The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1875-01-08
STEEL.

STEEL.
How IL is Maae-Its Manufacture Always
Kept Mystery, which IL Transmitted
Verbally from Father to Son-Inferest-
ing Hacts.
Gen. F. A. Starring, in his report to
the Treasury Department upon the
steel question, gives an interesting
chapter upon the manufacture of steel
He says:
The manufacture of steel has always
been kept sort of mystery. The proc
ess mostly followed is what is known
as Huntsman's process" discovered
or most successfully worked and
| brought into operation in 1880 by Ben
jamin Huntsman. Steel bearing his
name is universally known.
The process with its subsequent i'm
provements is very complicated. The
| special method of manufacture adopted
by each firm is jealousy guarded Sc
cret handed down by verbal formula,
etc., from father to son, through sue
cessiye generations. Each maker has
his peculiar mode of manufacture, and
does not know what particular proper
tions of irons, ETC., are adopted by his
colleagues in mixing their steel.
Cast steel is made from various mate
rials. The most inferior quality is
English cast steel, viz, that made from
English iron or scraps. This is the
kind from which English sprinR-steel
is made, the price being about 925 per
ton. English cast steel is adapted only
for piston-rods, springs for wagons,
ETC., rope-wire, and for purposes where
q cutting edge is not required. This
class of steel does not come under the
designation of best cast steel, although
l 20 afv he
best qualities of cast steel good Swed-
ish iron must be used.
There is q proverb among steel-melt-
ers that If you would have good steel
you must put good irons of uniform
quality into the melting pot. This is
the case, as it concerns the consumer
or person who uses the steel, although
the brands of the iron are melted and
lost to view.
The Swedish iron is delivered to the
manufacturer in the form of bars,
which have been hammered to the
necessary dimensions, viz: about nine
inches wide, one-haf inch thick, end
from six to twelve feet long.
The first process of manufacture is
that of conversion. The converting
furnaces are of different sizes, some
capable of containing twenty-six tons
of iron, some forty tons. They contain
two stone-converting pots, each about
four feet in width and depth, and
twelve feet in length. These pots are
placed side by side, and when in opera
tion the heat from the fire below is con.
Quoted around each pot by means oi
fues. The heat is prevented from es
Gaping by means of brick dom5 in.
placed in layers in the converting pots
the spaces between the layers being
filed up with charcoal broken intC
small pieces. When the converting
furnace is filed, it is Theoretically sealed
with " wheel swarf," +" substance accu
mulating at the trough of the grinding
wheel, and capable of resisting lonG
exposure to heat. The fire is the1
Lighted, and is allowed to burn from
twelve to sixteen days, the time de
pending upon the amount of carboniza
ton required. It is then left to die
out, and the converting furnace anG
metal, having been raised to grea
heat, take about the same length O.
time to cool as for the heating. Whe1
the metal is removed it is covered Will
blisters, from which it gets a name O.
"blister steel" It is as brittle as glass
and can be broken by slight blow o
the hammer.
After the metal has been weighed, i
is taken to melting furnace, and con
veyed into small fire clay pots abou
eight inches in diameter, and sixteen tt
twenty inches high, covered witt
, closely fitting lids, and previously raised
o a white heat. They are allowed t.
remain in the furnace, surrounded by
strong fire, for several hours, during
so that it may be thoroughly mixed
After it has been thoroughly melted ant
mixed, it is run into metal mold o
the required FORM When the bars ar
cooled, piece is broken off at each ent
this inspection of the fractures beinI
for the purpose of ascertaining whethe
the metals have been thoroughly nike,
! more than to determine whether tn
7 quality of the steel is equal to any par
ticular standard This completes tn
process and the steel is sent to tn
mill to be rolled or hammered into it
ultimate shape OF square, triangular
? octagon, round, or fat.
Without entering into an analysis o
the many different ways in which cas-
steel or best cast steel is made, it
, sufficient to state that there are severs
[ hundred varieties, varying in tempe
, and quality. The best cast steel of on
manufacturer. may be totally differen
, from that of another firm.
It is, of course, well known that moth
i ing can be told by the outside surfac
of the bars, but it is nevertheless tru
that the value can be determined by th
/ grain, as exhibited upon fracture. ]
! the grain is fine, the steel is suppose
to be valuable if coarse, not SO. Thi
) | is altogether an error. The grain c
: the steel depends upon the temper-th
+ harder the steel is, the finer it is in th
l u4 ft1v