The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1884-08-17
4 GREAT IMPROVEMENT IN Nails.
Making Them Out OF Bessener Steel.

From the Journal Of Commerce.
A despatch from Pittsburgh states that II
the steel nails proved success the experiment
could do the work Of hundreds. This las
created no little excitement. and We have re-
ceiyed . number Of letters asking how this
effected.
Tho reason why steel nails can be made with
less labor than iron nails Is because the Rtesl
itself Is made by the Bessemer process. which
maHhin Inc while IN the case Of Iron used for
and slow: Bessemer converter, can make
from 12O to 25O tons Of steel ner day. simply
~ me heP Of ieW men to attend mnaehinery
is melted and operated upon chemically. This
metal is poured out into ingots and those In
and cut the same As tho iron nail plates.
But the case is different with the plates for
irpn nails First The pig iron Is put IN ppd
ior an hour ana = hall. Five heats" eonsti.:
in the neigh Dorhood OF ton or u ton and a
quarter Of Iron. which is heated and rolled into
nail plate and cut to convenient Lengths. to be
handled by the nail cutters. Twenty pudders
and helpers might turn out twelve to fifteen
tons OF iron plate In day. but the same force
ss p"n mgo sp IL
utes and produce from ayo to fifteen tons. ac-
BY the labor of unskied men to fill the con-
verter with the necessary material and the
sSSS 81 b s ba b. 1s sa little wheel
the material are oIidized and eliminated. Ono
Bessemer plant makes 100 tons in one day with
the work Of small squad OF laborers Ii
would require the labor Of from 1000 to 200
SKILLED Iron workers to make the same quantity
inferior to tho Bsssemsr steel.
The actual labor OF cutting the nail plato up
into, nails is the same with either iron plate or
r,ro.
limnary processes described.
There are at present two Bessemer plants
Gss SSy sG Saf made ApF a. hers
plant is at Worcester. Mass. ana also Consists
this establishment was made on the I'd Of June.
wifi 9 sni and
time next year 1t will have two four.ton con-
yerters Here 10 present and prospective
each. casting In less than an hour Hand labor
In the rolling mills 10 being slowly driven to the
revolution has obtninsd strong s foothoid and .n
Dothing can arrest 1t; Steel rails can be made
ShsaPss thEh Ar iron rails and are much more ser
OF iron. Ns progress is made.
There are at present sixteen Bessemer steel
: productive capacity Of mot far from 2. 600. 600
r 70 ing2ts PIT nnnum. Under the decline in
dspSasyse SSu nriHsg ths capacity has
steel nails 10 that they are smoother than iron
nails. and therefore have less grip on the sur
rounding material: but their use has not been
extensive enough to say what they are worth
compared to iron nails. They will certainly
last longer; and. being made with less labor
and out OF cheaper material. they can crowd
IRON nails out. lust as steel rails have crowded
iron rails out OF the market. "oN
The process OF pudding iron Is costly because
gone ,1y . hand: The sponEy iron is manipu.
stances removed by oxygen; but in ths Basse-
I msr process ar y simply forced. through the
fn oisn meal and It's oxygen unites with the
v nndSii into steel In the hand process-i O..
R ut g 10 impossible to get strong or
stances which belong in crude iron, /. g. car
% O9n. phosphQrus. sulphur. DC. but by the aid
everything wanted out is sent out at one opsr.
sH ThiI Dy chemical and mechanical action.
., rms s9HewhRt glowing account Of the tri.
umbns OF bessemer steel we have from a source
No 70 Deem reliable. and We give it In answer to
future OF this trade. w ~"