Amenia Paper - On "Buckshot" Iron

At the Wilkes-Barre Meeting of the Institute, Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, in the course of his remarks on some peculiarities in the composition of irons, alluded to the so-called " bucltshot" iron, and exhibited a specimen of this material. He said that when the small granules, or shot, were separatetl from the mass, they could be flattencd under the hammer, and inferred that these particles had been decarburized by the blast before sinking into the hearth of the furnace, and thus we had the exceptional production of wrought iron in the blast furnace. I have recently obtained a characteristic specimen of this variety of iron from one of the furnaces at Orbisona, Pa. Considerable uncertainty existed as to its true nature and the conditions of its production. Its weight seemed to preclude the idea that it containetl much or any slag, yet its lack of strength indicated that it was not homogeneous cast iron. At times considerable quantities had been produced, which could only be utilized by charging in the furnace and remelting. The specimen, on the freshly fractured surfacc, appeared to consist of flattened globules of iron cemented together by a bluish material which one would naturally suppose to be slag, and qualitative examination for lime strengthened this supposition. It was quite difficult to obtain drillings, as there was a tendency to split in several directions as soon as pressure mas applied; but enough was obtained to undertaltc quantitative determinations. They were found to consist of two portions—one attracted by the magnet, and the other not. By repeated separation the magnetic portion was found to be 94.44 per cent., and the non-magnetic 5.56 per cent. Analyses of these gave the following results: Magnetic Portion. Non-magnetic Portion. Percent, Percent. Graphite,.....3.480 Lime,. . 71.41 0 = 24.028 Combined carbon,. .. 0.260 Magnesia,. trace. Silicon,..... 2.790 Protox. of Phosphorus,.... 0.412 iron,. trace. Sulphur,.....0.292 Sulphide of Copper,.....0.110 caleium, 3.67 S= 1.72 0 = 3.440 Manganese,.... 0.500 -Iron (by dif.).,. .. . 91.206 27.468 --Silica,. 24 62 0 = 13.131 100.000 99.90