Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1885-06-30
IRON MAKES WAY FOR STEEL.


Sun asking whether the rails now in
Ise on the railroads of this country are
made of iron or steel. Although no
ron rails are made now, there are still
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
1erful 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 per 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 We're 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 a
greater strain. The'lirst Bessemer steel
plant in this country was started in
1867. Its product was used for making
rails, and the total amount for the year
was 5000 tons. For number of years
the BeSsemer steel was almost wholly
devoted to that purpose, the high price
ut which it was sold making it unpNiit-
able for other uses to which wrought
iron was put. Steel rails brought Sl60
II 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
b'nations 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 500, and of steel slabs, ready to
be rolled or forged into any shape, at
$2S 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 l;reproof buildings. Stea!
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 girdcr,
for houses and bridges was a natural
Sc Iuence of their use in railroad tracks
But the use of this steel has not bc,l
confined to railroads and steamships
The big tin plate factories in Wales b,
gan to experiment with steel instead OF
/, iron about two years ago. Tin plat,
contains about min ety-three per cent
iron and seven Of pure tin. The stcc
plate was found to be cheaper, and tht
articles made of steel tin plat,
were superior. For making tin d.she
without seams or soldered joints, tn,
Semens process steel plate is not OIL
superior, but it is about the only kind
that can stand the spinning process
Tnis country now imports 240,0U ton
OF II plate annually, and it is all mad
OF steel plate with tin coating.
One field in which steel has not We
wholly displacec iron is in the manu
ia;,ure of nails. The plates from whicl
M Is are cut can be rolled from steel in
got' as easily as from puddlcd irol, bn
the steel plate is harder to cut and the
cutters charge little more for the
work. The plants engaged in making
steel nails are limited in number, an,
the price of steel nails is higher THAI
that of iron. The steel nail is smooth
en- 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
1884, the Wheeling manufacturer.
charged thirty cents and the Troy men
twenty-five cents u key more foi
the steel nails. Quotations during
the last of February this year were 81 lU|
per key for steel nails and 81 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.
mcnt 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 a 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 pear-shaped
kettle is subjected to 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 $50 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 a propeller shaft for a steamship.
Experiments were made in England and
after considerable money had been lost
m Of oh