NEW ZEALAND IRON AND STEEL.

Timaru Herald, Volume IV, Issue 94, 2 March 1866, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND IRON AND STEEL.

Reference has from time to time been made m the Mining Journal to the excellent quality of metal obtainable from the " iron-sand" of New Zealand, but hitherto comparatively little has been done towards making- it commercially valuable, although m the neighbourhood of New Plymouth, m Taranaki. there is a tract extending' for upwards of 16 miles along the coast, and " It is scarcely possible to conceive a property offering- g-reater facilities for working- — a shovel and a barrow being- the only investment m machinery that is necessary." The sand has been carefully analysed by well-known metallurgists m this country, and pronounced to be the purest ore at present known, since it contains 88^ per cent, of peroxide of iroa ; and 11^ per cent, of oxide of titanium with silica. The first practical application of the New Zealand sand was by Eobert Mushet, who converted some by simply melting- it m crucibles into steel, for Messrs. Moseley, the well-known cutlers of Covent Garden, by whom it was converted into various articles ; '*' they tested it m every possible way, and tried its temper to the utmost, and they report that the metal exceeds anything- they have worked m steel before. It was formed into razors, saws, table cutlery, surgical instruments, &c, and the closeness of the grain, fineness of polish, and keeness of edge place it m the very foremost rank." The necessarily tedious character of the process of melting- m crucibles has materially interfered with its introduction. To remove the obstacles. which have hitherto existed Mr. Charles Martin, of Dukestr.eet, Adelphi, has devised a process of conversion of the titaniferous sand by one operation : the protracted intermediate process necessary to conversion of ordinary ores into steel is dispensed with, the furnace is charged m the ordinary way, the molten metal runs at once into the ing-ot moulds, producing a pure alloy of titanium and iron, 5 per cent, of wliich, added to the material from which our common steel is made, will make steel of firstclass quality. Mr. Martin erected a small furnace of the ordinary form, at the works of Messrs. Thomas llutlin and Co., at Wellingborough, and the result exceeded his most sanguine expectations. His furnace was too small to use coke ; the hearth was only 1? inches m diameter

and ten inches deep ; the blast was produced by one of Lloyd's fans, twenty inches m diameter, and with this, comparatively speaking, toy he can make one ton of metal with one ton of fuel, the quality of the metal being, as shown m last week's journal, beyond question, and can, on the average, turn out two tons a day ; and he very fairly asks — with such results, what may be expected if smelted m an ordinary-sized furnace, with charcoal for fuel ? It is estimated that the actual cost of delivering the pig" m the Thames would not exceed £5 per ton : and, as the metal is claimed to be equal to the best steel (the Taranaki steel has been sold to Messrs. Moseley for £84 per ton), the company, which, it is understood, is m course of formation, must have exceedingly good prospects before them. — Mining Journal, iNovember 18. The following letter on the above subject appears m the same journal of November 25, and is signed " Germanicus :" Sir, — In the journal of November 11, I saw, with pleasure, that Mr. Martin, of liOndon, has succeeded m producing iron of quite superior quality, particularly with regard to tensile streng-th, from the wellknown titanic iron-sand of Taranaki, m New Zealand. This great success is a new proof of the highly purifying and strengthening qualities of titanium and its compounds with oxygen — titanic oxide and titanic acid, Ti2 03 and Ti 02, if properly applied to the manufacture of pig-iron. It will be interesting to your readers to know that the excellent qualities of the Russian, Swedish, and Norwegian pig-iron, made from magnetic ironstone m charcoal blast-furnaces, are derived solely from the not inconsiderable amount of titanium which the iron ores from Miask and Nischneitagilsk m Russia, Danemora m Sweden, and Arendal m Norway, contain qualities which render it particularly adapted for the manufacture of steel and very strong wrought iron. Although not much titanium combines chemically with the pigiron itself, it acts undoubtedly as a very powerful purifier m the blast-furnace, and if used m the proper way, even with rather inferior ironstones, it improves the quality of the iron m a wonderful way, far more so than manganese would be able to do. The introduction of iron ore which contains titanium m the mixture of ordinary blastfurnaces for the production of finery iron will, undoubtedly, prove a great success ; but instead of the Taranaki sand, which, according to my analysis, only contains between 9 and 13 per cent, of titanic oxide I should recommend for this purpose the titanic iron ore, or Ilmenite, which is found m immense masses m the South of Norway, and which I found to contain between 38 and 43 per cent, of this compound of titanium. lam unable to say at what cost this admirable ironstone could be obtained m England, but I should think it ought to be had at a moderat« price.