New York Paper - The Electric Steel-Furnace at Gysinge, Sweden

The problem of smelting steel by electricity attracted years ago the attention of inventors, and as early as 1879 C. W. Siemens constructed his first furnace for the smelting of metals, especially steel. His furnace was of the arc type in which the voltaic arc was formed between a carbon electrode and the metallic content of a crucible, the length of the arc being regulated by an electromagnetic device. This electric furnace, as well as others of similar construction, has the inconvenience that the source of the heat—the voltaic arc—possesses a temperature of 3,700' C., which is much