Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1858-12-02
EATON, PREBIE GoIETY, o. DEC O. 1858.
The stolen Secret.

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The main distinction between iron
and steel is that one holds carbon, oil
the matter of charcoal, whereas the Other
does not. The amount of carbon is
trivial, aud it is impaired by heating
bars for long time together, surround
ed by powdered, broken charcoal in d
box. Having regard, then, to this op-
Grafton, it seems natural enough that
the outer portion of each bar should
become more ''stcelified" Gf may be
allowed to coin an expressive word)
than the internal portions. Now, steel
of this sort, though perfectly good for
many purposes: is Objectionable for
others. To give an example: it is by
watch-sprinas; nevertheless, before the
invention of cast steel, to which the
readers attention is shortly to be di-
rected, watch springs had 20 be made
of it.
There lived in Atterclffe, near Shelf
field. about the year 1863, watch ma
ker named Huntsman. He was very
much dissatisfied with the quality of
steel of which watch-springs were made
in his day, and he set himself to the
task of thinking out the cause of infe-
riority. Mr.. ,Huntsman correctly in
ferred that the imperfection Of such
watch springs as came in his way was
referablc to the fact of the irregular
conversion or 'ssteelifcation" IF the
metal of their manufacture. eff"
thought he, Il can melt a piece of steel
and cast it into an insot, the compost
ton of the latter should be regular and
homogeneous" BE tried, and succeed
ed. The fame Of Huntsman's steel be-
came widely spread, but the discoverer
took care not to designate it by the
name of cast steel. under which it is
now Familiarity known. That was his
secret.
About the year 1870, large manu-
factory of this peculiar steel was estab
lished at At,ercliffe The process was
wrapped in secrecy by every means
which the inventor could command
None but workmen of credit and char
acter were engaged, and they were for
idden to disclose the secrets of the
manuflctory by stringent form or
oath. At last Uuutsman' secret was
stolen in the following manner: One
night in mid winter as the tali chimney
of the Attercliffe steel works belched
forth It's smuke, giving promise of
roaring FIRE within. traveller TO whom
the desire of placing himself near Il
roaring fire might seem reasonable
longing, knocked at the outer door OF
Mr. Huntsman' factory 1t was bit
ter night; the snow fell fast, the wind
bo, t,a -, .,
could seem more natural than that tie
tired wayiarer should seek Il warln cor
ner, where he might lay his head. He
: Anocked, and the door WAS opened. 4
workman presented himself, who the
waytarer addressing, humbly begged
admission.
No admittanee here, except on bust
ness"
Feigning to be completely worn out
with cold and fatigue, the waytarer sank
upon the floor of the comfortable fac
tory, and soon appeared to have gone
asleep. To go to sleep, however, was
far from his intention. The traveller
closed his eyes, all but two little chinks
Through these two little chinks he saw
all that he cared to see. He saw work
men cut bars of steel into little bits,
then place them into crucibles, with
enormous tongs, pour their liquid con-
tents into a mould. Mr.. Huutsman s
factory had nothing more to Disclose
This was the secret of cast steel
1t would be easy to extend the list of
manufactured sccrets disclosed in the
dishonest way indicated above. The
subject, however, is so unpleasant to
dwell upos, that am sure the reader
will rejoice with me that the circum-
stances under which manufactures are
now mostly carried on, neither afford
the opportunity nor the inducement tc
theft, such as L have described.-Lon-
| don Leisure Hour.