The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-04-25
IRON MAKES WAY FOR STEEL.

steel Iak1nH the place. OF wrought Iron
for All PurpOses-Its Superior Strength
and Cheapness-Puddlers Out in the Cold.
A correspondent has written to the
Sun asking whether the rails now in
use on the railroads of this country are
made of iron or steel. Although no
iron rails are made now, there are still
a few old iron rails in use. As fast as
worn out they are replaced by steel
rails.
Few people now actually engaged in
the metal trade are aware of the won
derful strides made by steel in recent
years. In fact, steel is wholly taking
the place of wrought iron. Steel is
simply a mixture of iron and carbon,
the quantity of carbon ranging from
twenty-five to two pen cent of the mass.
1t Is not only stronger and for almost
every purpose better than wrought iron,
but it is cheaper
Its first victory over wrought iron was
obtained in England, where steel rails
for railroads were found to be much
better than iron in several ways. They
did not wear away so rapidly under the
wheels, and they were able to stand
greater strain. The first Bessemer steel
plant in this country was started in
1857 Its product was used for making
rails, and the total amount for the year
was 5000 tons. For number of wears
the Bessemer steel was almost wholly
devoted to that purpose, the high price
at which it was sold making it unprotit-
able for other uses to which wrought
iron was put. Steel rails brought Sl60
a ton in 1867. But after the panic of
1873 prices came down, and in 1875 the
rails brought S75. The hard times of
1879 lowered the price, in spite of com
bnations among owners, and in 1888
steel rails sold for $40 ton. Since
that time the price has fallen steadily,
and recent price list puts the price of
rails at S29, and Of steel slabs, ready to
be rolled or forged into any shape, at
S'28 per ton.
The result of these low prices is that
bridges are no longer made of iron.
Steel beams have taken the place of
iron in the tireproof buildings. Steel
ships are built instead of iron ships.
Steel boilers replace ron boilers. Steel
rifles replace the old cast iron cannon.
Wherever tensile strength is required
steel is used.
The use of steel in beams and girders
for houses and bridges was a natural
sequence of their use in railroad tracks
But the use of this steel has not been
confined to railroads and steamships.
The big tin plate factories in Wales be
gan to experiment w tn steel instead of
iron about two years ago. Tin plate
contains about min ety-three per cent OF
iron and seven of pure tin. The steel
plate was found to be cheaper, and the
articles made of steel tin plate
were superior. For making tin dishes
without seams or sodered joints, the
Siemens process steel plate is not only
superior, but it is about the only kind
that can stand the spinning process
This country now imports 10000 tons
of tin plate annually, and it is all made
OF steel plate with a tin coating.
One field in which steel has not vet
wholly djsplacec iron is in the manu-
facture of nails. The plates from which
nails are cut can be rolled from steel in
gots as easily as from puddled iron, but
the steel plate is harder to cut and the
cutters charge a little more for the
work. The plants engaged in making
steel nails are limited in number, and
the price Of steel nails is higher than
hat of iron. The steel nail is smooth
er, stronger and handsomer, and ha,
made its way in spite of the higher
price. but the difference in price is rap
IDLY dwindling, and will, no doubt. soon
disappear altogether. In November,
1894, the Wheeling manufacturers
charged thirty cents and the Troy men
twenty-five cents a key more foI
the steel nails. Quotations during
the last of February this year were $2.10
per key for steel nails and - for iron.
The profit to the manufacturer OF the
steel nails is much greater on account
of the smaller cost Of the Plates and the
only thing that prevents the iron nail
makers from using steel plates entirely
Is that it takes money to change the
plant, and after the great depression of
the past two years money is not over
abundant among iron manufacturers in
any branch of the trade.
A curious outgrowth of this improve
ment in the manufacture of nails is the
action taken by the trades unions in the
West at the instigation Of the puddlers.
BY the old pudding process of making
iron plates for nails, the pig iron was
melted in great furnace and small
army Of men stirred up the melted mass
with long rods until the impurities were
burned out, and the iron became pasty
instead of liquid. BY the new process
the melted pig iron in big pesr-shaped
kettle is subjected to a powerful blast
of air which is forced up through it
from the bottom until the impurities are
burned out. Then another small amount
Of melted pig iron is poured in and the
mixture is ready to be cast into ingots.
BY the old process twenty skilled men
could turn out fifteen tons of nail plate
in day, while by the new process four
common laborers and one skilled me-
chanic can turn out from $50 to 250 tons
in day. Naturally the puddlers must
lose their occupation.
There is one thing that has not yet
been successfully made of steel, and
that is propeller shaft for steamship.
Experiments were made in England and
oftpr gilnro bla r,,pnnv bnJ baan Loot