Read Ebook: Scientific American magazine Vol 2. No. 3 Oct 10 1846 The Advocate of Industry and Journal of Scientific Mechanical and Other Improvements by Various Porter Rufus Editor

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According to recent intelligence by private letters, Gen. Kearney has taken quiet possession of Santa Fe, notwithstanding the considerable preparations which the Mexicans had made to defend it. Gen. Armijo had assembled 5000 troops to defend the Canon Pass, but on account of the disaffection and insubordination of his officers and men, he was constrained to retreat on the approach of a few companies of Americans.

Gen. Taylor had advanced steadily, though slowly on Monterey, and has probably ere this, taken possession, notwithstanding the strong force, and full supply of well mounted cannon, concentrated to oppose him. Should he prove successful in this, it would seem that Mexico is destined to fall under the protection of the United States, whether our Government desires it or not. What can we do? The Mexicans will neither treat nor fight; and although our armies move as slow as possible, they cannot well avoid progressing through the country in time, and are bound to furnish protection as far as they go. We shall see.

The steamer Great Western, which arrived at this port last week, reports having encountered one of the most terrific storms ever known on the Atlantic Ocean. Capt. Mathews is said to have remarked that at three different times the ship was approached by seas of such magnitude and power that he thought destruction inevitable; but unexpectedly each broke just before reaching the vessel. The passengers assembled in the cabin where they joined in religious service, and in the solemn administration of the Lord's supper. Their lives were preserved, but some of them appeared to forget their obligations to their preserver very quick after getting safe on shore.

Douglas, who escaped from slavery and found his way to England, has received marked attention from the nobility and gentry of England. He has attended their soirees, occupied the most honorable positions at their dinner parties, rode in their carriages, flirted with their daughters, walked arm in arm through their gardens with lords, viscounts, counts and mayors of cities.

Many of the girls employed in the mills of the Nashua Corporation, have refused to work by candlelight. They may be right.

Persons wishing to subscribe for this paper, have only to enclose the amount in a letter directed to

MUNN & COMPANY,

TERMS.-- a year; ONE DOLLAR IN ADVANCE--the remainder in 6 months.

Any person sending us 4 subscribers for 6 months, shall receive a copy of the paper for the same length of time.

Observations on the more recent Researches concerning the operations of the Blast Furnace in the Manufacture of Iron.

BY DR. J. L. SMITH.

Copper and some other metals are now made to assume forms in the chemist's laboratory, that formerly required great artistical skill for their production--the chemist simply making use of such agents and forces as are at his command, and over which he has, by close analytical study, acquired perfect control. Our object, at present, is only to advert to the chemical investigations more recently made on the manufacture of iron, treating of those changes that occur in the ore, coal and flux, that are thrown in at the mouth of the furnace, and in the air thrown in from below. For most that will be said on this subject, we are principally indebted to the recent interesting researches of M. Ebelman.

The importance of a knowledge of the facts to be brought forward, in this article, will be apparent to every one in any way acquainted with the manufacture of iron. It will be seen that the time is not far distant when the economy in the article of fuel will amount in value to the present profit of many of the works. The consequences must be, that many of those works that are abandoned will be resumed, and others erected in localities formerly thought unfit.

It is well known that the blast furnace is the first into which the ore is introduced, for the purpose of converting it into malleable iron, and much, therefore, depends upon the state in which the pig metal passes from this furnace, whether subsequent operations will furnish an iron of the first quality or not.

In putting the blast furnace into operation, the first step is to heat it for some time with coal only. After the furnace has arrived at a proper temperature, ore, fuel and flux, are thrown in alternately, in small quantities, so as to have the three ingredients properly mixed in their descent. In from 25 to 48 hours from the time when the ore is first thrown in, the entire capacity of the furnace, from the tuyer to the mouth, is occupied with the ore, fuel and flux, in their various stages of transformation.

In order to explain clearly, and in as short space as possible, what these transformations are, and how they are brought about, we may consider:--1. The changes that take place in the descending mass, composed of ore, fuel and flux. 2. The changes that take place in the ascending mass, composed of air and its hygrometric moisture, thrown in at the tuyer. 3. The chemical action going on between the ascending and descending masses. 4. The composition of the gases in various parts of the furnace during its operation. 5. The causes that render necessary the great heat of the blast furnace.

In the lower half of the fire-room, the ore is the only material that undergoes a change, it being converted wholly or in part into iron or magnetic oxide of iron--the coal is not altered, no consumption of it taking place from the mouth down to the commencement of the boshes.

From the commencement of the boshes down to the tuyer, the reduction of the ore is completed. Very little of the coal is consumed between the boshes and in the upper part of the hearth; the principal consumption of it taking place in the immediate neighborhood of the tuyer.

The fusion of the iron and slag occurs at a short distance above the tuyer, and it is in the hearth of the furnace that the iron combines with a portion of coal to form the fusible carburet or pig-iron. It is also on the hearth that the flux combines with the siliceous and other impurities of the ore. This concludes the changes which the ore, coal and flux, undergo, from the mouth of the furnace to the tuyer.

If the fuel used be wood, or partly wood, it is during its passage through the upper half of the fire-room that its volatile parts are lost, and it becomes converted into charcoal. M. Ebelman ascertained that wood, at the depth of ten feet, in a fire-room twenty-six feet high, preserved its appearance after an exposure for 1 3-4 of an hour, and that the mineral mixed with it preserved its moisture at this depth; but three and a half feet lower, an exposure of 3 1-4 hours reduced the wood to perfect charcoal, and the ore to magnetic oxide. The temperature of the upper half of the fire-room, when wood is used, is lower than in the case of charcoal, from the great amount of heat made latent by the vapor arising from the wood. In the case of bituminous coal, Bunsen and Playfair find that it has to descend still lower before it is perfectly coked.

After the wood is completely charred, or the coal become coked, the subsequent changes are the same that happen in the charcoal furnaces.

The fact is generally known that nearly all liquids contain a variety of minute living animals, though in some they are too small for observation, even with a microscope. In others, especially in water that has been long stagnant, these animals appear not only in hideous forms, but with malignant and voracious propensities. The print at the head of this article purports to be a microscopic representation of a single drop of such water, with the various animals therein, and some of the inventors and venders of the various improved filters for the Croton water, would have no objection to the prevalence of the opinion that this water contains all the variety of monsters represented in this cut. But the fact is far otherwise; and it is doubtful whether these animals could frequently be detected in the Croton water, with the best solar microscope. Nevertheless, the fact is readily and clearly established that the Croton water contains a quantity of deleterious matter, which is arrested by the filters; and, on this account, we cheerfully and heartily recommend the adoption of filters by all who use this water, from either the public or private hydrants. To this end we would call the special attention of our city readers to the improved filters noticed under the head of "New Inventions."

At Berlin and London the longest day has sixteen and a half hours. At Stockholm and Upsal, the longest has eighteen and a half hours, and the shortest five and a half. At Hamburg, Dantzic, and Stettin, the longest day has seventeen hours, and the shortest seven. At St. Petersburg and Tobolsk, the longest has nineteen, and the shortest five hours. At Toreno, in Finland, the longest day has twenty-one hours and a half, and the shortest two and a half. At Wandorbus, in Norway, the day lasts from the 21st of May to the 22d of July, without interruption; and in Spitzbergen, the longest day lasts three months and a half.

The editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, having been one of a recent excursion party on the opening of a new section of railroad, remarks on the occasion, 'It is really amusing to see the sensation a train of railroad cars produces on all animate beings, human and brute, for the first few times it passes over a section of road. We saw herds of cattle, sheep, and horses, stand for a few seconds and gaze at the passing train, then turn and run for a few rods with all possible speed, stop and look again with eyes distended, and head and ears erect, seemingly so frightened at the tramp of the iron horse as to have lost the power of locomotion. Men women and children also seemed dumbfounded at the strange and unusual spectacle. As the cars came rumbling along early in the morning, they seemed to bring everybody out of bed, all eager to catch a glance as we whirled past. Old men and women, middle-aged and youth, without waiting to put on a rag in addition to their night gear, were seen at the doors, windows and round the corners of log huts and dwellings, gaping with wonder and astonishment at the new, and to them grand and terrific sight.'

At the last special meeting of the National Association of Inventors, called to hear the report on the rights and duties of the Editors of the Eureka, on a resolution offered by one of the Editorial Committee who had been dissatisfied by the proceedings of the 'Acting Editors,' and refused to attend their sittings, it was reported that the 'Acting Editors,' had exceeded their authority, and a majority of the Editorial Committee resigned and a resolution was passed that the resignation should be published in the Eureka, but it has not appeared. Mr. Kingsley, one of the 'Acting Editors,' spoke at the said meeting of having consulted counsel who had declared that the Association were under a legal obligation to furnish Messrs. Kingley & Pirsson with matter for publication in the Eureka, and on the understanding that they had advanced money they were allowed to have the first use of the reports and advertisements of the Association. But as they in effect refuse to publish a resolution of great importance to the reputation of all the parties interested, it is left for the public to decide whether the 'Acting Editors' are in any respect entitled to the name they have assumed for their paper.

ONE OF THE EDITORIAL COMMITTEE.

HUMOROUS.

You're a broth of creature, In form and in feature,-- It's myself that now tells you that same, And sure, by my troth, I'll not be very wroth. If you'll plaze me by changing your name

What a swate little wife, As a partner for life, My darlint, 'tis you might be living; And I'm just the boy, To wish you much joy, When your heart it's to me you'll be giving.

I'm half dead--botheration! With sad consternation-- Of your flirting it is that I'm speaking; So plaze to be thinking, When you're winking and blinking. It's my own honest heart that you're braking.

This paper circulates in every State in the Union, and is seen principally by mechanics and manufacturers. Hence it may be considered the best medium of advertising, for those who import or manufacture machinery, mechanics tools, or such wares and materials as are generally used by those classes. The few advertisements in this paper are regarded with much more attention than those in closely printed dailies.

Advertisements are inserted in this paper at the following rates:

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GENERAL AGENTS

FOR THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.

New York City, Geo. Dexter " " Wm. Taylor & Co. Boston, Messrs. Hotchkiss & Co. Philadelphia, Messrs. Colon & Adriance.

LOCAL AGENTS.

TRAVELLING AGENTS.

O. D. Davis, John Stoughton, John Murray, Sylvester Dierfenorf.

CITY CARRIERS.

Clark Selleck, Squire Selleck, Nathan Selleck.

Persons residing in the city of Brooklyn, can have the paper left at their residences regularly, by sending their address to the office, 128 Fulton st., 2d. floor.

No. 23 Chambers street, New York.

JOSEPH H. BAILEY, Engineer and Agent for procuring Patents, will prepare all the necessary Specifications, Drawings, &c. for applicants for Patents, in the United States or Europe. Having the experience of a number of years in the business, and being connected with a gentleman of high character and ability in England, he has facilities for enabling inventors to obtain their Patents at home or abroad, with the least expense and trouble.

The subscriber, being practically acquainted with all the various kinds of Drawing used, is able to represent Machinery, Inventions, or Designs of any kind, either by Authographic Drawing, or in Isometrical, Parallel, or True Perspective, at any angle best calculated to show the construction of the Machinery of Design patented.

To those desiring Drawings or Specifications, Mr. B. has the pleasure of referring to Gen. Wm. Gibbs McNiel, Civil Engineer, Prof. Renwick, Columbia College, Prof. Morse, Jno. Lee.

Residence, No. 10 Carroll Place; office, No. Chambers street. oct10 tf

BLACK LEAD POTS!--The subscriber offers for sales, in lots to suit purchasers, a superior article of BLACK LEAD POTS, that can be used without annealing. The price is low, and founders are requested to make a trial. SAMUEL C. HILLS,

STATE OF NEW YORK.

Secretary's Office, Albany, July 24, 1846.

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