Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 05.djvu/239

LEFT IRON AND STEEL 195 IRON AND STEEL about $7,000,000, The Angara consti- tutes the main highway for goods bound for Kiachta across Lake Baikal, as well as for those coming from Eastern Siberia and China for Russia. The communica- tions between Irkutsk and Yakutsk and the N. parts of Siberia are carried on by the river Lena. A destructive fire oc- curred in 1879. IRON AND STEEL. Iron, in chemis- try, ferrum, is a metallic tetrad ele- ment, symbol Fe. at. wt. 56, sp. grr. of pure iron 7.8. Iron occurs nearly pure or alloyed with nickel in meteorites, but is generally found in combination with oxygen and as a carbonate. It is widely diffused in rocks, and often forms the chief coloring matter of clays and sands. It also occurs combined with sulphur. The chief ores used for the manufacture of iron are magnetite, haematite, brown oxide, spathic ore and clay ironstone. The ore is first calcined, to expel the water and carbonic acid and most of the sulphur, and to convert the oxides to peroxide, which prevents the waste of iron in the form of slag. The calcined ore is then smelted, with the addition of coke and limestone; the limestone unites with the silica present and forms a fusi- ble slag, while the oxide of iron is re- duced by the action of the carbon mon- oxide. The iron thus obtained is called cast or pig iron, and is very impure. Pure iron is prepared by placing four parts of fine iron wire, cut in pieces, and State Alabama California. . . . Georgia Maryland. . . . Michigan Minnesota. . . . Missouri New Jersey. . . New Mexico. . New York .... North Carolina Pennsylvania Tennessee. . . . Utah Virginia Wisconsin. . . . Other States ^. high temperature. Iron is a soft, tough, tenacious, malleable, ductile, white metal, not acted upon by dry air; but it rusts in moist air containing carbonic acid, form- ing a hydrate of the sesquioxide. Iron is mentioned in the Bible as early as Gen. iv : 22. On the sepulchers of the Egyptian Thebes, butchers are depicted as sharpening their knives on a round bar of metal which, from being blue, is assumed to be iron. Iron ore is said to have been discovered in Mount Ida about 1406 b. c. The Romans early knew it. Iron mines came into operation in Britain 54 b. c. The exportation of iron was prohibited by the British gov- ernment in 1354, and in 1483 the impor- tation of such manufactured iron goods as could be made at home was forbidden. In 1783 Cort obtained a patent for roll- ing, and in 1784 for puddling iron. The hot blast was discovered by Dalton in 1827, and the Bessemer process for con- verting crude iron into manufactured iron and steel in 1856. Native iron is found in masses or smaller portions in meteorites. It is nearly pure, still it contains 1 to 20 per cent, of nickel with traces of cobalt, man- ganese, tin, copper, chromium, phospho- rus, etc. Specimens of ore so pure as to admit of direct forging into horseshoes have been mined at Shepherd's Mountain, in the Iron Mountain district of Missouri. The following table shows the iron ore shipped from the mines of the United States in 1918 and 1919, by States: 1918 1919 Quantity (estimate) (long tons) Value Quantity (long tons) Value 6,121,087 $15,334,561 4,837,000 $13,203,000 3,121 14,683 (M C) 262,003 878,612 85,000 389,000 6,070 23,686 (») (M 17,587,416 65.900,501 13,088,000 47 837,000 48,263,240 144,706.532 34,593,000 128,739,000 71,968 270,337 C) C) 375,238 1,945,651 331,000 1,593,000 275,266 546,212 (=") (•) 899,970 5,802,870 648,000 3,694,000 108,332 604,592 67,000 240.000 515.845 982,173 543,000 892,000 408,954 1,184,546 271,000 932,000 52,722 168,438 C) C) 400.135 1,365,582 290,000 1,150,000 1,167,640 3,796,408 782,000 2,859,000 502,195 842,763 784,000 56,319,000 1,696,000 72,021,202 $244,368,147 $203,274,000 " 1913 : Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming; 1919: Same States as in 1913, with Jalifonnia, Maryland, Missouri, New Mexico, and Utah in addition. one part of black oxide of iron in a Hes- sian crucible, and covering it with a mix- ture of white sand, lime, and potassium carbonate in the proportions used for glass-making; a cover is then closely ap- plied and the crucible exposed to a very The total stocks of iron ore for 1919 were estimated at 12,986,000 long tons. The production of iron in most foreign countries was seriously curtailed during the war, and in some countries it was en- tirely cut off. In 1918 the following
 * Included under "Other Stat«s."