Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-04-02

Great Changes in the Metal Trade
Produced by Low Rates.
New York Sun.

use on the railroads OF this country
are made Of iron or steel. Although
| no iron 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 not actually engaged in
the metal trade are aware Of the
wonderful 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 rang
ing from .25 to .02 per cent. of the
mass It is not only stronger and for
almost every purpose better than
wrought iron.
It's 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. It's product was
used for making rails. and the total
amount that year was 5000 tons. For
a number of years the Bessemer steel
was almost wholly devoted to that
purpose, the high prica at which it
was sold making it improbable for
other uses 10 which wrought iron was
put. Steel rails brought $3.50 ton in
1878. But after the panic Of 1878
prices came down, and IN 1875 the
rails brought SIS. The hard times of
1879 lowered the price, il spite of
combinations among owners, and in
1888 steel rails sold at $40 g 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 $28 per ton.
The result of these low prices is that
bridges are 40 longer made of iron.
Steel beams have taken the place of
iron in the fire proof buildings. Steel
boilers replace iron boilers. Steel
rifles replace the old cast-iron cannon.
| Wherever tensile strength is required
steel is used.
The use CT steel in beams and grid
ers for houses and bridges was a
natural sequence Of their use in rail
road tracks But the use of this steel
| i1SSS 4ICb OCCL1 SOu1lLICC ~ IdlAI Oc1IS
and steamships. The big tin-plate
factories in Wales began to expert
nlent with steel instead of IRON about
two years ago. Tin plate contains
about SO per cent. of iron and Of
pure tin. The steel plate was found
to be cheaper, and the article made of
steel tia plate were superior. For
making tin dishes without seams or
soldered 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 240, 600 tons Of tin plate
annually, and it Is all made Of steel
plate with tin coating.
One field in which steel has not
yet wholly displaced iron is III the
manufacture of nails The plates from
which nails are cut can be rolled from
steel ingots as easily as from puddled
iron, but the steel plate is harder to
cut and the cutters charge O little
more for the work The plants en-
gag ed IN making steel nails are limit
ed in number, and the price of steel
nails is higher than that of iron. The
steel nail is smoother, stronger asd
handsomer, and has made its way in
spite higher price, but the difference
IN price is rapidly dwindling, and
| will, no doubt, soon disappear alto
gether. Ia November, 1884, the
| Wheeling manufacturers charged 80
cents and the Troy men % cents a
keg more for the steel nails. Quota
tions during the last of February this
year were 50 10 per keg for steel nails
and 50 for iron. The profit to the
, manufacturer of the steel nails is
much greater on account Of the small
er 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
ever abundant among the irop manu-
facturers in any branch of the trade.
& curioss outgrowth of this I'M
provemeRt 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 a
great furnace and small army of
men stirring up the 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 a pear 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
Ia and the mixture IS ready to be
cast into ingots. By the old process
: twenty skilled men could turn out Is
tons Of nail-plate IN day, while by
the new process four common labor~
: ers and one skilled mechanic can
turn out from $50 to 250 tons III a
day. Naturally, the puddlers must
loose their occupation. They have
induced the Contractors and Master
Carpenters Association of Wheeling
: to boycott the steel nails, and all