the 
 sinking-fire, as it is called, which is a bloomary forge very like that used 
 for the ore in the direct method. To produce a ton of blooms in this 
 way, there are consumed 24 cwt. of pig iron, and 100 bushels of charcoal, 
 according to one authority, while another estimate gives 120 bushels ; 
 the quantity varying both with the quality of the crude metal, and the 
 charcoal ; while, with some arrangements, the consumption of fuel is much 
 
 Comparative 
 cost. 
 
286 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [42 
 
 
 I'urifying ore^. 
 
 gi'eator. The mean of these, 110 bushels, at 18 pounds to the bushel, 
 would give, almost exactly j\ of a ton, the amount used in Sweden. 
 The (juantity of charcoal consumed for the production of a ton of pig ii'on 
 in the United States varies greatly, but in the best constructed and more 
 modcra furnaces, like those of Michigan, with rich ores, will not exceed 
 130 bushels of charcoal of the above weight, which gives, for 24 cwt. of 
 pig iron, 156 bushels. (See page 256.) This, added to 110, equals 266 bushels, 
 the total amount of fuel required to produce a ton of blooms by means of 
 the blast-furnace with the charcoal-finery. There would appoar to be but 
 little difference, so far as the consumption of the fuel is concerned, between 
 the cost of producing bloom-iron by the direct and indirect methods just 
 described. The first cost of the establishment for the former is, however, 
 less, and this is probably one of the reasons which has led to the adoption 
 of the direct method by the bloomary forge in northern New York. 
 
 The conversion of the oxyd of iron to the metallic state, under t^ie 
 influence of solid carbonaceous matter, or reducing gases, takes place at a 
 temperature considerably below that at which the affinity of silica for the 
 oxyd of iron is exerted. Even the compound of titanic acid with oxyd 
 of iron is decomposed at a red heat in contact with hydrogen gas, the 
 iron being wholly reduced to the metallic state. If it were possible to 
 cflfect this reduction, and subsequently to eliminate the silica and titanic 
 acid from the metallic iron, ores containing these impurities might be made 
 available for the direct method of conversion ; but the practical difficulties 
 of effecting such a separation are such that the only available modes of 
 treating such ores as contain considerable amounts of these impurities, 
 are to smelt them in the blast-furnace with proper fluxes, or to eSect as 
 complete a separation of the impurities as possible, before submitting them 
 to the process of reduction. This, in the case where heavy granular ores 
 are mixed with quartz and feldspar, as for example, at the Palmer ore-bed, 
 already noticed, is attained by washing away the lighter materials. Where, 
 however, the impurity is chiefly titaniferous iron, as in the Moisie sands, 
 the separation may be readily efiected by means of magnets, a process 
 which is equally advantageous where magnetic iron ore is mixed with 
 lighter impurities, as quartz or silic'ious minerals. 
 
 The use of magnets for this purpose has long been taken advantage of, 
 and various machines with permanent and with electro-magnets have been 
 contrived. A simple and ingenious arrangement for this end, which has 
 been invented and patented by Dr. F. A. H. Larue, of Laval University, 
 Quebec, appears to be novel in the mode of its working, and is very 
 efficient and cheap. The mixed sand or crushed ore is poured through a 
 screen, into a hopper, the discharge of which is so arranged as to 
 open and close at proper intervals of time, and, falling from this, is spread 
 
[42 
 
 :ho bushel, 
 n Sweden, 
 of pig iron 
 [ and more 
 not exceed 
 24 cwt. of 
 166 bushels, 
 y means of 
 ,r to be but 
 (d, between 
 ethods just 
 s, however, 
 le adoption 
 'ork. 
 
 , under the 
 
 1 place at a 
 
 lica for the 
 
 with oxyd 
 
 in gas, the 
 
 possible to 
 
 and titanic 
 
 it be made 
 
 diflJculties 
 
 modes of 
 
 mpurities, 
 
 effect as 
 
 Itting them 
 
 nular ores 
 
 r ore-bed, 
 
 Where, 
 
 sie sands, 
 
 a process 
 
 ixed with 
 
 ^ntage of, 
 ^ave been 
 rhich has 
 diversity , 
 is very 
 irough a 
 td as to 
 ps spread 
 
 43] 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. STEREY HUNT. 
 
 287 
 
 111 a thin and uniform layer, upon a series of aprons arranged, with Lame'!' nmp- 
 
 1 , 11 1 11 1 i 1 ■ 1 '1''*''^ madiiue. 
 
 interspaces, between two parallel endless bands, which pass over two 
 horizontal cylinders. These aprons, charged with ore, are made, by the 
 movement imparted to one of the cylinders, to pass from beneath the 
 hopper, and under a series of permanent horse-shoe magnets, 800 in number, 
 each capable of sustaining about five pounds weight, arranged upon 
 transverse bars, in five rows of IGO magnets each. Beneath these is a 
 tympan, covered with muslin, which, when the iron ore is passing beneath 
 tliem, is in the contact with the poles of the magnets. So soon, however, 
 as the magnetic portions of the ore have arranged themselves, by magnetic 
 attraction, in adhesion to the under side of the tympan, and the apron 
 has moved from beneath, and gone forward to discharge the non-magnetic 
 portion of the ore at the foot of the machine, the tympan is momentarily 
 withdrawn a short distance from the poles, and the adhering magnetic ore 
 falls in the open space between two aprons, into a receptacle placed below. 
 This process of loading and unloading the magnets can be repeated twice in 
 each minute. 
 
 These machines, as now constructed, occupy a space of about six feet by 
 five, and are four feet high ; they are said to cost, at Quebec, at about 
 8-300 each. One, of these dimensions, will, according to Dr. Larue, treat 
 in an hour, three tons of sand holding one-third of magnetic ore, separating 
 from it one ton, containing over ninety-nine per cent of magnetic grains. 
 I have myself seen only a smaller machine, the first one constructed, 
 which had a capacity of about onc-lfalf that just stated. The motive 
 [inwer required is very small, and the mechanism, as will be seen from the 
 description, exceedingly simple. Dr. Larue observes, that, inasmuch as a 
 rich sand may be passed through the machine as rapidly as a poor one, the 
 yield is directly proportionate to the amount of magnetite present, so that 
 a sand containing one-fourth as much as that above mentioned, would 
 yield about six tons of purified sand in twenty-four hours. Even very 
 l^uor sands may, probably, with this machine, be treated with advantage. 
 The same process of purification may doubtless be applied with advantage, 
 after crushing, to the preparation of lean massive magnetic ores for the 
 bloomary fire, or for other direct methods for conversion into iron and 
 steel. A process of partial reduction, at a low red heat, will render non- 
 magnetic iron ores attractable by the magnet, a reaction of which Clienot 
 long since proposed to take advantage, for the purification of such iron ores 
 as are not naturally magnetic. 
 
 In accordance with the well-known fact that the reduction of oxyd of 
 iron takes place at a temperature very much below that required for its 
 subsequent carburation and fusion, it has been shown that the charge of 
 ore in a blast-furnace is converted to the metallic state some time before it 
 
288 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [44 
 
 Chcnot'8 
 zuethod. 
 
 JroMMw.'"** descends to the zone iu which melting takes place. It forms, when reduced, 
 a spongy mass, readily oxydized, which, by proper mana^^ement, can be 
 compressed and made to yield malleable iron, or by appropriate modes of 
 treatment, may be converted into steel. This fact has been the starting 
 point of a great number of plans designed to obtain malleable iron and 
 steel, without the production of cast-iron and the employment of the 
 processes of puddling and cementation. This, it is true, is attained in 
 Catalan and bloomary forges, but tcntion of many inventors has 
 
 been, and still is, directed to the i ^very of simpler, or at least of 
 more economical methods of obtaining similar results. A short sketch of 
 the various new processes will not be without value, as bearing upon the 
 utilization of the iron ores of Canada, and especially of its iron sands. 
 
 Of these, the method of Chenot is best known. His expfriments seem 
 to have been commenced about forty years ago, since we are informed 
 that he had erected a large furnace for the direct treatment of the ores of 
 iron, in 1831, although his results were not brought before the public until 
 twenty years later, at the International Exhibitions of 1851 and 1855. I 
 was a member of the International Jury at the latter, and had an oppor- 
 tunity of studying Chenot's process as then conducted, on an industrial 
 scale, at Clichy, near Paris. A description by me of the process as then 
 and there practised, will be found in t'"> report of the Geological Survey 
 for 1855-57 (page 397). Rich peroy "es were broken in small pieces, 
 mixed with a portion of charcoal, !> ced in large vertical rectan- 
 
 gular muffles or retorts, enclosed ia a gas-furnace, and heated to redness. 
 The ore, after being reduced to the state of metallic sponge, passed down- 
 wards into an air-tight cooling-chamber, which was a continuation of the 
 muffle, and when sufficiently cooled, was withdrawn. The spongy metal, 
 thus obtained, was then exposed to a welding heat in a proper furnace, and 
 formed into balls, which were afterwards treated like the balls from a 
 puddling-furnace, and gave malleable iron. By impregnating the metallic 
 sponge with oily and tarry matters, and afterwards expelling these by 
 heat, a sufficient amount of carbon was fixed in the metallic sponge to 
 convert it into steel. By grinding, compressing and melting this carbon- 
 ized sponge, cast-steel of a superior quality was manufactured at prices 
 which, it was claimed, were much below the cost of steel prepared by 
 cementation of bar iron. This process was subsequently introduced ia 
 several places in France, Belgium and Spain, where it was applied to the 
 manufacture of bar iron, and up to 1863 at least, was worked on a con- 
 siderable scale at Baracaldo, in Spain, where, in 1859, about ten tons of 
 iron were manufactured daily from iron sponge. 
 
 A very important modification of the process already described, in 
 which the heating was effected externally and indirectly, consisted in the 
 
[44 
 
 1 reduced, 
 nt, can be 
 e modes of 
 ho starting 
 e iron and 
 ent of the 
 ittaincd in 
 'enters has 
 at least of 
 t sketch of 
 ig upon the 
 sands, 
 ments seem 
 e informed 
 the ores of 
 aubUc until 
 A 18.35. I 
 i an oppor- 
 1 industrial 
 less as tlieu 
 ical Survey 
 paall pieces, 
 cal rectan- 
 to redness. 
 3sed duwn- 
 tion of the 
 ngy metal, 
 rnace, and 
 lis from a 
 ,e metallic 
 these by 
 sponge to 
 lis carbon- 
 at prices 
 ipared by 
 iduccd in 
 ,ied to the 
 a con- 
 in tons of 
 
 [ribed, ia 
 led in the 
 
 45] 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. STERRY HUNT. 
 
 289 
 
 Cimiparativei 
 cost. 
 
 internal or direct method of heating. In this the outer furnace and the chenot'g direct 
 admixture of charcoal with the ore were both dispensed with. The vertical '^" "" 
 reduction-chamber wa filled with ore only, which was reduced by the 
 action of currents of heated carbonic oxyd gas, obtained by forcing 
 air, at a pressure eJjual to half an inch of mercury, through two gene- 
 rators filled with ignited charcoal. This mode of producing the sponge 
 was found much more economical than that by indirect or external 
 heating. The working results of the direct method, as carried on at 
 Lamarade, in Spain, in 1863, are given by Percy ; from which it appears 
 that for the production of one ton of blooms, there were consumed 1.87 
 tons of charcoal. The greater part of the fine Swedish iron used at Shef- 
 field for the manufacture of stee', is produced from charcoal-made pig, 
 treated in a charcoal-finery, known as the Lancashire hearth, and is 
 obtained with a consumption of charcoal, which, for the united processes 
 of reduction and refining, amounts to 1.90 tons for the ton of blooms, a 
 result almost identical with that of the process of Chenot. (Percy, 3Ietctl- 
 ^"''^^) PP- 342-596.) The modified Catalan forge, and the American 
 Moomary fire, as we have seen, produce malleable iron with a consumption 
 of charcoal which is not very much greater, and with a simpler, and probably 
 less expensive apparatus than that required for the Chenot process ; while 
 the method by the blast-furnace permits of the use of ores which are unfit 
 for trcatmt'it by any of these direct processes. 
 
 Tlie pat< ^s granted to Clay, in England, in 1837 and 1840, were for 
 the manufat '•e of mailable iron by a process essentially the same with 
 Chcnot's eari. method of indirect or external heating. According to 
 Clay, hematite ores were mixed with one-fifth of their weight of charcoal, 
 coke, or other carbonaceous matter, and heated to bright redness in a clay 
 retort, or other suitable vessel, until the ore was converted to the metallic 
 state. When the reduction was complete, the spongy iron (without previous 
 cooling, as in Chenot's plan,) was transferred directly to a puddling- 
 furnace, where it was brought at once to a welding heat, made into balls, 
 and then wrought into blooms in the usual manner. This process was 
 tried on a pretty large scale near Liverpool, in 1845-46, and altliough 
 iron was regularly made by it for some time, and to the amount of 1000 
 tons, the process was not found to be commercially profitable, and was 
 abandoned. 
 
 The process of Ronton, patented in the United States in 1851, was Ronton'e pro- 
 very similar in principle and mode of working to that of Clay. The mix- '^''■*' 
 turc of ore and coal was introduced into a vertical mufile or retort, which 
 was inclosed ^in the flue or chimney of a furnace, not unlike an ordinary 
 puddling-furnace. The contents of the muflie, being suflSciently heated, 
 were reduced to the metallic state, and, from time to time, discharged from 
 
 Clay'i metlioU 
 
290 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [46 
 
 IIarvpy'8 pro- 
 cess. 
 
 HH! 
 
 Guilts patent, 
 
 the bottom, into the furnace, where the spongy iron was exposed to a 
 welding heat, and wrought into blooms. This process, after having been 
 essayed on an industrial scale at Cincinnatti, and at Newark in New 
 Jersey, was abandoned. A similar fate attended the trials, on a large scale, 
 of Harvey's patented process, at Mott Haven, near New York, about the 
 same time. In this, the coarsely powdered ore, mixed with charcoal, was 
 placed on inclined trays or shelves of stea*-itc, in a heated chamber con- 
 nected with a welding or balling-furnace. The flame from a fire below 
 was made to pass through the chamber, and the ore, being at length reduced 
 to the metaUic state, was transferred to the hearth below, and there 
 converted into blooms. For a farther description of these various pro- 
 cesses, and the similar plan of Yates, the reader is referred to Percy's 
 Metalhir'i'/, pp. 330-348. 
 
 Chenot's plan of reducing the ore by a current of carbonic-oxyd gas, 
 was adopted by Gurlt, who used the direct mode of heating, already 
 noticed. The gases from the generators charged with fuel, were led 
 through flues, into the vertical reducing-chamber, a blast of air being at 
 at the same time introduced into the flues, in sufiicient quantities to keep 
 up the combustion of the gases. By this means, according to the speci- 
 fication, " there passes into the shaft a mixture of flame and carbonizing 
 and reducing gases, by which the iron ore is heated" and carbonized. 
 According to Gurlt's patent-specification, (No. 1G79, London, July I'i, 
 18oG,) by continuing, for a sufficiently long time, the action of the gases, 
 the resulting iron sponge may be more or less carbonized, so as to yield, by 
 subsequent fusion, either cast iron or steel. These partially carbonized 
 products he proposed to melt in a reverberatory gas-furnace, the blast of 
 air into which is to be " so regulated that it exactly burns the gas produced 
 in the generators," and that neither unburned gases nor unconsumed air 
 escape ; the object being to obtain a neutral flame, which should not 
 alter the sponge upon the hearth. In this way carbonized sponges from 
 rich ores, are said to have been successfully converted into cast iron iii 
 Spain. 
 
 Gurlt's ingenious specification thus involves the idea of first reducing 
 the iron ore to a metallic sponge, and afterwards carbonizing this sponge, 
 so that, by subsequent fusion, it may be converted into cast iron or steel. 
 Although the conception of thus carbonizing the iron while in a spongy 
 state, is probably novel, the use of carbf^naceous gases or vapors fur 
 carbonizing iron, and converting it into steel, is not new, as may be seen 
 from the patent for this purpose granted to Macintosh in 1825. The 
 experiments of Percy upon iron wire have also shewn the rapid carbonizing 
 effect of coal-gas and heavy oily vapors, like those of parafline ; (^Metallur<jy, 
 pages 109 and 773) and, according to Marguerite, carbonic-oxyd gas, at 
 
[46 
 
 osed to a 
 ving been 
 I in New 
 u'ge scale, 
 about the 
 ircoal, was 
 imber con- 
 fire below 
 th reduccil 
 and there 
 arious pro- 
 to Percy's 
 
 ;-oxyd gas, 
 ig, already 
 , were led 
 ir bemg at 
 ies to keep 
 i the speci- 
 carbonizing 
 carbonized. 
 1, July 1(3, 
 the gases, 
 yield, by 
 carbonized 
 le blast of 
 \ produced 
 sumed air 
 hould not 
 liiges from 
 bt iron in 
 
 reducing 
 
 |s sponge, 
 
 or steel. 
 
 a spongy 
 
 ipors for 
 
 be seen 
 
 5. The 
 
 •boniziug 
 
 allunjy, 
 
 11 gas, at 
 
 47] 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. STERRY HUNT. 
 
 201 
 
 an elevated temperature, yields up a portion of its carbon to iron, which is 
 thus converted into steel. Practical diflSculties have hitherto prevented 
 the application of hydro-carbon gases and vapors to the carbonizing of bar 
 iron on a large scale. 
 
 With the results of Chenot, Gurlt, and Macintosh before us, we are 
 prepared to understand the process of Dr. George Hand Smith, of 
 Rochester, New York, which is just now attracting some attention in the 
 United States, for the production of steel. The crushed and purified ore, 
 or iron sand, mixed with a portion of pulverized charcoal, is heated in a 
 kind of reverberatory furnace, with an arrangement which permits the 
 vapor of petroleum or coal-tar to pass through the mass, thus aiding in the 
 reduction, and finally carbonizing the resulting sponge, which is then trans- 
 ferred to a puddling-furnace, to be wrought into iron, or, if properly car- 
 bonized, into steel. 
 
 Before proceeding farther, mention should be made of some other nans for work- 
 
 iiig iron sauds. 
 
 methods which have been devised for the treatment of iron sands, and for 
 their conversion into iron or steel. In 1851 a patent was granted to 
 Stenson, for a process for working the iron sands of New Zealand, and 
 similar ores from India. These were to be mixed with small portions o[" 
 clay and lime, with or without the addition of charcoal ; the mixture wa^ 
 ground in a pug-mill, with water, and formed into lumps, for subsequent 
 treatment in the blast-furnace. In 1862, Moreau proposed to mix ir.ai 
 sands with iron filings or turnings, and then incorporate them with fuel, 
 such as peat-coal or coke; the mixture being made into blocks, which wore 
 to be smelted in suitable furnaces. In 1866, Mr. James Hodges, avIio was 
 not acquainted with the experiments of Moreau, moulded the iron sands of 
 Moisie into blocks with peat, and by treating these, after drying, in a proper 
 furnace, succeeded in converting the oi'e into malleable iron, at a single 
 operation. (^Report of G^olo(jical Siirvi'i) for 1866, p. 201.) 
 
 Messrs. Whelpley and Storer of Boston eifect the reduction of the iron 
 sand ore, or pulverized ores, on the hearth of a reverberatory fuinace, which 
 is heated, in part, by pulverized coal, borne by a blast of air over the fire 
 of solid coal upon the grate. In this way the furnace-cham'ior is filled 
 with a volume of burning coal-dust, which can, by regulating the supply of 
 coal and of air, be made either oxydizing or reducing. The heated ore 
 upon the furnace-hearth is thus reduced to the metallic state, balled and 
 made into blooms, with, it is claimed, a great economy of fuel. 
 
 It has also lately been proposed to convert these sands into steel or cast 
 iron, by melting with a sufficient admixture of charcoal in crucibles, or 
 other closed vessels, heated from without. This is, in fact, nothing moro 
 than an extension of the dry method for assay of iron ores. A patent for 
 making steel in this way, by treating rich ores, mixed with carbonaceous 
 
292 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVKY OF CANADA. 
 
 [48 
 
 Ponsard'a 
 results. 
 
 Steel direct from matter, in air-tight melting-pots, was granted to Lucas, in 1791, and a 
 similar claim was uiade by David Mushet, in 1800 ; while, according to 
 Percy, " experiments in the direct production of cast steel from iron ores, 
 in crucibles, were made by Riley, at Dowlais, a few years since, and 
 although excellent steel was occasionally produced, it was not found pos- 
 sible to ensure uniform results." (^Metallurgy, p. 765.) 
 
 More recently, Ponsard has brought forward a similar process, the 
 results of which were communicated to the French Academy of Scieiir^s, 
 July 19, 1809. This arrangement consisted of a number of fire-proof 
 crucibles, about eight inches in diameter and forty inches high, which were 
 placed in a reverbcratory gas-furnace, the mouths of the crucibles being 
 fitted into openings in the furnace-roof, for convenience of charging. The 
 lower part of the crucible is perforated, and rests on the sole of the 
 furnace, which is furnished with gutters leading to a depression or basin 
 in the middle of the furnace-hearth. The crucibles are charged with the 
 ores, mixed with proper fluxes, and about twelve per cent, of carbon, sufli- 
 cient to effect the reduction and carburation of the iron, which, under the 
 influence of a very intense heat, melts, and, running through the holes in 
 the bottom of the crucible, collects in the basin in the middle of the fur- 
 nace. According to Ponsard, a ton of coal is consumed for each ton of 
 iron produced, so that the process cannot be recommended for its economy 
 of fuel. He, however, claims as a great merit of this process, the complete 
 separation of the fuel from the carbon required for the reduction of the 
 ore, so that for the furnace, inferior kinds of combustibles, which, if brought 
 directly in contact with the ore, would injure the quality of the metal, 
 may be used with safety and advantage. 
 
 The process patented by Johnson, Jan. 22, 1808, as described in the 
 Practical Mechanics' Journal for June, 1809, (quoted by Osborn in his 
 Metallurgy of Iron and Steel, page 808) is, however, exactly similar, in 
 all its details, to that of Ponsard, which was first announced as a novelty to 
 the French Academy, July 19, 1809, eighteen months later. In a spccifica- 
 
 ijirue's patent, tion dated at Quebec, July 10, 1809, Dr. Larue claimed, and subsequently 
 received letters-patent for Canada, for a process similar in design to that 
 of Johnson, of which he was ignorant. Although there wore differences 
 in detail, the avowed object in both plans was to separate the ore, with the 
 carbon required for its reduction, from the fuel, (which might, conse- 
 quently, be of tui inferior quality,) and to permit of a continuous charging 
 and discharging of the crucible. The difficulty of constructing sufficiently 
 refractory crucibles for the intense temperature, and the small yield to be 
 expected from such a process, would perhaps prevent it from over being 
 used for the manufacture of cast iron. Dr. Larue, hovrever, anticipated 
 its api)lication to the production, not of cast-iron, but of cast-steel, which 
 
 Johnson's 
 Iiatent. 
 
[48 
 
 49] 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. STERRY HUNT. 
 
 298 
 
 91, and a 
 ording to 
 iron ores, 
 since, and 
 found pos- 
 
 ■ocess, the 
 ■ ScieurflS, 
 ; fire-proof 
 vhich were 
 ibles being 
 ging. The 
 sole of the 
 •n or basin 
 cd with the 
 irbon, suffi- 
 , under the 
 lie holes in 
 of the fur- 
 each ton of 
 its economy 
 he complete 
 stion of the 
 , if brought 
 the metal, 
 
 [bed in the 
 [l}orn in his 
 similar, in 
 novelty to 
 la specifica- 
 Ibsequently 
 Vign to that 
 llifferences 
 !, with the 
 [ht, conse- 
 charging 
 lufficiently 
 }iold to be 
 Iver bciug 
 Inticipatcd 
 Bcl, which 
 
 would require a very nice adjustment of the proportions of carbon to 
 secure a uniform quality in the product ; as in the ancient processes of 
 Lucas and Mushet, and the more recent experiments of Riley, mentioned by 
 Percy, and referred to above. 
 
 Two processes for the production of steel are those which depend, caststoeu. 
 respectively, on the combination of cast iron in proper proportions with 
 malleable iron or iron sponge, and with oxyds of iron. In the specification 
 of a patent granted in 1839, Heath claimed the production of steel by Heatu'spat«nt«. 
 melting with cast-iron, 3ither wrought iron, or oxyds of iron or manganese. 
 In a second patent, granted to h xi in 1845, he described an arrangement 
 by which the cast-iron was kept in a molten condition, in a gas-furnace, 
 while pure iron in scraps, or in sponge, obtained by reducing oxyd 
 of iron, as in Chenot's and Clay's method, was added from time to time ; 
 until, by trial, the proper quality of metal had been obtained, after which 
 the liquid steel was run into ingots. Other processes, based on the reactions 
 embodied in Heath's first patent, are those of Uchatius, (patented in 1855,) 
 who melts granulated cast iron in crucibles, with a certain proportion of 
 pure oxyd of iron, and thus obtains a fine quality of steel, (a process 
 already specified in Wood's patent, in 1701) ; and that of Brown, (patented 
 in 1856) who, to produce steel, melts, in crucibles, mixtures of pig iron 
 and clipped bar iron. This method is practised to some extent in Sweden, 
 where it is known as the Obersteiner process. 
 
 In the process of Obuchow, which appears to be successfully used in obuchow-a 
 Russia, fine pig-iron is melted, and run into a large crucible, previously 
 heated to whiteness, and holding magnetic iron ore, alone, or with titanic 
 iron sand and iron and steel scraps. The crucible is then heated till the 
 contents are perfectly fluid, some nitre and arscnious acid are added, and 
 the steel run into ingots. By a somewhat similar process to this, Ellers- 
 hausen attempted to produce steel, by pouring molten cast-iron upon 
 previously oxydized shcet-irou, heated to redness, and placed in a heated Kiiorehawcun 
 vessel. The oxyd dissolved in the molten iron with violent chemical '' '" 
 action, decarbonizing it, and producing a kind of steel ; but it would pro- 
 bably bo difficult to effect a thorough conversion of the iron without keeping 
 up the heat from without ; which was not done in Mr. Ellershausen's first 
 experiments, made in Montreal, in the spring of 1868. 
 
 The above processes, however, involve the use of crucibles, and it had 
 become a great desideratum to produce cast steel upon the open 
 liearth. This was the aim of Heath, in his process described above ; but 
 the difficulties in producing and controlling a heat sufficient for the purpose, 
 were so great as to render the efforts in this direction but partially success- 
 ful, until the regenerative gas-furnace of Siemens placed in the hands of 
 metallurgists the means of fusing largo bodies of steel on the hearth of a 
 
 D 
 
294 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [50 
 
 Martin's steel 
 process, 
 
 ijts operation, 
 
 Itci'semer's pro* 
 
 cess. 
 
 Hfftton pro- 
 cess. 
 
 reverberatory. Provided with this, the Messrs. Martin, of Sircuil in 
 France, have succeeded in producing cast steel, in charges of three and 
 four tons at a time, by melting down wrought iron in a bath of cast iron, 
 by what is now known as the Siemens-Martin process. The products thus 
 obtained, attracted much attention at the Paris Exhibition, in 1867, and 
 the process has since been widely adopted in Europe and in the United 
 States; where it was first introduced by Mesprs. Cooper, Hewitt & Co., 
 and is now in successful operation at their woi at Trenton, New Jersey. 
 
 Beginning with a bath of six hundred weight of pig iron on the hearth, 
 malleable iron, as puddle-bars, for instance, is added, previously heated to 
 whiteness, and rapidly dissolves in the molten cast iron, until, at the end 
 of about four hours, the charge amounts to three tons, and will be found 
 to consist of a soft, nearly decarbonized metal. It is then recarbonized 
 by the addition of from five to eight per cent, of spiegeleiscn (manga- 
 nesian cast iron), as in the Bessemer process, and run in moulds. The 
 bath of molten metal, during the process, is protected by a covering of 
 fused slag or cinder. 
 
 The furnace-bottom for tliis process is made up of a silicious sand, which 
 must not be quite pure, but contain some alumina or other bases, so that, 
 under the influence of the high temperature, it may harden, without melting, 
 forming an impervious crust, which will resist, for a considerable time, the 
 action of the molten steel. The upper part of the furnace is built of 
 Dinas fire-brick. Attempts have been made to use an admixture of oxyd 
 of iron with the pig metal, in this process ; but it is found that the corro- 
 sive action of the oxyd, at a high temperature, upon the furnace-bed is 
 such as to preclude its employment. The entire cost of a furnace with a 
 capacity of producing three tons of cast steel, with gas-producers, gene- 
 rators, and all the apparatus for moving the ingot-moulds, is, in England, 
 about £500 sterling. 
 
 This process, it is true, cannot compete with the Bessemer or pneumatic 
 method for the cheap production of cast steel in large quantities ; but while 
 the latter is applicable only to certain fine kinds of cast iron, comparatively 
 free from phosphorus and sulphur, the process in the open hearth 
 permits the employment of other qualities of iron. These, in being 
 reduced, by puddling or otherwise, to the condition of malleable iron, are 
 deprived of the impurities prejudicial to steel, before being added to the 
 iron bath. While, therefore, the Bessemer process will probably remain 
 without a rival for the treatment of the purer cast-irons, the production of 
 steel by the open hearth will perhaps become even more important, 
 because of wider application. The Heaton process, for which so much was 
 claimed as a method for the production of steel from impure cast iron, by 
 the action of nitrate of soda, appears, from the late careful studies of 
 
[oa 
 
 51] 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. STERRY HUNT. 
 
 295 
 
 The 
 
 eumatic 
 Lt while 
 I'atively 
 hearth 
 being 
 Ion, are 
 to the 
 ■remain 
 Ition of 
 lortant, 
 bh was 
 Ion, by 
 lies of 
 
 Gruner, destined to become subsidiary to the production of steel in the 
 open furnace. Gruner concludes that it " can never, from any point of 
 view, become a substitute for the Bessemer and Martin processes. These 
 produce ingots of steel, or homogeneous iron, from pure brands. The 
 Heaton process deals with impure brands, and seeks to convert them into 
 a refined metal, more or less purified, the treatment of which has to be 
 finished in a Siemens furnace." He further declares that the only 
 advantageous way of treating the products of the action of nitrate of soda 
 on cast iron, is to submit them to the Siemens-Martin process. {Annales 
 des Mines for 1869, fifth part.) 
 
 Mr. Bessemer has very recently made experiments upon the working of 
 his process, under pressure, by which he obtains such an elevation of tem- 
 perature, as, it is expected, will enable him to introduce malleable iron into 
 his converters, and thus effect in them what Martin does upon the open 
 hearth. In the mean time Siemens has, by the aid of his furnace, been 
 able to carry out a part of the original plan of Heath, who, in 1845, ^j,^^^^^f ^ '^''^' 
 proposed to reduce iron ores, by heating them, in small fragments, with 
 charcoal, in a close vessel, as in the methods of Chenot and Clay, and to 
 add the resulting spongy iron to the bath of molten cast iron. The reduc- 
 tion is, by Siemens, effected by a j^lan which combines the indirect and 
 direct methods of Chenot. 
 
 Above the furnace, and immediately over the bath of molten cast iron, 
 which occupies the hearth, are two large tubes of refractory clay, enclosed 
 in an outer casing, through which the flame from the furnace passes, and 
 allows these tubes, or reduction-chambers, to bo heated, with their contents, 
 to redness. They are charged from the top with finely broken rich ore, 
 through which a current of previously washed and purified carbonic oxyd 
 gas, from the common gas-generator of the furnace, is forced, and reduces 
 the ignited ore to the condition of a metallic sponge of pure iron ; this, 
 descending, is at once dissolved in the molten cast-iron bath, and effects its 
 conversion to steel, precisely as in ^lar tin's plan, where solid malleable 
 iron is made use of. In certain cases, as with very finely divided ores, the 
 reduction is effected by an admixture of about ten per cent, of charcoal, 
 or other carbonaceous matter. 
 
 Siemens has already manufactured excellent cast steel by this method, 
 and there is no doubt that, in the case where pure oxyds, free from sulphur 
 and phosphorus, can be obtained, the mode of directly producing steel 
 with spongy iron mayj^be advantageously employed . 
 
 A simple and ingenious process, based, like that of Siemens, on the locWo's patent 
 oirginal suggestion of Heath, has recently been devised and patented by 
 Mr. Robert G. Leckie of ^Montreal. Having found that when finely- 
 divided iron ore, as magnetic iron-sand, was made into lumps with peat, 
 
296 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [52 
 
 Slomens's 
 
 rejtonerative 
 
 furnace. 
 
 Burning wet 
 fU«l. 
 
 coal, or other carbonaceous matter, not in excess, and exposed to redness, 
 out of a current of air, there results a nearly pure spongy metaiiic iron, 
 he proposes to obtain iron in this way, and add it to the bath of molten 
 cast iron, in a reverberatory gas-furnace. The ore, agglomerated with the 
 reducing material, is to be placed in one or more large chambers or ovens, 
 in the rear of the hearth, and, when suflBciently heated to eflfect its reduc- 
 tion, is to be added to the bath of molten iron. He expects soon to test, 
 on a working scale, this mode of making cast steel in the open hearth, to 
 which the purified magnetic iron sands of Canada, from their freedom 
 from sulphur and phosphorus, would seem to be peculiarly well adapted. 
 
 It is one of the great advantages of the Siemens furnace, that by a 
 judicious regulation of the supply of air, and by proportioning it to the 
 gaseous fuel, it is possible to obtain, at will, either an oxydising, a reducing, 
 or a neutral flame ; a point of much importance in the fusion of metals in 
 the open hearth, which was already indicated in Gurlt's specification, 
 as explained on page 46. 
 
 The employment of gaseous combusibles has been greatly extended 
 since the successful use of the regenerative principle by Siemens. This 
 consists in allowing the heated gases, after combustion in the furnace- 
 chamber, to pass out, downwards, through two chambers packed with fire- 
 bricks, so arranged as to allow a free passage of air between them, to 
 which they impart their heat ; the waste gases passing off into the 
 stack at a temperature seldom above 300'^ Fahrenheit. After an interval 
 of from half-an-hour to an hour, the current is changed, and the gases are 
 led off through another pair of regenerators ; while those which had been 
 heated by the escaping gases are now used to conduct the air and gas 
 for keeping up the combustion ; these passing in through the heated 
 regenerators, have their temperature greatly raised before entering the 
 combustion-chamber. By alternately making each pair of regenerators 
 the channels for the passage of the gases to be burned, and for the 
 waste products of combustion, a very intense temperature is maintained in 
 the chamber, with very little loss of heat. 
 
 Coal and dry wood have generally been used in the gas-generators, 
 where, by a partial combustion, the solid fuel is converted into com- 
 bustible gases. With wet fuel, a largo amount of steam becomes mingled 
 with the gases, where its presence is very objectionable. This difficulty 
 has, however, been entirely obviated by a system lately devised in Sweden, 
 which may become of great advantage to Canada. I have therefore thought 
 it best to copy from Mr. Abram Hewitt's Report on the Production of 
 Iron and Steel at the Paris Exhibition of 1867, the following account 
 of this valuable invention. This report, published by the United-States 
 Government, contains excellent drawings of the furnace : 
 
[5^ 
 
 53J 
 
 REPORT OP DR. T. STERR7 HUNT. 
 
 "The furnace devised bv T? t j- ' ^^^ 
 
 designed for the consumption of tu^'l'I ^'t^^'* ^"^ ^^"^^^^^rs, is .«„.„,,, 
 saw-dust or other moist fuel ; an L " . ^' ^'^^' ^'^^ '^ ^^ "" 
 
 Ssrh;:hre^V-ver;er^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 -ppiiedfro.he]::trj;;t^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 thus maintained, pass throu.raTnd 7'' ?' P'°^"^'^ ^ 
 '3 condensed. The c^nq th.^ condenser, where all the moisture m .», 
 wi>), «• , ° t^*'^ passes to the hpifmr, r "moisture m the gas 
 
 With Siemens's regenerators " ^^^t^ng-furnace, which is furnished 
 
 W, contains one fcrt jt, JT 3 T "' "'"'■S'''' "i"' »"oh wo 
 ■nto a chamber in which, Cm 11^ >''•' ™''°''- '' P'«^<^» »' on'e 
 «.« are fcharged, oroiinglroa t "'^' T" *'^- "' «»« 
 «.« chamber. B3, a;,, ^^ = ^»'' °'h ' m vanous dirccdons, and fillin, 
 
 " "™ present, with „„ch !f the feaf^ *''"'' f" "'" '«'"' »"" tarry" 
 tricHn ''°»'--««eneralor,, and keDtln\ '"'''"«<''''*' ''><' 
 
 H-'T:iuot-;t*;eS^^^ 
 
 » currency, and it ia estimated tl . nt /"r'' '" *™''™' ''^ »""»« »250O 
 
298 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [54 
 
 Boetius's fur- 
 nace, 
 
 works, using saw -dust or peat with entire success and great economy. In 
 the lumber regions of Lake Superior it will be found to have a special 
 value, because there is an abundant supply of pig-iron, accessible to the 
 saw-mills on Green Bay and in Michigan, producing enormous quantities 
 of saw-dust, slabs, and waste timber." 
 
 By the aid of the Lundin furnace, combined with the regenerators of 
 of Siemens, Rinman has succeeded in producing steel by the Martin pro- 
 cess, using only pine saw-dust for fuel- When such results can be obtain- 
 ed with saw-dust, or with ordinary peat, the want of mineral coal need no 
 longer be an obstacle to the development of the metallurgical industry of 
 this country- 
 
 The gas-furnace of Boetius, which is now used for zinc-smelting, and in 
 many glass-works, in France, is simpler and less expensive than that of Sie- 
 mens- It docs not make use of the regenerative principle, and hence the 
 waste heat can be employed or boilers or for other purposes. In this fur- 
 nace, however, there being no condenser as in the Lundin system, only 
 dry fuel can be made use of. The air which serves to burn the combusti- 
 ble gases in the furnace-chamber, is heated by passing between the walls 
 of the generator and an outer casing, these walls being made very thin, 
 and supported at intervals, by bricks, which arc built both into them 
 and their envelope. This furnace does not enable us to obtain a heat 
 sufficient for the production of cast steel, but is well adapted for puddling 
 and reheating iron, as well as for zinc and glass-works, and is said to 
 economize from 30 to 33 per cent, of the fuel. This description is taken 
 from a paper by Gruncr, professor of metallurgy at the Ecole des Mines of 
 France, which appears, with working-drawings, in the Annates des Mines 
 for 1869, fifth part. The same paper contains, also, descriptions, with 
 drawings, of the Sicmons-iNIartin steel process, besides an account of Pon- 
 sard's experiments, and of the EUershausen process. 
 
 THE ELLERSHAUSEX PROCESS FOR MALLEABLE IRON. 
 
 The removal from cast iron of its carbon and silicon, and its conversion 
 MftUoftbie iron, into malleable iron, is chiefly eflfected in two ways : of these the first consists 
 in melting down the pig metal, before the blast, in an open fire known as 
 a hearth-finery or bloomary, somewhat resembling the bloomary hearth 
 used for the {direct process of reduction in the United States. In the 
 second method, the metal is melted and decarbonized in reverberatories, 
 known as puddling-furnaces. In the puddling process the carbon of the 
 iron is removed, partly by the o.xygcn of the air, and partly by that of the 
 oxyd of iron, which, in the form of iron ore, is used for hning, the sides 
 
[54 
 
 55J 
 
 "EPOBT OP BB • .. 
 
 fei»". In one of ^ °''°™'*" '■■"» mall" io lt'''''''''<'''<'"''»™^atio, 
 
 ""•- « four d^; ZZ1' *''•' "°«""os, a n; ,t "' '" P"'''^" 
 fflalloable ion. i„ .u ° '" <l«««rl»n«d, and eha„4d « ,'"«' '^ °<" '» 
 
 «on 'lootrt'i °'-*»'« « i«n trr'r""""' f^"«-^ 
 
 ™ found ,hat iritrf *'' '""dheat A fj""7 "P»«d for 
 ireldcd to^etliBr , ® °' "■"" «re decarhnn- ""'' °f «'« time it 
 
 -j^« Of C;!;:^' ^-"' '" f-. oor:t: • -tx^'' r^''"^ 
 
 % another process tl ""^^^'^^Wo iron by the 
 
 racked hi boxes of 'r? '''''^^^^ to three-fl! i" ^"""-^^'^ "method . 
 ;:"^e the nietal is found ^e', ^^ ^^^ «^^«ral weefs . H. ' ^'''''^' '^ 
 
 ^^'^^Uie endeavour !'^^' "^^^<" experir^entf ^ ^'''''' bear- „, 
 
 "^«ture, and thu !b -^^^ "^^^«''on of subseo I?, '"'^^ ^^ "•<>" with 
 ^'ith thatofwrl ^'^'ainujgcast steel tf '^"'^"''j meltin- do,vn I 
 
 , Ho fonnd\!rrzfr"' *»2 '^'i" '""" ™'™'»"^ '"»:: 
 
 '.oaled on iho heard, 'p ° """PO"'" m4ts of „ , 
 
 n.elal ,™ rapid !l;'""<=*"alorj, fc;'?';? ''"'' P'^aotal, wl,e„ 
 
 P^'l-od b^ thJiY^r 't'' '»'» "-"^ of a?'?"'' »"'•' to taken 
 
300 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [56 
 
 Theory of the 
 proceEe. 
 
 effecting the conversion of the metal, but subsequent experiments 
 have shown that by reducing the proportion of ore much below that required, 
 by theory, to effect the change ; and even by replacing a portion of the ore 
 by powdered charcoal, whose effect would seem to be the reverse of oxy- 
 dizing and decarbonizing, as good results were obtained as before. In the 
 pig-bloom, as the aggregate of pig metal and ore is termed, the iron is much 
 subdivided, being partly in graios, and partly enveloping the granules of 
 iron ore ; the whole forming a somewhat porous aggregate, which is pervi- 
 ous to air, and thus offers a great extent of surface to its oxydizing action, 
 as well as to the action of the intermingled oxyd of iron. Where an admix- 
 ture of charcoal is used, it would soon be destroyed by combustion, and by 
 the action of the accompanying iron-oxyd, and the mass rendered still more 
 permeable to the air ; so that the finely-divided white cast iron of the pig- 
 bloom becomes rapidly decarbonized under the joint influences of the oxygen 
 of the air and that of the ore. The ore, being hi part reduced to the metallic 
 state by the carbon and silicon of the cast iron, tends to make the loss of 
 iron less than in the puddling process. In this view, the Ellershausen 
 method unites the reactions of the process for malleable castings, and the 
 Welsh process above described, where oxyds of iron are the decarbonizing 
 agent, with that of Tunner, in which the de carbonization is effected by the 
 oxygen of the air. 
 
 If we suppose the oxygen of the mingled iron ore to be the sole decarbon- 
 izing and purifying agent, the reaction would be as follows : the carbon of 
 the pig iron, with the oxyd of iron, would give rise to metallic iron and car- 
 bonic-oxyd gas ; while the silicon, which the crude metal always contains, 
 in variable quantities, would reduce another portion of the oxyd, liberating 
 metallic iron, and forming silicic acid. This, in its turn, would unite with 
 a portion of unreduced oxyd of iron, to form a fusible silicate or slag, of the 
 composition already referred to on page 282. 
 
 If we take the magnetic oxyd of iron, the reaction with carbon would be 
 
 represented by 
 
 FcjO, +4C = 3Fe + 4CO, 
 
 while with silicon we should have 
 
 FC3O, +Si = Fe + SiO,,2FeO. 
 The above equations lead to the following results for each unit of car- 
 bon and silicon in the pig iron : 
 
 1 carbon requires 4'83 magnetic oxyd, and gives iron 36, carbonic oxyd 2-33 
 1 silicon " 8-28 " " " " " 2'0, silicate of iron'_7-28 
 
 Thus a pig iron holding, for example, 95*00 per cent. of|iron, 4-00 per 
 cent, of carbon, and l-OO of silicon would require, 
 
 4 X 4-83= 19'32 of magnetic oxyd. 
 1 X 8-28= 8-28 " " " 
 
 or. 
 
 27-60 " 
 
67:i 
 
 REPORT OF DR. T. STERRT HUNT. 
 
 301 
 
 and should yield 16 parts of reduced iron, and 7 "28 of silicate of iron. In 
 the case of some pig irons, which, in addition to 4-0 or 4-5 per cent, of 
 carbon, contain 2*0, or even 2-5 per cent of silicon, the quantity of mag- 
 netic oxyd required, according to tae above formulas, would be greatly 
 increased. In the trials on a large scale, for the production of malleable 
 iron by the Ellershausen method, at Pittsburg, Dr. Otto Wuthmade care- wuth-aanai. 
 ful analyses of the pig metal, and the resulting products, both iron and slag. 
 From these analyses it appears that when 100 parts of a metal, holding over 
 1-0 per cent, of silicon and 4-2 per cent, of carbon, were mi.xed with from 
 28 to 30 parts of magnetic or hematitic iron ore, and treated as above 
 described, the silicon, and nine-tenths of the carbon were removed, together 
 with most of the sulphur and phosphorus. At the same time the resulting 
 slag was much richer in iron than that obtained in puddling the same iron, 
 or, indeed, than most slags from the puddling-fumacc. It contained an 
 amount of iron equal to not less than 64-7 per cent, of metal, and 
 but 8'95 per cent, of silica, while the saturated silicate of iron, whose for- 
 mula is given above, contains but 54-9 per cent, of iron, and 29-4 per cent 
 of silicon. The highly basic slag from the Ellershausen process, as anal- 
 yzed by Dr. Wuth, has thus a composition corresponding to a mixture 
 of about 30 per cent, of a saturated silicate of protoxyd of iron, (with small 
 portions of lime, magnesia, and alumina,) and 70 per cent, of magnetic 
 oxyd of iron. 
 
 From this it appears that a large part of the ore added to the pig metal 
 is not consumed, but passes off in the slag ; and it would seem that, in thi.s 
 case, the principal action of the oxyd of iron had been the removal of the 
 oxydized silicon. Each unit of silicon furnishes by its oxydation an amount suicious iron, 
 of silica which requires at least four units of iron, in the state of protoxyd, 
 for its conversion into the ordinary fusible silicate of iron. All of this 
 oxyd of iron, in the ordinary puddling-process, except so far as furnished 
 by the fettling, must be derived from the oxydation of the metal, and hence 
 the great waste with highly siliciferous cast iron in the puddling-furnace. 
 For such irons, therefore, the Ellershausen process would seem to be 
 especially adapted. 
 
 Were the conversion of the iron to take place according to the formulas 
 already given, solely by the action of the oxyd of iron on the carbon ai: 1 
 silicon of the pig metal, 100 parts of this, having the composition above 
 assigned, should yield theoretically, supposing no subsequent loss of iron xiicoryoftuo 
 by oxydation, or otherwise. 111 parts of pure iron ; since to the 95 parts ^''^^^^^' 
 present in the pig metal, would be added 16 parts reduced from the oxyd, 
 hy the carbon and silicon. In practice, however, the gain is much less 
 than this, leading to the conclusion that a part of the carbon is oxydized 
 by atmospheric oxygen, while much of the added iron-oxyd must escape 
 
302 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [58 
 
 unreduced, in the slags, as we have seen is really the case.- According to 
 Dr. Wuth, the result of the treatment of nearly 4000 tons of iron by the 
 Ellershauscn method, as above described, with about 28 per cent, of o.Kyd 
 of iron, showed a gain of not quite 5 per cent, on the weight of the pi;; 
 iron employed. 
 
 These conclucions are confirmed by recent results of the iron-works of 
 Messrs. Burden, at Troy, New York, where the Ellershauscn process has 
 been found to give satisfactory results, with 15 per cent of magnetic iron 
 ore, although the quality of the product was improved when 20 per cent, 
 of ore was used. 
 
 Analyses of the pig metal, the ore, and the products, in such trials will be 
 
 most important as serving to shed farther light on this new process. Mean- 
 
 Suptirostions for while the following suggestions with regard to it seem warranted bv the 
 practice. ; ° ~° ° ^ 
 
 facts Ijefore us. 1st. The ore used should be as free as possible from im- 
 purities. Silicious matters, by uniting directly with the oxyd of iron, occa- 
 sion a large loss of ore ; while lime, magnesia and alumina-compounds, not 
 only increase of the bulk of slag, but render it pasty and difficult to be 
 removed from the iron. 2nd. The ore should be finely divided, inasmuch 
 as more surface will thus be presented to the iron. In the working of the 
 process at Pittsburg, much of the ore added was in coarse grains, which 
 escaping, dissolved in the slag, but otherwise unchanged, caused this to 
 be, as we have seen, extremely rich in oxyd of iron. The coarse grains, 
 it may be supposed, serve however to give to the aggregate that mechani- 
 cal condition which is favorable to the proper working of the process, a 
 ri>sult which would probably be equally well secured by the admixture of a 
 portion of charcoal ; an experiment, which I am informed, has already been 
 successfully tried at Pittsburg. The use of a grc:itly reduced proportion 
 of finely divided and very pure ore, together with a portion of coarsely 
 ground charcoal, would therefore seem to promise the best and most 
 economical results with the Ellershauscn process. Rich hematite, free from 
 Choice of oriv. siUca, or magnetite, previously calcined, and if necessary, purified, after 
 crushing, by theaid of a magnetic machine, should be tried. The magnetic 
 portion of the fine iron sands from the lower St. Lawrence would proba- 
 bly yield excellent results in this process. Sonv experiments made at 
 Pittsburg, in which the purified iron-sn . place of the ordinary 
 
 ores, are said to have given r\ sa[it>i'. n. The ores used in 
 
 the trials which gave the \ by J Wuth, were, however, 
 
 the magnetite of L^ko Chamj .i, witii ae hematite from Missouri. 
 
 From what has been said, it will be < ;ident that the supply of air in the 
 furnace should be as abundant as in >' process of puddling, and that a 
 reducing or feebly oxydizing atmosphere therein, would e or greatly 
 modify the conditions of the Ellershausen process, or lead to lure. 
 
 t 
 r 
 
 01 
 
 ur 
 
 COi 
 
 anc 
 fun 
 ed, 
 and 
 It 
 fequi 
 treati 
 of ih 
 t»einjj 
 about 
 masses 
 of the ; 
 also o\ 
 ^'t is cj£ 
 that the 
 from ihQ 
 
 apparent 
 the sulpi 
 
 ^llershau 
 of the rep 
 
 eupplemen 
 Osborn'g j) 
 
 The Eji, 
 
 Messrs. Shi 
 
 States ; and 
 
 fined to gen 
 
 causes, amoB 
 
 I PartiaJ foiiuj 
 
 preceding pa 
 
[58 
 
 [cording to 
 I'O" hy the 
 Jt. of o.vyd 
 |of the pig 
 
 Ji- works of 
 ■'•ocess lias 
 I'letic iron 
 1 per cent. 
 
 als will he 
 K Alean- 
 M by the 
 
 ft'om im- 
 P", occa- 
 "icls, not 
 lit to he 
 iiasnmcJi 
 
 ^^' of the 
 
 '3, which 
 this to 
 grains, 
 aechani- 
 J'ocess, a 
 ;ure of a 
 ■dy been 
 >portion 
 oarseJy 
 i most 
 Je from 
 , after 
 gnetic 
 )roha- 
 iJe at 
 iiiary 
 id in 
 Jver, 
 
 59] 
 
 ce,avf '"''"'* arcs. '7' '"""a.c I" "'"'^*'o„ f ° '^'''o 60;^; *° ""'I 
 fWter '"'■'' 'o ko „? '^* 'eo(i, J "*«*W *° '"■"'OSS is ' °':"«'«l 
 
 iaV'""^^. efe«" ^''*'o„ '„ ''"■''"««. *, f «»»• ^V ^ "'«, «,„' 
 
 y,'"' Ellorsi^yj/ oj- J-^n ' "'' "ith Z>r t '"'"<^ar, 1 ""°»arv 
 ^cedin^ J''' the prohr,i.7y''^^^sies Jj" A«« ^een .„../? J"^5-e, i., ., "'^ 
 
 ^^^^"^ 
 
304 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 [60 
 
 Granulated 
 iron. 
 
 Numerous patent-claims, from that of John Wood, in 1761, down to the 
 present time, have been based upon the use of granulated or pulverized 
 cast iron for the production of steel or malleable iron. The iron is granu- 
 lated by beating in large mortars, when heated nearly to its melting point, 
 or by causing it to fall into water, through the air, or upon a rapidly- 
 revolving disk, from which it is thrown off by centrifugal force. The 
 grains of iron, more or less oxydized at the surface, are directed to be con- 
 veyed to a furnace, and there formed into lumps for the rolls or hammer ; 
 or else mixed with oxyd of iron, and exposed to heat in a furnace, (or in 
 close vessels) whereby a malleable iron, fit for the manufacture of steel, is 
 obtained. See, among others the specification of Bousfield, in 1857, No. 
 3082, and that of Morgans, in 1865, No. 806, of the British Patent 
 Ofiice. In so far as these propose to work in the open furnace, they differ 
 from the old method of Wood, and the Welsh process, already described, 
 page 299, and approach to the conditions attained in the EUershausen 
 process. Excellent results have recently been obtained by Mr. Hewitt at 
 Ringwood, New Jersey, by mixing the granulated cast iron, with iron ore 
 in grains, and exposing the mixture to heat on the hearth of a reveberatory ; 
 when decarbonization, and conversion to malleable iron takes place, as in 
 EUershausen's method, without fusion. 
 
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