STEEL AND IRON

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13447, 20 November 1907, Page 5

STEEL AND IRON

Hljftli A XEW PROCESS. A SUCCESSFUL. TEST. L-'i-ess Associafcion-By- Telegraph-Copyright Received. 10.28 p.m., November• 19th. .MELBOURNE. November 19. At South Melbourne to-day, ail exhaustive trial of the Moore-Hcekctt process for the direct pro duett ion of iron and «tejl was made with entirely satisfactory results, befoyd a. large gathuiing of experts from all palls -of. the. Commonweal;, h. From Sydney a party of 25 interested in mineral industry came to w view th« da-, nionstration. .Amongoi those' present were Mr Deakin, Count Mornier (representing the Swedish Govcrnnvoiu). Mr Schamnaii (representing the Belgium Government), Major Hughes (American steel interests)', Colonel Stanley (Arnustioiig-Whitworth C 0.),- Mr Newbiggin (Vickers, Son, and Maxim), and: Mr Hernari (representing the 'Commonwealth and New Zealand interest in the process),' Sir Alfred Cowley (Queensland), the president of. the -Chambers of Manufacture, N«w. South Wales, and Vic-, tenia, Mr ■ Roakoj. .'(Clyde Engineering Works), two experts representing the New .South Wales .Government, many members of/the Federal Parliament and Stafc Parliament: :•

Mi Hcskeli, «i\entut of tlie piou * was conn cted with wm|v at Oneluinga , luaitu of i unlun b»ck >iben pltniK weie mule to deal with Zeal ml iinn-.nifl Hi then uniened Hit iii"-t idea of ii duect piocess which' ciihmna'pd m to d.n > demoii'-hcitioii Allhoi.h lh"ie aie >-"\ci il duett pimcnj of mak mg sUel, .ill laboui under the th'fcit of b'-mg expense It is tlamud ili.it 'ne new 'pini 1 ihiifii. tliL tost of mdiuc* methods 25 pet cent is mtil as efhiting in mg of linn At 11 o'clock In, morning lh» Us L began The ou 1 hifts weie chaiged with limonui oic fiom Rylsto.ie, New South Wales, ,uid the pi* sent installation was de\r-ed to comeit Uns into hemahtic oie. In the eaihei stages it vjs ccrtonuuy to pulvense the oie. but iu the pies nfc instance lump ..'c vtas u-ed Within a coupl" of houns th» chaige -was wilhdiawn, and the molten steel and iron sent into the refining chamber. One of the essential feature?; in the fiis-t operalidn vris the ingenious manner hi which the ore' in pafi-ing through the icduceis to the slag bath wa.s protected fioin oxidisation by a mantle of reducing i.ms, while another uttiking feature lies in ihe faci" that onco started the smelting of oie and the cnnvoision into .steel wore cdilied on without interruption. Ou«t before 4 o'clock the charge from' the refintr was diawn, and those awimbled wit-ncss-d the casting of ingots of steel with a six inch by seven inch eioir .section, r u>m oie which had gone into the ,-educeis !i\~ horns before. There was loud cheer-, ing .it the accomplishment of the task. At the luncheon Mr Weedon, the Lord Mavor, presided, and speeches were delivered by the President of the Senate, a, number of senators, and others. It war, pointed out that Australia, last year had impoited ten million tons of iron and ■,teel. which would Ik* saved by the development of her own resources. Theie was practically unlimited quantities of iron ore in vaiious part* of Australia awaitiug development and llreatmen*.. Count Mormer said that although a direct process had been invented in Sweden, he congratulated Mr Heskett on Jiis victoiy. asserting' that he had done a gieat thing for Aus- 1 tralia and perhaps the world. It is expected that the steel prepared to-day will be subject to expert lost* tomorrow. Tt. is claimed for the piocess that it will trea< New Zealand riband without tlhe necessity of first 'icing converted into briquebt.es and '-he special plant for the purposes will be no mere expensive, than that for the ♦ reatment cf ore. To-day's demonstration clearly proved the rapidity w.ith. }vhich steeil_ could be produced compared with the 56 to 40 hours'. requisite by the .indirect method; while it. is claimed that the ai'Uul erst' of production is considerably ,kss than in the old. wav. A cable has been received from Russia making an offer fir the rights for that, country. If result of to-dav'*t testw is successful, those best quaK'lied to judge of the work aecomplihed indicated that a. great step forward had be in accomplished in the rapid pi eduction of steel.