THE IRON DUST OF NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume III, Issue 719, 5 March 1866, Page 6

THE IRON DUST OF NEW ZEALAND.

This novol material has created a great sonsation in the Black Country during the last three weeks Tho local press having discussed tho mcriU of this iron sand very generally, and the opinion entertained hy the public and tho press is entirely of a favorable character. Three weeks sinco specimens of this iron wero exhibited in tho Birmingham Exchanpo by Mr. C. Marlin. (!.E., of London. These specimens created a deep interest on tho minds of some of tho leading practical ir.embi'rs of the trado from tho novelty of tho material, tlio fmall amount of fuel required to eonvci't it into iron, aud tlio very extraordinary qualities of the iron when manufactured. Mr. Martin, it appears, las been manufacturing piirs from the iron dust, in Northamptonshire on a very small scale—eay about. 50 tons. Ye.-tordiiv (Friday) a very influential meeting of Iron Masters, and other gontloinon connected with the trade, met at tho well-known Chain and Cable Works of Mr. Henry P. Tarkes, of Tipton. The Press was likewise present, in great forcn, and a 1 irgo number of gentlemen, in addition, closely connected with the trails of tho district. The object of this meeting was fairly to test the tensile strain of this now iron against ihat of tho very best Staffordshire makes. The result was decidodly in favour of Martin's Hew Zealand Iron. Wo have not spaco to give tho whole of tho tests, which havo been minutely reported by the press Suflice it to say, that 1J raund chain cablo, mad. out of this dust, stood a tensile strain of 52 tonse aud the fracture was interestingly beautiful. We need not say that this is tho highest tensile strain ever achieved iu South Stafford.-hire, and leaves ill our makers, even of the best brand*, considerably in tho shade. All the genllemori present wero perfectly rnlisfi.ed, and were compelh (1 to absent to tho superiority of this over any iron [ireviuuily tosted at Parke's Hydraulic Machine. Wc belie.vo that a Company ig formed in London to crect smelting furnaees in N' \v Zealand to make this Iron, and wo ohsorvo tho liaraj of W. Pavill, (firm of 6?haw, Savill, &- C 0.,) Leadenhall-strec-t, London, who is deeply interested in tho New Zealand shipping trade. Mr. Sidney Bryant Hodge, tho well-known sugar refiner, of London, is on the Board of Direction, which is in itself t uflicient to guarantee for the high respectability of tho company who are bringing it out. Wo quote below, from tho local Press, several paragraphs on this matter, which will he rend with interest hy our subscribers.— GriJ/it/is' Monthly Iron Trade- Circular. The credit of the successful treatment of this ore in the manufacture of Iron is due to Mr. Charles Martin, C. E., of London, who, in tho early part of the summer, imported about ono hundred tons of this Iron Sand from New iSoaland, !iud who lias patented a process for smelting it—an important element in which is, that the cost of production does not exceed that of l*.nglish ores—n cf fuel producing a ton of metal. As Mr. Martin explains it, tho furnace is charged in the ordinary way, tho molten motul runs at onco into ingot moulds, thus producing a pu-e alloy of titanium and iron, 5 per cent, of which, added to the material of which our common steel is made, wil l produce eteel of first class quality. 1 liorc wero present to witness tho testing yesterday. Mr. Samuel Grimtlia, Mr. P. Griffiths, Messrs. G* & J, Beard & J. I'homas, of the Itegent Ironworks, Bilston, and llie Bradley Wireworks; Mr. D Hipkins, Westbromwich; Mr. H. Paikes, TiptonMr. Perry, "Birmingham ; Mr. J. S. Stubbs, managing director of the Midland Bank ; Mr. R. Lakin, Mr. H. Whit' house, Tipton J Mr. Walter Jenkins, de'lgley ■ Mr. John lUlford, Tipton ; Mr. 0. Martin, 0.K., Mr' G-. Martin, and several gentlemen from London, connected with the projected company. The experiments were conducted l»y means of Messrs. Parkes' hydraulic chain testing machino, and taking into consideration tho fact that the pigs from which tho samples wore obtained nad been produced from Titaniferous Iron Sand, without mixture with any other kind wlint.-ver and that they were made in an experimental furnace' the hearth of which was only 17 inches in diameter' and 10 inches the results were pronounced by the various gentlemen presmt to be most astounding. Tho first samples teste.! wero four short lengths of chain cables, 1 Jin thickness, which broko only at tho following Strain No. 1, 51 tone ; No. 2 46 tons; jNo. 3 52 tons, 10 cwt.; No. 4, 51 tons 10 cwt. Tho Go\erninont test for this size chain cable is 18 tons 15 cwt.j und ordinary iron generally breaks at from 25 to 30 tons, whilst wo were assured by a gentleman of experience that the very best iron manufaetm-cd, that is a mixture of somo of the best qualities of ore, and specially made for the purpose of beuifT tested, rurely shod a tost of moro than 4 7 tons, i-omo samples of barely ono inch aquare'bara were next tested, nnd gavo tho same gratifying ro6ults, brf-akm-j at an averago strain of 23 tons 10 Cwt.—JTid/and C<>ftntics Express. The occupation" of the British ironmaster is gone, so far as it relates to his trade with the Antipodenns, if Mr. Olmrles Slartin, C.iC., of Adamstreet, Adelphi. can find capitalists to forward the persevering efforts he lias long boon making, and to utiluo the ingenuity ho is now displaying. Anyono who has rea 1 anything of Now Zealand knows that overspieadmg large tracts of country in most parts of tlio island there are immense quantities of sand, scrno of it so fine that it will pass through a sie vo used in tho dressing of the iinest flour, and that every grain of it is threo parts pure iron. Dow to convert this into the most valuable of all metals in a condition fit for the numerous uses to which iron in a manufactured state is put, liaß been a problem which many lmvo attempted unsuccessfully ™,i 7i?' • Ith °. n ° es fP tinn . the metallurgists and the ironmasters of this country have been effectually baffled in their experiments by tho extreme fhrni 68 ! 8 1h f° f n V V ~Ch ha 3 t,ttUßcd t0 prrcolato through tho fuel in the furnaces and " gob " them up, or the oro has been blown out by the blast. The one exception amongst tho experimenters is the gentleman whose naoie wo have just given. Mr ( Mar m has had a tiny furn,co of the usual form put J up at tho woiksof Messrs Thomas Hutlin & Co., of Wellingborough. Tho hearth is only 17 inches diameter, and 10 inclies dorp, and tho blast ho produced tho sm a l°l l 22 } f " ns - Usil 'g coko because the smallness of lus furnaco would not allow him to ' use charcoal, which being puro fuel ought to be used in the melting of pure unsulphmous oro such as this titamferous sand, lie obtains a ton of metal by a ton of fuel and by running out 2 cwt. every four hours obtains two t ac% or louttem tonfj / wefck llours Somo of this has been puddled by Mcstrs. Stenson, of J> oithainpton; by Messrs. Hipkins, of West Bromwich ; and by Messrs. Beard, of Bilston ; and by tliem rolled into square bars, sheets, and plates'and some of it into cable rounds by M eßs rs. Purkes' of Tipton; tvhi at other portions wero made into ) bl[Z. 0f Benrd & Of

q . Yesterday afternoon portions"of thiß iron were teßted by the chain and cable testing machine of 1 Mesari. Partes, at their works at.Tipton, and a nume bor of gentlemen liad been invited to watch the 5 experiments. Amongst those present we noticed 1 Messrs. William Fletcher, of tho firm of Everot, s Fletcher & Lucas, All Hallows Chambers, Lombard--1 street, and of the "West Cumberland Iron Companj'; 3 James "Walters Cotching', 5, Carey-lane, City; George , Henry Furnev, 21, Milk-street, City; George & John i Beard, Bogcnt's Works, Bilston; David Hipkins, 3 "Victoria Iron Works, West Bromwich; G-eorgo 1 Stubba, managing director, Midland Bank; H. Parkes, Tipton ; Sir. Perry, Birmingham ; S. Grif--3 fiths & Son, Britannia Iron Works, Old bury ; Charles Martin & Soil, 15, Duko street. Adelphi; Montagu* Beftle, London ; James Thomas (of tho firm of Board and Thomas, of tho Bradley Works), Bilston, and others. The commenced with tho testing of some links, made of cable iron, inch diameter. Cables mado of this size of iron are required by the Government test adopted by Lloyd's to secure tho proper strength of nllmarino cables, is 18 tons 15 cwt., but good iron is expected to bear a r tensile or pulling strain of one-third more than the test. Twice the Government tost .is not often obtained, excepting in the case of fancy samples, and it is certainly seldom used for other than fanry lots. Threo tim&s Lloyd's test would be regarded as very fine iron. Yet the link described did not break till a strain of nearly three times the Government tost had been pus on. The link broto in tho solid, at a strain of 51 tons, j and oxhihitod at tho fracture a fine silvery fibre, aud I largo brilliant crystils. Such a fracture would have I gladdened the heorJ of even the engineer of Messrs. ' T. Perry & Son, of Highfield, where a registered at- ! tention to mixtures, extending over many years, has enabled bars to bo produced which in a c-ist shape will bear a suspended strain even more remarkab:© than this, for ho would remember that here under the greatest disadvantages in reference to smelting, great strength was obtained from one kind of iron alone, and that white iron, respecting which some of the puddlers to whom it -was served out, enquired, with something liko professional disgust, u What are you going to make of (his ?" Yet the only working tho bar of which the round has been mado has received, was the rolling it off from the hall furnace, and then cutting it down and piling it in the mill. Ihe bar was made by Messrs. Hipkins. Another link of a similar size was then testod, the original bar of which was mado by Messrs. Hipkins, and it went at 4*o tons. A third link was put in, and it bore all the tugging that could be applied up to 52 tons. On examining the fracture, we found that one half of the fractured round was even moro beautiful than th« ono we at first described, but that the other half of the section in the oblong shape was not so clean, showing an irregularity in the quality of the puddled bars of which the piling had been made, and illustrating in a striking degree tho defectiveness of piling as a nethod compared with much-desi'ed humogenousnees. Tho inference was irresistible, that when Mi. Martin succeeds in his project of making steel in commercially valuable quantities direct from tho steel sand —in the "feasability of which wo eco no room whatever to doubt—he will secure great; strength, with only a small amount of metal. A bar of best quality was then tested, and it went in the shut or welding at 51 tons.—Daily Foil.