Process of making powdered iron in a discrete crystalline form

Claim 1

THE PROCESS OF MAKING MOLDABLE CRYSTALLINE IRON HAVING PREDETERMINE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES USEFUL IN POWDER METALLYRGY, COMPRISING THE STEPS OF TREATING IN A REDUCING ZONE A SOLID STARTING MATERIAL COMPRISING AT LEAST ONE OF THE OXIDES OF IRON HAVING AN ATOMIC RATIO OXYGEN TO IRON OF AT LEAST ONE, BY PASSING THROUGH SAID REDUICNG ZONE IN CONTACT WITH THE SOLID MATERIAL THEREIN A REDUCING GAS CONTAINING HYROGEN, AS AN ESSENTIAL ACTIVE REDUCING INGREDIENT, AND HYDROGEN CHLORIDE, THE ACTIVE HYDROGEN CHLORIDE CONCENTRATION OF SAID REDUCING GAS BEING AT LEAST ABOUT AS GREAT AS THAT REPRESENTED BY THE LINE AB IN FIG. 2 OF THE DRAWING AND NOT MORE THAN ABOUT 6%, MAINTAINING THE TEMPERATURES IN SAID ZONE WITHIN THE RANGE OF ABOUT 1200* F. TO ABOUT 2000* F., AND MAINTAINING CONTACT BETWEEN SAID REDUCING GAS AND SAID STARTING MATERIAL FOR A TIME SUFFICIENT TO REDUCE SUBSTANTIALLY ALL THE IRON OXIDE CONTENT OF SAID STARTING MATERIAL TO METALLIC IRON.