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Many years later, a series of similar ventures from McDonald Ventures became an actively researched and bewildered phenomenon in the business community. In later business textbooks, there is even a proper term called the MacDonald Venture Capital Miracle. Because over the course of decades, MacDonald Ventures has achieved an astonishing success rate in technology investments. Its success rate is so high that it even exceeds the general investment activities of many banks. This series of successful investments not only allowed MacDonald Ventures to earn a huge amount of capital, but also made MacDonald Ventures the world's largest patent monopolist. So much so that later, any businessman who wants to make money on new technology will have to face the patent exploitation of MacDonald Ventures.

Of course, that's all for later, and even Martin's open-hearth wasn't an immediate success. Scrooge's steel plan, on the other hand, had to be stepped up because of the need for the Pacific Railroad, armored ships, and new artillery.

In early 1862, Carroll, on behalf of the MacDonald Venture Bank, bought the patent license for the "Bottom Blowing Acid Converter Steelmaking Act" from the British. Meanwhile, in Cleveland, a new steel plant is being built.

Before construction of this steel plant began, there were already several small steel plants in Cleveland, and in Pittsburgh, there were even more. Honestly, the whole Great Lakes region is very suitable for steel. Most of the iron ore in the United States is concentrated in these areas, especially along the shores of Lake Superior, which are abundant. Ohio is also home to part of the famous Appalachian Coalfield. It is the largest coalfield in the United States, with abundant reserves, and the coal seams are basically horizontally distributed, the burial is shallow, nearly half of it can be mined in the open pit, and the coal produced is also very suitable for coking. In addition, the Great Lakes area is easily accessible, so it is naturally a good place to develop the steel industry.

But because of this, a guy with a little money can start a steel factory. These steel mills are small in scale, have poor product quality and few varieties, and do not compete well with European products. However, since President Lincoln came to power, he decisively raised tariffs, and combined with the increase in demand brought about by the war, these factories have suddenly had a little better. However, their good days are coming to an end. Because the huge MacDonald Steel Company is about to be established.

In the original history, in 1873, the Carnegie McCandris Steel Company, the steel king Carnegie relied on to dominate the world, when it was first established, its total assets were only 750,000 US dollars, but this is already a large-scale steel enterprise. In 1862, the total assets of most steel companies were only $10,000. The total investment in Scrooge's steel plant is as high as $1.5 million.

The $1.5 million was invested in a number of things, one being an iron ore mine on the shores of Lake Erie. This is an iron ore mine with abundant reserves and easy mining, coupled with its proximity to Lake Erie and easy transportation, so when this iron ore mine was discovered three years ago, many investors came to want a piece of the pie, but soon after, people realized that the iron ore produced by this mine was too high in sulfur and phosphorus. Both of these elements are harmful elements in metallurgy, sulfur will make steel less plastic, and more importantly, it will make steel brittle and easy to crack at high temperatures. For example, if a gun is made of such steel, as long as it is fired for a period of time, the barrel or barrel becomes hot, and it is very easy to explode. Phosphorus is also a harmful element in smelting, which makes steel brittle in cold environments and easy to break when exposed to external forces. Later, the famous "Titanic" cruise ship hit an iceberg during the voyage and then sank, which is related to the phosphorus content in the steel used to build the ship. At that time, the steel plate soaked in the icy sea water became very brittle due to the influence of phosphorus impurities, and as a result, it broke lightly in the collision.

Under the technical conditions at that time, people had almost no good treatment methods for these iron ores containing sulfur or phosphorus, and an iron mine, even if it was rich in reserves and had a high iron content of the ore, as long as there was a problem of high sulfur or high phosphorus, it would be worthless immediately. The iron ore mine had both, so naturally it was no longer favored, so investors left one after another, leaving only a barren mountain with a lot of caves dug up.

Under these circumstances, combined with Scrooge's influence on the city of Cleveland, he was granted the right to mine the mine for thirty years for a symbolic price of $10,000 (paid over five years).

There is a reason why Scrooge dared to buy such a mine. Because in his hands, there is a technology that has gone beyond the times: steel desulfurization and phosphorus removal technology. The mine itself didn't cost much money, but it still cost a lot of money for mining equipment, special railways, and special docks.

The other is a large coking plant and steel plant.

……

By the end of the year, this huge steel enterprise was finally basically completed and was about to start trial operation.

"What about the test run of the blast furnace? What is the progress of molten iron desulfurization? Scrooge, who was inspecting the steel mill, asked.

"The blast furnace is normal. As for the desulphurization, Mr. MacDonald, according to your assumption, we have succeeded in reducing the sulphur content of the molten iron to the predetermined level by spraying lime and baking soda into it, but we are now, if we do not remove the slag that is generated, the sulphur content of the molten iron will rise rapidly after a period of time. The removal of slag will cause the temperature of the molten iron to drop, which will cause a little trouble for our next smelting. So that we have to artificially add a little fuel. Carroll replied to Stern, a metallurgical engineer who had been dug up from England by Carroll, "but it's not a big problem, and we think we can solve it if we improve the ladle." ”

Scrooge nodded in satisfaction, then turned around and asked McCarthy, the director of the steel plant, "How is the conversion of the new converter going?" ”

"The new refractory bricks have been replaced, and the furnace has been prepared." McCarthy replied, "Right away you'll see the first furnace of steel being smelted." ”

The so-called new refractory bricks refer to alkaline refractory bricks. In this era, everyone's steelmaking furnaces use acid refractory bricks, which will interfere with the process of dephosphorization during steelmaking, making it difficult to remove phosphorus-containing impurities. In the original history, it was not until 1879 that the British metallurgist Thomas opened alkaline refractory bricks, which made dephosphorization easier. And the production method of this refractory brick is quite simple, and Scrooge just knows it.

This kind of refractory brick is calcined at high temperature with natural dolomite, and then mixed with a small amount of tar to press and shape.

But even if it is a simple thing, when it comes to industrial production, there are still a lot of troubles. After more than a dozen tests, the usable refractory bricks were barely produced.

"The main thing is that the raw materials of dolomite are not good enough." Scrooge thought. The best dolomite in the United States is produced in the south, although there are also in the north, but the quality is too poor, and it contains too many impurities, even if it is successfully fired, the performance is still not as good as the products fired with dolomite in the south. Fortunately, there is also high-quality dolomite production in Scotland, and Scrooge has written to Carroll asking him to buy a batch of high-quality dolomite from England.

At this time, a man ran up to Scrooge and shouted to him, "Mr. MacDonald, it's ready over there." Steelmaking will be available in no time. ”

"Alright then, let's go check it out." Scrooge said. So a few people led the way in front and took Scrooge to a high platform in the workshop, overlooking the entire smelting workshop from a high vantage point.

A huge steam-powered crane lifted a heavy ladle and moved it over the converter, which then began to release reddish molten iron. As soon as the hot molten iron was released, the temperature of the entire workshop immediately rose a lot, and the workshop immediately went from winter to summer.

The large blower then begins to pump high-pressure air into the converter. The molten iron, which contains a large amount of carbon, immediately burns violently. At first, the flame coming out of the furnace was still dark red, not too high, but then the flame began to turn white, and the flame rose high, and at this time, under Stern's command, a certain amount of lime was also thrown into the steelmaking furnace - this was used to remove phosphorus.

The burning molten steel emitted a huge amount of heat, and even though it was more than a hundred meters away, Scrooge still felt that his face was burned. Scrooge couldn't help but take a step back to avoid the scorching heat. Stern, who was standing beside him, stared at the flames that erupted. Even the iron ore mined in a mine will be different, and the molten iron they smelt will also be different. Steelmaking is all about burning off the excess carbon in molten pig iron. Controlling carbon content is the key to steelmaking. The amount of carbon in molten iron can only be judged by experience. This is Stern's responsibility, and it is a big reason why he can get a higher salary than others.

Seeing that the flames from the furnace began to fade, Stern stopped spraying high-pressure air into the furnace. The converter began to tilt, and several workers, dressed in overalls made of asbestos, approached the furnace and began to take samples.

The results of sampling and analysis showed that Scott's heat control was quite good, so the tap port on the converter opened, and the hot molten steel flowed out and was injected into the ladle.

"It was a great success!" Scrooge nodded and said, "Thank you, a great era has begun in your hands!" ”