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BESSEMER STEEL. 
 
 ORES AND METHODS. 
 
 NEW FACTS AKD STATISTICS KELATING TO THE TYPES OF 
 
 MACHINEKY IN USE, THE METHODS IN VOGUE, COST AND 
 
 CLASS OF LABOR EMPLOYED, AND THE CHARACTER 
 
 AND AVAILABILITY OF THE ORES UTILIZED IN 
 
 THE MANUFACTURE OF BESSEMER STEEL 
 
 IN EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES; 
 
 TOGETHER WITH OPINIONS* 
 
 AND EXCERPTS FROM 
 
 VARIOUS ACCEPTED 
 
 AUTHORITIES. 
 
 COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY 
 
 THONIAS W. KITTCH 
 
 // J^y 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 MORRISON RENSHAW, 515 PINE ST. 
 
 f( Oof 24 1882 1 , 
 
 ST. LOUIS, MO.: 
 1882. 
 
'h^ 
 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, 
 
 By THOMAS W. FITCH, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
 
 
 TIMES PRINTiNG HOUSE. 
 VC.VOU I S.ATO. 
 
CONTKNTS. 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 ORES. 
 
 Page. 
 The quantity, quality, and cost of the Iron Ores of the United 
 States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Belgium, Sweden, 
 Spain, and Italy, and the Manufacture of Spiegeleisen 1 to 24 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 METHODS. 
 
 American Steel Works— Carnegie Bro's & Co., Limited, Pitts- 
 burg— North Chicago Rolling Mill Co., Chicago— Cost of 
 Labor in the United States and England 25 to 36 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 METHODS. 
 
 Foreign Steel Works — Wilson, Cammell & Co., Dronfield, 
 England— The Barrow Hematite Iron and Steel Works, 
 England— West Cumberland Iron and Steel Company, 
 England— The Rhymney Steel Works, England 37 to 54 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 METHODS. 
 
 Foreign Works continued— The Eston Steel Works, England— 
 The Steel Company of Scotland, Limited— J. Cockerill et 
 Cie Steel \Yorks, Belgium ^^ to 73 
 
iv CONTESTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 rnz 3a5i:-3isseicek pkocils*. 
 
 Baae lonings — I ? — Basie Pig — Afrerblcw — 
 Waste — ^Basc :^ .r- . — . — : ■ ' . ~ — Cost — ^Prc^ress of 
 the Xew Proces — ^Ik l - >c«^ 74 to 96 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TTTF HAESISJijX 5X1:1:1. COltPAXT. 
 
 A des^ipdc-a oi the Wor^ of die Harrison Sceel Company, 
 Ae STew Baae-Be=semer Plant desigced aec(Hrding to die 
 moa inqROT&j 7 " •■'' :f ~ : iem SteePWorts" conjunction, 97 to 1^ 
 
 coxcEcsioy. 
 
 7 1 T 123 to 125 
 
P R E K .^ C K 
 
 The papers presented to the public in this Tolume were prepared at 
 the request uf the Miners* and Manofacturers* Association oi St. Louis, 
 during the past summer, and it was not supposed by me that anything 
 further than the usual newspaper publication would ensue: many 
 members of the Association, however, having expressed the opinion 
 that the matter herein presented might prove of practical value to those 
 engaged in rhig great industry : and although it is not improbable that 
 in the haste with which the labor was done, some errors may have found 
 place, in the main. 1 believe, the statements to be correct and reliable, 
 and have consented to the issue of this book. 
 
 Hoping that the work may be of benefit to its readers, 
 I am. trulv vours. 
 
 cf'ijG^ 
 
 St. Loris, XIo., September i9, l^i. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 ORES. 
 
 THE QUANTITY, QUALITY AND COST OF THE IRON ORES OF 
 THE UNITED STATES, GREAT BRITAIN, GERIVIANY, FRANCE, 
 BELGIUM, SWEDEN, SPAIN AND ITALY, AND MANU- 
 FACTURE OF SPIEGELEISEN. 
 
 In the following paper will be found a brief review of the 
 iron ore resources of the United States, Great Britain, Ger- 
 many, France, Belgium, Sweden, Spain and Italy, as ob- 
 tained from reliable sources of information. 
 
 The Iron Ores of the United States. 
 
 Of the 8,000,000 tons of ore now annually raised in the 
 United States, a portion belongs to the clay or carboniferous 
 measures, while the remainder takes the form of either 
 hematities or oxides. The richest ores are those of the Lake 
 Superior and Lake Champlain districts. In Pennsylvania, 
 Missouri, New Jersey, Alabama and Tennessee there are 
 likewise large and valuable deposits of ore. For the pur- 
 poses of the steel manufacturer the ores mostly in request up 
 to this time have been those of Lake Superior. The open- 
 ings from which the ore is obtained in this region are from 
 200 to 300 feet long, from 100 to 200 feet wide and about 
 
(2) 
 
 600 feet in working depth. The ore formerly cost from 
 $2.50 to $4 per ton at the mines, and contains from 60 to 6Q 
 per cent of metal ; it now costs from $3 to $5 at the mines for 
 hematite and $6 for best specular. Sonje of the mines in 
 the Lake Superior region have already been exhausted, but 
 new mines have been discovered. 
 
 Considerable deposits of a similar character exist at 
 Menominee, lying to the south of the mines just referred to, 
 and are now being worked extensively. In the Lake Cham- 
 plain district the iron ore is found in pockets, much in the 
 same manner as in the region of Lake Superior. At Port 
 Henry the ore is obtained partly by open and partly by close 
 mining, the former about 250 feet square by 250 in depth, 
 and the latter a continuation of the mineral deposit to the 
 dip. From the present floor of the quariy or open portion 
 a bore hole of 140 feet passed through pure ore without 
 reaching the rock. The roof of the mined portion of the 
 excavation is supported by five colossal pillars of pure ores 
 estimated to weigh 70,000 to 80,000 tons. The selling 
 price varies from $5 to $7 ; the yield is from 60 to 62 per 
 cent, but it contains too much phosphorus to be useful for 
 Bessemer steel by acid process. , 
 
 ■ About eighty-five miles in a westerly direction from Phila- 
 delphia is the deposit of ore known as the Cornwall banks . Its 
 percentage of metal is much below that of the two districts 
 already referred to, being only 50 to 55 per cent. Ii is per- 
 haps the most cheaply worked mass of ore in the world. It 
 lies in the form of a ridge nearly three-quarters of a mile 
 long, having a width of 500 feet, and a height m some places 
 of 350 feet above the surrounding plain, wnd a depth below 
 it of 50 to 180 feet. 
 
 The ore is so soft in texture that a man for a day's work 
 can blast and load 10 tons into the wagons, which ascend the 
 hill by a spiral locomotive railway cut m the ore all the way. 
 
(3) 
 
 The produce of Cornwall banks is contaminated "with sul- 
 phur — possibly the most sulphureous ore of its kind in the 
 world. This deleterious ingredient is in a great measure 
 removed in the blast furnaces by the copious use of lime, 
 and the ore being free from phosphorus, the resulting pig 
 iron is in favor at the Bessemer steel works. The producing 
 powers of this remarkable accumulation of ore are very 
 large, probably — if fully exercised — amounting to some 
 thousands of tons per day. 
 
 ^ At a distance of about eighty miles in a south by west 
 direction from the city of St. Louis lies the Iron Mountain, 
 and in its vicinity are the deposits of Pilot Knob and Shep- 
 herd Mountain. The mineral of the specular variety is very 
 hard and dense. / The first mentioned, and by far the most 
 important of the three deposits, is an irregularly-shaped 
 deposit in many places of clean solid ore of various thick- 
 nesses up to seventy or eighty feet. The ore sells at St. 
 Louis at about $8 per ton, and it yields about 67 per cent 
 of iron. In former times it was delivered at $6 per ton. 
 The second quality of ore, containing from 50 to 60 per 
 cent of iron, and which is too high in phosphorus for the 
 acid process is sold for about one-half the price asked for 
 the first quality ore. 
 
 The mineral at Pilot Knob occurs as a bed or seam about 
 thirty feet in thickness. It is very hard, and in consequence 
 more expensive to work than that obtained at the Iron 
 Mountain. It is also less rich in metal, being only 56 or 57 j)er 
 cent, and sells at St. Louis at about $7 per ton. The second 
 quality of this ore brings only about one-half the price of 
 the first, and these second ores are suitable for the Basic 
 process, although unfit for the acid process. 
 
 About 100 miles in a south-westerly direction from the 
 City of St. Louis in the Counties of Dent, Crawford, and 
 Phelps, which section is known as the "Southwest Ore Dis- 
 
(4) 
 
 trict," there has been developed a large number of ore 
 banks extending over a considerable area. The Simmons 
 Mountain and the Cherry Valley bank have yielded nearly 
 550,000 tons of ore, and large amounts are still in sight yet 
 undeveloped. In Iron County there is evidence of large 
 deposits of ore which have been verified liy shaft prospect- 
 ing. The character of the ore in these counties is blue, 
 specular, and red hematite, usually found mixed in the same 
 mine, the specular appearing in large boulders. The aver- 
 age of numerous analyses, made by Prof. Wuth of Pitts- 
 burg, demonstrates these ores to l)e low in silicious matter, 
 and varying as to phosphorus from 0.04 to 0.12, and that 
 they are almost absolutely free from sulphur. The specular 
 contains about 66 per cent of metallic iron and the red hem- 
 atite about 55 per cent of metallic iron. 
 
 > The ores of New Jersey belong chiefly to that class kno^\T[i 
 as magnetite, but the deposits are thinner than those of 
 Michigan, Pennsylvania and Missouri, and are more costly 
 to get. • 
 
 The ore lies in veins varying in width from a foot or two 
 to forty feet, but in the larger masses foreign matters are 
 interspersed. The cost, under circumstances differing so 
 widely varies much. From $3.75 to $4.75, including 5 jDer 
 cent for rent, is said to represent the cost price of the ore at 
 the pit's mouth. The percentage of iron is about 55, but 
 the content of phosphorus unfits the New Jersey ore gener- 
 ally for the Bessemer acid process. 
 
 In various localities among the elevated regions of the Apa- 
 lachian chain, and in the adjacent low lands, as well as else- 
 where, are found deposits of the hydrated oxide of iron or 
 brown iron ore. This ore contains so much foreign matter 
 that it requires washing. Delivered at the blastfurnaces its 
 cost is about $3 per ton. It contains more phosphorus than 
 the magnetic ores of New Jersey. 
 
(5) 
 
 In Virginia brown ore, yielding 50 per cent of iron, is mined 
 for 50 cents per ton, and delivered at the blast furnaces for 
 about $1.50 per ton. Large deposits of this kind of ore are 
 also found in the States of Alabama and Georo-ia, yieldino; 
 from 45 to 50 per cent of iron, and costing about $1.25 per 
 ton delivered at the iron works, which, of course, are near 
 to the mines. Hitherto the presence of phosphorus has pre- 
 vented this ore from being employed for Bessemer steel ma- 
 king ; l)ut the complete elimination of phosphorus being now 
 an accomplished fact, this stone can be adopted for such a 
 purpose. 
 
 The Red Mountain, of Alabama, is a fossil ore deposit, 
 extending over seventy miles. The vein has a working width 
 of about ten feet, and the ore is of good quality to probably 100 
 or 150 feet, when it becomes too calcareous as a rule. Many 
 millions of tons are already proved in this ridge, which is in 
 the midst of coal fields, and beino^ rapidly developed by the fur- 
 naces at Birmingham. Its average richness in iron is about 
 52 per cent. Its cost at mines is about $1.25 ; cost to furna- 
 ces owning mines (i. e., mining expenses), 85 cents. 
 
 Large de^Dosits of red fossiliferous ore are found in the 
 Apalachian chain, sometimes exceeding thirty feet in thick- 
 ness. This ore yields in the furnace about 40 per cent of 
 iron, and it is extracted for about 50 cents per ton. In the 
 nortJi of Tennessee the same description of ore is found in 
 considerable quantities, but the cost of working it is so nuich 
 greater that it costs about $2.50 per ton at the works. North- 
 wards this bed of fossiliferous ore gradually diminishes in 
 thickness. The iron obtained from the fossiliferous bed is 
 of fair quality. 
 
 Among other deposits of ore in the United States remark- 
 able both for quantity and quality may be classed that in the 
 Cranberry vein in North Carolina. It has been worked at 
 its eastern extremity on a small scale for some years, and 
 
(6) 
 
 has recently been traced for miles in a westerly direction 
 through the Smoky Momitains. 
 
 Taking all the iron ore raised in Great Britain, Mr. 1. L, 
 Bell has estimated its average per centage of iron to be a 
 trifle under 35 per cent ; whereas the produce of the mines 
 of the United States, similarl}^ considered, Avill be about 5(3 
 per cent, which means that for each ton of iron made there 
 is 20 cwt. 'less ore to be dealt with by the American ironmas- 
 ter. 
 
 Less than 12 1-2 per cent of the total quantity raised in 
 Great Britain is lit for the Bessemer acid process ; whereas 
 in the United States almost one third of the produce of its 
 mines is sufficiently free from phosphorus to furnish iron fit 
 for Bessemer purposes by the acid process. 
 
 There is quite a large amount of iron ore at Iron Ridge, 
 Wis., distant about 160 miles by rail from Chicago, owned 
 by the North Chicago Rolhng Mill Company, and will be used 
 by them for making basic pig metal in their blastfurnaces at 
 South Chicago. It is a cheap ore, easily mined, and by 
 analysis contains — iron, 51 percent; phosphorus, l.S-l per 
 cent ; silicon, 5 per cent. 
 
 The production of iron ore in the Lake Superior district 
 in 1881 in gross tons was 2,336,335 ; in State of New Jersey 
 in 1881, 737,052; in Lake Champlain district, New York, 
 1881, 637,r)00; in Cornwall ore bank, Pennsylvania, 1881, 
 249,050 ; total i)roduction of iron ore in census year 1880, 
 net tons, 7,974,705 ; imports of iron ore in 1881, 782,887. 
 
 In view of the large amount of iron ore contained in the 
 United States, it appears surprising that we should have im- 
 ported nearly 800,000 tons last year, but that was caused by 
 the scarcity of ores mined, suitable for the manufacture of 
 Bessemer pig for the acid process, for which there was a 
 large demand, and consequently high prices were charged 
 for the domestic ores. 
 
(7) 
 
 It would seem, however, by the followmg figures, that the 
 foreign ores cost nearly as much at the furnace as the high 
 priced ores of the Northern States, and that the real remedy 
 lies in a more extensive use of the cheap ores of the South- 
 ern States for the production of steel at less cost. 
 
 The minimum prices free on board ship are about : com- 
 mon! ore, 48 and 51 per cwt., at Parmau, say $1.50 ; com- 
 mon ore, 48 and 51 per cwt., at Carthagena, say $1.75; 
 rich pure ore, 55 and 58 per cwt., at Bilboa, say $2.00 ; rich 
 pure ore, 65 per cwt., at Marbella, say $3.00 ; rich pure ore, 
 65 per cwt., at Elba, say $3.00 ; rich pure ore, 52 per cwt., 
 at Oran, say $2.20. To these prices must be added freight, 
 insurance, and landing charges. Steamer freights for the 
 year 1881, on ore per ton, averaged about $3.00 ; the duty is 
 20 per cent ad valorum, so that Bilboa ore would cost on 
 dock in this country about $5.40 ; and the Marbella and 
 Elban ore, which is quite as good as Lake Superior ore, 
 would cost $6.60 at dock. Adding the landing charges and 
 inland freight would make the cost of these imported 
 ores about $8.40 at Pittsburg for Bilboa, and $9.60 for 
 Marbella. 
 
 The Manufacture of Spiegeleisen in America. 
 
 Up to the present time the greater part of the spiegeleisen 
 used in the Bessemer Steel Works of America has been 
 imported from Europe. 
 
 In 1870, the manufacture of spiegeleisen was undertaken 
 by the New Jersey Zinc Company, at Newark, N. J., which 
 has three furnaces, each 20 x 7 feet, with a combined annual 
 capacity of 5,000 gross tons. In 1872, they produced 4,072 
 tons ; in 1873, 3,930 tons : in 1874, 4,070 tons. The spie- 
 geleisen made by this company is said to be equal to the 
 best that is imported, and is, therefore, readily sold. 
 
(8) 
 
 The following are two analyses of it : 
 
 Iron 83.250 83.23 
 
 Manganese 11.596 11.67 
 
 Phosphorus 196 .19 
 
 Silicon 367 .99 
 
 Carbon 4.632 4.02 
 
 Total 100.031 100.10 
 
 Pig iron that is rich in manganese, and almost free from 
 phosphorus, silicon, and sulphm-, is required for use as 
 siDiegeleisen. 
 
 In 1875, the Bethlehem Iron Company and the Cambria 
 Iron Company commenced to make spiegeleisen from Span- 
 ish ores. 
 
 In the same year the Woodstock Iron Company undertook 
 the manufacture of spiegeleisen from the rich ores of Ala- 
 bama. It is expected that before long America will be quite 
 independent of European supplies of this material. Three 
 States made spiegeleisen in 1881 — New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
 vania, and Ohio ; the total production for the year was 
 21,086 net tons, of which 16,276 net tons were made in 
 Pennsylvania by Carnegie Bros. & Co., Limited, and by the 
 Cambria Iron Company. 
 
 The manganese of Arkansas is mainly developed in Inde- 
 pendence County. It is here not in veins but in mass 
 deposits, much like limonite in occurrence, but more solid 
 and regular. These ores will yield about 40 to 50 per cent 
 manganese, and are in large quantities, and new discoveries 
 are being made monthly. It is probable that no deposits as 
 large as these have yet been discovered in America of this 
 class of ore. Much of it is low in phosphorus and suitable 
 for Spiegel, but being low in iron would require admixture 
 of iron ore in the furnace. 
 
The Iron Ores of Great Britain. 
 
 The Bessemer process heretofore has been dependent on 
 ores of exceptional purity, and since steel has so largely 
 taken the place of iron, the supply of such ores had l)eeome 
 a question of paramount importance in relation to the future 
 of this industry. 
 
 In the manufacture of steel by the Bessemer system acid 
 process much aboye one-tenth of a unit per cent of phos- 
 phorus renders pig iron unfit for use. Ores, therefore, that 
 contain, as the great bulk of English ores do, a much larger 
 percentage of phosphorus have not hitherto been utilized, 
 because practically all this deleterious matter finds its way 
 into the ore. 
 
 Of the total quantity of iron ore raised in Great Britain, 
 I. L. Bell has calculated that less than 12 1-2 per cent 
 is fit for the Bessemer steel manufacture by the acid process, 
 but by the basic process the clay and calcareous ores of the 
 United Kingdom are now used in the manufacture of Bes- 
 semer steel. 
 
 About 1<S,500,000 tons of iron ore of all kinds are now 
 annually used in the United Kingdom. 
 
 Hematites, which are the ores hitherto almost exclusiyely 
 used in the Bessemer process, are contributed mainly by 
 Lancashire and Cumberland, these counties furnishing 
 indeed about 90 per cent of the total production of this kind 
 of ore in the United Kingdom. 
 
 The richest deposits of English hematite ores are found in 
 the Furness and Whitehaven districts. 
 
 The somewhat uncertain conditions under which much of 
 the hematite ores of the northwest coast are found cause 
 them to be more expensive than the ordinary clay or calcare- 
 ous ironstones. I. L. Bell puts the cost of Cumberland ore 
 at $2.50 at the mine, and states also that the payment of 
 
(10) 
 
 royalty amounts to 75 cents per ton. To the same authority 
 we are indebted for the information that the approximate 
 <;ost of conveying the minerals required for the manufacture 
 of a ton of hematite iron in this district is greater than that 
 of any other district in the United Kingdom, except South 
 Wales, as the following tabulated statement of the approxi- 
 mate cost of conveying the minerals required for making 
 one ton of pig iron in Great Britain shows : 
 
 CARRIAGE OF FUEL. 
 
 West of Scotland cwts. 44 $ .44 
 
 West of Scotland '' 65 47 
 
 South Staffordshire.... " 40 37 
 
 Cumberland " 24.... 2.39 
 
 Lancashire " 24 2.45 
 
 Lincolnshire " 25 2.44 
 
 South Wales " 40 44 
 
 Middlesborough '•' 26 75 
 
 CARRIAGE OF LIME STONE. 
 
 West of Scotland cwts. 14 .... $ .29 
 
 West of Scotland " 14 42 
 
 South Staffordshire ... " 10 12 
 
 Oumberland " 8 14 
 
 Lancashire "■ 8 14 
 
 Lincolnshire '• 00 
 
 South Wales '•'• 15 IS 
 
 Middlesborough '' 12 37 
 
 CARRIAGE OF ORE. 
 
 cwts. 43 
 
 38. 
 55. 
 36. 
 36. 
 70. 
 45. 
 65. 
 
 i .94 
 1.03 
 
 .69 
 1.13 
 1.13 
 
 .69 
 3.38 
 1.00 
 
 TOTAL, 
 
 ..$1.67 
 . 1.92 
 
 1.18 
 , 3.66 
 
 3.72 
 . 3.13 
 
 4.00 
 ■ 2.12 
 
 The united make of the above is equal to iive-sixths of the 
 entire kingdom. 
 
 The amount of iron ore (including chrome) imported 
 
 into the United Kingdom during the year 1881 was as follows : 
 
 Tons. Value. 
 
 Newport 532,226 £458,538 
 
 Cardiff 447,449 376,084 
 
 Middlesborough 389,093 382,087 
 
 Newcastle 252.817 237,900 
 
 Glasgow 197,804 241.441 
 
 Swansea 94.194 88.201 
 
 Stockton 85,179 76,821 
 
(11) 
 
 Sunderland 75.309 75,309 
 
 Workington 51,678 54,519 
 
 Chester 43.738 48,089 
 
 Ardrosan 42.209 44,680 
 
 Hull 38.482 48,221 
 
 Fleetwood 31.045 30,240 
 
 Liverpool 30.225 39,119 
 
 SouthShields 29,203 27,378 
 
 Hartlepool 20,656 21,550 
 
 2,361,407 £2.250.846 
 
 Otherportsunder 20,000 tons each.. 89,291 98,565 
 
 2,450,698 £2,349,411 
 
 A calculation of these totals shows the value per ton of 
 ore to be about $4.70 in our money. 
 
 The manufacture of siDiegeleisen in Great Britain is largely 
 increasing, and now amounts to nearly 100,000 tons annually, 
 of which the largest quantity is produced in South Wales. 
 
 The Iron Ores of Germany. 
 
 The iron ore resources of Germany embrace nearly all 
 principal varieties of the mineral, including bog ore, brown 
 hematite, spathic carbonate, blackband, clay ironstone, 
 hematite, limonite, and magnetic ore. The chief mining 
 district is that of Bonn, which embraces Westphalia, the 
 Rhine, Hesse-Nassau, and Waldeck. In this district there 
 aa-e about 950 separate mines, producing 1,500,000 tons of 
 ore per annum. The next most productive district is that of 
 Silesia, where there are about 100 mines, yielding about 
 500,000 tons yearly. The largest yield is obtained from the 
 magnetic deposits, whence 1,250,000 tons are annually 
 extracted. The spathic deposits are next in importance, 
 yielding from 600,000 to 700,000 tons per annum, and fol- 
 lowino- these come the hematites, of which about 500,000 
 tons are annuallv raised. 
 
(12) 
 
 All the indigenous ores of Germany are expensive when 
 compared with those native to England and America, if the 
 deposits of Alsace-Lorraine are excepted. In Rhenish Prussia 
 specular iron ore costs about $5.00 perton ; red hematite, with 
 45 per cent iron, $2.75 per ton ; brown hematite, $3.50 per 
 ton ; and spathic carbonates, $4.50 perton, delivered at works. 
 At the Kcenigin-Marien-Huette Works, which are said to 
 be the largest of their kind in Saxony, mild Bessemer steely 
 is made, containing a considerable percentage of manganese 
 and without spiegeleisen. The ores are obtained from 80 
 different mines belonging to the owners of the works, and are 
 situated in various parts of Saxony, Bavaria, and Thuringen. 
 The average percentage of iron is as follows : Red hema- 
 tites, from lodes in granite, in the Saxon Eizgeberge, contain 
 manganese, but free from phosphorus, up to 55 per cent of 
 iron. More silicious varieties from Bavaria contain 45 per 
 cent. Magnetic ores, Saxon, up to 60 per cent ; Bavarian, up 
 to 40 per cent, the latter being somewhat pyritic. Brown 
 iron ores and altered spathic ores, up to 35 per cent ; liassic 
 ore from Upper Franconia, somewhat sandy, up to 40 per 
 cent ; spathic ores from Thuringen and Ruess, up to 35 per 
 cent ; nodular clay iron ore from the coal measures of 
 Zwickau, up to 40 per cent. 
 
 The brown ores and coal measure carbonates are roasted 
 in heaps ; the other kinds are charged in the furnace without 
 roasting. The charges for Bessemer iron consist of mixtures 
 of red hematite and spathic ores, the other varieties being 
 used in the furnaces producing foundry and forge pig iron. 
 The average composition of the Bessemer pig is shown by 
 the following analysis : 
 
 Carbon, combined 1.095 
 
 Carbon, graphitic • • • • • 2.936 
 
 Silicon 2.200 
 
 Manganese 3.450 
 
 Phosphorus 0.070 to 0.120 
 
 Sulphur trace. 
 
(13) 
 
 In Germany, spiegeleisen was formerly produced by char- 
 coal out of manganiferous iron ores, its singular peculiarity 
 being due to the presence of 10 to 12 per cent of mangan- 
 ese, on which the Bessemer process depends for its success. 
 
 The average consumption of charcoal per 100 pounds pig 
 metal was about 120 pounds ; the average daily production 
 during the year about 4 1-2 tons. 
 
 In the practical working of the furnace the spathic ores 
 yielded about 38 per cent of iron. But on account of the 
 devastation of the forests, and of the scarcity of hard wood 
 suitable for conversion into good charcoal, this fuel soon 
 after 1859 proved insufficient to produce the spiegeleisen 
 wanted, and it became necessary to replace the charcoal by 
 coke. 
 
 German Spiegeleisen and Ferro Manganese. 
 
 The first development of manufacturing spiegeleisen by 
 means of coke was attended by many difficulties which at 
 times seemed insurmountable, but they were finally over- 
 come and quantities of the new iron was soon introduced 
 into the rolling mills and other works and found preferable 
 to the best iron previously known, and the only kind that 
 would enable Bessemer steel manufacturers successfully to 
 carry out the process. Ever since that time the demand has 
 exceeded the supply 
 
 Two specialties in which the German ironmasters have had 
 more experience than those of other countries are the manu- 
 facture of spiegeleisen and fcrro manganese, and to the pro- 
 duction of Basic pig. In the Rhenish Provinces and in West- 
 phalia, spathic ores from the Siegen District are smelted with 
 a slight addition of highly manganiferous limonites. The 
 calcined spathic ores average 48 per cent of iron and 9.5 per 
 cent of manganese, while a specimen of the limonites, moist, 
 ran 18 per cent of iron, 14 per cent of manganese, 0.2 per 
 
( 1^) 
 
 cent of phosphoric acid, and 25 per cent of moisture. 
 Selected spathic ores aknie would do for making ordinary 
 Spiegel running 10 to 12 per cent; but as they are scarce, 
 an addition of ores richer in manganese is generally made. 
 Manganese has a strong tendency to enter into the cinder, 
 so that, with good working of the furnace, from 40 to 50 
 per cent of the entire quantity in the ore is found in it ; the 
 percentage of manganese in the cinder ranging from 6 to 9 
 per cent. It does not pay to attempt to put more than 60 per 
 cent of the manganese contents of the ore into the spiegel, 
 because the consumption of coke runs up too high, the pro-' 
 duction declines, and the spiegel shows gray spots, due to 
 the presence of silicon, which makes it unsalal^le. A trial 
 at Oberhausen with the ordinary charge yielded mottled 
 metal holding 14.5 per cent of manganese and whitish-gray 
 cinder containing only 3 per cent of manganese. Hot blast 
 is beneficial in the manufacture of spiegel, but it is possible 
 to supplant any lack of heat in the blast by an increase in 
 the charge of coke. The method of charging appears to 
 have very little effect upon the manufacture of spiegel — a 
 fact which Herr Schilling attributes to the fusibility of ores 
 and cinder. The hearth must be carefully investigated, 
 because the spiegel corrodes the brick work rapidly, and 
 escapes through the smallest cracks. It seems that the 10 
 to 12 per cent of manganese is alloyed perfectly with the 
 iron, because many analyses made of the first and last por- 
 tions of a cast show no difference in the percentage of man- 
 ganese. The Geisweid and Wissen furnaces have the largest 
 production, 3aelding 80 tons of spiegel per day, the consump- 
 tion of coke is about 2,400 lbs. per ton, with a temperature 
 of blast of 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. 
 
 In running on higher grades of spiegel, 19 to 21 per cent, 
 the limonites are used in greater quantity, and as they are 
 high in gangue, the yield of the charges declines to 38 per 
 
( 15) 
 
 cent, and the proportion of cinder to metal becomes more 
 unfavorable. On an average, only 60 per cent of the man- 
 ganese in the ore goes into the metal. The proportion 
 between high grade and ordinary spiegel in reference to ore 
 in charge is 28 to 33 respectively ; as to the production, it is 
 7 to 10 ; and as to consumption of coke, it is 14 to 10. This 
 grade of spiegel does not cut the furnace much, nor does it 
 form accretions, so that the furnace can be run for months 
 uninterruptedly. In changing the furnace from low to high- 
 grade spiegel, it is advisable to make the first charges par- 
 ticularly rich in manganese, so that there is no inconvenience 
 through the casting of a series of intermediate grades. Of 
 late the German works have been forced to import high- 
 grade ores from Cartagena, Spain, because their own run too 
 high in phosphorus. The cinder made in casting high-grade 
 spiegel is more basic, and does not contain quite as much 
 manganese as that resulting from the smelting of ordinary 
 spiegel. The brown smoke issuing from the stack, how- 
 ever, proves, that in making 20 per cent spiegel, the loss 
 through volatilization of manganese beo-ins to tell. 
 
 The great difficulty first experienced in making f erro man- 
 ganese was the formation of accretions, especially with 
 furnaces provided with a cinder-notch. The furnaces made 
 only runs averaging from one month to ten weeks. This 
 has now been overcome, and they are made to produce reg- 
 ularly for ten months. In making ferro manganese, the 
 losses of manganese are not confined to its being carried off 
 in the cinder. In running on 60 to 70 per cent metal, as 
 much as 17 per cent of the mauganese in the ore is volatilized, 
 the loss being much greater even on 80 per cent ferro man- 
 ganese. The cinder obtained in producing 40 per cent metal 
 holds about 7 per cent of manganese, which runs up to 10 
 per cent as the grade approaches 75 per cent. From 18 to 
 20 per cent of manganese enters into the cinder Avhen the 
 
( 1<3 ) 
 
 ores are too easily fusible. On an average, the yield of 
 manganese is 6(3 per cent of the quantity contained in the 
 ore. In Oberhausen, the production of (iO per cent ferro 
 manganese is 700 tons per month, the grade being very 
 uniformly maintained. The German founders of spiegel- 
 eisen have, therefore, succeeded, during the last ten years, 
 in overcoming many of the vexatious inequalities of work- 
 ing and of product attending the smelting of highly manga- 
 niferous ores. 
 
 The Iron Ores of France. 
 
 The future of the steel trade of France must, of course, 
 be largely determined l)y the extent and duration of its sup- 
 jilies of iron ore suitable for the manufacture of that metal. 
 The total production of native ore has been returned by Prof. 
 Jordan at 3,000,000 tons. Of this quantity 150,000 tons 
 are magnetic ore, brown hematites and spathose ore, 300,000 
 tons are red hematite, 1,000,000 tons are oolitic ore, and 
 1,550,000 tons are hydrated ores of various kinds. 
 
 About one-half of the ore used is imported from Bel- 
 gium, Germany, Spain, Italy, Algiers and other countries, 
 principal!}^ from Spain and Algiers. 
 
 The deposits of iron ore in France, although numerous 
 enough, are either so limited in importance or so coarse in 
 quality that they are incapable of feeding any considerable 
 number of blast furnaces, with the single exception of the 
 great oolitic formation in the east of the country. 
 
 The largest field of red hematite is in the department of the 
 Ard'eche, near the towns of Privas and La Voulte, and it is 
 worked for the supply of the blast furnaces of the Horme, 
 Terre Noire, La Voulte Besseges companies. The produc- 
 tion varies from 250,000 to 300,000 tons a year. 
 
 The most extensive iron ore field of France is the great 
 oolitic deposit which originates in the Belgian portion of 
 
(17) 
 
 Luxembourg, and extends through Lorraine up to and be- 
 yond Nancy, in the Upper Moselle valley. The yield of iron 
 contained in the ores varies from 20 to 35 per cent ; the pro- 
 portion of phosphoric acid, feeble enough at times, not un- 
 frequently goes up to 1 per cent, and this is especially the 
 «ase in the calcareous ores, and in some parts even as much 
 as 1.75 per cent has been found. With regard to sulphur 
 traceable to the existence of some pyrites, it is only feebly, 
 but still sensibly manifested in the ores of the Lower Mo- 
 selle, but it disappears altogether from those of the Upper 
 Moselle. By making a careful classification and selection of 
 the productions of the various layers, skillful ironmasters 
 succeed in manufacturing iron of very good commercial 
 quality out of the ores in question. 
 
 France lost a considerable portion of these ore deposits by 
 the war of 1870-71 ; amongst others those of Hayange and 
 Mayeuvre (now belonging to Alsace-Lorraine), w^hich sup- 
 ply the blast furnaces of Messrs. de Wendel -with ores yield- 
 ing as much as 35 per cent iron. Prior to the full settlement 
 of the dephosphorization problem these ores have been un- 
 suited to the manufacture of steel, Init the phosphoric ores 
 of the Moselle are now adapted for steel making purposes, 
 and the prospects of France in reference to this industry 
 assume a much more favorable complexion. 
 
 France has imported deposits of spathose iron ore in the 
 Alps and Pyrenees. The sparry or spathose iron worked in 
 the department of the Ise're has for many years past been 
 supplied to the few and unimportant works scattered up and 
 down that slope of the Dauphiny Alps, but it is only recently 
 that patiently conducted researches, over a period of several 
 years, have demonstrated the importance of the great deposit 
 at Allevard, of w^hich Schneider & Co. are now the proprietors. 
 
 The Allevard ore is a quadri-carbonate of iron, manganese, 
 lime and magnesia, wherein the iron greatly predominates. 
 
(18) 
 
 accompanied by a silicious gangue. It is almost entirely ex- 
 empt from phosphorus. According to Messrs. Schneider, 
 the ores contain in their raw state 32 per cent iron and 2 to 
 6 per cent manganese, with only .02 per cent of phosphoric 
 acid. 
 
 In the Franche-Compte and Berry districts there are de- 
 posits of granular hydrated iron ores, containing scarcely a 
 trace of phosphorus and from 34 to 70 per cent of iron. 
 About 350,000 tons are annualh^-aised from these deposits, 
 but the cost of working is too heavy to adapt the ores for 
 other purposes, of the highest class. 
 
 The average yield of all the French ores has been esti- 
 mated by Jordan to be about 38 per cent. Alike in quality, 
 therefore, and in quantity, the indigenous iron ore supplies 
 of France are yet inferior to those of either Great Britain 
 or America. 
 
 The Iron Ores of Belgium. 
 
 As the native ores of Belgium are neither sufficient in 
 quantity nor equal in quality to the supply of the steel 
 works, the great bulk of the ores in this manufacture are 
 imported. Among the ores indigenous to Belgium are the 
 oligist (specular ore) and carbonated iron, found in the pri- 
 mary soil in layers underlying the schistose beds. Generally 
 the limonites form pockets, sometimes connected with car- 
 bonated iron. The iron veins are entirely limonitous. The 
 most important deposit in the shape of la^^ers is that of 
 oligist (specular ore), which, in the environs of Yedrin, is 
 remarkable for its unbrokenness and extent. It is composed 
 of several layers more or less near each other in stratifica- 
 tion, corresponding with the quartz schisto'se-condrusian 
 stage. Its northern flat joins nearly vertically the bed of 
 the southern border of the carboniferous basin, to which it 
 serves as a cover. The use of the oligist is becoming very 
 
(19) 
 
 extensive, and it is exported into France and Germany. The 
 limonite is found especia% in pockets, sometimes in a state 
 of real veins, and formed by the decomposition of the 
 pyrites. It produces strong iron of excellent quality. Its 
 output is nearly altogether used by the Belgium iron work- 
 ers. Its principal beds may be grouped as follows: (A), 
 ores of Entre-Sambre et Meuse ; (B), ores of the Scheld ; 
 (C), ores of the Meuse; (D), ores of the Ourthe ; (E), 
 ores of the Vesdre ; (F), ores of the Luxembourg; (G), 
 ores of the Campine ; (H), ores of the Brabant. 
 
 The carbonated iron is only met with in partial beds. The 
 sparry iron ore of the coal mines accompanies some beds, of 
 which it pervades the roof and the wall. 
 
 Little more, however, than 1,000,000 tons of ore are 
 annually raised in Belgium itself, and al)out an equal quan- 
 tity is imported ; but notwithstanding these drawbacks, the 
 Seraing works compete favorably for Bessemer rail orders 
 with t'he most advantageously situated works in the United 
 ffingdom. Of coal and coke the Belgium steel works have 
 an unlimited supply close at hand. 
 
 The iron industry, of Belgium was saved from complete 
 ruin from want of ores or fuel at three distinct periods of 
 its history. When charcoal became scarce and the use of 
 coke stepped in to replace it, Huart-Chapelle, at Marcinelle, 
 in 1854; Lejeune, at Hourpessur Samble ; Hansnet, at 
 Cauvin, and John Cockerill, at Seraing, were the leaders of 
 the coke movement. Then, again, when the ironstone of 
 the country had in a great measure l)een worked out, the 
 owners of the blast furnaces of Ougree in 1853 discovered 
 how to utilize the vast beds of hematite scattered over the 
 country, which had not been used since 1790, because they 
 produced coal short iron. The process adopted consisted in 
 mixing a certain proportion of the shales of the neighbor- 
 ing coal measures along with the ore in the furnace. And, 
 
(20) 
 
 lastly, when these hematite ores became quite insufficient for 
 Belgium consumption, the ninettes of the Grand Duchy of 
 Luxembourg came into notice, and have continued to this 
 day a chief resource. With collieries, most of which 
 are worked under very great difficulties, with ores which 
 have to be carried a hundred miles or more, with laborers 
 who are physically incapable of doing anything like the 
 work of an English workman, the Belgians have l)y dint of 
 care, order, and especially economy in minor details, been 
 enabled to hold their own as iron makers among the nations 
 of the earth, and to compete in distant markets with Great 
 Britain. 
 
 The Iron Ores of Sweden. 
 
 Sweden contains a variety of iron ores, some of them of 
 remarkable purity. The mountain ores, or magnetites and 
 specular ores of Sweden, belong, geologically, with but few 
 exceptions, to the primitive formations, the beds being in 
 general much raised and folded, so that the dip is often 
 more nearly vertical than horizontal. The beds are fre- 
 quently abruptly cutoff by dykes and cross courses of various 
 eruptive rocks. The thickness of the ore beds varies from 
 nearly nothing to 100 to loO feet. The Swedish ores, accord- 
 ing to Prof. Akerman, may be classed in three groups — the 
 first occurring in euritic gneiss, and which arc remarkable 
 for their richness in quartz ; the second, lying in the gneiss 
 rocks proper, and notable for their contents in magnesia, and 
 which, although often smelted with but a minute quanti-ty of 
 lime, at other times can not be worked with the addition of 
 both lime and quartz ; the third class of iron ores are prin- 
 cipally distinguished by the proportion of maganese, and 
 often occur Jn the limestone ; they are either magnetites or 
 peroxide ores. The hirge bulk of Swedish ores need flux- 
 ing with lime in order to yield a glassy slag, 30 per cent and 
 
(21) 
 
 upwards of limestone l>eing often requisite for that purpose. 
 As typical "mixing stone" for the Bessemer manufacture, 
 the ores of Gronrot and Korberg, which contain fi'om 6 to 
 10 per cent of protoxide of manganese, may be mentioned, 
 as also those from Penning, containing 12 to 14 per cent. 
 The still richer ores of Swatl)urg, Schiss}i:tan , which hold as 
 much as 13 to 20 per cent of the latter valuable substance, are 
 unfortunately accompanied by so much sulphur that they are 
 better suited for making spiegel iron than Bessemer pig. 
 The contents of the iron of the Swedish ores varies between 
 30 and 70 per cent, but it most frequently lies between 45 
 and 50. The best Swedish ores are well known to contain 
 very little phosphorus ; those of Dannemora, about .003 per 
 cent ; those of Persburg, .005 per cent. It is, however, 
 generally found in practice to vary between .005 and .05 per 
 cent. The greater numl^er of silicious specular ores are 
 very free from phosphorus, and some of the magnetic ores 
 have also an exceedingly small proportion of sulphur, 
 although most of the magnetic ores are so interspersed with 
 metallic sulphides (pyrites) that they must be subjected to a 
 very careful calcining before going to the furnace. The 
 temperature of the kilns may be kept so high that the 
 most refractory ores come to sintering, and many ores pre- 
 viously rejected on account of their high contents of sulphur 
 have thus been made serviceable. Some exceptional Swedish 
 ores are not infrequently mixed with bitumen, some with 
 graphite, but oftener with titanium, which, when abundant, 
 increases, as is well known, the consumption of charcoal 
 necessary for their reduction to a very costly extent. 
 
 The greatest drawback to the development of the metal- 
 lurgical industry of Sweden is the scarcity and poor quality 
 of its fossil fuel. Coal is found only in the most southern 
 part of the country — in Skane and in Southern Holhuid — and 
 as it is not only a long distance from the principal deposits 
 
(22) 
 
 of iron ore, but contains much ash, and is unsuitable for 
 coking, it is of very little use for metallurgical purposes. In 
 no other part of Sweden is there any likelihood of finding 
 coal, for the rocks which form the mass of the country be- 
 long to the Laurentian or primitive formation and to the 
 Silurian period, while the more recent deposits have been 
 formed during the latest geological period. Although in 
 Skane or Scania there are none of the magnetite and specu- 
 lar ores on which the iron industry of Sweden is based, it is 
 considered not impossible that the argillaceous ores may be 
 found, and in this case a trade may spring up in the manu- 
 facture of the commoner kinds of iron ; but for the purpose 
 of steel m-mufacture, Sweden practically occupies the posi- 
 tion of a country destitute of fossil fuel ; and hence, except- 
 ing in so far as native charcoal is employed, it depends for 
 its supplies of fuel on England. This dependence is likely 
 to become greater from year to year, for the forests of Swe- 
 den will not support any great addition to the demands now 
 made upon them. Already in the neighborhood of the iron 
 mines the supply of charcoal is beginning to fail, causing iron 
 and steel makers to go further afield, and thus enhancing the 
 cost of the fuel and augmenting the cost of production. With 
 all these drawbacks, it is scarcely prol:>able that the steel 
 manufacture of Sweden will roach a much greater develop- 
 ment than it has already attained, while both in steel and in 
 iron the metallurgy of Sweden must in the future even more 
 than in the past be distinguished for relative superiority in 
 the markets of the world. 
 
 Spain. 
 
 Spain contriliutes very materially to the manufacture of 
 steel in other countries. England, France, Germany, and 
 Belgium depend more upon Spain than upon any other coun- 
 try for their supplies of iron ore suitable for the Bessemer 
 
{ -o ) 
 
 acid process. These ores are chiefly hydrous red, brown, 
 and yellow hematites and spathic carbonates, occurring in 
 the cretaceous formation, and traversing it in the form of 
 great lodes or veins, from 100 to 300 feet wide, w^hich, 
 although frequently more or less coincident with the strike 
 of the stratification of the beds of limestone, shales or sand- 
 stones which form the "country," do not always follow the 
 dip or underlay of the beds in depth, and, at places, they 
 diveroe and break throuo'h the sedimentarv strata. The 
 upper portion of these deposits, for a few feet, to even a 
 hundred or more feet downwards from the surface, consists 
 of hydrated oxide of iron, of a red, brown, or yellow color, 
 free, or very nearly free, from sulphur or phosphorus. At 
 greater depths, however, they invariably change into white or 
 grey spathic carbonate of iron (sometimes containing specks 
 of pyrites), which is the original mineral from which, by 
 atmospheric agencies, the oxidized iron, which fo»'ms the 
 more superficial portion of the deposits, has ])een formed. 
 Since the spathic iron ore is infinitely harder and more expen- 
 sive to work, besides not containing more than from 40 to 45 
 j^er cent of metallic iron, the workings hitherto have, in all 
 the mines, been confined to the extraction of the richer oxi- 
 dized surface ores, which contain from 50 to GO per cent iron, 
 and require little or no blasting. Eventually, however, as 
 the mines get deejjer, the spathose ore must liecome the 
 staple of exportation, but they must undergo calcination to 
 reach 60 per cent of metallic iron. Attention has also l^een 
 directed to working the rich magnetic iron ores which are 
 found abundantly in the south of Si)ain ; amongst others, 
 the extensive outcrop of iron ore at Marbella, about midway 
 between Gibraltar and Malaga. This is a compact magnetic 
 oxide of iron, containing an average of about GO per cent 
 of metallic iron. 
 
 It was not until 1870 that the mines of Bilboa and Mar- 
 
(24) 
 
 bella began to be worked to any extent ; and yet the output 
 of iron ores from these two districts has now reached many 
 millions of tons. 
 
 In 1881, 3,239 vessels laden with 2,500,532 tons of ore 
 sailed from the river of Bilboa for foreign ports, and the 
 largest single cargo was 1,690 tons. The export for the 
 first quarter of 1882, exceeded that of the corresponding- 
 period in the previous year by 53,000 tons. The quantity 
 of red ore exported exceeds that of other kinds, and unless 
 other deposits are discovered, the present rate of output 
 will cause an exhaustion in about ten years. The brown ore 
 which is in sufficient quantity to last for a long time to 
 come, must, therefore, be considered as the main source of 
 future supply. 
 
 Italy. 
 
 The most important of the iron districts of Italy is Tus- 
 cany, which comprises also the Island of Elba, from which 
 large shipments of ore are made to other countries engaged 
 in the manufacture of steel by the Bessemer acid process. 
 
 The analyses of these ores show : 
 
 Sesquioxide of iron 
 
 Oxide of manganese 
 
 Aluuiina 
 
 Li lue 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 Silica 
 
 Copper 
 
 Sulphur 
 
 Phospliorus 
 
 Insoluble rock 
 
 Water and loss 
 
 Percentage of metallic iron 
 
 Calamita. 
 
 <J4.()7 
 0.33 
 
 3.28 
 
 0.04 
 
 0.03 
 
 trace 
 
 1.65 
 
 Terranera. 
 
 93.36 
 
 trace 
 
 0.58 
 
 0.16 
 
 0.17 
 
 0.11 
 
 none 
 
 3.64 
 
 1 98 
 
 Rio. 
 
 87 84 
 0.07 
 3.47 
 0.22 
 0.34 
 5.97 
 
 6.17 
 0.01 
 
 1.91 
 
 100.00 
 66.27 
 
 100.00 
 65.35 
 
 100.00 
 61.81 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 METHODS. 
 
 AMERICAN STEEL, WORKS CARNEGIE BROS. & CO., LIMITED, 
 
 PITTSBURG NORTH CHICAGO ROLLING MILL CO., 
 
 CHICAGO COST OF LABOR IN THE UNITED 
 
 STATES AND ENGLAND. 
 
 In this paper will be described a few selected steel works 
 of the world, and special attention will be j^aid the type 
 of the machinery in use, the methods in vogue, and the 
 class of labor employed l)y these corporations in the manu- 
 facture of Bessemer stt^el. 
 
 There are in this country at present fifteen works operated 
 on the Bessemer system, with thirty-seven converters that 
 are capable of producing in the neighborhood of 2, 000, 000 
 tons of Bessemer steel annually, according to the capacity 
 converters are made to produce in the United States. 
 
 Carnegie Bros. & Co., Limited. 
 
 The steel works of Carnegie Bros. & Co., Limited, will 
 first be placed before you. These works are located on the 
 main branch of the Pennsylvania railroad, eleven miles east 
 of Pittsburg The surface area of the works covers about 
 106 acres, and they enjoy a river frontage on the Mononga- 
 hela river of 3,300 feet, in addition to the railroad facilities 
 afforded by the Pennsylvania railroad, which traverses the 
 plant. The water supply, which is abundant, is procured 
 from the river, being carried to a well, at which pumps ai'e 
 
(26) 
 
 placed ; thence discharged into tanks, from which supply 
 pipes lead to the works. The works are surrounded by a 
 complete system of tracks. Within the past two years im- 
 portant improvements in blast furnace practice have been 
 successfully inaugurated here. Their C furnace, blown 
 November 8, 1880, turned out by September 1, 1881, 
 45,028 tons of Bessemer pig iron, this production being an 
 average of 1,070 tons per week for six consecutive weeks ; 
 .later the furnace made 1,276 tons per week, and has now 
 reached a weekly product of 1,500 tons. The dimensions 
 of this furnace are : Height, 79 feet ; bosh, 20 feet ; 
 hearth, 9 feet ; and it has eight tuyeres, three pounds pillar 
 of blast, three Cowper stoves, 60 feet high and 20 feet in 
 diameter; temperature of blast, 1,100'^. 
 
 Furnace C is duplicated in furnace B. 
 
 In furnace D — their new furnace — the product runs up to 
 1,640 tons per week, and about 299 tons of gray metal have 
 been made in a day's time ; recently this furnace reached a 
 production of about 1,807 tons per week. 
 
 These figures will be all the more interesting when it is 
 remembered that ten years ago 700 tons per week was con- 
 sidered an extraordinary yield of the Lucy furnace ; 100 
 tons per day in a furnace being unheard of. Since then 
 these Pittsburg furnaces have made 900, 1,100, 1,200, 1,400, 
 1,500, 1,640 and 1,807 tons per week and neiirly 300 tons in 
 one day. It is not difficult to define the reasons for this 
 exceedingly large output. It may be reasonably ascribed to 
 large hearths, inserted tuyeres, good fuel, good stoves, high 
 temperature of blast, say 1,300*^ to IjSOO"', and plenty of air. 
 
 The dimensions of furnace D are : Height of stack, 79 
 feet 4 inches ; diameter, just under the gas outlet, 17 feet 6 
 inches ; the bosh is 20 feet in diameter, and tapers gradually 
 to 17 feet 6 inches to a point 7 feet 4 inches below the 
 top, from which it tapers to a diameter of 14 feet at the 
 
( 27 ) 
 
 outlet. There is a gradual incline from the bosh to the top 
 of the crucible of from 20 feet to 11 feet 6 inches; the 
 depth of the crucible is 8 feet 6 inches ; center of cinder 
 notch to top of hearth, 3 feet G inches. Such are the inter- 
 nal dimensions of the furnace which has run out more metal 
 in twenty-four hours than any other furnace in the world. 
 
 Furnace D is duplicated in furnace E. 
 
 In the converting department are three vessels, ten tons 
 capacity and made concentric, the nose bemg central and 
 upright w^hen the vessel is blowing, which permits of the 
 metal beins; taken in at the rear of the vessel. The em- 
 ployment of three vessels allows of two being always in use 
 and thereby delay at the six cupolas is entirely avoided. 
 The cupolas have 8 feet inside lining, 8 ounces pressure of 
 blast, and each of them has a melting capacity of 300 tons 
 of i^ig daily. The blast supply is furnished to the convert- 
 ers by the blowing engines at a pressure of 25 pounds to 
 the square inch. All the machinery is manipulated by 
 hydraulic cranes mth a pressure of 300 pounds to the 
 square inch. 
 
 Much of the capacity of the American works for rapid 
 production is due to their general arrangement. The En- 
 glish vessel centers (excepting only in the latest plant) 
 stand but 3 or 4 feet above the general floor, causing the 
 bottom of the casting pit to fall 8 or 9 feet below it, and 
 in this cramped and unventilated space must be performed 
 the largest and hottest manual labor, for there the steel is 
 poured, and the red hot ingots and moulds handled by the 
 men. The vessel centers, on the contrary, are found 9 feet 
 above the general floor in the American plant, and the pit is 
 only 48 inches in depth — just sufficient in depth for conven- 
 ience in casting. Therefore all the operations of casting 
 are performed, and all the ingots and moulds handled by 
 workmen on the general floor of the building. The freest 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 of ventilation, easy access and short lifting of moulds are 
 thus obtained. 
 
 The high vessel, in addition, permits of the removal of 
 the converter bottoms upon the general floor, and by means 
 of the platforms around the vessels at the level of their 
 center a second story of working rooms is provided ; and 
 from this platform the runners are accessible for repairs 
 and the noses for the insertion of scrap. 
 
 The rail mills of Carnegie Bros. & Co., Limited, bloom 
 laro;e ingots and roll blooms into sino;le and double lenijth 
 rails, and the same driving and finishing machinery, which 
 is independent, is used. For rails the three sets of rolls 
 next to the engine are utilized, and the other two sets of 
 rolls are employed for rolling billets, etc. While the rail 
 mills are running the rolls may be changed, so that the 
 Avhole plant can be engaged on an order for merchant sec- 
 tions without delaying the rail plant. That by this method 
 billets and merchant steel are produced with greater cheap- 
 ness it is not difficult to understand. 
 
 Attached to this mill are eleven Siemens heating furnaces 
 and twenty-eight gas producers in five blocks, a sheet iron 
 cooling tube, leading overhead to the brick gas flue, and 
 two chimneys, each having 6 feet clear diameter, and which 
 are 98 feet high. Hydraulic charging and drawing machinery 
 is also connected with the three ingot furnaces. The 
 14-inch, three or four-rail ingots are placed in the convert- 
 ing works, while hot, in their respective seats, on a car, 
 ready for charging into the furnaces, and the car is drawn 
 b}'^ a locomotive to the front of the heating furnace with an 
 entire Bessemer heat of ingots. This car is so constructed 
 that a long peel can be thrust by hand under the ingot, and 
 by passing the chain around the stationary sheave and hook- 
 ing it upon the end of the peel and then giving water to the 
 hydraulic cylinder, the chain drives the peel and the ingot 
 
(29) 
 
 upon it into the furnace. The ingot is then tipped off by 
 tlie workmen with the aid of the handles, the peel is with- 
 drawn and slipped under another ingot, which the car con- 
 veys to the front of the door into which it is to l)e charged. 
 In front of each furnace door is a fixed sheave, and the 
 hydraulic cylinders lie under the frames that hold the sheaves. 
 The ingots are withdrawn upon the liogie which takes them 
 to the blooming train hy sliding over them the yoke to which 
 the chain is then attached. 
 
 The ingots are bloomed in two 3-higli trains — one 32 and 
 the other o() inches — after heating in one of the furnaces. 
 The trains are driven 1)V non-condensino; horizontal eni»ines. 
 
 The blooming train has feeding rollers driven b}^ an inde- 
 pendent engine, and also hydraulic cylinders for raising the 
 feedino' tallies, turnin«: the ino-ots over and movino- the 
 middle roll, in order to vary the size of the passes as required. 
 A telegraph leads to a 3-ton hammer, and another to the 
 shears. A hydraulic crane places the blooms in bogies, and 
 they are taken to tlie reheating furnaces before passing to 
 the rail train. The rail train consists of three stands of 
 3-high 23-inch rolls, to which are coupled billet and merchant 
 rolls as before explained. It is driven by a 46-inch cylinder 
 by 4 feet stroke engine, with a 50-ton fly wheel. Two 
 sets of carrying rollers, driven liy a saw engine (by means 
 of reversing friction clutches), carry the rolled piece from 
 ])oth these sets of rolls to the saw carriage. Either one or 
 both saws may be used, depending upon the kind and length 
 of the product. Carrying rollers, driven by reversing fric- 
 tion clutches from the saw engine, then take the rolled 
 piece to either of the curving machines and hot beds. The 
 place of the usual hot straight engine plate is occupied by 
 long carrying rollers. Lying upon these rollers the rails 
 are pressed l)y hydraulic fingers against stops, which are so 
 arranged as to give the rail such a curvature that it will be 
 
( 30 ) 
 
 nearly straight when cold. Then, by fingers on an endless 
 cham, it is moved out upon either of the hot beds. One man 
 and a boy, by means of levers, operate all this moving and 
 curving machinery and also the saws. The rails instead of 
 being twisted and bent into short curves, as they are by hand 
 straightening and curving, are carried by this method with- 
 out distortion to the hot bed. As a result they cool almost 
 straight, and are not injured by the gags in cold straighten- 
 ing. 
 
 The rails are passed from the other ends of the hot bed to 
 the cold straightening presses ; thence to the cold beds ; 
 thence to the drilling machine, and, if necessary, to the slot- 
 ting machines ; and lastly out of the mill to the rail. yard. 
 The power of these machines is furnished by an 18x24-inch 
 engine. All rails not of exact lengths are made so by cold saws 
 run by 11x20 inch engines. When double length rails are 
 rolled, the piece is divided in the middle by the hot saw only, 
 and the two fag ends are made the exact length by the cold 
 saw. 
 
 The present production of these progressive works per 
 week is estimated at — Blast furnaces, 5,000 tons ; convert- 
 ing department, 6,000 tons ; rail and billet mills, 5,000 tons. 
 
 North Chicago Rolling Mill Company. 
 
 Another advanced w^orks of this country is the new plant 
 of the North Chicago Rolling Mill Company, located at South 
 Chicasro. The works consist of four blast furnaces 75 feet 
 hio-li and 21 feet bosh and 9 feet hearth. Coke from the 
 Connellsville district, near Pittsburg, is the fuel used. The 
 different ores are stocked under the overhead railroad tracks, 
 each having an allotted space and thus facilitating efficient 
 mixing. The limestone is stocked in the yard in a similar 
 manner and the coke supply is housed in a shed 367 feet 
 lomr and 99 feet wide. 
 
(31) 
 
 The works are supplied with fire-briclc stoves 60 feet high 
 and 21 feet in diameter, vertical condensing blowing engines, 
 84 inches in diameter air cylinders, 36 inches in diameter 
 steam, 54-inch stroke, thirty to thirty-five strokes per min- 
 ute, and 72 boilers 36 feet long, 4 feet diameter. The 
 measurements of the building in which the boilers are placed 
 are 248x96 feet. These four blast furnaces have a capacity 
 of no less than 5,000 tons of metal per week. The converting 
 house is some 600 feet from the blast furnaces and consists 
 of three 10-ton converters placed side by side. The blast 
 of twenty-five pounds to the square inch is supplied by 
 two horizontal engines with steam cylinder 42-inch bore 
 and 60-inch stroke ; air cylinder, 66-inch bore and 60-inch 
 stroke. 
 
 The pressure pumps for handling the cranes in the steel 
 works are situated in the same building as the blowing 
 engines, and are under the control of the same eno'ineer. 
 They supply 350 pounds water pressure to the square inch. 
 The ladle cranes in the steel works have a backward and for- 
 ward action, with the usual up and down movement. This 
 converting department is capable of producing 7,000 tons of 
 steel per week, and the general arrangements have been made 
 to effect economical output. The main building is 108x113 
 feet. The spiegel cupola building abuts upon the main con- 
 verting building, with a jDassageway in the wall 18 feet by 6 
 inches, for the convenience of the runners. The house is 66 
 feet 4 inches by 55 feet 6 inches, and contains four cupolas 
 of the common form for melting spiegeleisen. The molten 
 metal is taken from the blast furnace up an inclined plane 
 on a narrow gauge track three feet above and in line with 
 the vessel in which the metal is to be converted. 
 
 The lining department is situated immediately in the rear 
 of the converting house, about fifty feet distant, and is con- 
 nected by a line of railroad track running from the hoist. 
 
( 32 ) 
 
 situated under the vessels in the steel works, to a turntable 
 iu the center of the lining department. From this turntable 
 a series of short railroad tracks are laid in such form as to 
 accommodate ladles or vessels bottoms, as the case may be. 
 These ladles or bottoms are placed upon a cast iron truck 
 made for this purpose and run exactly under a fire-proof 
 bonnet, which is supplied with gas from six gas producers, 
 placed close by the lining building. The Inulding for the 
 lining department is mainly constructed for the operation of 
 the basic process, but the details for this object are not yet 
 put in, but at the end of the building where the lining and 
 drying for the acid process is done the results are very sat- 
 isfactory. 
 
 Immediately after the ingots are cast they are taken to the 
 rail mill and charged in heating furnaces, where they receive 
 a uniform heat ; thence they arc taken to n o-higli train 
 of rolls, which constitute at one and the same time a set of 
 blooming and roughing rolls. The ingot is 12 1-2 inches 
 square, and the bloom leaves the rolls formed for a rail or 
 other shape required. The center of the last pass in these 
 rolls is in line with the center of the first pass in the finishing 
 rolls. The S-high set of rolls is 40 inches in diameter and 
 
 in length, and is driven by a horizontal engine, 42 inches 
 
 in bore, 48 inches stroke, sixty-five revolutions per minute 
 and a fly wheel of fifty-two tons. The finishing set of rolls 
 are 2-hio:h and reversino;. The formed bloom is carried into 
 these rolls by a line of short feed rollers, driven hyaline of 
 shaftings underneath, delivering the piece into the first pass 
 of working rolls, and it i.s then run through each consecutive 
 groove, being guided into them by an automatic pusher, until 
 the finished bar is produced of three or more lengths as 
 required. These rolls are driven by a pair of reversing com- 
 pound engines with high pressure cylinder 42 inches bore, 42 
 inches stroke, low pressure cylinder, 72 inches bore, 42 inches 
 
( 33 ) 
 
 stroke, running 140 revolutions per minute. After the bar 
 is finished it is passed on rollers to a single saw and there 
 cut as desired, being regulated by a revolving stop guided 
 by a workman. The lengths, when cut, are passed upon 
 rollers between two hot beds, where they receive the neces- 
 sary sweep l)y a line of lingers, tixed upon a horizontal shaft 
 controlled by a small engine. The rails which are set to 
 sweep are passed by a circular bar operated by an endless 
 wire rope on two or more pulleys, situated at the extreme 
 ends of the hot beds. These beds are located on each side 
 of the sweeping or bending machine exactly opposite each 
 other, and a rail is placed on each alternately, thus giving 
 the rails ample time for cooling before being drilled. The 
 drilling and slotting is effected hy tiie usual methods. 
 
 These works were planned and constructed to simplify the 
 productions of steel by a saving of labor, especially skilled 
 labor, and by a saving of fuel. To accomplish this, heavy 
 and the most approved machinery has been specially adopted 
 to insure a more direct and rapid production of Bessemer 
 steel. The economical advantages of the type of machinery 
 and the methods of working possessed by this mill over the 
 other steel works of the United States, in expert estimation, 
 places the North Chicago Steel Company in the front rank 
 of Bessemer steel practice in the United States. 
 
 These are two of the most advanced of the steel works of 
 the United States in their respective though different types 
 of machinery and methods of working. 
 
 Cost of Labor in the U. S. and England. 
 
 The average cost of labor per ton of pig iron in the United 
 States is about $2.00, and in England about $1.00. 
 
 According to the present practice of working in the United 
 States, the cost of labor per ton of steel ingots from the 
 pig is about $2.50 ; and for reducing ingots to rail the cost 
 
( 34 ) 
 
 of labor is about $5.50, a total of $10.00 per ton from the 
 ore for labor, against about $3.50 per ton in England. 
 
 The table below shows the cost of pig iron in the Cleve- 
 land district, England, for one-half year to March 31, 1879 
 (al' minerals are given at about cost price). The company 
 own and mine their own minerals : 
 
 Quant ty used. Prices Cost per Ton 
 Tons. Lbs. at Works. of Iron. 
 
 Ironstone 3, 5G5 $0,976 $3.20 
 
 Coul (Calcining) 210 .11 
 
 Cike 1, 203 2.56 2.79 
 
 Limestone 1. 51 .89 .45 
 
 Wages .69 
 
 Stoves and Repairs .17 
 
 Rates and Taxes .08 
 
 Total $7.49 
 
 Note. — Tlie average cost per ton, however, in England, is about $10.00. 
 
 The cost of a ton of pig at the furnaces in the Pittsburg 
 district in the first part of 1879, is stated to be as follows : 
 
 Ironstone 
 
 Coal (Calcining) . . . 
 
 Coke 
 
 Limestone 
 
 Wages 
 
 Stoves and Repairs. 
 Taxes 
 
 Quantity 
 
 Prices at 
 
 Cost per Ton 
 
 used. 
 
 Works. 
 
 of Iron. 
 
 1.7 
 
 $9.00 
 
 $15.30 
 
 none. 
 
 
 
 1.25 
 
 2.56% 
 
 3.20 
 
 .75 
 
 1.15 
 
 •71K 
 1 25 
 .50 
 .10 
 
 
 
 $21.07 
 
 Total...., 
 
 The transportation on raw materials is given at $10.27| 
 in the United States, against $2.00 in England. 
 
 The prices in Pittsburg for puddling or boiling iron May 
 30, 1881, were fixed at a minimum of $5.50 per ton, to be 
 advanced when selling price exceeded 2^ cts. per pound. Of 
 this sum the puddlers' helpers received about one-third. 
 At Philadelphia, July 24, 1880, the minimum price was 
 
(35) 
 
 fixed at $4.00, and is still at that figure. These represent 
 the wages in the two sections. In England the same class 
 of Avorkmen — August 1, 1881, a period of prosperity and 
 good prices — received, per ton, $1.75. 
 
 The following are the approximate rates of wages for men 
 employed in the iron rolling mills in the Western States : 
 
 Guide mill roller, per daj' $12.50 
 
 Guide mill heater, per day 7.10 
 
 Roughers. 3.55 
 
 Heaters' helper 2.10 
 
 Bar mill rollers 8.00 
 
 Heaters 5 90 
 
 Helper 2.00 
 
 Straighteuer 1.75 
 
 Plate mill roller 12.50 
 
 Heater 7.95 
 
 Catcher 3.90 
 
 Puddler 4.75 
 
 Puddlers' helper 2.40 
 
 Shinglers 8.00 
 
 Shinglers' assistant 3.75 
 
 Muck roller 10.00 
 
 Ordinary laborers 1.50 
 
 Machinist $2.50 to 3.00 
 
 Blacksmith 2.75 to 3.25 
 
 The rates of wages in most of the Shefiield trades have 
 been kept up to the standard of five years ago, and in many 
 cases they have been advanced, notwithstanding the great 
 depression in business. But, although the rates have ad- 
 vanced, the amounts actually earned are much diminished, 
 from the fact that there is so much less work to be done. 
 The fact must be considered, however, that men can now 
 earn larger amounts in a given time than in former years on 
 account of the increased facilities, which enables them to 
 work much more rapidly. For instance, the steel for round, 
 half-round, flat, and three square files was formerly made 
 square, and the file forger was obliged to hammer it into the 
 
( 36) 
 
 required shape. The same was true of steel for cutlery, 
 iucludmg razors, edge tools, and many other articles. Now 
 the steel comes to the hand of the forger from the manu- 
 facturer already rolled into shapes suited for the various 
 purposes for which it is designed, thus saving much time 
 and trouble to the forger. The use of machinery also in 
 many operations which were formerly done l^y hand labor, 
 is greatly to the advantage of the workman, since he now 
 receives as much ]3er dozen for the articles he makes as he 
 did formerly, when he could only turn out one-half or two- 
 thirds as many m a day. In such cases machinery has been 
 the friend of the workingman, although he has been in the 
 habit of looking upon it as his enemy. 
 
 The following are approximately the rates of wages paid 
 in England : 
 
 Puddlers, per day $1.50 
 
 Helpers 90 
 
 Shinglers 2.25 
 
 Assistants ' 1.50 
 
 Rollers 2.00 
 
 Assistants 1.25 
 
 Plate rollers 3.00 
 
 Heaters 2.75 
 
 Laborers 90 
 
 Machinists 1.25 
 
 Blacksmiths 1.50 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 METHODS. 
 
 FOREIGN STEEL WORKS WILSON, CAMMELL & CO., DRONFIELT), 
 
 ENGLAND THE BARROW HEMATITE IRON AND STEEL 
 
 WORKS, ENGLAND WEST CUMBERLAND IRON AND 
 
 STEEL COMPANY, ENGLAND THE RHYMNEY 
 
 STEEL WORKS, ENGLAND. 
 
 Steel Works of Wilson, Cammell & Co., Dronfield, 
 England. 
 
 The steel works of Wilson, Cammell & Co., Droulield, 
 Eno-land, are of the old Eiiirlish type, excepting that the 
 pits are shallow. There are four ^5-ton vessels in two pits, and 
 there is a traveler over the vessels for settino; l>ottoms. The 
 vessel bottoms are set in dry and rammed from the nose of 
 the vessel. The tuyeres are \(\ in number, with 13 holes of 
 3-8 of an inch diameter. The ingots are top-cast and sand- 
 covered ; they are slowly and carefully poured, but no 
 funnel is used, and they measure 12 1-2 inches at the bottom 
 and 11 inches at the top, and rarely exceed 1,700 pounds in 
 weight. 
 
 " Stickers " are punched out of the moulds by means of 
 a hydraulic press. The output for 4 vessels is about 9,000 
 tons per month, running 10 1-2 tons per week. Statistics 
 of one month shows 46 turns, 195 tons per turn — 8,970 tons 
 per month, and this output does not keep the rail mill going 
 to full capacity. The Bessemer plant operates smoothly 
 
(38) 
 
 and a good mixture of iron is kept on hand. It is stated 
 that 65,000 tons of ingots have been made without a bad 
 heat. 
 
 The ])-. oducts follow in one direction from the pig bank 
 to the rail yard, over a space of 600 by 200 feet, and with a 
 minimum of handling and diversion. The first line of 
 heating furnaces stands 60 feet from the line of the Bes- 
 semer pits. From the furnaces the ingots pass in a direct 
 line through the blooming, roughing and finishing trains (at 
 the same heat), to a central hot straightening plate. There 
 are hot and cold beds, and finishing tools on either side. 
 Eight small heating furnaces with two doors each are used. 
 The furnaces are all single and coal fired ; they are charged 
 from a bogie l)y hand, and are drawn by means of a hand 
 winch. The ingot is wheeled an average of 80 feet to the 
 train. The bloom runs out of the reversing blooming 
 train upon a car, which carries it by means of a power 
 chain straight ahead 80 feet to the table of the 3-high 
 roughing train (4 fixed power rollers). The reversing fin- 
 ishing train stands in line with the roughing, just like ordi- 
 nary stands of roughing and finishing rolls, but the two 
 trains are quite independent, and are driven, of course, by 
 independent engines. The bottom finishing roll stands in 
 line with* the middle roughing roll. Power carriages are on 
 the front side of these trains, by which the piece is trans- 
 ferred laterally from the last roughing to the first finishing 
 pass. 
 
 The blooming train is an old clutch reversing train rebuilt 
 for the purpose. The speed of the rolls is moderate, but 
 this allows the piece to enter without chattering under a 
 large reduction; a'ld as the piece is short, and the feeding 
 is rapid, the seven passes are made in fair time. The car- 
 riage, running from the blooming to the roughing tables, is 
 driven on a slightly inclined railway, by an endless chain, 
 
(39) 
 
 movable by means of a clutch attached to the engine which 
 drives the roughing feed rolls. The l)oy who runs the feed 
 engine of the blooming train works this clutch to bring the 
 empty carriage Imck ; the roughing feed boy brings the 
 bloom up when he wants it. In normal practice the piece 
 does not stop, and is not touched with bar or tongs from the 
 last pass of the blooming to the back table of the roughing. 
 
 The roughing train is driven direct by a horizontal con- 
 densing engine making 52 revolutions. 
 
 The front fixed table consists of 4 18-inch rollers 3 feet 
 apart, driven exactly like the blooming feed roller's, by a re- 
 versing engine. The floor plate around these rollers is a 
 wrought iron armor plate which is nearly on a level with the 
 tops of the rollers. The piece falls out of the upper 
 passes upon this heavy structure instead of being let down 
 by a moving table. The rear table must be a lifting tal)le. 
 It is a flat wrought iron plate 24 feet long by 7 feet 1 inch 
 wide, resting on a frame of 2 2-inch channel bars, and 
 otherwise stiffened. The table is hinged in the rear on a 
 link, so that it can move forward and back ; its inner end is 
 raised by a hydraulic piston, acting through an underneath 
 rock-shaft which also carries a counter weight. The inner 
 end of the table is connected to the housings by short links 
 in such a way, that as the table rises it is moved 16 inches 
 towards the rolls with increasing rapidity, thus throwing the 
 piece into the grooves. There are short rollers fixed in and 
 projecting just above the top of the table, and space to 
 suit the increasing length of the piece. The workmen stand 
 on the table and the lifting handle is attached to it. The 
 piece drops out of the last top roughing pass upon the seat, 
 and is pushed back up an incline, oft' the end of which it 
 falls in front of the first finishing pass. The tal)le is 16 
 feet long, and consists of 4 rollers in a frame, which is 
 moved by a hydraulic cylinder like the pusher of the Fritz 
 
(4U ) 
 
 blooming train. The table has to be low to run under the 
 " spools " which carry the piece to the finishing train. 
 
 The finishinix train is a stand of 2 hioh reversing 24-inch 
 rolls, 4 feet 9 inches long. The remarks on the constructive 
 features of the roughing train apply e(]ually to this train. 
 The train is coupled direct to the engine which runs at 100 
 revolutions maximum ; and a carrying roller on either side 
 is driven by a belt from the roll necks. The tables consist 
 of a railway on either side, upon which are 8 traveling 
 rollers or spools 8 feet apart, which roll back and forth (> 
 feet between stops, as the rail comes upon them. The 
 tracks consist of dt)uble headed rails lying on their sides ; 
 the inclination is that of equilibrium ; the rollers throw the 
 piece well out and a slight pressure will start it in. The 
 spools on the front side are 5 1-2 feet long ; on the l)ack side 
 they are but 4 feet, so as not to receive the finished rail ; 
 this drops on the driven floor rollers which carry it to 
 the saw. 
 
 The ingots are charged and drawn at what we should call 
 a high heat, but not too high for good steel, having plenty 
 of manganese. 
 
 There are 7 grooves in the blooming rolls, though the first 
 is not used. The screws are not worked. The piece goes 
 twice through the second groove, being quarter turned on 
 the back side, and once through each of the 5 other grooves, 
 being (juarter turned on the front side. It finishes .7 by 8 
 inches. The first reduction is 2 inches and the others aver- 
 age ] inch. 
 
 The men are one tougsman on each side, who turn the 
 piece without the aid of hooks, and a boy who runs both the 
 table engine and the clutch, to 1)i'ing the l)loom carriage ])ack. 
 The back tougsman easily keeps the piece going, until it 
 gets upon the bloom carriage. The roughing table boy then 
 works the bloom carriage clutch where the carriage stops. 
 
(41) 
 
 the bloom rolls off upon the roughing table and straight 
 through the train without stopping. 
 
 An inspector l)ehind the train watches and sometimes 
 turns over the l^loonis ; badly cracked blooms he pulls off 
 the carriage ; these are cold chipped, reheated and swung on 
 to the carriage to go to the roughing train. "When blooms 
 come slightly cracked from the lilooming train, they are 
 sometimes stopped and hot chipped by hand. The rough- 
 ing rolls take a 7 by 8-inch piece, and there are (5 passes of 
 which the last begins to form the stem. There are two 
 passes on the flat of the flange. The piece is quarter turned 
 once on the back side and twice on the front side. There is 
 a number of spare grooves arranged to rough evei'v pattern 
 of rail made, so that these rolls are not changed until they 
 are too much worn for use. The 26-inch rolls at i)2 revolu- 
 tions (after much experimenting), throw the piece just far 
 enough out on the rear table so that the inward movement 
 of the ta])le throws it again into the rolls. Of course the 
 jjiece sometimes misses entering, and has to be adjnsted by 
 bar and tongs. The men at the roughing train are, one l)ar- 
 man and one tongsman in front, one barman and one tongs- 
 man behind, and the table l)oy. There are no hooks ; the 
 turning is skillfully done by the front tongsman, while the 
 piece is falling ; the turning in the rear at the last pass is 
 aided by the barman, who does little else except work the 
 table lever. After the piece has passed the last time from 
 front to rear of the roughers, the transfer tal)le is moved in 
 front of them : it receives the piece and drops it on the spools 
 in front of the first finishing pass. There are 5 finishing 
 passes all on edge, the piece being turned over in front and 
 rear after each pass. This is because the grooves are all in the 
 bottom roll. Double collars allowing the grooves to be alter- 
 nately in the top and bottom roll, so as to keep down the fin, 
 would of course prevent the necessity of turning over the piece. 
 
(42) 
 
 There are a tongsman and hooker in front, and a tongsman 
 and hooker behind. The piece ahnost feeds itself ; and is 
 not lifted ; turning brings it right to enter the next groove. 
 Rails of 56 to 70 pounds receive 18 passes from an ingot 
 aveiaging 11 3-4 inches in thickness. 
 
 The persons employed at the three trains are : 
 
 MEN. BOT8. 
 
 Blooming 2 1 
 
 Inspecting 1 
 
 Rougliing 4 1 
 
 Finishing 4 
 
 Foreman .... 1 
 
 Total 12 2 
 
 This is superior to our ])est practice which requires at 
 least 4 persons at the blooming train, 10 at the rail train, 
 and never less than 1() men to handle and reheat the' blooms 
 between the blooming and rail trains ; also a foreman and 
 spell hands, say 36 men. 
 
 The output has l)een : Flange rail, 58 pounds per yard, 
 rolled in 3 lengths of 21 feet each , output averaged 2,064 
 tons per Aveek of 11 turns, or 345 bars 63 feet long (1,035 
 rails), weighing 187 1330-2240 tons per turn; bull head 
 rails, 70 pounds per yard, rolled in two 24 feet lengths 
 2,761 tons per week of 11 turns, or 251 tons per turn. The 
 waste and ends are stated to be 6^ per cent on the ingot. 
 The number of second quality rails is said to be under 1 per 
 cent. The analysis of l)orings from three rail ends, taken 
 out of the pile at random, are as follows : 
 
 No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. 
 
 Carbon 0.35 0.34 0.34 
 
 Phosphorous 0.059 0.053 0.044 
 
 Manganese 1.01 1.02 0.97 
 
 It is stated that Wilson, Cammell & Co. contracted for 
 all (he labor to make a ton of rails, from the pig iron piled 
 in the yard to the rails loaded on the cars, at about $2.00, 
 
( 43 ) 
 
 The saw is 70 feet from the rolls. The rail is carried to 
 it on large driven rollers, which project just above the floor. 
 The same piece is carried to the straightening plate by simi- 
 lar rollers. The sets of rollers are driven independently by 
 reversing clutches, actuated hy a small engine. Great stead- 
 iness of running is promoted : first, hy placing the saw in 
 the middle of an arbor, having pulleys on each end ; second, 
 by sliding the saw frame in and out in horizontal guides, 
 liaving great mass and heavy bearing ; third, by traversing 
 the saw frame from a high speed shaft by means of a worm. 
 If a single saw will cut a bar into 5 pieces (3 rails and 2 
 ends) at the rate of 2,000 tons a week, the necessity of 2 
 saws to cut a bar into 3 pieces, in order to keep out of the 
 way of the train, in our mills is not obvious ; more than 
 this, there seems to be a positive advantage in the single 
 saw for double or treble lengths. The last of three rails 
 will inequitably be sawn colder than the first, and if its hot 
 length is determined by the distance apart of the two fixed 
 saws, its cold length will be greater than that of the first. 
 The length to l^e cut off is regulated by a mechanical stop, 
 operated at will, by a workman. The rails are not lifted 
 from the time they leave the saws until they reach the ship- 
 ping cars ; the finishing machines stand successivel}^ lower ; 
 in fact, the whole plant stands on a long slope, so that stock 
 is brought to the cupola charging floors and product is 
 removed, l)y means of not very steep sidings, from the main 
 line of the Midland Railwav. There are 4 double straio;ht- 
 ening presses, 4 drills, and 2 facing machines. There are 8 
 straiirhteners workino- davs, and 3 workino; nights ; thev set 
 10 shillings (|2.44) per day ; also, the same number of help- 
 ers, who get 4s. 6d. ($1.10) per day. The 4 drills bore and 
 slot 700 rails per turn. 
 
 The rail train engine is considered a good type, as far as 
 durabilitv and smooth workinu: is concerned. It is wasteful 
 
(44) 
 
 of steam, as all non-compound reversing engines must be, 
 because they can not get expansion by a short cut off. The 
 frame of each engine consists of 2 deep (3^ feet), straight, 
 hollow pieces, extending nearly as far as below the center 
 line, and connected at the cylinder by a hollow and deep 
 ring (the whole cast together), against which the cylinder is 
 bolted. The frames of the two engines are clamped by 
 heavy lugs and rings as strongly as if cast together. The 
 rear end of the cylinder slides as it expands and contracts 
 on a bed plate. The journal boxes part nearly at a right 
 angle with the center line, so as to properly take the thrust. 
 A matter of interest connected with this plant is the recent 
 report of the directors of Charles Cammell & Co., Limited, 
 Sheffield. That in order to save the heavy cost, $300,000 
 to $350,000 a year of railway carriage of materials inward, 
 and of finished manufactures outward, they have resolved 
 to acquire the rail mills of Wilson, Cammell & Co., of 
 Dronfield, and the works of the Derwent Iron Company at 
 Workington. They will remove their own rail mills and 
 those of the Dronlield firm to Workington, having arrived 
 at the conclusion that in order to make the rail business 
 profital)le, three conditions must be fulfilled : 
 
 1. The rail mills must be combined with blast furnaces. 
 
 2. These combined Avorks must be situated on close prox- 
 imity to the sea; and, 
 
 3. The blast furnaces must be situated where hematite is 
 found, with ready and cheap access thereto. 
 
 These conditions will all be embodied at Workington. To 
 carry out the change, $1,750,000 additional capital is pro- 
 posed to be raised by shares and debentures. 
 
 One railway company alone will lose carriage payments 
 worth $600,000 a year. 
 
 The proposal has more than a local significance, inasmuch 
 as English manufactui"ers on the coast are in a strong posi- 
 
(45) 
 
 tion for reaching the United Stiites market, promptly and 
 cheaply . 
 
 The Barrow Hematite Iron and Steel Works. 
 
 These works have sixteen blastfurnaces, fourteen of which 
 are built in a row, while the remaining two are half a mile dis- 
 tant. The weekly production of pig iron averages about 6,000 
 tons, but as it is always calculated that three or four furna- 
 ces are out for alteration or repairs, this does not represent 
 the full productive resources of the works. The furnaces 
 were originally (in 1859) 45 feet high, but they were recon- 
 structed to their present height of 62 feet between 1870 and 
 1872. The average consumption of fuel is one ton of coke 
 per ton of pig iron produced. The red hematite resmelted, 
 is chiefly o])tiiined from the Company's own mines in bhe 
 neighborhood, at Park and at Stank. The former mine, 
 which has been worked for over a quarter of a century, has 
 proved to be the finest deposit in the district. The latter is 
 the deepest of all tJie Furness Mines. The Furness ores 
 average about 56 per cent of metalic iron, and it is valued 
 for its metallic richness, as well as for its freedom from phos- 
 phorus and sulphur, of which ingredients it contains only frac- 
 tional quantities. In smelting the Furness hematite ore, about 
 7 cwt^. of limestone is used to the ton of iron made. The 
 blast is heated to a temperature ranging between 900 degrees 
 to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The furnaces are e*ich filled 
 with six tuyeres. The boshes of the larger furnaces are 21 
 feet, and of the smaller ones 17 1-2 feet. 
 
 The blast is heated partly by Cowpcr's and partly by Gjer's 
 stoves. There are three beam and sixteen grasshopper l)last 
 engines. The three beam engines are compound, with l)low- 
 ing cylinders, two of 100 inches, and one of 110 inches in 
 diameter, and a stroke of 9 feet. With the exception of the 
 buildina* that contains the latter engines all the eng-ine houses 
 
are built iDarallcl to, and at the hack of, the furnaces. The 
 hoists are inclined planes, worked by special engines. For 
 the fourteen furnaces there are sixteen inclines, each with a 
 separate pair of engines, the cylinders of which are sixteen 
 inches in diameter and the stroke 2 1-2 feet. The furnaces 
 are fitted with the bell and hopper apparatus, in order to 
 utilize the waste gasses, which are sufficient to heat all the 
 boilers and hot-air stoves without any other fuel. 
 
 The Steel works are parallel to, and about 200 yards dis- 
 sant from the Iron Avorks, on the pig-bed side. The Fur- 
 ness Railway runs between the two departments, and the 
 rest of the intervening space is occupied by sidings, filling 
 sheds, and a wrought iron bridge spans the whole of the 
 railway and connects the different departments-. The Iron 
 works are situated on the shores of the Walney Channel, 
 into which the slag is tipped. The quantity of the latter is 
 so enormous, that a considerable area of land is annually 
 rechiimed, so much so, that several of the furnaces and many 
 of the lines of railway are built on reclaimed land. 
 
 In the space between the iron and steel works a block of 
 coke ovens has been built on the Coppee system, now so 
 much adopted on the continent. The group consists of thirty 
 ovens, 30 feet long by 18 inches wide. The steel works are con- 
 tained in three parallel erections, connected together, from 85 
 to 105 feet in width, and 735 to 875 feet long. Over 3,000 
 tons of steel, by the Bessemer process, are made per week. 
 There were formerly 18 converters, but as this part of the 
 works has undergone reconstruction, the number has been 
 reduced to eleven. The accessory machinery embraces two 
 coirsino; mills, three rail mills and one merchant mill. Rails 
 constitute the chief branch of manufacture, but considerable 
 quantities of tyres, fish-plates, axles and forgings are also 
 made. The converters are placed in the North end of the 
 buildings. The l)lowino- enirines are a short distance off, in a 
 
(47) 
 
 separate building. The horizontal engines have 4(S-inch diam- 
 eter blowing cylinders, 36-incli diameter steam cylinders and 
 5 feet stroke. Side by side with these is the usual arrange- 
 ment of pumps for working the hydraulic cranes. An ad- 
 joining house contains a pair of vertical condensing blowing 
 engines with 54-inches diameter l)lowing cylinders, 40-inch 
 diameter steam cylinders and 5 feet stroke. The pressure 
 of the l)last in the converters is from 21 to 25 pounds per 
 square inch, and the average time of blowing is 20 minutes. 
 Formerly the pig-iron was remelted ; now, the molten iron 
 is brought direct from the furnaces in ladles on a specially 
 arranged wagon, and though the molten metal has to travel 
 nearly two miles to get round by a junction, no difficulty is 
 experienced from any appreciable lowering of its tempera- 
 ture. The locomotive brings four charges at once, two in 
 each ladle, and l)y means of raised sidings enters Nos. 1 and 
 2 sheds on a level with the converter's toi)s. The charge is 
 conveyed into the converters by means of cast iron runners. 
 Occasionally a small (luantity of Swedish pig-iron is added to 
 the charge. After the l)low is concluded, the usual amount 
 of Spiegeleisen is poured in. There are 4 cupolas for melt- 
 ing the Spiegeleisen. Th(> converters vary somewhat in size 
 but are mostly 16 feet in height, fS 1-2 feet inside diameter, 
 and have a nominal capacity of 10 tons. Each pair is placed 
 in respect to one another at such an angle that if necessary 
 both can pour their contents into the same ladle. The ram 
 to which the ladle ib" attached is in the centre of the })its. It 
 revolves on its own axis and rises by hydraulic pressure. 
 When the ladle is tilled, the ram is raised and turned around, 
 and the steel runs from the bottom of the ladle, either into 
 separate ingot moulds, or by preference, into a hollow stan- 
 dard which resembles on a large scale, the runner of a cast- 
 ing. Hydrostatic j^ressure causes the molten metal to tlow 
 through horizontal channels made of perforated and specially 
 
(48 ) 
 
 arranged firebricks, and to rise through the bottorji into four, 
 six or eight moulds arranged in two rows. By this means, 
 with one opening of the valve of the ladle most, if not all, 
 of the ingots from that particular blow are cast. In the 
 Bessemer department, hydraulic power is solely used for 
 working the cranes, turning the converters, etc. This power 
 is derived from three steam engines, each having 18 1-4 
 inch diameter cylinders 3 feet stroke, driving five hydraulic 
 rams varying from 3 to 5 inches in diameter. 
 
 The steel ingots are taken from the Bessemer department 
 to the Siemen's reheating furnaces. The latter are sup- 
 plied with gas from 72 producers. The method of charging 
 the producers is mechanical. About two tons of coal slack 
 per day is required for each generator. 
 
 From the main gas tubes branch tubes lead to the 46 fur- 
 naces employed in reheathig the ingots and blooms. The 
 coofoiiiCT mills are desio;ned to be automatic and to require a 
 minimum of manual labor. The mills are connected to a 
 pair of beam engines and are driven by a train of wheels 
 arranged for reversing, but detached from each other. The 
 reversmg gear consists of a hydraulic cylinder, coupled to a 
 lever and an ordinary clutch. The rolls in one mill are 30 
 mches and m the other 36 inches in diameter. The blooms 
 on leaving the cogging mills, pass by self acting rollers to a 
 hammer to be cut mto two or three pieces as required. The 
 mill department contanis three rail mills, a merchant mill, 
 and a tire mill, and 2 of the rail mills are three high and 
 driven by condensing beam engines with cylinders 42 inches 
 diameter, and 6 feet stroke. The rail mills are speeded 1 
 to 2 1-4, making (51 revolutions per minute. The rail mill 
 trains are 26 inches diameter rolls, consisting of three rough- 
 ing rolls, with 7 grooves. These grooves are not all used at 
 the same time, five or six grooves in each set of rolls being 
 generally found suflicient. Rail up to 100 feet in length 
 
(4i» ) 
 
 and of very difficult sections are rolled in these mills. 
 Attached to the roughing rolls in each mill is a hydraulic 
 lift for the purpose of raising the bloom, after passing 
 through the grooves in the bottom rolls to those in the top 
 rolls. The third rail mill is a very poAverful reversing mill 
 consisting of a single set of rolls, driven by a pair of hori- 
 zontal engines, which make 100 revolutions per minute, the 
 cylinder being 42 inches diameter, with 4 feet stroke. Self 
 acting gear carry the rails to the saw in each department, 
 and from the saw to the ' straightening presses, punching 
 presses, drilling and planing machines in the usual manner. 
 In and about the works there are many lines of railways and 
 numerous buildings. The engines in the various parts of 
 the works, which aggregate 0,000 horse-power, require 150 
 Td oilers. . ^ 
 
 IVest Cumber/and Iron and Steel Company. 
 
 The Works of the West Cumberland Iron and Steel Com- 
 pany are situated on the coast of Cumberland, close to the 
 town of Workington. 
 
 They consist of 6 blast furnaces, 70 feet high, which are 
 served by 4 sets of firebrick, and 1 set of cast iron stoves. 
 There are two pairs of blowing engines, and a single com- 
 pound beam engine. The larger pairs are condensing beam 
 engines, having 44-inch diameter steam, and 96-inch diameter 
 blowing cylinders with 8 feet stroke, running about 20 strokes 
 per minute. The other engines are of the vertical Cleve- 
 land type, with steam above the blast cylinders. Most of 
 the iron is taken in a molten state direct to the steel works, 
 a large tunnel having been driven parallel and close up to 
 the furnace, so that the iron can be tapped at once into the 
 ladles or run down the pig-bed, if necessary. 
 
 At these works Mr. Snelus applied the system in use there, 
 for conveying the molten pig iron from the blast furnace to 
 
( 50 ) 
 
 the converters. In devising this plan he started with the 
 conviction that it was desirable : 1st. To construct a ladle 
 and carriage that could be moved about with safety and 
 celerity without being an undue weight ; that the ladle should 
 be placed in the most secure position upon its carriage ; that 
 it should be easily tipped for pouring out the metal, lifted 
 out with facility when it required to be changed ; and that 
 the man in charge of the ladle should be in a good position 
 for turning it over, not only to see well what he was doing,, 
 but to be out of danger from splashes of metal. 2d. That 
 all turntables and lifts should be avoided. 3d. That in 
 order to produce the utmost economy the ladle should be 
 brought as near as possible to the l)last furnace so as not to 
 cool the metal or have more scraj) than necessary, and that 
 the metal should be poured directly from the ladle into the 
 converters, to avoid the cost and waste of runner making. 
 The carriage and ladle, lined ready for use, weighs under 10 
 tons. The converters are arraniied according^ to the usual 
 English plan, facing each other, and a staging has been 
 thrown .-over the pit between the two converters. The dis- 
 tance between the blast furnace and converter is about 1050 
 feet, and on a comparatively direct line from one point to 
 the other. In order to bring the ladle as close as possible 
 to the furnaces, a cutting was made through the pig-beds in 
 front of the tap holes, and in order that the pig-beds might 
 not be curtailed, the cutting is made sufficiently deep to be 
 covered for casting purposes. In practice the iron is tapped 
 from the furnace into the ladle, about 3 tons, 10 cwt. from 
 each furnace. This is done to ensure as far as possible a 
 uniform charge. Five minutes often suffices to tap both 
 furnaces and to get the charge of metal, and in less than 5 
 minutes it can be weighed, taken to the converters, and 
 poured into the vessel. 
 
 The arrangements are such as to produce the minimum 
 
(51) 
 
 amount of scrap and scull, and the yield, in consequence, is 
 increased . 
 
 One ladle lasts from one to two hundred casts before the 
 scull needs to be taken out, and even then, it is only the 
 loose coatino^ and not the lirick linino; of the ladle, that wants 
 renewing. 
 
 The practical results obtained in a fortnight's time are 
 stated by Mr. Snelus to have been : — 
 
 Total metal used 1033 Tons. 
 
 Ingots made 887 Tons. 
 
 Ladle Scull Iron 14 .-.^^q Tons. 
 
 Iron Scrap, cleansing of ladle 1 -2^>40 "l^ns. 
 
 Steel Scraps of all kinds 14 ^^^s^g- Tons. 
 
 Yield of Ingots 85 8-10 per cent. 
 
 Waste 14 2-10 per cent. 
 
 Iron Scull Scrap, say 1 1-2 per cent. 
 
 Steel Scrap of all kinds 1 1-2 per cent. 
 
 Leaving absolute waste, about 11 percent. 
 
 A careful system of analyzing the iron from each furnace 
 daily, and mixing it, so that the silicon is kept very regular, 
 is followed, and the steel is consequently very uniform in 
 quality. The steel works consist of two Bessemer pits with 
 a pair of 7 1-2 ton vessels in each, blown by a pair of hori- 
 zontal engines. The steam cylinders are 40 inches diameter, 
 and the blowing cylinders 54 inches diameter, stroke 5 feet. 
 An independent condenser has been added to the engines. 
 The pressure of the blast is 25 pounds to the square inch. 
 The hydraulic power is obtained from a dou])le-acting pump 
 with 8 inch ram and 8 feet stroke. It runs only G or 7 
 strokes per minute to perform all the work. There is no 
 fly-wheel. The power is regulated by an accumulator, the 
 ram being 30 inches in diameter and having a stroke of 24 
 feet. The working pressure is about 500 pounds per s(iuare 
 
( 52 ) 
 
 inch. The product from the converters amounting to nearly 
 80,000 tons of ingots in the year, is worked up into rails, 
 billets and forgings. The ingots are all made heavy enough 
 for 4 or 6 rails, and are taken hot to the rail mill. After a 
 slight soaking in Siemen's heating furnaces, they are cogged 
 in a cogging mill with 34 inch rolls, driven by a pair of 
 reversina: enirines. Two men do all the work at the rolls, 
 as the ingot is moved in and out by machinery. From the 
 co2:ging rolls, after being sawn in two, the bloom is taken to 
 the reheating furnaces, and is then rolled off into a double 
 rail by a pair of reversing engines. These are compound 
 and condensing. They have a 3 feet 3 inch stroke and run 
 at a high rate of speed, often up to 90 strokes per minute, 
 during the last passes of the rail. These engines were orig- 
 inally used in Her Majesty's frigate the Liverpool. When 
 this vessel was being broken up the company bought the 
 engines, and they were compounded by adding high pressure 
 cylinders. At the same time the bed plate, connecting rods, 
 etc., were lengthened so as to get a better driving angle. In 
 addition to the rail mill referred to, there are also a 23-inch 
 pull-over mill, for light sections and a couple of 24-inch 
 plate mills driven by a pair of engines, but reversed by clutch 
 arrangements. The plate mills have made 400 tons of iron 
 plates per week, but are now exclusively engaged on steel 
 plates. 
 
 At the iron and steel works there are 48 steam boilers, 24 
 of these being of the double flued Lancashire type w^th steel 
 flues, five being entirely of steel. The latter have been in 
 use some time and have given entire satisfaction. Good 
 water is obtained from a pumping establishment about a mile 
 up the river Derwent, where a couple of horizontal pumping 
 engines are located, each capable of pumping about 2,000 
 gallons per minute into the reservoir, 120 feet above the 
 river. Altogether the works use about 3,000 gallons of 
 
( 53 ; 
 
 water per minute for boilers, condensers and tuyeres, but 
 half of this is conveyed into an extensive series of cooling 
 channels, about 1 1-8 mile long, and is used over again. 
 There are 52 engines on the works, that work up to about 
 7,000 indicated horse power. 
 
 The iron ore employed at West Cumberland is obtained 
 from the Cleator Moor mines ; the coal and coke from the 
 companies' collieries about three miles from the works ; and 
 the limestone flux from the quarries belonging to the firm 
 at Brigham, about eight miles up the Derwent. 
 
 The Rhymney Steel Works. 
 The Rhymney Steel Works are among the latest, as the 
 Barrow were among the earliest works of the kind erected 
 in the United Kingdom. The plant having been erected for 
 the purpose of converting old iron works and adapting them 
 to the manufacture of steel, the arrangement was somewhat 
 controlled by the situation of the blast furnaces, it was 
 intended to use for the process, and also by the extent of 
 ground available. It was erected for the purpose of making 
 steel by the direct process — that is, by taking the molten 
 iron direct from the blast furnaces and submitting it to the 
 process of conversion on the Bessemer system, instead of 
 running it into pigs and then remelting them in an air fur- 
 nace or cupola, the favorite method, until very recently. 
 More uniform results being obtained by mixing the produce 
 of two or more blast furnaces, this plan is followed here 
 with the means of taking a further supply of iron, when 
 required, from the cupolas (two in number) which are situ- 
 ated alongside the subway leading from the furnaces to the 
 steel works ; they are used for remelting the iron made and 
 run into pigs on Sunday, and at such other times as the steel 
 works may not be in operation, care being taken to use such 
 iron in the cupolas as will correct any irregularity in the iron 
 
(54) 
 
 taken from the blast furnaces, and thus secure the desired 
 regularity in quality. 
 
 The iron is run from the furnace into a ladle standing on 
 a railway in the subway, and is drawn l)y a small locomotive 
 engine up a gradient of 1 in 50. The carriage and ladle now 
 stand on the floor of the converter house, and as they are 
 still below the level of the converters, the ladle full of metal 
 is lifted from the carriage by a twelve ton hydraulic crane 
 and poured direct into the converter, which is then turned 
 up and the blow commences ; this lasts from 15 to 20 min- 
 utes, with a blast pressure of 25 pounds upon the square 
 inch. After the ])\o\v the same crane conveys the si)iegelei- 
 sen direct from the cupola to the converter. An empty 
 casting ladle suspended on the other side of the crane is 
 now swung round to receive the steel and transfers it to the 
 center casting crane, which is then turned towards the pit, 
 leaving the charging crane and converters clear from obser- 
 vation and at liberty for the next blow, which can commence 
 at once while the casting is l)eing proceeded with. 
 
 Within the radius of No. 2 ingot crane is placed a monkey 
 for knocking out any ingot which may stick fast in the 
 moulding ; the tup of this monkey is raised by a chain led 
 from a hydraulic crane near the spiegel cupolas, which crane 
 also lifts the spiegeleisen and coke. The "stickers" are 
 thus dealt with without delay, preventing the unsightly 
 accumulation of '•stickers," which must take place where 
 appliances for knocking them out are not easily available. 
 
 The converters, 7 tons capacity each, are side by side, 
 the "American Plan." The usual practice in Great Britain 
 has them vi^ a vis, thus subjecting workmen, when repairing, 
 to the annoyance of sparks from the other vessel. 
 
 The Company, in their report for the year ending March, 
 1882, show a jn-olit of £20,000, but the directors have not 
 recommended any dividend for the second half of the year. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 METHODS. 
 
 FOREIGN WORKS CONTINUED THE ESTON STEEL WORKS, 
 
 ENGLAND THE STEEL COMPANY OF SCOTLAND, 
 
 LI3IITED T. COCKERILL ET CIE STEEL 
 
 WORKS, BELGIUM. 
 
 The Eston Steel Works. 
 
 In 1877 Messrs. Bolckow, Vaughuii & Co. opened at Eston, 
 in Cleveland, one of the most complete and adniiniblv ar- 
 ranged steel makiiio- estal)lishnients in the world. Tlie site 
 of these works extending over 100 acres of land, adjoins the 
 Darlington Section of the Northeastern TIailway, and abuts 
 upon the private jetty of the tirni, whence the ores are de- 
 livered and the finished article shipped without any cost for 
 freightage or other dues. The ore is carried along an over- 
 head railway and is emptied into huge bunkers immediately 
 behind the furnaces. The bunker.s are divided for the se[)- 
 arate storage of limestone,' ironstone and coke, and are built 
 of strong timber, with equally strong iron supports. They 
 are fitted underneath with valves, Avhich enables the raw 
 material to be emptied into the barrows, without any mamial 
 labor other than that of simply opening and shutting the 
 valves, which are placed underneath the floor of the bunkers 
 at the height of about 5 1-2 feet fi'om the ground. After 
 being filled these l)arrows are wheeled to the hoists, which 
 are worked by water l)alances with a break wheel at the top. 
 
( o6 ) 
 
 The water is pumped by ordinary pumping engines into a 
 tank placed at the top of the hoists. Three harrows are car- 
 ried up at a time, the load l)eing about 1,700 pounds. The 
 water actuating the hoist is obtained from the Eston mines 
 belonging to the tirm and it runs in an open stream down to 
 the steel works, distant 2 1-2 miles. 
 
 There are nineteen blast furnaces immediately surrounding 
 the steel works, and hot air stoves each having 2,000 square 
 feet of heating surface and giving a temperature of 1,100 
 degrees to the blast are attached to the furnaces. A 20-ton 
 machine is provided for the purpose of weighing the iron as 
 it comes from the blast furnaces, and the laboratory is placed 
 close by the'machine, so that the molten metal can be taken 
 from the ladles and sampled and analyzed without loss of 
 time. It is not the custom to take samples of each cast, as 
 it is believed that the iron will be kept regular otherwise. 
 
 The converting house is divided into two departments, the 
 basic and the hematite, each containing four converters in a 
 row, the basic converters being nominally ten tons capacity 
 each, and the hematite five tons. The acid converters are to 
 be changed to basic, and this firm will have 8 converters 
 working on the basic process. The vessels are placed at 
 greater distances apart than is common in our American Steel 
 plants, Avith the advantages of greater accessibility and the 
 greater room on the platform for charging and other neces- 
 sary operations. There is one ladle crane to each pair of 
 converters, not top-supported, as in our home works, but 
 balanced by a counter weight. It has the three motions of 
 lifting, moving also around a circle, and carrying the ladle 
 out or in, frohi or toward the centre, all controllable by 
 hydraulic machinery. Its lift is so high that the ladle can 
 be lifted above the ingot molds when these are standing on 
 the ground level, thus enabling the deep pit to be dispensed 
 with, and greatly facilitating the placing of the ingot molds. 
 
(57) 
 
 The pig metal used in these converters (both basic and 
 hematite) is all tapped directly from the blastfurnaces, and 
 is brought in ladles to the steel works, hoisted by a hydrau- 
 lic lift to the railway track on the platform behind the con- 
 verters, and it is then run on this track to the vessel which 
 is ready for it, and tapped through a short runner directly 
 into the vessel, into which the basic additions and a few crop 
 ends or other pieces of scrap have already been placed. 
 
 The blow lasts about twenty minutes ; the converter is 
 then turned back toward the platform, and a sample taken 
 out and tested by hammering out, cooling, and breaking, to 
 determine whether the purification has been complete. When 
 this is done, either with or without a few seconds of extra 
 blowing, the steel is poured into the crane ladle where it is 
 mixed with the spiegel which has been tapped into two small 
 ladles from one of four cujjolas standing together on the 
 platform . 
 
 The production does not seem very large in comparison 
 with that of our best works, (only 2,500 tons per week for 
 four converters) but no attempt is made to run each con- 
 verter to its utmost capacity the whole time, as in America. 
 Two of the four converters are always idle, but in readiness 
 to be used as soon as the other two are stopjDed for rei^airs. 
 The working force of men is only large enough to keep two 
 converters at work, and the men at twelve hours per day 
 mstead of eight, as in some of the American works. 
 
 Throughout the works care is taken to avoid working be- 
 low the floor line. This arrangement represents a consider- 
 able economy with the customary Bessemer process of casting 
 the mgots in pits, seeing that the expense and loss of time 
 incurred in lifting the ingots out of the pits is avoided. 
 
 Here the technical and commercial success of the basic 
 process is unquestionable. The mechanical difficulties have 
 been successfully surmounted. The works have been in sue- 
 
( '^« ) 
 
 cessful operation on this process for nearly two years and 
 the basic converting department gives less anxiety and 
 trouble than any other department in the works, and proves 
 that the process is inevery sense past the experimental stage. 
 After coming from the converters the ingots of steel are 
 heated in Siemen's regenerative furnaces, of which tjiere are a 
 large numl)cr, covering about 2 acres, indicating that the work 
 will not be delayed from want of sufficient heating capacity. 
 There are 2 large 2-high blooming mills for blooming the 
 ingots from 15 inches square down to 7 inches square. The 
 ingots are handled by hydraulic power, and are rolled with- 
 out any other manual aid than that supplied by the engine- 
 man \Yho works the cranes and I'ams. These blooming mills 
 have 40-inch diameter rolls, driven by very large double 
 reversing engines, which are geared down 3 to 1. Each 
 engine has a set of rolls on each side to prevent any stop- 
 page by breakage or any other reason ])y which one set of 
 rolls may become incapacitated. 
 
 The ingots, after blooming, are generally not sheared into 
 rail lengths, but are at once taken to the 2-higli reversing 
 rail mill, which rolls o or more lengths of rail at once, which 
 are then sawed to lengths by the hot saws. 
 
 The rail mill is furnished with 26-inch rolls driven by 
 large reversing compound engines. In reference to the 
 quality of the steel made at Eston, a table of 51 consecutive 
 blows or heats, shows that the variation in carbon by color 
 tests of this whole lot was only between .30 and .40, and in 
 phosphorus only between .04 and .08. 
 
 A ball of 1,120 pounds, falling 15 feet on the finished rail, 
 bearings 3 feet 10 inches apart, produces deflections, varying 
 only from 1 7-8 to 3 1-8 inches in a constant length of 24 
 feet. If this regularity of product obtains through 51 con- 
 secutive heats, there can be no doubt it can ]>e duplicated 
 whenever desired, as the phosphorus in the finished product is 
 
( 59 ) 
 
 entirely within control of the operator. This elimination of 
 phosphorus to the last traces depends upon the afterblow 
 and the amount of ir(>n which is wasted in order to make 
 sure of such elimination. When steel rail is wanted to con- 
 tain not nnn-e than .10 P., the afterblow is not carried to 
 such an extent as when boiler plate is w\anted, with below 
 .05 P., and in rail steel, therefore, a variation in P. of 
 from .02 to .08 or .10 is quite allowable. Upon this fact 
 the practical and uniform elimination of phosphorus down 
 to below .05 depends the future of the manufacture of the 
 finer steels in the United States. Especially crucible steels, 
 and to Bessemer and oi)en hearth steels for lioiler plates, 
 rivets, stay*l)olts, and line steels for stamping, tin plates, 
 etc. In crucible steel manufacture at })resent the raw 
 material imported is Swedish wrought iron bars, which are 
 exceedingly costh^ Their chemical peculiarity, upon wiiich 
 their whole market value depends, is lovj phosphorus and 
 low silicon. 
 
 A basi(^ Bessemer works in the United States making steel 
 for boik-r plates, or such like pur})ose, containing kxowx 
 QUANTITIES of pliosphorus P. .01, P. .02, P. .08, etc., and 
 all necessarily very low in silicon, the sciiap of these works 
 thus graded, is the very best material in the world for 
 crucible steel, and the best material for the open hearth pro- 
 cess to manufacture into spring and other high-carbon, low- 
 phosphorus, and low-siUcon steels. So in regai-d to open 
 hearth steel l)oilcr plates and other very soft steels. The 
 materials now used are the best extra low phosphorus Bes- 
 semer pigs largely imported from England and Sweden for 
 the puqiose. Republic or Spanish ores, Chateaugay or other 
 Champlain blooms, or pig iron dei)hos])horized by some 
 expensive process, such as Kru})p's or BclTs washing pro- 
 cess or bv ordinary puddling. However obtained, these raw 
 
( <50 ) 
 
 materials are all expensive. If the open hearth process for 
 the manufacture of soft steel is to live and prosper in com- 
 petition with the basic Bessemer process, its raw materials 
 must be cheapened, and no way is so likely to cheapen it as 
 the introduction of the basic process, and with the basic 
 steel scrap. 
 
 As an illustration of profits at Eston, the last annual 
 report of Bolckow, Vaughan & Co. may be quoted from. 
 The report says : 
 
 "Your directors have pleasure in submitting herewith the 
 "company's balance sheet and auditor's report for the year 
 "ending December 31, 1<S81. 
 
 " Having regard to the low prices ruling for pig iron dur- 
 " ing the second and third quarters, and the unsatisfactory 
 "condition of the coal trade over the whole of the past 
 "year, the du-ectors feel assured that the results obtained 
 "will be considered satisfactory to the share holders. The 
 "amount of profit available for distriljution is £305,- 
 " 80() 12s 5d.''' This is nearly $1,500,000, but this amount 
 "available for distribution" does not represent all the 
 profits of Bolckow, Vaughan & Co. in 1881. 
 
 The report adds : " The plant and machinery have been 
 "kept in an efiicient state, and several important repairs and 
 "improvements have been made and charged to revenue 
 "account." This means that the value and effectiveness of 
 their works were increased last year, as a basis for future 
 profits, and that this was done in addition to setting aside 
 $1,500,000 for distribution. 
 
 For the six months ending June 30, 1882, the directors 
 decided on August 25, last, to pay an interim dividend at 
 the rate of 7 1-2 per cent per annum. 
 
 The capital of this company, which is already £3,507,- 
 360, is about to be increased to £3,857,360, to enable the 
 
(61) 
 
 directors to meet their greatly extending business, and to 
 allow them to proceed with the development of the salt 
 deposits which underlie a considerable extent of their prop- 
 erty in Cleveland. They propose issuing the new capital of 
 £350,000 to the extent of £250,000 in ordinary shares of 
 £20 each, and the remaining £100,000 in 5 per cent prefer- 
 ence shares of the value of £20 each. 
 
 The measure of the profits which iron and steel manufac- 
 turers should in equity receive must, of course, vary accord- 
 ing to circumstances, but concerning the general proposition 
 that large profits are necessary, it may be asked, how else 
 can large manufacturing enterprises be built up and employ- 
 ment be given to large numbers of people ? Large profits 
 are needed to pay for extensions to enterprises originally 
 small, and to provide improvements in methods of manufac- 
 ture which the progressive spirit of the age, and the fierce- 
 ness of competition are constantly suggesting. In no other 
 way could capital ever have been accumulated to equip and 
 sustain the great manufacturing enterprises of the world. 
 The large capital upon which millions of wheels and spin- 
 dles and all other productive machinery now rests mainly, 
 represents profits. Bolckow, Vaughan cS; Co. was founded 
 in 1841, with a small capital, one of the partners contribut- 
 ing absolutely nothing but his skill and experience as an 
 iron worker, and for many years its operations were con- 
 ducted on a small scale. In 1850, it entered upon a more 
 prosperous career, and its present extensive works have been 
 created chiefiy with the profits of the last thirty years. The 
 great steel works of Alfred Kruj)p, at Essen, in Germany, 
 the largest in the world, were founded in 1810, by Friedrich 
 Krupp, the father of the present proprietor, and as late as 
 1848, they employed only 74 workmen. At the present 
 time they employ 17,000 persons. The commercial value 
 of these works and their accessories, is greater than that of 
 
( <32 ) 
 
 the works of Bolckow, Vauahan & Co., and yet this immense- 
 value may be said to have 1)een created wholly out of the 
 profits derived hy one family, in two generations, from an 
 enterprise that was originally very small indeed. 
 
 It has frequently happened in the manufacture of iron 
 and steel, that in the course of a very few years it has been 
 necessary to almost entirely change the methods of machin- 
 ery previously employed, thus entailing great and unexpected 
 expense. In the manufacture of pig iron, the introduction 
 of hot blast stoves and powerful blowing engines in late 
 years has required more money than the original cost of the 
 furnaces to which they have l)een attached. In the manu- 
 facture of steel, many changes in methods have occurred in 
 recent years, each of which has been exceedingly expensive. 
 Some of these changes, it is true, have been of radical char- 
 acter, as in the introduction of the Bessemer and open hearth 
 process, which may be classed as new industries rather than 
 as modifications of old processes ; but even these new meth- 
 ods of })roducing steel have been modified and improved b}^ 
 experience, while the old crucible process has been almost 
 completely transformed by the introduction, at great expense, 
 of gas furnaces. Years ago, in the United States, a large 
 amount of capital was expended in the erection and e(]uip- 
 ment of mills for rolling iron rails. Many of these mills 
 have since been abandoned or converted at considerable 
 expense into mills for rolling iron in other forms, while others 
 have been converted at still greater expense into establish- 
 ments for the production of rails made by the Bessemer, or 
 open-hearth process. 
 
 In the report of Bolckow, Vaughan & Co., already men- 
 tioned, the necessity for frequent changes of methods and 
 machinery, is thus referred to: "The ra[)id progress of 
 "invention connected Avith the steel and iron trade, neces- 
 " sitates the greatest watchfulness on the part of your 
 
( <^^3 ) 
 
 '* directors to keep the works and phmt in such a state of 
 "cfficieiUT iis will enal)le them to obtain the largest produc- 
 " tion and work, with the most economical results," Even in 
 establishments in which new methods and modern machinery 
 have been introduced, the annual cost of repairs to and 
 renewals of such machmerj as is in use, is ordinarily suffi- 
 cient to absorb no inconsideral)le part of the profits. Prob- 
 al)ly no other business is so destructive to machinery and 
 other inanimate aids which it employs, as the manufacture 
 of iron and steeL 
 
 The Steel Company of Scotland, Limited. — The 
 Open Hearth Plant. 
 
 There were at the works of this company in -bily 1874, 8 
 10-ton furnaces, which produced 1 1 1-2 tons each per heat, 
 and 8 5-ton furnaces which produced (5 1-2 t(ms per heat, 
 and 2 more 10-ton furnaces in tlie same line being erected. 
 Since the revival of trade, and especially since the increased 
 demand for ship plates, a line of 14 10-ton steel furnaces, 
 parallel to the first lino has been built. The 10-ton furnaces 
 make 120 tons per week each, maximum in 10.44 heats, 
 from cold pig and ore. The r)-ton furnaces make iK) tons 
 per week each, maximum in 13.8 heats. 
 
 The percentage (on ingots) of material, other than ore, 
 used for four months, May 10, 1879, was: 
 
 PER CENT. 
 
 Pig 79.64 
 
 Scrap 19.70 
 
 Scull 2.81 
 
 Spiegel and ferro manganese 2.23 
 
 1U4.38 
 
 Calling the ore used 50 per cent iron, the total percentage 
 (on ingots) of materials is 119 1-4 per cent, and the loss 
 16.13 per cent on the materials put in. 
 
( <34) 
 
 The rail mill has a compound reversing engine, with 2 
 29-inch high pressure cylinders and 2 50-incli low pressure 
 cylinders and 5 feet stroke. It is joined directly to the rail 
 finishmo; rolls. This enojne is ijeared 2 to 1, and connected 
 on the other side by a heavy plate train. The boiler pres- 
 sure is 110 pounds, the boilers being of locomotive type. 
 Steam is cut off at nearly full stroke b}^ the lap of the valve, 
 and expands only in the large cylinders. The usual revolu- 
 tions are 80, but the engine has been run at 120 revolutions, 
 indicating 2,500 horse power. 
 
 The rail train consists of 3 stands of 2-high 26-inch rolls, 
 of which the cogging and roughing are di-iven by an old 
 34-inch bv 42-inch stroke engine, geared 3 to 1. The finish- 
 ing rolls are driven direct by the compound engine above 
 described. A 13-inch ingot is rolled at 1 heat in 4 cogging, 
 6 roughing and 7 finishing passes, into 1 heavy rail or 2 
 light ones. The cogging stand has feed rollers on each side, 
 clutch geared to the train and 2 hooks. The rouohino; stand 
 has 2 spools and 1 hook on each side. The finishing stand 
 has spools on the backside and fixed under-driven rollers on 
 an incline in front. 
 
 The men at the train are 14, as follows : 
 
 Cogging front 1 hook 1 tongs 
 
 Cogging back 1 hook 1 tongs 
 
 Roughing front 1 hook 1 tongs 
 
 Roughing back 1 hook 1 tongs 
 
 Finishing front 1 hook 1 tongs 1 bar 
 
 Finishing back 1 hook 1 tongs 1 bar 
 
 Total, 14 men. 
 
 Plate Rollings. — The trains are 2 reversing trains, 
 having each 2 stands of 26 inches by 7 feet rolls, and driven 
 by 34-inch by 42-inch stroke engines, geared 3 3-4 to 1 1-4, 
 steam pressure 50 pounds. 
 
( <^5 ) 
 
 There is a short table consistmg of uiiderdriven rollers on 
 «ach side ; bogies are used to catch the outer end of the 
 plate when it gets long. The rolling is pretty rapid ; 5-inch, 
 12-cwt. slal)s are rolled to 1-4 and 3-8-inch by 19 roughing 
 and 8 finishing passes in 3 minutes. There are 10 men at 
 the train, viz. : 2 "bars" in front and 2 behind, 2 bogie 
 men, 2 In-oom men, 1 extra hand, and 1 boss. One train 
 has rolled 23 tons per turn from 5-inch 10 to 15-cwt. slabs, 
 to 1-2 and 5-8 inch plate. The 2 trains have rolled 450 tons 
 per week of all sizes and thicknesses down to 1-8-inch. 
 There is no reheating ; 1-8-inch plates are rolled from tlijn 
 slabs. A scraper is hung on the top roll to remove scale, 
 and twigs are thrown on the plate before the last pass, to 
 clean it. All plates and sheets are annealed. Some plate 
 iuijots are rolled direct, but most of them are hammered to 
 a 4 to 6-inch thickness, at a low temperature. They then 
 roll smooth at a high temperature. It is stated that the 
 ])()ck-mark in the ingot shows in the plate when the ingot is 
 rolled direct at a high temperature. The Lloyds require- 
 ment for plates is 27 to 31 tons tenacity and 20 per cent 
 stretch, on a specimen from each plate. The Board of Trade 
 and Admiralty require 26 to 30 tons tenacity and 20 per 
 cent stretch. The softest plates have carbon, 0.18 and man- 
 ganese 0.50. The plate train engines are geared, because 
 on short work the engine could not get up to speed, and 
 would be wasteful. Directly connecting the engine to the 
 train is no doubt better for rolling rails and other long work. 
 
 Excepting I beams, all other required shapes are rolled 
 up to 12-inch I deck beams ; these, also L.'s and T.'s, 
 are already produced in the train rail. Foundations 
 for trains and engines are made of concrete, excepting the 
 pockets for the hold down bolts. The trains are set on tim- 
 ber bedded in the concrete. 
 
(66) 
 
 The followino; is the cost erf iiii>()ts for four weeks endmo; 
 May 10th, '79 ; one third phite, two thirds rails. 
 
 The cost of pig was excessive, the company having some 
 thousands of tons on hand at this price. The same pig at 
 the then current price, $12.45, woukl make a difference in 
 the cost of ingots of $1.53. $12.45 was the price of the pig 
 used. 
 
 Description. 
 
 Pig Iron 
 
 Steel and Iron Scrap 
 
 Scull 
 
 Spiegel 
 
 Ferro Mang 
 
 Ores, various 
 
 Sand and Loam 
 
 Ganister 
 
 Coal and Dross 
 
 Ing. Molds and Bot's 
 
 Stoves 
 
 Sundries 
 
 Steel and Iron Cas ings 
 
 Brick, Fire (lav, &c 
 
 Wrought Iron, Steel & WW 
 
 Use of Machines 
 
 Wages 
 
 Steel Melting 
 
 Pattern and Carpenter 
 
 Fitting and Erecting . , . . . 
 
 Smithy 
 
 Foundry 
 
 Bricklayers 
 
 Yard Labor 
 
 Interest, &c 
 
 Weight. Rate. 
 
 2901.1778 
 
 717.1925 
 
 101.1904 
 
 39.201 () 
 
 42.2198 
 
 1085.1.554 
 
 2709 672 
 
 14.396 
 13.908' 
 12.81 
 22.77 
 5(;.95 
 4 G2< 
 
 Amount. 
 
 Less: 
 
 TONS. 
 
 Scull 100 
 
 B'd Ingots, 7 
 
 LBS. 
 
 1G24 at 012.81... $290.29 
 1568 at 13.90.. 107.10 
 
 Steel ingots made, tons 3642 — lbs. 1435 . . . 
 
 41774.20 
 
 9983.96 
 
 1304.71 
 
 908.61 
 
 2448.20 
 
 4371. 
 
 143.12 
 
 280.14 
 
 2786.87 
 
 1696. 56 
 
 348.99 
 
 110.52 
 
 338.76 
 
 314.52 
 
 52.25 
 
 86.50 
 
 Wt per 
 ton. 
 
 Cost per 
 ton. 
 
 1784 
 
 441 
 
 63 
 
 24 
 
 26 
 
 667 
 
 5070.94 
 55.29 
 187.17 
 127.89 
 121.68 
 485.36 
 799.46 
 
 2710.82 
 
 1665 
 
 76507.65 
 1397.39 
 
 75110.26 
 
 11.44 
 2.74 
 .36 
 .245 
 .675 
 1.21 
 .04 
 .08 
 .775- 
 .475 
 .08 
 .02 
 .10 
 .08 
 .02 
 .03 
 
 1.38 
 
 .49 
 
 .75 
 
 .98 
 
 .36 
 .62 
 
((37) 
 The following statement shows the work per ton of ingots : 
 
 STEEL WORKS OF SCOTLAND, MAY, 1879. 
 
 Each open hearth furnace, 1st hand IQis 
 
 Each open hearth furnace, 2d hand 066 
 
 Each open hearth furnace, 3d hand 00'' 
 
 Each open hearth furnace. Pitman 066 
 
 One producer man to each block (1 block per furnace) and 4 ash- 
 men to 10 blocks, each 07' 
 
 A. — Yard contract for discharging cars of all material used, in- 
 cluding coal, and removing slag, scrap, etc., but not Ingots 
 
 nor producer ashes lOi^ 
 
 B. — Contract for weighing and wheeling all material to furnaces. .09^^ 
 
 C— Ladle contract 07i» 
 
 D. —Pit cleaning contract (not removing slag and scrap), (see A.). 030^ 
 
 Slag breaker, per slag 20* 
 
 Two locomotive crane men, per turn, each per day 1 . 22 
 
 Two locomotive crane helpers, per turn, each per da}^ 772 
 
 The slag is cast in one great cake and removed bodily. 
 
 Cost of 41 pounds flange rails May, l<S71t : 
 
 One ton of ingots .$20.62 
 
 Labor at rolls and furnaces 65 
 
 Labor furnished 86 
 
 General expenses 77 
 
 Depreciation 50 
 
 Coal and producer wages 31 
 
 Repairs 86 
 
 Charges 71 
 
 Waste and miscellaneous 98 
 
 Cost of one ton of rails f 26 . 35 
 
 Rolling from very thick ingots direct to plates has been 
 introduced at the Otis Works, in Cleveland, Ohio, and at 
 Schoenberger & Co.'s, in Pittsburg, and no doul)t they have 
 found an advantage over the issue of smaller thickness, in 
 quality of plate, as well as m economy of manufacture. 
 
 To get plates low in phosphorus, a selection of the l)est 
 brands of West Coast hematite pig, or Swedish pig, and 
 Spanish ore is used, and it is easy enough never to exceed 
 
( 68) 
 
 .05 phosphorus, which is the highest that should ever be 
 allowed in a good ])oiler plate, and less than is advisable 
 for a plate for a locomotive lire l)ox. Locomotive lire boxes, 
 in England and the Continent, are rarely, if ever, made of 
 steel, while in America some of our best railroads use noth- 
 ing else. The chief reason why locomotive fire boxes are 
 not made of steel abroad, is i^hosphorus. If there be any 
 other reason, it is carl)on. The neglect to keep the two 
 elements in steel in small enough percentages, has been the 
 causes of so many numerous failures of steel fire boxes on 
 the other side of the ocean, causing them to be entirely 
 condemned, while in America, close attention to this slight 
 matter has l)rought the steel fire boxes into almost universal 
 use. 
 
 The Steel Company of Scotland have done considerable 
 work in the manufacture of steel castings without blow 
 holes, by the use of a silicide of iron, or a silicide of iron 
 and manganese, shortly before the tapping of the metal out 
 of the furnace. 
 
 Very few people have knowledge of methods by which 
 steel is almost perfectly welded. A recent disclosure is, 
 that the steel nmst be very low in both phosphorus and 
 carbon, and very high in manganese, say .05 P, 12 C, and 
 .75 to 1.00 Mn. Such steel has been welded from scrap 
 into a large steamboat shaft at the shipbuilding works of 
 William Denny & Sons, Damberton, near Glasgow. 
 
 The Steel Company of Scotland have another works 
 besides those at Newton. They are at Blochairn, a few 
 miles out of Glasgow, in another direction. These have 
 also open hearth furnaces, and some very large plate mills, 
 one of which will roll plates up to ten feet in width. 
 
 The directors of the Steel Company, of Scotland, Limited, 
 have declared a dividend at the rate of 7 per cent per annum. 
 The dividend last year was at the rate of 5-^/8 per cent. 
 
(69) 
 
 Belgium. 
 
 Ill Belgium there are the J. Cockerill Works, at Seraing, 
 the Augleur Works, and those of the Societe de Selessin. 
 The first of these has eight converters, four of which are in 
 reserve ; the second four converters, and tlie third Siemens- 
 Martin furnaces. With the exception of the product of 
 three blast furnaces, the pig-iron employed in the manufac- 
 ture of steel mostly conies from England. 
 
 The Steel works of J. Cockerill et Cie, at Seraing, are the 
 most important in Belgium, and taking into account the 
 mines of ore, coal and limestone, the coke furnaces and the 
 ship 3'ard, they employ about 12,000 men. They comprise 
 several blast furnaces, each furnished with Whitwell stoves. 
 
 The principal dimensions of the blast furnaces are as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Diameter of hearth 5.248 feet. 
 
 Diameter of bosh > . • . 1 G.40 feet. 
 
 Diameter of top 11 .48 feet. 
 
 Total height 60 feet. 
 
 Inclination of boshes G7 1-2 degrees. 
 
 Capacity 7,942 cubic feet. 
 
 Blast engines of the special vertical type of Seraing, so 
 well known, and of which 123 are in operation in various 
 places on the continent, furnish the necessary blast, at a 
 pressure of 6 llis. 
 
 The blowing cylinders of the engine have a diameter of 10 
 feet and a stroke of <S feet. The steam cylinders are on the 
 condenser principle. 
 
 The normal numlier of revolutions of the engines is 13 
 per minute. This furnishes 14,120 cubic feet of l)last, the 
 quantity needed for the combustion of 120 metric tons of 
 coke in 24 hours. 
 
 To the riolit and left of the blowino- enoines are situated 
 the mixing sheds for ore, and outside of these agam are the 
 
(70) 
 
 pumping engines for the wliole of the hydraulic apparatus 
 of the establishment. 
 
 The sheds where the charges of ore are prepared, are sup- 
 plied with hydraulic lifts, which raise the ore to the proper 
 height, and allow of its being thrown into separate boxes or 
 compartments, where a thorough mixture of raw material 
 can be easily effected. 
 
 In front, and to the north, is placed a group of boilers, 
 made from Bessemer steel plate, 5 1-4 feet in diameter, 
 and 49 feet in length. They each carry a large reheater, 
 3.2S feet in diameter, and 49 feet in length. The boilers 
 are heated by the escaped gasses from the blast furnaces. 
 
 On the South side the blastfurnaces are situated alongside 
 the Bessemer Foundry, which is divided into three separate 
 compartments by a series of cast iron columns. 
 
 The first compartment comprises the pig-bed, and also 
 receives the ladles and the hydraulic lifts, which carry the 
 molten metal from the furnaces to the converters. 
 
 The second compartment contains the cupolas, where the 
 remelting of the pig iron is effected Avhen at any time or 
 from any cause it is thought advisable to work by the old 
 process. 
 
 The third compartment comprises the converter depart- 
 ment. Here there are six converters, two to each pit, receiv- 
 ing alternately the iron from the furnace, or fr-om the cupo- 
 las, as the case may be. The latter are furnished with hot 
 air receivers for keeping the liquid metal hot. 
 
 Parallel with these buildings, and in the south side, are 
 situated the blast engines for the converters, the pumps and 
 the accumulators, having, to the right and to the left, a 
 group of eight boilers each, of exactly the same make as 
 those employed for the blast furnace engines. 
 
 The Bessemer blast engines belong to the class constructed 
 as a specialty by the Seraing Works, and were designed by 
 
(71 ) 
 
 Kraft, the chief engineer of theCockerill Company. These 
 engines are of the compound vortical type, realizing a very 
 great economy in fuel, the consumption of coal being only 
 2 3-4 lbs. per indicated horse power, per hour. The length 
 of the rolling mill is 270 feet, comprising two divisions, each 
 59 feet wide, and united by a row of columns 33 feet in 
 height. 
 
 In the first division are placed six large sized furnaces, 
 whose bottoms measure 12 by 16 feet, and are sufficient to 
 hold the ingots needed for the two rail mills situated in the 
 next or third department. 
 
 The first or blooming mill, has two pair of 3(3 inch rolls, 
 and is worked by a reversible engine running 45 turns per 
 minute by means of gearing. This has a separate engine 
 for the condenser. 
 
 The steam cylinders are 32 inches in diameter, and have 4 
 feet stroke, the pinions being in the proportion of 1 to 2 1-2 
 inches. 
 
 The second or finishino- mill, has two housino^s with 24-inch 
 rolls, and is worked by a direct acting reversible engine, 
 running <S0 to 90 revolutions per minute. The engine has 
 two steam cylinders, 40 inches in diameter, and acts directly 
 on a crank from 12 to 14 inches in diameter, placed on the 
 axis at the end of the combination. 
 
 Special condensers are applied to this engine in order to 
 moid the inevitable counter-pressure so prejudicial to the 
 working of engines of this class. As a complement to the 
 rolling mill a special rail-tinishing shop is erected, containing 
 all the most modern and improved appliances for the pur- 
 pose required. 
 
 The molten metal is, immediately after it runs from the 
 blast furnace into the tilt ladle, taken to the converters by 
 hydraulic lifts and to the stationary bridge, on which it is 
 carried on rails. It is weighed in a very simple manner 
 
( 72 ) 
 
 while on the lift by means of the indications of an ordinary 
 pressure gauge, placed in communication with the water in 
 the hydraulic cylinder of the lift. 
 
 No inconvenience is suffered if the iron l)e left an hour 
 in the ladle, l)eyond the presence of a small solid bottom, 
 Avhich can be remelted afterwards in one of the cupolas. 
 
 In the middle of the decarburation, from 10 to 25 per 
 cent of rail ends are added, the (juantitv varying according 
 to the temperature of the bath. 
 
 A remarkable fact connected with the steel making pro- 
 cess at Seraing is that no sj)icgel whatever is introduced into 
 the converter at the end of the bloAV, it having been found 
 that the iron contains sufficient manganese to render* this 
 addition unnecessar}' . 
 
 \Alien the bands of the spectroscope have all disappeared, 
 the slag is assayed in a very simple and practical manner, 
 the end of the operation being determined simply by a color 
 test. 
 
 The modus operandi is as follows : The blow is moment- 
 arily stopped and the converter inclined ; a paddle is then 
 introduced through the mouth and dipped into the l)ath. 
 This is then drawn out, steeped at once in water, and the 
 thin sheet of investing slag taken off and compared with a 
 standard scale. 
 
 A lemon yellow slag corresponds to a very hard steel, 
 containing : 
 
 0.75 of carbon, or more. 
 
 Orange yellow 0.60 of carbon, or more. 
 
 T>ight brown 45 or carbon, or more. 
 
 Dark brown 0.30 of carbon, or more. 
 
 Bluish black 0.15 of carbon, or more. 
 
 As soon as the metal in the converter has reached the de- 
 sired degree of hardness, which can be regulated at will by pro- 
 longing or shortening the blow, it is run into the moulds in 
 
(78) 
 
 the usual way, and the ingots are taken to the forge as soon 
 as crystaUzation has taken phice, and l^efore they have had 
 time to cool. 
 
 Three very light hydraulic cranes to each pit lift out the 
 ingots rapidly, and without difficulty. The i)it itself is very 
 wide, 33 feet in diameter, and is shallow, only 3 feet deep, 
 and as the moulds are placed side by side, plenty of space 
 is left for circulation in the center. 
 
 The superiority of the Seraing rail mill has been so highly 
 appreciated by continental iron and steel manufacturers, that 
 within two years of its being i)ut into operation, the company 
 received orders for five others of the same type. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE BASIC-BESSEMER PROCESS. 
 
 BASIC LININGS LIME ADDITIONS BASIC PIG AFTER-BLOW 
 
 WASTE BASIC STEEL OUTPUT QUALITY COST 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE NEW PROCESS ITS 
 
 COMMERCIAL SUCCESS. 
 
 Serious difBculties have confronted those anxious to arri :e 
 at the truth as to the practical operation of the Basic Pro- 
 cess, chiefly with reference to ; 
 
 The method of making Basic bricks ; 
 
 The repairing of Basic l)ottoms ; 
 
 The means of })roducing"iron that would blow both hot and 
 pure ; 
 
 The whole matter of waste ; 
 
 The treatment and uses of Basic steel generally, and the 
 extra cost in worlvs not adapted to the Basic process. 
 
 Efforts have been made by persons, with interests antago- 
 nistic to phosphoric ore development, to prejudice the minds 
 and bias the judgment of the iron and steel world, hy the 
 exposition of special criticisms l)y accepted authority, as the 
 results of impartial and disinterested investigation. The 
 showing of Tunner, for instance, that the process Avould not 
 be likely to pay at Kladno, in Austria, was claimed to prove 
 that it would pay nowhere. Tunner' s report was entitled to 
 
( ^-> 
 
 ^ 
 
 consideration as that of an lUKjuestioned authority, and jet 
 he ])a8es his showing purely upon loctd drawbacks. Again, 
 certain cliemists have attempted to demonstrate that if cer- 
 tain elements behave as they may be expected to, phospho- 
 rus could not be eliminated, unless certain different reactions 
 were made to occur, by introducing other elements, at an 
 expense which would render the process in most localities 
 impracticable, etc. 
 
 Probably the most damaging criticism the Basic Process 
 has met, emanated from Mr. I. Lowthian Bell, a few years 
 ago, at the Dusseldorf meeting of the Iron and Steel Insti- 
 tute, when he made the statement that Prof. Tunner, in the 
 report of the Austrian Commis^sion, "Made out very clearly 
 that the additional cost of the Basic treatment was something 
 like 20 shillings per ton." From this started the idea that 
 phosphoric pig must be at least $5.00 per ton cheaper than 
 ordinary Bessemer pig, to allow the manufacturer to get out 
 whole, without profit. 
 
 The explanation of this statement by Prof. Tunner has 
 gradually become better understood. As one example, in a 
 note to his remarks at the Dusseldorf meeting, Mr. Bell 
 says : "My attention has been called to the fact, that Prof. 
 Tunner' s calculations were made in paper currency, and not 
 in silver. His 9 1-2 florins per ton would, therefore, be 
 equal to about 1(3 shillings and not 20 shillings per ton." 
 
 Likewise, it appears that Prof. Tunner' s estimate was 
 founded upon 18 per cent of waste by the Basic process and 
 12 per cent by the acid process. The money difference was 
 actually but 20 cents (silver) per ton of steel. Although 
 with different irons the "waste" varies, the average in the 
 Basic process is really only 4 per cent instead of 6 per cent 
 greater. We find at Creusot, and at Brown, Bayley and 
 Dixon's that the Basic waste is but 11 per cent ; at Angleur 
 it is under 13, and at llhurort it is 15 to 15 1-2 ])er cent. 
 
(76) 
 
 Again, it will be found that Prof. Tanner charged in 64 
 cents per ton of steel for excess of Spiegel demanded in 
 the Basic over the acid process. This is contradicted in the 
 practice at Bolckow, Vaughan & Go's, where half the ordi- 
 nary quantity of Spiegel is saved, a cheap, siliconized pig 
 being substituted. 
 
 Once more, lime additions are counted in by Prof. Tunner 
 at a cost of 56 cents per ton of steel. That a fifth of a ton 
 of cupola burned iron cost much less than this price in most 
 iron regions is plain, and also that is worth something as slag 
 in the blast furnace. The estimate of cupola expenses is 
 $1.60 to $.'5.20 per ton of steel and charged against the Basic 
 process only, because white iron "might not run hot enough 
 from the blast furnace." This is answered at Creusot and 
 at Bolckow, Yaughan & Go's., white iron being run at both 
 — and at the latter works certainly — hot enough for practi- 
 cal purposes. 
 
 Finally, the figures of Prof. Tunner included the extra 
 cost of securing a comparatively small basic product from an 
 old fashioned plant, without any adaptation to the new re- 
 quirements of basic repairs ; and there, extra costs included 
 96 cents for l)lowing, stoves, labor, interest and general ex- 
 penses. Seventy cents is the amount at which the extra cost 
 of refractories and repairs is put, and is low enough. 
 
 It should therefore appear plain, that in a properly 
 ADAPTED WORKS Specially designed for the purpose, the Basic 
 Process, in place of costing $5.00 per ton more, is in reality 
 cheaper in practice than the acid process. The cost of lime 
 additions and ore excess of lining materials would approxi- 
 mate a dollar, but a saving might be made in the cost of 
 both waste and recarbonizer, and some return might be ex- 
 pected from slag as a blast furnace material, and added to 
 this saving would be that of cheaper pig and the profit on a 
 better quality of soft steel. 
 
(77) 
 
 It was quite generally predicted, when the results of tho 
 early basic experiments in England were hard, brittle and 
 irregular steels, on account of consideralile reabsorption of 
 l^hosphorus from the slag and incomplete dephosphorizatioi), 
 that the basic process might l>e applied to rails and coarse 
 work, but that what was really required in quantity was a 
 pure, soft ingot iron adapted to lioiler ])lates, ships, bridges, 
 and to the manifold structural purposes ; and it was asserted 
 that the rule, that "pure products could spring alone from 
 pure materials," was not likely, just yet, to l)e disproven. 
 And when, a year later, Hoorde and Witkowitz had brought 
 forth, l)y the basic process, and from pig so phosphoric that 
 it had been abandoned for puddling, a steel which had in it 
 more iron and less impurity than any Cumberland or 
 Swedish Bessemer, it was then atiknowledged that the new 
 process might possibly become of limited value, as, although 
 it did not seem ca[)tible of producing the hard steel wanted 
 in quantity, its soft products necessarily possessed a small 
 range of usefulness. 
 
 But putting aside this style of criticism, Prof, Tunner, 
 Prof. Ackerman, Mr. Pourcel and others have scientifically 
 explained the true difficulties in making hard steel by the 
 basic process, and this is the obstacle : To burn out the 
 phosphorus, l)lowing must be continued until qyqyy other 
 hardening element has been eliminated. An addition of 
 Spiegel enough to theoretically restore the necessary amount 
 of carbon, on the contrary, restores too much phosphorus. 
 The carbon in the spiegel combines with the oxygen of the 
 oxide of iron in the bath, making carbonic oxide, and this 
 reduces the phosphorus in the slag, restoring it to the steel. 
 It was not that the steel could not be hardened, but that it 
 possessed the brittle hardness characteristic of phosphoric 
 steel. 
 
 In connection with the Terre-noire steel casting manufac- 
 
( 7S ) 
 
 ture, the remedy has been discovered, and has been demon- 
 strated by Mr. Pourcel, It was to take u[) the oxide in the 
 bath by silicon — by adding a pig high in silicon and low in 
 carbon — so that carbon subsequently added, by means of 
 Spiegel, would go into the steel instead of making carbonic 
 oxide to reduce phosphorus ; this is the practice at Bolckow, 
 Vaughan & Co.'s, at Witkowitz and at Montlucon, with the 
 further economy of a saving of spiegel. At Montlucon, 
 steel with i of 1 per cent carbon is regularly produced. The 
 requirements of tire and axle steels, which are of moderately 
 hard grades, are stated under Hoerde product, and are fully 
 met by basic steel at these works. 
 
 It has been suggested that the basic process would be of 
 limited value in places where I or 2 per cent of manganese 
 could not cheaply be put into the pig. The offices of man- 
 ganese are : First, to prevent a high percentage of sulphur 
 in the pig. It happens that some of the phosphoric ores, 
 most used in France and Germany, are also very sulphurous ; 
 such is not the case with many of the highly phosphoric ores 
 of the United States. But it has been abundantly proven that 
 plenty of lime and hot blast will remedy the difficulty. The 
 users of the very sulphurous Luxembourg ores, Metz & 
 Brothers, for example, formerly put silicon 0.30 to 0.50 
 into their white pig ; now they put in but 0.12 to 0.15 sili- 
 con, and they also keep the silicon under 1 per cent. The 
 large furnace of Bolckow, Vaughan & Co., which formerly 
 produced a pig with high silicon and about 1-3 per cent of 
 sulphur, now keep silicon down to 1.00 to 1.20 per cent, and 
 sulphur to 0.20 or under with only 0.40 manganese in the 
 pig. There is 35 per cent of lime in the slag of the blast fur- 
 naces. Mr. Whit well, of Middlesboro, stated at the Dusseldorf 
 meeting, that he had made some 4,000 tons of pig, averag- 
 ing (10 analyses) sulphur 0.099, silicon 0.14, P. 2.951 and 
 manganese 0.317, out of 1-4 Cleveland ores, 1-2 forge cin- 
 
(79) 
 
 der to give the P., and 1-4 Spanish ore to give the manga- 
 nese. 
 
 Manganese also helps to remove the sulphur in the con- 
 verter. 
 
 But sulphur in higher proportions than it is likely to 
 occur in the United States seems to do little harm. Mr. 
 Edward Riley states that some of the very l)est rails have 
 sulphur 0.10 to 0.18, and that the only objection to sulphur 
 0.27 was red shortness. 
 
 Manganese is useful to give heat early in the Bessemer 
 operation ; before the burning of the phosphorous, when, as 
 it should be, silicon is low. The large charges are sufficiently 
 hot with al)out 1 per cent silicon and only 0.40 manganese. 
 
 Manganese is probabh^ not indispensable, although 1-2 of 
 1 per cent in the pig is useful. This amount can be put 
 into pig at little or no extra cost in many parts of the United 
 States. In any works a little cheap spiegel (no matter how 
 phosphoric) can be run into the vessel along with the pig. 
 
 It has been assumed by some experts that metal for the 
 basic process must be so low in silicon that it can not be got 
 hot enough directly from the blast furnace, and that the 
 extra cost of cupola melting must be incurred. At Hoerde 
 this was the case, but at Creusot there are no cupolas ; and 
 although there is a little cemplaint of cool metal, the 
 Creusot general i-esults are as good as those elsewhere. 
 Bolckow, Vaughan & Co. use hot blast furnace metal direct, 
 and with some delay in transportation, but the 10-ton 
 charges are hot enough. Mr. Snelus said, at the Desseldorf 
 meeting, that at West Cumberland blastfurnace metal would 
 live longer than cupola metal in a ladle, and that while blast 
 furnace metal would blow hot enough with 1.25 silicon, 
 cupola metal needed 2.25 to 2.50 silicon. 
 
 The very important consideration of decreased output, in 
 a plant where basic lining can not be as well kept up as acid 
 
(80; 
 
 linings, is, of course, a serious one, and a large outlay 
 would 1)6 necessary to make necessary changes in an existing 
 plant, working on the acid process, to be adapted to the new 
 conditions of the basic process. 
 
 Basic Linings. — Dolomite should have from 16 to 20 
 per cent of manganese in order to preserve bricks, etc., 
 from damage by the atmosphere. It should have 4 to 6 per 
 cent of silicon and 3 to 5 per cent of allumina and oxide 
 of iron, to promote coherence ; much more silicon than this 
 would impair the basicity of the slag. 
 
 Basic bricks are molded without much pressm'e, from raw 
 dolomite ground to pass a 10 to 15 mesh sieve and wet with 
 water ; they are dried in about 48 hours, at a temperature of 
 120o Fahrenheit, and are then burned about a week, includ- 
 ing heating and cooling. They are set in vessel lining with 
 a mortar of pulverized dolomite brick and 5 per cent of coal 
 tar. Open hearth bottom bricks are laid raw in the open 
 hearth furnace and burned in place at Creusot. 
 
 Burning Bricks. — In basic brick-making, two important 
 economies have been developed : First — burning the basic 
 bricks in a thin stratum on the top of a kiln nearly full of 
 acid bricks, there being a separating layer of maganese or 
 bauxite bricks l)etween the two to prevent fluxing. A thick 
 pile of basic bricks in a kiln is so thrown together as to pro- 
 duce many wasters, on account of the excessive shrinkage. 
 A thill layer of basic bricks burned by themselves would 
 require an excessive amount of fuel. Second — The regen- 
 erative gas kiln gives a larger economy of fuel ; the cooling- 
 bricks heat the incoming air for the burnino; bricks. This 
 kiln also produces better bricks by means of gradual heat- 
 ing and cooling, and of a uniformly intense temperature 
 while burning. 
 
 Rammed Linings and Bottoms. — Dolomite should be 
 thoroughly calcined, at as high a temperature as the kiln or 
 
(81) 
 
 furnace will stand, in order (first), that no carbonic acid 
 may be left, and second, that less moisture may be absorbed ; 
 these respectively disintegrate the linings ; third, to 
 increase the mechanical hardness and duration of the lining ; 
 and fourth, to promote economy by absorbing less tar than 
 soft burned dolomite requires. 
 
 Dolomite may be hard-burned in a basic-lined cupola, 
 with 1,800 pounds of coke per ton of calcined stone. This 
 is a convenient and economical method. 
 
 Dolomite should l)e ground and used while fresh burned, 
 so that it will have little time to absorb moisture. 
 
 Rammed linino; and bottom stuff should be mixed m a 
 mortar mill with from 10 to 13 per cent of coal tar which 
 has been boiled to expel its ammonia and water. This mix- 
 ture "will stick pretty well to the burned skin of a lining or 
 bottom. The volatile parts of the tar soon burn aAvay, 
 leaving the particles of dolomite bound with a neutral and 
 perfectly refractory coke-cement. 
 
 Bottoms of the above dolomite and tar mixture should be 
 burned at a low red heat long enough to coke the tar, and 
 while burning, they should be held on all sides in an iron 
 mould, which will prevent their swelling, and will give hard 
 surfaces. Bottoms for tuyeres should be moulded around 
 hollow iron dummy tuyeres, for the same reason. 
 
 Ordinary acid tuyeres last in dolomite bottoms nearly as 
 well as in acid bottoms ; but dolomite tuyeres, made of 
 ■calcined stone and 5 per cent of tar, formed in a split 
 mould, and burned with the bottom, give better results. 
 Pin bottoms, made of perfectly calcined dolomite, with 10 
 to 13 per cent tar, and properly burned, as above described, 
 endure about as well as ordinary tuyere bottoms. 
 
 Ball Stuff. — A mixture of calcined dolomite with 20 per 
 cent of tar, thrown as ball stuff, or plastered as mortar into 
 joints, such as the joint around a bottom, or around a newly 
 
( 82 ) 
 
 set tuyere, becomes semi-fluid, and runs at once, if the 
 lining is hot, into the smallest crack, where the tar quickly 
 cokes, leaving the doTomite well cemented. Metal may run 
 into the vessel within a few minutes after the joint is thus 
 stopped. 
 
 Slagging of vessel noses is prevented by making the noses 
 small to compress and increasing the temperature of the 
 gases, and by lining the noses with the best ordinary lire- 
 brick, separated from the dolomite lining by some neutral 
 material. 
 
 The practice seems to be growing in the direction of 
 rammed, rather than brick linings. 
 
 Neither rammed nor brick linings stand, so far, above 80 
 to 100 heats, without needing such extensive repairs around 
 the bottom sides, that the vessel must be cooled down. 
 
 About one hundred pounds of dolomite bricks and rammed 
 stuff are required in the average practice, per ton of steel. 
 
 The variations in the composition of pig used in the Basic 
 process are considerable, as shown by the following table : 
 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 > 
 
 9 ® 
 
 itkowitz 
 average. 
 
 > 
 
 11 
 
 1 
 8 S 
 
 1 
 
 > 
 
 'B ^ 
 
 ^5 
 
 olckow, 
 Vaugiiu 
 average. 
 
 Best Mixture. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 O 
 
 ^ 
 
 tf 
 
 K 
 
 -^ 
 
 cq 
 
 
 Si... 
 
 1.40 
 
 0.06 
 
 0.70 
 
 1.00 
 
 0.80 
 
 30 
 
 1.40 
 
 1.00 
 
 0.50 to 0.75 
 
 P... 
 
 3.00 
 
 0.96 
 
 2.30 
 
 1.60 
 
 2.00 
 
 1.75 
 
 2.00 
 
 1.75 
 
 2.00 to 3.00 
 
 S.... 
 
 0.30 
 
 0.05 
 
 0.20 
 
 0.15 
 
 0.15 
 
 0.15 
 
 0.14 
 
 0.20 
 
 under 0.15 
 
 Mn. 
 
 2.25 
 
 0.36 
 
 1.50 
 
 2.00 
 
 1.10 
 
 1.00 
 
 0.70 
 
 0.40 
 
 0.50 to 1.00 
 
 As first rate steel is made from all the above mixtures, the 
 process is elastic, and adaptable to various regions. Phos- 
 phorus should be over one per cent m order to maintain the 
 temperature of the bath. Higher phosphorus undoubtedly 
 
(83) 
 
 causes greater waste, but its combustion more completely 
 cleanses the bath from other impurities. Silicon must not be 
 much over one per cent, so that it will "not impair the basicity 
 of the slag. Manganese is useful up to one per cent, or a 
 little over. There are very few kinds of iron which cannot 
 be successfully used, though, on the other hand, there are 
 some which give specially good results. The only partial 
 exception to be made is in the case of pig iron, which con- 
 tains materially over three-tenths per cent of sulphur, or 
 over 2 1-4 per cent of silicon. But even pig of this compo- 
 sition can be readily treated if subjected to a preliminary 
 desulphurizing or desiliconizing process. The dephosphori- 
 zers' ideal pig has a composition falling roughly between the 
 following: limit : 
 
 Silicon. 
 Per cent. 
 
 Phosphorus. 
 Per cent. 
 
 Sulphur. 
 Per cent. 
 
 Manganese. 
 Per cent. 
 
 • .5 to 1.7 
 
 .8 to 3. 
 
 under .3 
 
 Not over 2 1-2 
 
 The chief source of the phosphoric pig, next to the phos- 
 phoric ore, is puddling cinder. Enough Bassic-Bessemer 
 slag has been used in tlie blast furnace to make its economy 
 as an ore probable. It appears to be practicable to make 
 pig low in both silicon and sulphur, from almost any ores, 
 l)y means of using plenty of lime in the blast furnace. 
 
 German Basic Pig. — The Germans have done most in 
 the study of the basic process, and the requirements of the 
 metal used for it. The chemical composition aimed at is 2 
 to 3 per cent of phosphorus, 2 to 2 1-2 per cent of mangan- 
 ese, 2.5 to 3.5 per cent of carbon, less than one per cent of 
 silicon, and less than 0.1 per cent of sulphur. Herr Hll- 
 genstock insists that the manufacture of such pig is the 
 simplest and most favorable known to the ironmasters, and 
 
(84) 
 
 that there is a great difference between producing such 
 metal and making Bessemer pig with guaranteed percent- 
 age of silicon. All that is necessary is, to run the furnace 
 hot. It has been urged that the phosphoric acid in the 
 ores is difficult to reduce. While it is true that small 
 quantities of phosphoric acid — 0.2 per cent at Ilsede and 
 0.32 to 0.45 per cent elsewhere — are found in the cinder, 
 and that 0.44 per 'cent of phosphorus has been detected 
 in flue dust, it is nevertheless true that phosphoric acid is 
 readily reduced at high temperatures, and that it goes into 
 the pig. In a general way, it is safe to say that the quantity 
 of phosphorus in the iron can be closely ascertained from the 
 percentage of phosphoric acid in the ore. The cubical con- 
 tents of furnace for the production of one ton of iron per 24 
 hours is only 88 to 106 cubic feet for the Basic pig, against 
 141 cubic feet for ordinary Bessemer, so that 100 tons per 
 day can be run out of a much smaller furnace ; and Herr 
 Hilgenstock questions whether any increase in the size of the 
 furnace beyond the limit of 8,800 to 10,600 cubic feet of cubi-, 
 cal contents leads to a corresponding reduction in the quan- 
 tity of coke used. As compared with the manufacture of 
 Bessemer pig, the production of Basic pig requires 880 lbs. 
 of coke less per ton of iron made. These statements are 
 very important as bearing upon the relative cost of Basic and 
 Bessemer .steel, and they show that the success of the former 
 does not entirely depend upon a difference in the price of 
 jDure and phosphoric ores. 
 
 Basic Additions. — Lime from an}^ carbonate, suitable 
 for blast furnaces, seems to answer. From 15 to 22 per 
 cent on the pig — average about 18 per cent — is added. 
 Pourins: off the slao; and makino; a third of the basic addi- 
 tion, just before the drop of the flame, may save lime and 
 bottoms, but it will cause delay. 
 
 Lime must be preheated, especially if the charges are 
 
(85) 
 
 cool, as they are generally likely to be. Heating the lime- 
 stone to a bright yellow, in a cupola, with 10 to 15 per cent 
 of coke, and then running it by gravity into the vessel^ 
 saves previous burning, and is an economical and expeditious 
 method. Heating lime in the vessel, is, of course, incom- 
 patible with a large out put. 
 
 Blowing in lime seriously retards the blast and cools the 
 charge. 
 
 The time of the basic blow varies, as does that of the 
 acid blow, according to tuyere area, blast, pressure, or other 
 causes. Together with the stopping for tests and the after- 
 blow (from 2 to 5 minutes), it is the longer by a few min- 
 utes. But it need not be the longer in improved practice, 
 because tests are, already largely, and are likely to be 
 together, dispensed with when mixtures are uniform ; and a 
 greater blowing power and quicker blowing are generally 
 recommended by experts, and are readily provided. 
 
 Tuyeres, with 5-8 to 3-4 holes, appear to last quite as well 
 as our 3-8 hole tuyeres ; and with a given pressure of dis- 
 charge, they reduce the strain on the engine considerably. 
 The enormous friction of this volume of air passing through 
 long, small holes is simply waste. The same area of larger 
 holes does not, indeed, distribute the blast so much, but it 
 gives a stronger blast, and so produces the desired mechan- 
 ical effect as completely. 
 
 Before the metal (which may be either employed direct 
 from the blast furnace without intervening remelting, or, if 
 for any reason this is not convenient, may have been remclted 
 in a cupola) is run into the converter, from 15 to 18 per 
 cent of its weight of common well burnt lime is thrown into 
 the vessel. The metal is then introduced and the charo;e is 
 blown in the ordinary way to the point at which it is stopped, 
 that is, till the disappearance of the carbon as indicated by 
 the drop of the flame. The dephosphorizing process requires. 
 
( 8*^^ ) 
 
 however, to be continued for a further 100 to 300 seconds, 
 this period of so-called afterblow, which would be prejudi- 
 cial both to quality and yield in the ordinary process. The 
 termination of the operation is shown by a peculiar change 
 in the flame, and checked by a sample of the metal being 
 rapidly taken from the tuinied down converter, and flattened 
 under the hammer, quenched and broken, so as to indicate 
 by its fracture whether the purification is complete. A prac- 
 tical eye can immediately tell whether or not this is the case. 
 If the metal requires further purification, this is effected by 
 a few seconds further blowing. The operation is thus, as 
 will be seen, but little different from the ordinary Bessemer 
 process. The differences that have been indicated, viz. : 
 The lime lining, the lime addition, and the afterl^low are, 
 however, suflficient not only to enable the whole of the 
 jDhosphorus, which would be otherwise untouched, to be 
 completel}^ removed, but the silicon, of which inconvenient and 
 ever dangerous quantities are occasionally left in the regular 
 Bessemer process, is also entirely eliminated, while at least 
 60 per cent of any sulphur also untouched in the ordinary 
 process, which may have l)een present in the pig, is also 
 expelled. It is found, too, that the once dreaded phosphorus 
 is of most substantial assistance in securing, by its combus- 
 tion, the intense heat necessary for obtaining a successful 
 blow and hot metal. If it is desired to j^roduce ingot iron, 
 or a metal differing only from puddled iron by its homoge- 
 neity and solidity, the usual recarburizing addition of spiegel 
 is omitted or replaced l)y one-half per cent of rich ferro 
 manganese, which represents a considerable economy in the 
 manufacture of harder steel. The phosphorus is oxidized 
 by the blast, forming phosphoric acid, which, finding itself 
 in presence of two strong bases, oxide of iron and lime, 
 unites with the latter of them to form phosphates of lime, 
 which passes mto the slag. 
 
( «7 ) 
 
 Waste due to the after-blow, is no greater, at Creusot, 
 than the waste in the ordinary process. The waste at other 
 works is from 2 to 4 per cent greater ; it averages about 15 
 per cent, not including the iron which slops out of too small 
 vessels. The cost of waste would usually be less with phos- 
 phoric irons at current relative prices. A waste of 16 per 
 cent on a $16.25 iron would cost the same as a waste of 13 
 per cent on a $20.00 iron. 
 
 Spiegel is now used in less quantity in the basic than in 
 the acid process, thus not only economizing material, but 
 leading to the production of a purer steel, as follows : 
 
 A highl}^ siliconized pig is substituted for half the usual 
 amount of spiegel. The silicon takes up the oxide in the 
 bath, so that the carbon in the spiegel afterwards added, 
 w^ill not be oxidized into carljonic oxide, which would reduce 
 the phosphorus in the slag. And all the maganese in the 
 spiegel goes into steel. 
 
 The release of phosphorus from the slag is largely pre- 
 vented at Bolckow, Vaughan & Co.'s, by using ferro-silicon 
 before spiegel. It was known that the cause of the release 
 was the reducing action of the carbonic oxide on the phos- 
 phoric acid in the slag, and that this carbonic oxide was 
 produced by the action of the carbon, in the spiegel upon 
 the oxide of iron dissolved in the bath. Some means were 
 wanted to reduce this oxide of iron without producing car- 
 bonic oxide. After some trials the system so important in 
 making the Terrenoire solid steel castings was adopted. 
 Eight per cent of a pig containing 2 per cent of silicon is 
 added after blowing. 
 
 This puts in the bath 0.12 to 0.15 silicon, all of which is 
 used in absorbing all the oxygen in the oxide of iron. Then 
 3 1-2 per cent to 20 per cent manganese spiegel is added, 
 which gives about 0.40 manganese in the bath, all or nearly 
 all of which remains in the steel. 
 
(88) 
 
 Another important result of this treatment is that more 
 carbon can be put in the steel ; all the carbon added will 
 remain, because the oxygen in the bath, which would other- 
 wise take it up, has been removed by silicon. At these 
 works, steel is regularly made vdih C. 0.50, 
 
 Hard steel hardened by carbon, and not also made brittle 
 by jjhosphorus, may be produced by the basic process, in 
 the manner above stated. After the oxygen in the bath is 
 taken up by the silicon, any added carbon will go into the 
 metal, and will not get made into carbonic oxide to reduce 
 phosphorus. 
 
 Slag is generally poured off before the addition of spiegel,, 
 to still further jDrevent the restoration of its phosphorus to 
 the bath. This operation causes but slight delay ; probably 
 no more than slowly pouring it into and over the side of the 
 ladle. As the slag is very voluminous, including 16 to 20 
 per cent of lime, as well as the ordinary impurities, the 
 plant should be arranged to catch it in the cars as it pours 
 from the vessel and from the ladle, and to draw the cars 
 to the dump by a direct and uninterrupted road. Breaking 
 this slag up and shoveling it out would be quite impracticable. 
 
 Sound casting is due to making the steel hot, and teeming 
 it as cool as possible without sculling ; also, to slow pouring 
 by means of a small, smooth stream. Large ladles must be 
 emptied through a fore-hearth or funnel, and the plant must 
 be so arranged that casting can be going on all the time. 
 These precautions are particularly necessary for basic steel,, 
 which is apt to be a little " rising." 
 
 At Creusot, ])ricks have been abandoned, and the vessel is 
 lined with a mixture of magnesian lime (35.8 per cent mag- 
 nesia, 53 per cent lime), and from 10 to 11 per cent of tar. 
 The bottom is rammed up around ordinary tuyeres . Strangely , 
 these tuyeres are more rapidly attacked than the lime mix- 
 ture around them, the greatest destruction aoino- on duriner 
 the afterblow. The bottoms stand from 15 to 20 blows. 
 
(89) 
 
 and the vessel lining 80 to 100. As for the grade of pig 
 worked, Creusot started mth 0,9 phosphorus, and failed, 
 increased to from 1.7 to 1.8 per cent, and did better; and 
 has now reached from 2.50 to 3 per cent, which is believed 
 insures good results. Silicon is kept low, about 1-3 per 
 cent being maximum, ordinary amount. Carbon ranges 3 
 per cent, and manganese from 1.50 to 2 per cent. Sulphur 
 must not be greater than 0.20 per cent. This is evidently 
 the weak point, as it requires heavy quantities of lime, high 
 temperatures, and considerable manganese in the charge of 
 the blast furnace to produce pig so low in sulphur from 
 ordinary ores. The charge of this pig at Creusot, where it 
 is taken directly from the blast furnace, is 8 tons in a 10-ton 
 acid converter, which has been j^reviously charged with 18 
 per cent of strongly pre-heated lime, and 1.5 per cent of 
 fluorspar. About 10.5 to 12 minutes after the beginning of 
 the blow, at the close of the decarbonizing period, the blast 
 is stopped, and what fluid cinder there is then poured off. 
 This cinder is high in silica (22 percent), in lime and magnesia 
 (47 per cent), and in phosphoric acid (12 per cent). Then 
 a second addition of 5 to 6 per cent of lime is made, and 
 the afterblow begins. This lasts 4 or 5 minutes, and as 
 much as possible of the cinder is poured off. This cinder 
 runs 12 per cent of silica, 54 per cent of lime and mag- 
 nesia, 11 per cent of oxide of iron and manganese, and 16 
 per cent of phosiDhoric acid. The charge of spiegeleisen 
 with 18 per cent of manganese is 10 per cent of Aveight 
 of pig. One-third is put into the steel when in the con- 
 verter, and 2-3 when in the ladle. 
 
 The average composition of basic and acid rail steel at 
 Creusot is as follows : ^^^^^^ ^^^^ 
 
 Carbon 0.430 0.400 
 
 Silicon trace 0.300 
 
 Manganese 0.760 0.660 
 
 Phosphorus 0.060 0.075 
 
 Sulphur 0.029 0.040 
 
(90) 
 
 The characteristic of basic steel is the absence of silicon. 
 Phosphorus, it will be noted, is lower; while with sulphur, if 
 great care be taken, a very good metal can be obtained. On 
 the whole, experience at Creusot has shown that chemically, 
 basic steel can l)e made of a more uniform and of a better 
 quality than ordinary acid Bessemer steel. As for the phys- 
 ical structure of the steel, blow holes were troublesome at 
 Creusot in the beginning. It was found, however, that an 
 increase in the percentage of phosphorus in the pig proved 
 beneficial, and direct experiment, by running a blow hot and 
 a similar charge cold, by the addition of scrap, showed that 
 the inference that this was due to a hotter finish produced 
 by higher i)hosphorus was correct. Highly pre-heating the 
 basic additions was adopted with the same end in view. 
 
 The quality of the steel made by the Basic Process has 
 been thoroughly ascertained, as far as analyses will reveal 
 it, and pretty well determined by physical tests, both hot 
 and Cold. The soft and medium grades contain very much 
 less phosphorus and silicon than any steels can have which 
 are made by the acid process, either open hearth or Besse- 
 mer ; and they may be made practically free from both these 
 elements. In some steel, traces only, which could not be 
 weighed, have been found by chemists. Some dead soft 
 Witkowitz steel has P. 0.005 to 0.008 by Seraing analysis, 
 and some Witkowitz plate steel blown and rolled, had P. 
 0.017 by Creusot analysis. Phosphorus in basic steel ordi- 
 narily runs from 0.04 to O.OG ; it sometimes reaches P. 0.14, 
 but this amount can always be prevented by proper over- 
 l)lowing and subsequent treatment, as already explained. 
 There is no more uncertainty about removing phosphorus in 
 the basic process than there is al:>out removing carbon in the 
 acid process ; enough blowing will positively always do it. 
 Silicon is always reduced to a trace or a few thousandths. 
 Sulphur is reduced about 60 per cent. 
 
(1)1) 
 
 It is this remarlvable purity and mildness which, together 
 with its cheapness, is likely to give the basic steel an enor- 
 mous use for boilers, ships, bridges, and all structures re- 
 quiring toughness. It seems also to fulfill all requirements 
 for rails, tires, axles, etc. The harder grades have not been 
 largely produced, but it is well ascertained that they may be, 
 without risk of brittleness from taking up phosphorus, as 
 already explained. 
 
 Those occupied in the manufacture of Bessemer steel 
 know how difficult it was to obtain, with regularity, the extra 
 soft steel employed for boilers in the French navy. Such 
 metal appeared only to be made in the Martin furnace, and 
 even then it was necessary to employ jjicked material in its 
 manufacture. But by the new Bessemer dephosphorizing 
 process, steels of an extraordinary degree of softness 
 is obtained with the greatest facility, and at a i^rice less 
 than that of ordinary rail steel. By treating a pig con- 
 taining from 1.5 to 2 per cent of manganese, we obtain, 
 after the decarbonization and dephosphorization is finished, 
 a non-oxidized metal, which does not contain more than 
 traces of carbon and manganese. If it be desired that the 
 steel should be entirely free from any tendency to red 
 shortness, we may add from 0.25 to 0.50 per cent of rich 
 ferro manganese to remove any traces of oxygenization. 
 The only precaution to be taken to obtain a soft steel is 
 to choose pig (if direct working be employed) which con- 
 tains sufficient manganese, Avith 2 per cent as a maximum, 
 or to make a suitable mixture of pigs, if cupolas be 
 employed. But this will be by no means the only outlet for 
 dephosphorized metal, for up to the present time the high price 
 of soft steel has been the great obstacle which has prevented 
 many people from employing it in construction. But by the 
 new process soft metal can be produced at a less price than 
 ordinary (puddled) iron. There is, therefore, no longer any 
 
(92) 
 
 reason, apart from routine, why steel should not be employed 
 in all cases in place of iron, to which it is so much superior in 
 strength. 
 
 Its freedom from red shortness, is generally conspicuous, 
 noticeably the hot tests and the plate rolling of Witkowitz 
 steel cast after overblowing without any spiegel or other 
 addition ; nor is the pig used i^articularly high or low in any 
 element. The rather smooth rolling of basic steel at Creusot 
 was attributed to the practicability of high heating in the 
 absence of silicon. This quality especially adapts the steel 
 to drop forgings and stamped sheet work, for which it is 
 largely used. It is generally more "rising" than acid steel, 
 but this difficulty may be mitigated by proper casting, as 
 before indicated. 
 
 The inquiry is largely and anxiously made : Will basic steel 
 take the place of wrought iron for welded work, in the innu- 
 merable country blacksmith shops where, in the aggregate, 
 such a large quantity of material is used, and where the new 
 material will, for a long time, be accejjted or condemned, as 
 it stands or fails under old temperature and methods ? It is 
 probable that no fusion product will ever weld as easily and 
 soundly, by old methods, as a puddled product. Through 
 the latter there is diffused a welded powder in the shape of 
 slag, which j)rotects the surfaces from oxidization, and which 
 melts and washes off oxide when it is formed. The fusion 
 product, on the contrary, is almost perfectly free from 
 slag and must be treated with an artificial slag, and man- 
 ipulated with such a degree of skill that steel welding 
 may be called a new art. Boiler plate clippings and ingot 
 iron scrap are welded in the rolls and drawn into sound bars, 
 angles, rivets, rods, etc., in various foreign works, and this 
 material is hand welded, easily and perfectly, in the smith 
 shops of the various steel works, and in other smith shops 
 where the new art has been learned. 
 
( 93 ) 
 
 The matter of cost, which has been made so mysterious 
 and inscrutable, is no longer difficult. We now have data 
 as to every element, within such exact limits that any one 
 may estimate the cost of basic steel in his own region, 
 nearly as correctly as that of acid steel. Estimates may be 
 safely based on the following quantities : 
 
 Waste, 15 to IG per cent on the pig. 
 
 Lime additions, charged red hot, 18 to 20 per cent on the 
 pig. 
 
 Lining material, 100 pounds per ton of steel. 
 
 Extra labor, say 5 cents per ton of steel. 
 
 Spiegel, 5 per cent of 12 to 15 per cent manganese. 
 
 High silicon Bessemer pig, 5 per cent. 
 
 The slag has a value, but need not be considered. 
 
 The item of greatest importance is, of course, the com- 
 parative cheapness of phosphoric pig. 
 
 The greater value of the steel for special purposes must 
 also be considered. 
 
 These are the elements of cost, based on about an equal 
 output of basic and acid steel ; and the basic output need 
 be neither "considerably," nor for that matter, any less 
 when the plant is specially designed for the basic process. 
 
 It should appear that with $5.00 per ton lower pig, the 
 economy in waste and spiegel and the value of the slag 
 should compensate for the lime additions and extra linings, 
 and that the saving on ingots should be the whole difference 
 in the cost of pig. 
 
 While there is no doubt that the economy of fuel and 
 labor in the manufacture of steel as compared ^\ath that of 
 iron, is more conspicuous in the case of rail making than 
 in most other departments of manufacture, puddling has, 
 comparatively speaking, stood still for the last ten years. 
 Economy in steel making has made, and is making, rapid 
 progress, and the developments and modifications introduced 
 
( 1)4 ) 
 
 during the last four 3'ears give assurance of even more rapid 
 advance in the future. 
 
 In Germany, the manufacture of dephosphorized steel is 
 in operation in eight large firms, viz, : Messrs. De Wendel,. 
 Ilerr Stumm, and the Union Works at Dortmund, each ^^^th 
 two converters, and the works of Rothe, Ij'de, Bochum,. 
 Horde, the Rhenish Steel Works and Herr Gienauth. During 
 the current year they have largely increased their make. 
 Four works make nothing but dephosphorized metal, and 
 each of these is said to be full of orders, for their special 
 soft steel. Besides these, new basic works are started by 
 the Ilsede Works, the Maximilians Muette Works, the Rohr- 
 back Works, and others. The Ilsede AVorks will be on a 
 large scale, starting with four converters. The new basic 
 plant of the Horde Works is of an entirely novel design, 
 the ladle crane being a hydraulic crane on a locomotive car- 
 riage, and arranged so as to be able to serve three or more 
 vessels in a straight line. Basic extensions are also in pro- 
 gress by the Pha3nix and Oberhausen Works. 
 
 In France the Creusot works continue dephosphorizing 
 steadily, both with the Bessemer and Siemens processes. 
 Creusot was one of the first works to make a series of tests, and 
 though success in the open-hearth was attained almost at the 
 start, it to^k some time before anything like regular working 
 could be reached in the Bessemer converter. Now, of 
 course, tlie cause is fully understood, being chiefly the 
 nature of the pig employed ; but at the time it was used 
 as a very strong argument against the process, and the 
 reports of the quality of the rails made caused much alarm. 
 
 Four other large works, solely devoted to dephosphorizing 
 are in operation, while a fifth, at St. Nazaire, though it has 
 better facilities for olitaining Spanish ore than any other 
 works in France, has been so arranged as to adopt the old 
 or new process at will. The Joeuf Works has a plant, con- 
 
(95) 
 
 sisting of four converters. The Longwy Works has three 
 vessels, and the works of the Societe du Nord et de I'Est 
 have two vessels. The output of dephosphorized steel in 
 France now exceeds 3,000 tons per week. 
 
 In England, Bolckow, Vaughan & Co. are m>aking 2,500 
 tons of Cleveland steel per week, and are preparing to 
 double this output. These, with lesser works in other sec-* 
 tions, have enlarged the actual output of dephosphorized 
 steel in Europe, in little more than a year, from under 3,000 
 to nearly 9,000 tons a week. The total make is, therefore, 
 at the rate of over 450,000 tons per year. In England, 
 there are 6 converters building for the process, which will 
 probably produce about 3,500 tons a week. On the Conti- 
 nent, there are 25 converters in com'se of erection for the 
 process, with a minimum capacity of 9,000 tons a week. 
 
 The perfect success of the Basic process is therefore 
 assured. There is now no doubt, of eliminating the phos- 
 phorus doAvn to the merest trace, and of excluding most of the 
 sulphur likewise. It is in successful operation already in Bel- 
 gium, Germany, France and England. Little, if any, difficulty 
 is found in dealing with French ores as they contain consider- 
 able sulphur. So well is this appreciated there, that Schnei- 
 der & Co. have a "plant" in course of erection to operate 
 this process on an extensive scale. Ores with over 2 per cent 
 of phosphorus have been found to be as tractable as ores hold- 
 ing the merest trace ; the most impure and inexpensive iron 
 ores thus Ijecome as serviceable as the costlier ores. Ample 
 evidence of this may be offered. Rails made for the British 
 railways have passed through the severest tests and been 
 declared equal to any made from Cumberland or Spanish 
 hematite ore. The product has been uniformly good, like- 
 wise, on the continent, where thousands of tons of steel have 
 been manufactured from highly phosphoric pig, and with 
 the most satisfactory results. 
 
(96) 
 
 The mechanical difficulties obstructing the rapid develop- 
 ment of the new system have finally disappeared and its 
 adoption is, in the opinion of many experts, simply a matter 
 of availability of location, as the introduction of the basic 
 process is cei'tainly an innovation in steel manufacture, sec- 
 ond to none in its history. These inventions will in reality 
 prove no less important to the world than those of Kelly 
 and Bessemer. Changes in the whole field of American 
 manufacture vdW be involved, and also changes in the loca- 
 tion of works, in the relative value of Lake Superior to other 
 ores, in cost of raw material for both the open hearth and 
 crucible processes, in the present standing of the puddling 
 furnace, and prominently in the labor question. 
 
 The questions of commercial interest to which the intro- 
 duction of the new process gives birth, therefore, inaugurate 
 a revolution of which it is impossible to foretell the exact 
 outcome. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE HARRISON STEEL COMPANY. 
 
 A DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKS OF THE HARRISON STEEL COM- 
 PANY THE NEW BASIC-BESSEMER PLANT, DESIGNED 
 
 ACCORDING TO THE IMOST IMPR0^T:D PLANS 
 OP STEEL WORKS CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 The site of these Steel works is located at the town of 
 Harrison, in the Countj^ of Jackson, Illinois, on a plateau 
 fifty feet above the waters of the Big Muddy Eiver. The 
 surface area covers about 100 acres. 
 
 TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES. 
 
 The railroad facilities are afforded by the St. Louis -Coal 
 Railroad to Pinckneyville, which line is in connection with 
 the Cairo Short Line to St. Louis and to Cairo ; also with 
 the Illinois Central and its connections to Chicago and the 
 Northwest and to New Orleans ; and with the Vincennes 
 Division of the Wal)ash Line, making connections at Vin- 
 cennes for Louisville to Cairo, Cincinnati and the East ; and 
 again to Chester on the Mississippi River, fifty-two miles from 
 Harrison, at which point connection is made to Iron Moun- 
 tain, Pilot Knol), Shepherd Mountain, Russell Mountain, 
 "and Southwest Ore District" by the Chester, Iron Moun- 
 
(98) 
 
 tain and Western Railroad, now in course of construction ; 
 and at the same place, by river, to all points on the ]\Iissis- 
 sippi River between St. Paul and New Orleans, and to all 
 points on the Ohio River ; and at Cairo, situated at the junc- 
 tion of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, sixty-five miles from 
 Harrison, connection is also made with tlie St. Louis, Iron 
 Mountain & Southern Railway to the Southwest, connecting 
 there also with the Texas Pacific Railway. At Paducah, on 
 the Ohio River readied by a projected lino of the Danville, 
 Olney and Ohio River Railway, distant about seventy-five 
 miles from Harrison, connection is made with the Cliatta- 
 nooga & St. Louis Railroad to the Southeast ; and with 
 steamers and barges from the Cumberland and Tennessee 
 Rivers. 
 
 The railroad and water facilities, so far as transportation 
 to and from the works for finished product or materials is 
 concerned, are deemed to be unexcelled hy any other plant in 
 this country, when considered in connection with the prox- 
 imity of the raw material and the nearness of the market 
 for the finished product. 
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY. 
 
 Water is o])tained in abundance from a reservoir supplied 
 by the Big Muddy River, 1,000 feet distant, conveyed to a 
 well situated in the works, at which pumps are placed ; 
 thence discharged into six tanks 25 by 15 by 6 feet each, 
 from which supply pipes lead to all the various depart- 
 ments of the works. The water is good, containing nothing 
 of an injurious character to boilers or to the packing in the 
 cranes, and is what is technically known as " soft water." 
 
 FUEL. 
 
 The works set upon and are surrounded by coal fields of 
 large extent. The coal is a good coking or free coal, and 
 of excellent quality for fuel and iron smelting. 
 
(99) 
 
 Its character is shown by the following analysis, made by 
 
 Messrs. Potter & Riggs, of the Washington University, St. 
 
 Louis : 
 
 Moisture 6.90 per cent. 
 
 Volatile matter 31.33 per cent. 
 
 Fixed carbon 56.02 per cent. 
 
 Ash 5.75 per cent. 
 
 100.00 per cent. 
 
 Sulphur separately determined 0.83 per cent. 
 
 This coal, seventy-live feet below the surface, is the No. 8 
 of this series of veins nine to ten feet thick, and is the 
 highest vein developed in the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 Underlying this vein, at a depth of forty feet, is vein No. 7 
 from four to five feet thick, and by analysis made by same 
 chemists, contains : 
 
 Moisture - 3.95 per cent. 
 
 Volatile matter 36.95 per cent. 
 
 Fixed carbon 48.55 per cent. 
 
 Ash o 10.55 per cent. 
 
 100.00 per cent. 
 Sulphur separately determined 1.96 per cent. 
 
 The color of the ash indicates the presence of very little 
 iron, so that the sulphur is probably in the organic form, or 
 in part as a sulphate of lime. The No. 7 and No. 8 veins 
 are situated in Williamson County, seventeen miles distant 
 from the site of the steel Avorks, and is the coal from which 
 the coke is made. 
 
 In Jackson County, underlying the site where the steel 
 works are located and contiguous thereto, is vein No. 2, of 
 from four to seven feet in thickness, known as the "Big 
 Muddy Coal," which will be used for supplying the gas pro- 
 ducers, and for general purposes. 
 
 These extensive coal properties are owned by the Carbon- 
 dale Coal and Coke Company, and a contract for a supply 
 
( 100 ) 
 
 of fuel for all the requirements of the Harrison Steel Com- 
 pany has ])een made with that company for a term of twenty 
 years, based upon a nominal profit above the cost of mining, 
 thus insuring an unfailing supply of fuel at nearly minimum 
 oost. 
 
 The St. Louis Coal Railroad Company and the Carbon- 
 dale Coal and Coke Company are owned by the same pai'- 
 ties, under the same management and inseparably connected 
 for the next twenty-three years by contracts, sanctioned and 
 ratified by every stockholder of both companies, and whose 
 signatures are thereto attached. 
 
 ORE SUPPLIES. 
 
 Iron ore is in abundant supply in INIissouri, Tennessee, 
 Alabama, and Arkansas, and is within easy reach by the 
 many excellent railway and river connections made with the 
 St. Louis Coal Railroad, and its leased lines, a corporation 
 with which the Harrison Steel Company has made a trans- 
 portation contract for a term of twenty years at a certain 
 price per ton per mile for carriage of raw materials and 
 finished products. 
 
 UNDER THE SITE. 
 
 The nature of the soil and earth under the site at every 
 point is as follows : 
 
 First strata, G feet in depth, sandy loam. 
 Second strata, 2 feet in depth, sandy clay. 
 Third strata, 5 feet in depth, sandy clay, hard. 
 Fourth strata, 4 feet in depth, tough clay. 
 Fifth strata, 3 feet in depth, tough clay, dark. 
 Sixth strata, 7 feet in depth, bhie clay, hard. 
 Seventh strata, 14 feet in depth, brown clay. 
 Eighth strata, hard pan. 
 Total, 41 feet to the slate overlying the coal. 
 
 FIRECLAY, LIMESTONE, ETC. 
 
 During the excavations for the foundations of the build- 
 ings, advantage has been taken of the excellent quality of 
 
(101) 
 
 the clay for the manufacturing of building l)ricks at a cost 
 not exceeding $4.00 per thousand. The fuel is cheap, and 
 the clay can be burned to a hardness suitable for sewers 
 and foundations about the works. 
 
 Limestone is conveniently located, and can be lirought to 
 the works at low cost. This is an element of importance, 
 as it is extensively used in the lilast furnaces and in the 
 basic processes. There is also an abundance of superior 
 fire clay. 
 
 Another important feature in connection with the value 
 of the site is the proximity of many natural ravines of great 
 depth and width, in which the slag and cinder and other 
 refuse can l)e deposited at little cost, and surface land thus 
 made suitable for building purposes, and thereby enhancing 
 the value of the land. 
 
 DEAINAGE. 
 
 The drainage from the works is perfect, as the general 
 level of the site is fifty feet above high water level in the 
 river, thus ensuring the carrying off of surplus water and 
 other matter, leaving the foundation pits, lowered tracks, 
 etc., dry and firm. 
 
 COKE OVENS. 
 
 The coke ovens are situated GOO feet from the blast fur- 
 naces, and the coke will be carried to the furnaces by rail- 
 way up an inclined plane to stock houses at the rear of the 
 blast furnaces, and thence elevated by steam hoist to the 
 platform of the furnaces. 
 
 General Arrangement of the Works. 
 
 THE BLAST FURNACES. 
 
 The six blast furnaces are placed in blocks of three, but 
 stand in such position that each furnace can be shut down 
 independently of the others, relighted, and yet in no way 
 interfere with its neighbor furnace ; thus one blast furnace 
 
(102) 
 
 can be used, or the full batteiy of six, as is most conveiiieut. 
 Each furnace is provided with three stoves, and is capable 
 of producing 1,200 to 1,500 tons of pig metal per week. 
 The ore and lime is supplied to the furnaces in the same 
 manner as the coke. Each set of three blast furnaces has 
 three boiler houses adjoining each other. The two engine 
 houses arc each 121 by 75 feet, and each contains ten verti- 
 cal engines. 
 
 Exceptional facilities have been provided for supplying 
 the furnaces with material promptly and with ease, and for 
 the removal of the cinder and refuse expeditiously, by plac- 
 ing the blast furnaces 125 feet apart, thus allowing ample 
 room for railway transportation. The cinder railway, and 
 the railway for taking the metal to the converting house, 
 are independent tracks, thus ensuring the utmost freedom 
 of action. 
 
 CONVERTING DEPARTMENT. 
 
 The Bessemer converting department is situated 750 feet 
 distant from the blast furnaces on an air line, but the metal 
 is made to traverse 1,450 feet up an inclined plane by easy 
 gradient to attain the elevation of twenty feet. There are 
 six converters of ton tons capacity each, side by side. 
 
 The main building is 400 by 170 feet. The spiegel cupola 
 buildings or towers abut upon each end of the converting 
 building, and arc eighty hy sixty feet, containing four cupo- 
 las in each building, of the common form, for melting spie- 
 geleisen. 
 
 The molten metal is taken from the blast furnaces up an 
 inclined plane in ladles on a car above and in line with the 
 vessel in which the metal is to be converted, thereby effecting 
 a large saving over the general practice in the United States ; 
 
 1st. By avoiding the necessity of maintaining casting 
 beds at the blast furnaces by a constant suj)ply of sand and 
 lal)or for handiinir same and niakinir of moulds. 
 
( 103) 
 
 2d. By avoiding the casting of pigs and the loss of heat 
 occasioned hy their cooling ; the cost of labor in raising, 
 breakino;, liftino; and loadino; of the piii's at the blast fur- 
 naces, the unloading and reloading at converter department ; 
 the raising to cupola charging door at least fifty feet above 
 the floor line ; the maintenance of cupola ; the cost of fuel 
 to effect the melting ; the maintenance of l)lo\vers supplying 
 the blast; and the cost of steam and lal)or in running all 
 the machinery named in this connection. 
 
 This process is working with great success in England an^ 
 on the Continent, and is in successful operation in Chicago. 
 
 In line, and at the side of four of the six converters, 
 two cupolas are placed, making eight cupolas for utilizing low 
 cost southern pig when the same is for &*ale hi tlie market; 
 and also for making addition to charge in the ladle wliju on 
 its way from the blast furnaces to attain more uniform 
 results. Should the charge from the l)hwst furnace be too 
 high in silicon, a fourth moi'e or less of pig metal low in 
 silicon can be tapped directly into the ladle from tl>e cupo- 
 las, which are so situated that but little delay is caused when 
 stoppage at the cupolas becomes necessary. 
 
 The converters are placed in such a position that the vessel 
 can be lowered on trucks by hydraulic hoists, located under 
 the converters, and thence removed by railway to the lining 
 department, there to be relined. 
 
 In the meantime, a spare vessel is brought in from the 
 lining department, is inserted in the place of the one 
 removed, the bottom replaced and the sul)stitute vessel is 
 ready for use, thus preventing any delay to the process of 
 carrying molten metal direct from the blast furnace. 
 
 A saving is also made in avoiding the Avaste of a large 
 amount of refractory material usually thrown away in the 
 present i)ractice of repairing the vessel while suspended 
 in working position. 
 
(104) 
 
 The lining department is 400 by 120 feet, situated in the 
 rear of the converting house ninety feet distant, and is con- 
 nected by lines of railway running from the hoists situated 
 under the vessels in the converting department to the two 
 turntables in the lining department. From these turntables a 
 series of short railroad tracks radiate in such form as to 
 accommodate ladles or converter bottoms, as the case may 
 be. These ladles or bottoms are placed upon a truck made 
 for this purpose, and are run exactly under a fireproof 
 bonnet, which is supplied with gas from the gas producers. 
 
 A feature of importance in the converting departmeut is 
 the excellent means adopted for the removal of the slag 
 with ease and expedition by means of the cranes and slag- 
 cars ; for as a large amount of slag is formed in the basic 
 process, especial facilities must be furnished for its prompt 
 removal, and with as little cost as possible. 
 
 The engine building for the converting department is 
 150 by 108 feet, and contains four engines and six pumps. 
 There are three buildings, twenty-five feet apart, for boilers, 
 ea«h 150 by 45 feet, located near this department. 
 
 The metal is poured into moulds made suitable for the 
 various products to which it is intended. Such as ingots for 
 plates, shafting, merchant bar, tire, wire rods, hoops and 
 cotton ties, castings, blooms and billets for industrial estab- 
 lishments, in place of iron, and which can be furnished 
 them at less cost. The ingots are loaded on railway trucks 
 and conveyed to the Siemens heating furnaces in the appro- 
 priate department and deposited while hot in the furnace. 
 
 For making steel castings the metal is carried in ladles 
 on railway trucks direct from the converting department to 
 the iron foundry, distant 250 feet, and there handled in 
 usual way by steam cranes, and poured into the moulds. 
 
 There .are three departments that receive the ingots dn-ect 
 from the converting department, ^iz. : The large merchant 
 mill, the plate mill, and the blooming and billet mill. 
 
( 105 ; 
 
 LARGE :MERCHANT MILL. 
 
 The large merchant mill, which can also be used as a rail 
 mill, when necessar}', is situated in a building 240 feet wide 
 at furnace end, and 330 feet wide at hot bed end, and which 
 in the middle is 100 feet wide the total length being 500 feet. 
 The furnace end of the building is 90 feet from the con- 
 verting house. The type of machinery in this mill has been 
 very successfully operated aV)road. 
 
 The ingots are brought hot from the converting depart- 
 ment and charged directly into the rear of the furnace by 
 mechanical power, and are drawn from the front on the 
 side next to the rolls. It is expedient that the ingots be 
 jDlaced in the heating furnace while yet hot, and ample 
 heating furnace capacity has been made to attain this object ; 
 the molten metal is then allowed to "set" equally, all 
 through, to the temperature desired for rolling. When this 
 part of the process is properly performed, the amount of 
 second quality product will be materially reduced, and all 
 other things being e(|ual, it should not exceed one per cent 
 of the finished })roduct. 
 
 The ingot is taken from the heating furnace, bloomed, 
 roughed and formed in a three high set of rolls, with 
 hydraulic lifts and automatic "turning devil," Thence 
 it is run on driven rollers to the reversing finishing rolls, 
 situated at some distance behind the blooming rolls, and 
 worked l^ackward and forward through the rolls on the floor 
 level until it is reduced to the desired shape and size, such 
 as angle, "tee's," square, round, flat, or concave, and to 
 not less in weight than 1,000 pounds to the piece. This 
 mill has a capacity of 400 tons per day, more or less, accord- 
 ing to description of the order being worked. The rolls in 
 this mill are driven by one direct engine and one double 
 reversing enixine. 
 
( 106 ) 
 
 PLATE MILL DEPAETMENT. 
 
 The Plate Mill buildinsi; is 150 feet distant from the con- 
 verting house, and is 300 by 210 feet in dimensions. 
 
 The ingots or slabs are brought directly from the con- 
 verting department hot, and are charged into the rear of 
 the furnaces by hydraulic cranes situated between the heating 
 furnaces with mechanical devices attached, rendering this 
 operation comparatively cool and easy, no manual strain 
 being required. 
 
 The ingots are taken from the heating furnaces to the 
 rolls by an overhead track or "telegraph" on an incline six 
 inches to every twenty feet, rendering the transfer an 
 easy matter. The rolls for the plates are designed to 
 reduce the stock si^eedily while in good heat. The mid- 
 dle roll is hollow and a continual stream of water passing 
 through prevents this roll from heating to such a degree as 
 to cause excessive expansion and contraction, the middle roll 
 being subject to double the amount of heat of either top or 
 bottom roll. There are two plate mills in line with each 
 other having two-high breaking down rolls, and three-high 
 finishiniz; rolls. 
 
 The roughing rolls are thirty inches in diameter by 108 
 inches in length, and the top and liottom finishing rolls are 
 twenty-four inches diameter by eighty-four inches in length, 
 the middle roll being twenty-six inches in diameter. The 
 plates are handled by hj^draulic lifts throughout the whole 
 process. 
 
 Large floor room has been provided in this department as 
 an essential for the cooling of plates so that they may be 
 readily cooled for shearing, and the machinery for this ope- 
 ration is of massive and modern design, of theWellman type. 
 
 The bed plates under the rolls are of such length as to 
 suit the finishing of i)lates as large as are used for boiler 
 
(107) 
 
 beads, the largest at present being eiglitj^-four inches in 
 diameter. 
 
 Tank and boat building steel will also be made in this 
 department. 
 
 THE BLOOMING AND JJILLET MILL. 
 
 The Blooming and Billet Mill is situated 530 feet distant 
 from the converting house, and is in a building 145 by 165 
 feet. The ingots are brought hot from the converting 
 department on railway trucks, and charged in the rear of 
 the furnaces and removed from the front next to the rolls. 
 
 A thirty-six inch reversing train is turned in grooves to form 
 slalis from twelve inches wide to four inches thick and up- 
 wards for plates ; also, blooms six inches square or more for 
 merchant bars of all sizes. In the case of billets, for hoops, 
 cotton tics, wire rods, and other small work, the six inch 
 lilooms are cut at a pair of steam shears, so placed as to be 
 fed b}^ driven rollers, and the cut blooms pass into a twenty 
 inch three-high billet mill, placed close to the shears, and 
 there reduced to any size greater than one and a half inches 
 square, at the same heat from the ingot, and are handled by 
 hydraulic lifts while being rolled. 
 
 The reversing mill is driven by a reversing double engine, 
 and the three-high mill by a single engine. 
 
 THE WIRE ROD MILL. 
 
 The ^Vive Rod Mill is situated 1 35 feet distant from the 
 blooming and billet department, and is in a building 565 by 
 220 feet"^ 
 
 The one and a half inches billets are brought on cars 
 from the blooming department, and charged in rear of the 
 Siemens furnaces, which are of ample capacity to receive 
 and take care of the billets necessary to keep the rod mills 
 full at all times. This department is supplied with two com- 
 pound rod mills, and to each rod mill there are attached two 
 
( 108 ) 
 
 continuous roughing trains placed side by side, and driven 
 hy one engine witli connecting clutch between, so that should 
 any repairs or fitting be required to the continuous train 
 while ill operation, the other train can be turned on and any 
 stoppage for that cause prevented. After the billet has 
 made eight passes, or rather reductions, in the continuous 
 train, it is conveyed to a three-high finishing train -fitted with 
 "repeaters," and there reduced by S(|uare and oval passes 
 alternately to a No. 5 wire gauge rod in the usual way. The 
 three-high train is driven by a separate engine. The reels 
 on which the rods are coiled are located near the sunken 
 track, and the rods, when taken off the reels, are thrown on 
 the open cars, weighed on track scales, and are ready for 
 shipment. 
 
 THE HOOP, COTTON TIES AND SJVIALL MERCHANT BAR MILL. 
 
 The Hoop, Cotton Ties and Small Merchant Bar Mills are 
 situated 200 feet distant from the blooming and billet 
 dei^artment, and in a building 650 by 110 feet. The billets 
 are brought on railway trucks direct from blooming and bil- 
 let department, and charged in rear of four Siemens fur- 
 naces, and removed in front and taken to the rolls. A 
 sunken track runs through the department, so that the pro- 
 duct can be readily loaded on cars with the minimum of 
 handling. 
 
 It may l)e remarked in this connection that all the tracks 
 on which the railway trucks carry material for charging into 
 furnaces, are laid on the general level. 
 
 In the Hoop Mill six passes are made in a continuous 
 train, and the finishing passes are made in the usual way. 
 The two Merchant Mills in this department are sixteen inches 
 and fourteen inches diameter rolls, respectively, for merchant 
 bars, with a specialty for shaftings less than three inches in 
 diameter. 
 
( 109 ) 
 
 THE UNIVERSAL MILL. 
 
 The Universal Mill is situated 780 feet distant from bloom- 
 ing department and is in a building 280 by 150 feet. The 
 steel is brought from the blooming department on railway 
 trucks and charged into three Siemen's heating furnaces. 
 
 There are here twin reversing engines with rolls and auto- 
 matic tables fitted with feed rollers, and one hot straio-hten- 
 ing table, for the manufacture of Universal bar. 
 
 THE SHAPING SHOP. 
 
 The Shaping Shop is situated thirty feet distant from the 
 Universal Mill, and the size of the building is 280 l)y 110 
 feet and is for construction purposes and where large mer- 
 chant bars can be sheared to any curve or angle and punched 
 to suit drawings and specifications that may l)e furnished. 
 
 THE FORGE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 The Forge Department is situated thirty feet distant from 
 the shaping shop, and the size of the building is 280 by 90 
 feet. 
 
 Steel is fast taking the place of iron for forging. Its 
 greater homogeneity, strength and consequent endurance is 
 driving iron out of the market as surely as the steel rail 
 has superseded the iron rail and steel wire has taken the 
 place of iron wire. Piston rods, connecting rods, bars, 
 links, shafts, cranks, axles, and general forgings will be 
 ordered made from steel of a certain chemical analj^sis ; as 
 in fact all industrial works m ordering steel for their products 
 will specify the kind of steel they desire, which must contain 
 fixed chemical proportions determined by analysis. In this 
 way a product better suited for the resistance of specified 
 strains can be furnished by the steel maker with better 
 guarantee than can be done by the iron maker. 
 
( no) 
 
 THE FOUNDRY, BLACKSMITH SHOP AND MACHINE SHOP. 
 
 The Foundry, Blacksmith Shop and Machine Shop are in 
 three separate buildings, thirty feet apart, lying parallel to 
 each other, the blacksmith shop being located between the two, 
 and they are bounded by the converting department on the 
 one side, by the large merchant mill on another side, by the 
 plate mill on another side and by the shaping shop and forge 
 on the remaing side. 
 
 The Foundry is 215 by 120 feet. 
 
 A ti'ack runs through the centre into the machine shop 
 and the roll turning shop. There are two large cupolas 
 situated at one side in the middle and one small cupola at 
 one end. To the charging platform in the yard there are 
 two inclined planes for the convenience of the workmen. 
 There are four steam .cranes, annealing furnace, two large 
 core ovens, core benches, etc., and appliances for mould- 
 ing by loam, dry sand, green sand and chill moulds. In 
 one corner of the foundry is a crucible furnace and a 
 small cupola for melting the material for brass castings, 
 which comprises the brass foundry department. In another 
 corner is a furnace for melting babbitt metal and here the 
 engine and mill brasses of the works will be "babbitted." 
 Besides making all the iron castings, ingot moulds, etc. 
 required by the works, it is designed that this department 
 shall also include steel castings in its product, not only for 
 the needs of the works but for the market, such as wheels 
 and pinions, dies and hammer heads. The manner in which 
 the metal is carried into the foundry from the Bessemer 
 department has been referred to, the open-hearth steel is 
 brought in a similar manner from the Siemens-Martin 
 department. 
 
 The manufacture of steel castings in Europe has been within 
 recent years enormously developed through the cheaper sys- 
 tems of manufacture by the Bessemer and Siemens-Martin 
 
(Ill) 
 
 processes, and the conclusion is justified that they will very 
 largely take the place of castings of pig iron. Bessemer 
 steel castings are not yet quite so common as those of the 
 open hearth metal. The greatest difficulty experienced in 
 adojating Bessemer steel castings is, of course, the blow 
 holes caused by the escape of gases which have not reached 
 the upper surface of the casting previous to its cooling. To 
 remedy this difficulty various processes have been proposed 
 and adopted. At Terre-noire, patient research has perfected 
 the manufacture of steel without blow holes by using a sili- 
 cide of manganese and iron, which gives to the product 
 remarkable qualities. The silicon prevents blow holes by 
 decomposing the oxide of carbon in dissolution, which 
 tends to escape during solidification. The manganese re- 
 duces the oxide of iron, and prevents a further reduction 
 of gases by the reaction of the oxide on the carbon. In 
 the decomposition of oxide of car1)on by silicon, silica 
 was produced, and afterwards a silicate of iron, which 
 remained interposed mtliin the steel. The manganese 
 allowed the formation of a silicate of iron and manganese, 
 which is much more fusible, and passes into the slag. 
 
 The principal obstacle to the production of soft cast steel 
 consisted in its excess of carbon. This was overcome at 
 Terre-noire by the industrial production of alloys of iron, 
 silicon and manganese, containing a specially high percent- 
 age of this latter substance. This alone allowed of a suffi- 
 cient quality of silicon being added near the close of the 
 operation, without at the same time introducing too much 
 carbon. Such an alloy has been produced, containing 8.10 
 percent silicon, 14.50 of manganese, and 1.30 of carbon. 
 Soft homogeneous steel, without blows of any degree of 
 hardness can now be made at the mill of the manufacturers, 
 varying in hardness from that suitaljle for projectiles to the 
 softest qualities needed for any constructive purpose. This 
 
(112) 
 
 steel is satisfactory as to its powers of resisting strains, its 
 limits of rupture, and elongating properties, as well as 
 in resistance to shocks. 
 
 The greater regularity and uniformity obtained in cruci- 
 ble steel castings, up to recently, apparently enabled them 
 not only to hold their own as against the cheaper modes of 
 manufacture, but even to find new applications almost daily. 
 Steel -castings, however, have manifestly such a vast field 
 yet to occupy, that the product of the crucible can only 
 come into successful competition with those of the converter 
 and the open hearth, where an exceptionally high quality of 
 metal is demanded. 
 
 The Blacksmith Shop is 215 b}^ 90 feet, and contains two 
 heatinii- furnaces, one hiroe steam hammer and two smaller 
 ones, and a number of l)lacksmith forges ; also, shears, 
 benders, punchers, and other necessary tools. 
 
 The Machine Shop is 215 x 90 feet and is two stories high, 
 the second story being for the use of the pattern shop and 
 drauohtino; room. It is furnished with a number of lathes 
 of various sizes, planes, drilling machines, slotters, shaping 
 machines, bolt cutters, pipe cutters, vise benches and other 
 tools. 
 
 A track runs through the centre of the shop and the tools 
 and tracks are swept Iw four cranes. 
 
 ROLL TURNING DEPARTIVIENT. 
 
 The Eoll Turning Department is situated sixty feet distant 
 from the shops just descrilied and a])uts on the building of 
 the large merchant mill. Its size is 135 x 70 feet, and it is 
 furnished with cranes, roll turning lathes for large and small 
 work, and other appliances for the care and maintenance of 
 the rolls of all the departments. The shops and roll turning- 
 department are connected by railway tracks on the general 
 level, for convenience in handling and removing materials in 
 these departments. 
 
(113) 
 
 THE BOILER SHOP. 
 
 This is a building 150 x 90 feet and is 400 feet distant from 
 the converting department, and it is about 250 feet from the 
 plate mills. It is fitted with all the tools necessary for the 
 manufacture of boilers, ladles, converters, etc., and is con- 
 nected by a track with the general railway running through 
 ^11 the departments. 
 
 SIEMENS-MARTIN PLANT. 
 
 There is also a Siemens-Martin Plant located in a build- 
 ing, 105 by 105 feet, and 100 feet distant from the 
 blooming and l^illet department, and 330 feet distant 
 from the phite mill department. Here is utilized all the 
 scrap metal made al)out the works and the rejected product 
 of the various departments, hy melting the scrap and other 
 metals in the open hearth furnaces in the manufacture of 
 ingots for spring steel wire rods, spring steel, agricultural 
 implement steel, steel castings, and for the other purposes 
 for which open hearth steel is preferred . 
 
 It contains two ten ton furnaces and modern appliances 
 for handling the ladles and ingots. The metal for open 
 hearth steel castings is carried in ladles on railway trucks to 
 the foundry as before described. 
 
 LABORATORY . 
 
 There is a laboratory connected with the works, where 
 chemical analyses and tests of the raw material used in man- 
 ufacturing the steel, and of the finished products before 
 leaving the works, are made and recorded. 
 
 In the mechanical testing house, where the bending and 
 tensile tests are applied, duplicates ^vith stamped numbers 
 are made and records kept of each. The testing, shap- 
 ing and bending machines are specially designed for that 
 purpose. 
 
(114) 
 
 GAS PRODUCERS. 
 
 The 160 gas producers, located in the extreme southwest 
 corner of the works, are constructed upon the most approved 
 principles, and are in sufficient number to supply the entire 
 works with the gas required. The roof is in two sections, and is 
 650 by 100 feet, supported by iron columns. The coal is 
 supplied to the producers from cars on an elevated railway, 
 with spouts of sufficient length to contain one car of coal, so 
 that the dumping cars can be at once unloaded and returned 
 to the mine, and the spout being in direct connection with 
 the hopper of the producer, it is thus kept continually supplied 
 with coal, which avoids the necessity of shoveling, and at 
 the same time prevents in a great measure the formation 
 of carbonic acid. This acid is a source of much loss, and is an 
 annoyance to the melters, heaters, and gas men. 
 
 BOILERS. 
 
 The boilers suppl3dng the power to the machinery of the 
 whole works are so placed as to obtain heat from the blast 
 furnaces and the gas producers, this method being the 
 cleanest as well as the most economical wavof makins: steam. 
 
 Besides the boilers before referred to, located near the 
 blast furnaces and near converting department, there is a 
 boiler house located near the large merchant mill, which is 
 150x54 feet. 
 
 THE STORE HOUSE. 
 
 The Store House is situated in about the centre of the 
 works in a building 130 x 65 feet, which abuts upon the plate 
 mill building. It is divided into compartments suitable for 
 holding the various stores received and distributing the sup- 
 plies to the various departments of the works. 
 
 THE RAILWAY SYSTEM. 
 
 The railway system is very perfect, supplying all the 
 wants of an extensive rolling mill pUint in the way of car- 
 
(115) 
 
 riage without turn tables. It consists of a track about five 
 miles in continuous length and is operated by small locomo- 
 tives. All the departments of the whole plant are con- 
 veniently connected by railway tracks of the ordinary gauge. 
 Raw material is brought in on elevated track 30 feet 
 above the floor level. All the movin"; of the material 
 in process of manufacture is handled Ijy pony engines 
 on the ground floor tracks, and all fini^shed product is 
 shipped from each department by sunken tracks four feet 
 below the floor level. In some of the buildings the platform 
 of the cars constitutes a portion of the building, thus form- 
 ing a movable floor and making the transfer of heavy mate- 
 rial easy from one part of tlie premises to another. 
 
 In other buildings the top or jjlatform of the cars is a 
 little below the general level and the product is easily pushed 
 or rolled on slides to the cars. 
 
 CHARACTER OF BUILDINGS AND SEWERAGE. 
 
 All of the buildings are of brick with cast iron pillars and 
 iron roofs. 
 
 Sewer flues and gas flues extend through the works and in 
 such positions that they can be reached for cleaning and 
 repairs with ease. 
 
 THE WIRE MILL DEPARTMENT. 
 
 The Wire Mill Department of the Company is situated in 
 the city of St. Louis, near the Union Depot Junction of all 
 ::vilways into the city. The works cover about four acres, 
 :uid contain a rolling mill, four wire-drawing departments, 
 one galvanizing department, four annealing departments, 
 five wire-cleaning and drying departments, bale tie depart- 
 ment, and wire rope department. 
 
 The rolling mill contains two single puddling furnaces, six 
 blooming fires, one two and one-half ton steam hammer. 
 
(IIG) 
 
 seven heating furnaces, one two-high eighteen inch train of 
 rolls, one rod train and four engines. 
 
 The daily capacity of the rod mill is forty tons. 
 
 The wire departments contain 450 wire-dra^\dng blocks 
 and three engines ; daily capacity 100 tons of all kinds of 
 wire . 
 
 The galvaniziug department contains eight galvanizing 
 pans, with appropriate furnaces and machinery ; daily capac- 
 ity forty tons. 
 
 The annealing de[)artments contain eight mutHor furnaces 
 and twentj^-eight pot furnaces. 
 
 The cleaning and drying departments are provided with 
 numerous appliances for the proper cleansing and drying of 
 the wire after it has been annealed. 
 
 The l)ale tie departme-nt has a number of straightening 
 machines, in which the wire is straightened and cut into 
 suitable lengths for baling hay. 
 
 The rope department contains six machines for making 
 the strands and forming the rope. 
 
 Hope of all sizes, from one-fourth of an inch diameter to 
 three inches in diameter, and for the various pmposes for 
 which wire rope is reqmred, is made in this department on 
 machines of new and improved construction, so as to secure 
 l^erfect uniformity of lay under severe tension, and without 
 tension to the wires. The sales of the wire department of 
 the Company now approximate $2,000,000 per annum. 
 
 The quantity of steel now employed in the manufacture 
 of wire has assumed large proportions within the past few 
 years. So sudden, indeed, has been the increase that the 
 steel works of the United States are not prepared at this 
 date to furnish the wire rods required by the wire mills. 
 The importations for 1881 were upwards of 100,000 tons, 
 and in 1882 will exceed 150,000 tons. The most of this is 
 used in the manufacture of fencing wire, and the adoption. 
 
(117 ) 
 
 of barbed wire for fencing hy the farmers and the raih'oad 
 companies is the cause of the enormous increase in the pro- 
 duction of steel wire. It is only a few years since that wire 
 rods were made from the product of the puddling furnaces, 
 blooming fires and from piled wrought scrap iron, but by the" 
 introduction into this country of the soft Bessemer steel 
 wire rods from Europe, those processes have been nearly 
 abandoned, and the attention of American steel makers is 
 now prominently attracted to this new and growing industry. 
 The importations are principally from Germany, and the 
 soft steel now made especially for these rods by the basic 
 process, is in high repute with United States wire drawers, 
 for its toughness and ductility. It is very much softer than 
 rail steel, containing but 0.10 to 0.15 per cent carbon, while 
 rail steel holds 0.30 to 0.40 per cent of carbon, and the 
 latter on this account is in disfavor with wire drawers for 
 fencing wire purposes, by reason of its hardness and want 
 of uniformity, which greatly enhances the cost of wire 
 making through the frequent annealing and drawings it has 
 to be subjected to in the process of reduction from the rod. 
 Up to the last decade the use of steel wire was confined to 
 the manufacture of needles, fish hooks, music strings, 
 umbrella frames, and small tools. As the demand for such 
 wire was increased by the growth of the railway and tele- 
 graph systems, and by the development of our mines and 
 collieries, greater attention has been paid in Europe to its 
 economical manufacture, and to the production of a quality 
 at once remarka])le for its strength and for its uniformity. 
 Annealing, or cooling down slowly from a red heat, has the 
 same effect on wire as on wrought iron, that is to say, the 
 ductility and softness of both are increased, but their elas- 
 ticity and breaking strength are diminished. Steel wire has, 
 at least on an average, twice the ultimate strength of iron 
 
(118) 
 
 wire, and a i^roportionately greater elasticity, comparing 
 diameter with diameter. ' 
 
 These quahtics allow steel wire rope to be made of little 
 more than half the weight of iron wire rope, with the same 
 ultimate breaking strength. The additional elasticity of 
 steel Avire rope renders it much more supple, and less liable 
 to injury through being bent over a drum. A steel rope 
 easily straightens of itself after being 1)ent even to a small 
 angle, which is not the case with iron wire rope. The dura- 
 tion of all ropes is very greatly influenced by the many 
 bendings to and fro to which they are subjected, and these 
 influences are intensified by corrosion. Both the mechanical 
 and the chemical sources of deterioration act in a less de<>:ree 
 on a steel wire, as it is stronger and is at the same time less 
 subject to corrosion, as the carbon it contains, however 
 slight, impedes the action of rust. Steel wire ropes have 
 come rapidly into use for mining purposes, especially in 
 deep pits, where the light weight of rope is of such impor- 
 tance both for safety and the economy of working. For 
 railway inclines, lifts, and elevators, and ships rigging the 
 same reasons have brought it into use, and it is also exten- 
 sively used for hawsers, bridge cables, clothes lines, and 
 sash cords. 
 
 Furniture spi'ings made from high grade steel wire cause 
 demand for a considerable amount of steel, and is required 
 for making springs for mattresses and furniture. The wire 
 is given the color of coppei* by immersion in a solution of 
 blue vitriol, and it is then burnished by drawing it througli 
 a hi)le in a die phite. Other large and growing demands for 
 steel wire in very consideral^le quantities are : wire bale ties 
 for l)aling h ly, binder wire for self-binding harvesting 
 machines, check rower wire, l^right annealed and coppered 
 wire for tinners, wii-3 for wire cloth, and wire for the manu- 
 facture of wire woods s^enerallv. 
 
(119) 
 
 CAPACITY OF THE WORKS. 
 
 Name of Department. Tons per day of two turns 
 
 Blast Furnaces 1.200 
 
 Converting Department 1,000 
 
 Siemens-Martin Department 50 
 
 Blooming and Billet Mill 300 
 
 Large Merchant Mill 400 
 
 Kod Mill 200 
 
 Plate Mill 100 
 
 Small Bar Mill 72 
 
 Universal Mill 60 
 
 Hoop Mill 60 
 
 Shaping Shop .* 
 
 Forge 
 
 Wire Mill Department 100 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 A careful consideration of the foregoing* description of 
 this new American Basic-Bessemer plant will show it to be 
 possessed of many unusual advantages. 
 
 The site of the works combines in a remarkable degree 
 the essential conditions of success in steel making. For the 
 cheap transportation of raw materials to the works and of 
 the finished products to market the water and railway facili- 
 ties leave little to be desired. Inexhaustilile fuel of first- 
 class quality for gas making and for coking is found upon 
 the spot. Limestone of the liest description can be j^ro- 
 cured within a radius of fifty miles of the site, and fireclay 
 is abundant ^vithin one hundred miles from Harrison. Good 
 and sufficient water is found at the door of the works, and 
 the ore supply is obtained from mines within a radius of two 
 hundred miles, some of the principal deposits being as near 
 as one hundred miles. Located in natures greatest food- 
 produciuii' section — the Mississippi Valley — food is, and 
 always Avill l)e, cheap, and added to the eligibility of the 
 site is the advantau'c of a vast home market for the product 
 of the works within a radius of 300 miles. 
 
( 120 ) 
 
 At present no steel castings are made west of Pittsburgh 
 for the supply of the Mississippi Valley, and the ' United 
 States manufactures no soft Bessemer steel suitable for 
 industrial establishments, excepting the Albany and Rennse- 
 laer Iron and Steel Co. at Troy, N. Y. This class of steel 
 which by the present system of manufacture and supply is 
 extremely costly in comparison with the cost of foreign 
 material, will be a specialt}^ with the Harrison Steel Com- 
 pany, and it is the intention of the company to branch out 
 into the hitherto unessayed fields of manufacture in this 
 country, and a ready market for all its production will be at 
 once established, while the superior location of the plant 
 will likewise entd^le it to compete successfully in all the other 
 A'arious departments of steel manufacture. The Bessemer 
 steel works of the United States have confined the product 
 of their converters almost exchisively to the production of 
 steel rails and rail carl)on steel, which have been made from 
 pig metal too high in cost and with material exceedingly more 
 costly than by Euro^jean practice, and the open-hearth steel 
 works of this country also obtain their raw materials at so 
 high a cost that the i)roduct of their furnaces is limited to 
 certain specialties of high market value. It is a fact that 
 the raw materials alone used by the Bessemer and open- 
 hearth furnaces of this country cost as much as the finished 
 product of similar furnaces in Europe. 
 
 The cost of a ton of Bessemer steel rails in the United 
 States varies according to the location of the mills in regard 
 to raw materials and the adecjuacy of the ])last furnaces in 
 connection with the works. Those most favorably situated 
 and producing their own pig, make rails at al)out $40.00 per 
 ton. Others not so Avell situated, and which buy their pig, 
 range to $5.00 more per ton. There are other mills mak- 
 ing their own pig, but which owing to their remoteness from 
 some of the raw materials, can not manufacture steel rails 
 at any less cost than those who buy pig. 
 
(121) 
 
 At Bolckow, Vaughan & Co., in Europe, the cost of steel 
 rails per ton is not quite $20.00, and the works would gladly 
 make contracts for their total production of steel rails for 
 the next ten years at $25,00 per ton on board of ship, and 
 take all the chances of the future market. But as they are 
 so well located, and own nearly all the raw materials they 
 would require in that time, with a splendidly equipped works 
 combining all the essential conditions for economical pro- 
 duction, they would take little risk in the cost of manu- 
 facture. 
 
 This comparison amply demonstrates how much remains to 
 be accomplished in the United States, how great the changes 
 in methods of working must be, and how much the exterior 
 costs, principally that of transportation, must be reduced 
 before such a standard of results can be achieved. The 
 North Chicago Rolling Mill Company has materially reduced 
 the cost of production Ijy the adoption of improved methods 
 of manufacture, but transportation still remains a heavy 
 item of expense. Chicago is more advantageously situated 
 for the procurement of Lake Superior ores than Cleveland, 
 Pittsburg, and other eastern points, but the latter have bet- 
 ter fuel facilities. All, therefore, labor under burdensome 
 transportation costs, either on ores or other raw material, 
 so that while the adoption of improved methods of manu- 
 facture, or of the direct process of manufacture might 
 secure to them some benefits in the way of lessening the 
 cost of production, the disadvantages of location would still 
 be retained. Favorable as is the situation of the Pittsburg 
 Steel Works in certain respects, the carriage charges on raw 
 material for the manufacture of one ton of pig iron approx- 
 imate $10.00 per ton. Considering the high price of 
 skilled labor in America, this renders high tariff protec- 
 tion necessary to their very existence, as Europe in shipping 
 to the United States can make available the whole leno-th of 
 
( 122 ) 
 
 the coast line, with the manifold canals, large lakes, and 
 rivers to reach by water the point nearest for shipment to 
 the individual purchaser by railway, if necessary, thus 
 decreasing to the minimum, the heavy cost of railway 
 transportation. 
 
 To compete, therefore, with the advanced mills of Europe 
 and their many natural advantages, the requirements are 
 few in number, but they are vitally essential. They may 
 be rapidly summed up as follows : 
 
 The works should be located specially with reference to 
 the proximity of the raw materials to be used and the 
 cheapness with which the finished products can be carried 
 to their destination. This secured, methods and processes 
 must be adopted by which the raw material may be trans- 
 formed into the product without the expensive process of 
 first converting into another raw material. The works must 
 be situated where the accessibility of the fuel, the ore, the 
 limestone, the water and the fire clay supply is best com- 
 bined with contiguity to the market to escape the excessive 
 costs of the handling and freight charges and of other items 
 of avoidable cost, wliich now raise the price of the raw ma- 
 terial in America to that of the finished product in Europe. 
 
 The Harrison Steel Company, it is thought, combines 
 in its methods, processes and site, all the conditions requisite 
 to success. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 THE STEEL ElVIPIRE. 
 
 The aim of this book has been to place before the pubUc, 
 in as concise and satisfactory a manner as practicable, 
 some of the more important facts and statistics relative to 
 the steel workshops of the world ; that a better understand- 
 ing might be gained of the various methods in vogue, and a 
 better knowledge obtained of the truth, as to certain mat- 
 ters, which for reasons now immaterial to explain, have never 
 before been given to the public ; and if this hastily prepared 
 work aid, ever so little, in the advancement of steel interests, 
 its purpose will have been attained. In no instance have 
 facts been stated as facts which can not be sustained by 
 recognized authorities. 
 
 The future of the empire of steel remains substantially 
 unrestricted, the possibilities of still further conquests from 
 the realms of the other metals limitless. The monopolistic 
 traditions of the iron makers disappear, one by one, in the 
 blue-tiamed crucible of the steel scientist. It is accom^ 
 plished that high grade steel may be produced with about 
 one-fourth the fuel and one-third the labor required in the 
 manufacture of rolled iron, and the effect of this remarkable 
 progress of the Bessemer processes upon the metallic indus- 
 tries of the world, has been startling in its consequences and 
 overwhelming in the consequential depreciation of many 
 
( 1-'^ ) 
 
 millions of invested capital. For almost every purpose for 
 which iron has been used in times gone by, steel, manufac- 
 tured by these processes, is now preferred. It is applied 
 to the making of armor plates, projectiles, ordnance, tires, 
 axles, wire, stamped ware, forgings, castings, brake blocks, 
 masts, spars and yards, sleepers, pens, cutlery, and bells; 
 and for the construction of bridges, for railway purposes, 
 for the building of ships, and for boiler construction holds 
 unrivalled supremacy. 
 
 The subject of the manufacture and manifold applications 
 of steel seems practically inexhaustible, and the dominancy 
 of steel where once it has attained a footing, is indisputable. 
 Rich as the past has been in victory, genius and enterprise 
 point to achievements of still greater magnitude. 
 
 The versatility of its uses constitutes the chief value 
 of this peculiar metal. The massive engine, towering in 
 powerful grandeur, the greatest of man's conceptions ; the 
 superb aerial pathways, vrith. their thousands of component 
 parts, crossing broad rivers and above the high masts 
 of ships, the needle of the housewife and soil blade of 
 the husbandman ; the larger creations of commerce as well as 
 the smallest, are produced in this magic crucible ; and there 
 are not lacking those that predict the invasion of the dominion 
 of copper, and even the displacement of silver in the manu- 
 facture of articles of ornamentation. And difficult as it may 
 appear to be to demonstrate the limits of the territory of 
 steel usefulness, just as impossible, seemingly, is it, to set 
 the limitation of its production. Recent discoveries have 
 indefinitely increased the available resources. The eye of 
 science, searching the recesses of the possible, has laid bare 
 processes by which ores, hitherto unsuited to the manufac- 
 turer, may be cleansed of their deleterious substances, and 
 thus by one of the chemical trmmphs of the age, the cheap- 
 est of iron ores will rank with those richer and comparatively 
 
( 1-^5 ) 
 
 limited ores, that, until this discovery was made, were 
 deemed unlit for the steel furnace. Of raw material, there- 
 fore, the supply will be more than plentiful. But the fear 
 of the effects of over-production need not be excited ; for, 
 as the uses of the product multiply, and the cost of manu- 
 facturing lessens, so will the applications of the product to i 
 the necessities of life become enlarged. Of many chanires 
 in the progressive movement of steel it is impossible at this 
 time to take cognizance. The irksome work of the puddler 
 is being superseded by less arduous, and in the main b}" less 
 skilled lal)or. An estimate by one of the greatest authori- 
 ties is, that to convert fluid cast iron into steel requires but 
 one-third the labor that is necessary to convert pig metal 
 into wrought iron, and that the fuel consumed in the former, 
 is but one- fourth of that consumed in the latter operation. 
 Economy of fuel at once therefore appears as a most impor- 
 tant corolhyy of the advance of steel ; }^t even this great 
 economic feature of production dwarfs in comparison with 
 the impetus gained through the reputation this incomparable i 
 metal is securing for lasting streno-th and endurance. ' 
 
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