Excerpt from The Quarterly Journal of Science, Vol. 5 To show the facility with which the crude iron may be converted into refined iron or steel, the converting vessel may be placed if necessary so near to the blast furnace as to allow the iron to flow direct into it; or the metal in the shape of pig-iron may be melted in reverberatory furnaces, as is now generally the case, and thence run direct into the converting vessel. This vessel is of the shape shown in the Plate, supported on trunnions at A, which enable it to turn upon its centre and discharge its contents into a large ladle when the process is complete. The general apparatus will, how ever, be better understood by referring to the Plate, which is a view of the interior of the converting house. It will be seen that two vessels, A A, are employed; they are placed in such a position as to throw the sparks and slag away from each other, and into the lower part of the chimneys, B B, which have hoods at 13ale to conduct the flame into them. The casting pit is semicircular in front, and central to it is placed the casting crane c, which supports the ladle into which the steel flows, and from which it is delivered through a cone valve, a, at the bottom of the ladle. One of the vessels is shown in section in the act of pouring out the fluid steel into the ladle, while in the other the process of conversion is going on. When necessary both vessels may be worked at the same time, and their contents poured into one large ladle, so that an ingot of 20 tons may be made from what is usually styled a 10-ton apparatus. It will be observed that the hydraulic casting crane, C, is brought so far from the line formed by passing through the centres of the converting vessels as to allow one vessel to be moved round if necessary, while the ladle is in front of the other vessel. This position of the crane enables the casting pit to be made larger, and gives more space for the moulds. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.