Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-07-17
AMERICAN IRON.

The London Mining World thinks
that "before the lapse Of another gene
ration the United States will be the
great from and steel producing eoun-
try in the world.n .t..-..,t sff .
1t observes that 'there are causes in
operation which will prevent any
rapid expansion of the iron industry
of this country, while in the other
the great resources Of that industry
are comparatively untouched. Among
these causes may be mentioned the
limited supply Of good ores in Great
Britain, the necessity which arises
each year Of sinking deeper for the
fuel to smelt them, and consequently
| the increased expense in raising it,
The great body of British ores is de-
rived from the coal measures and the
lias. These formations occur in the
districts of Yorkshire, Derbyshire,
/ Staffordshire, Warwiekshire and
Shropshire. They are argillaeeous in
character, and yield about twenty-six
per cent. in the furnace, Turning 10
Percy's great work on the Metallurgy
of Iron, where the essays on 100speci-
mems of these ores are given, we find
that in every instance he detected the
presence of phosphorus. No natal
lurgic skill has thus far been able to eli.
inmate this deleterious ingredient
from the ores or prevent it from pas
sing into pig iron, nor is it wholly
extirpated from the manufactured bar.
In the Bessemer process it adheres 10
the iron in every stage and undimin-
ished quantity. With one per cent.
of phosphorus iron becomes Mt for
but few. purposes. Sulphur is also
present in these ores, which is to some
extent expelled by calcination and
the subsequent process of pudding /;
but sufficient remains to render the
iron unfit for conversion in the quail
Ties of steel.H - s..H -T
The Philadelphia North american,
which has for years assiduOusly and
very ably endeavored to foster, stimu-
late and build up the American iron
interests, forcibly remarks upon the
subject:i t ss '--ai 20. I'D
""rhe American iron and steel inter-
ests are stigmatised as grasping mo-
nopolists for seeking TO make legisla-
tion useful in this crisis to give per-
manent aseendeney to our home pro-
duction ofiron and steel. Fortunately
the enormous demand for both iron
and steel, coming eoneurrenuy with
the causes referred to in the above
extract, will stimulate our interest to
the fullest possible extent, and eoun-
teract the efforts of the free traders to
break down our works. To the mind
of the average free trader the position
of English industries is natural and
invincible, and it seems folly in US to
seek to build up our own. As yet we
see that it is essential to the interests
OF internal commerce that we should
do so, in order to eounteraet any un-
due prepobderance of the English,
and to supply consumption in points
where the English resources are con-
fessedly inadequate. F
England, it is already known, is
large importer of iron ore, as her own
mines cannot supply her works in
consequence of the enormous increase
in the demand for and production of
iron. But it is not generally known
that England is also an importer of
iron. Yet such is the fact. The Nj
ming World informs US that she i'm
ports fifty thousand tons per year OF
pig iron from Sweden and Russia,
made from specular and magnetic ore,
similar in composition to those deTi-
we'd from Lake Superior and Missouri.