Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers Volume 1 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1873 edition. Excerpt: ... TROY MEETING, November, 1871. THE ATTAINMENT OF UNIFORMITY IN BESSEMER STEEL. BY DR. THOMAS M. DROWN. The means relied on to attain uniformity in Bessemer steel may be enumerated as follows: I. The appearance of the flame. II. The appearance of the slag. III. The spectrum of the flame. IV. Examination of the steel itself. At present, I wish briefly to bring forward a few considerations with reference to the last two mentioned, namely, the conditions favoring the employment of the spectroscope and examination of the steel. From the amount of-careful investigation which has been devoted to the examination of the Bessemer flame by the spectroscope, "both on the part of scientists and practical metallurgists, one might reasonably expect some results definite and satisfactory in their nature, firs.t, as regards the nature of the flame, and second, as to the practical value of the spectroscope as a guide in conducting the process. We find, in fact, however, that uncertainty and coufusion still exist. In Germany, where this subject has received the greatest attention, it is now very generally conceded that manganese is the cause of the well-known groups of dark bands that characterize the Bessemer spectrum. Nor is it easy to see how we can avoid accepting this conclusion, when Wedding and Von Lichtenfels have produced the manganese spectrum and found it to correspond closely with that shown by the Bessemer flame. But it is evident, on a moment's reflection, as Roscoe has recently brought forward, that manganese cannot be the only cause of the Bessemer spectrum, for we notice the characteristic bands quite as plainly when English pig-iron is blown, which does not, at the beginning of the operation, contain as much manganese as the German...