Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-05-16
IRON INTEREST.

An English exchange Of the Sth ult.,
states that in the present week Boil
chow, Vaughan Il Co., Easton, pro-
duced 5,0lT tons of finished steel, being
about $50 tons more than any pre-
vious weeks make" at the same
works. About 5000 tons of this total
was basic or dephOsphOrized steel.
A steel chain of remarkable dimen-
sion has just been completed for Earle's
Shipbuilding Company, Hull, England,
being without doubt the longest of its
kind ever made. 1t is manufactured
from Siemens steel, is $50 yards long,
and consists of upwards Of $500 links,
held together by over $50 steel pins.
The chain is calculated to sustain q
weight of sixty tons, and is TO be used
for lifting purposes.
For the production Of steel and steel
rails there are in Russia eighteen works,
in seven of which Bessemer apparatus
exist. In three of them the chief pro-
ductiOn is by the crucible system, and
in the other by the Martin.
For these works where coke Is used it is
imported, and almost all the ferro-
manganese, spiegeleisyn, ETC., is also
imported, and even carried to the Ural.
The eighteen works produced per
annum about 81, 500 tons of ingot steel,
mostly for gun making and govern
ment use, tires, etc, also $4,000 tons OF
steel rails, value about 2O,OOO,OOO
rOables( g, 000,0OO).
The British Iron Trade Association,
i'm a report upon the Bessemer steel pro-
duction of 1881, shows that the increase
during that year more than equaled the
entire output of the United Kingdom
in 1874, and was in excess of the total
output of the world in 1865. There
were twenty-three Bessemer works IN
Great Britain last year, with eighty
two cOnverterS in use, twenty-seYen
idle and fourteen in course of erection.
The new converters, it is stated, will be
much more affective than the old ones,
and will make $4,000 tons per annum
per pair. OF the total quantities of ingots
produced Il, 4ll,Tl7 tOns) 1923, TAO tons
wers rolled into rails, leaving 4l7,979
tons to be utilized in other forms. The
exports of steel rail were 59i, 4l9 tons or
l30,OlS tons more than in 1850. Of the
1879 tons of ingots not used for rails
u $50 tons were rolled into plates,
about $1,000 into tires, aXleS and gener-
al forging, and about $1,000 tons were
made into angles, etc, thus leaving
about $4,000 tons for general use for eX-
port as blooms, of which, 1t is said,
there were about 100000 tons shipped
in excess of any former year. These
figures show that the United Kingdom
again leads the United States in BESSIE
mer steel production. According TO
Mr.. Swank, the total production by the
BeSsemer process last year was ,3I4,34I
gross tons, or 81, lT2 tons below the pro-
ductiOn of Great Britain. The London
HOEmoR9cr says that whether we
shall maintain our lead during 49,
remains To be proved, seeing that SIX
new cOnverters are being erected In the
States" Against these are fourteen
constructing in England, with an ag-
grcgate annual capacity OF S4O,OOO tonSi
"but it is admitted" says the IrORmOn-
ger, "that American practice yields FAR
more per converter than our own;'
seeing that the total product in Amer
lea last year was turned out in 1881 by
thirty cOnverters, against eighty,
two in England. The United
States is, however, far ahead OF their
transatlantic cousins in the production
Of steel rails, having turned out about
$4,000 tons in excess of the output of
British mills in 1882, not including
about 100000 tons rolled by iron rail
mills here from imported blooms. The
English journal quoted thinks that IF,
therefore, the American demand for
blooms and rails should be slack this
wear, the United States may be expected
to regain the formost position in the
Bessemer steel trade, so far as statistics
are in question"