Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1892-11-16
From the Iron-Trade Review, Cleveland, o.
VIRGINIA AS A BASIC STEEL
MAKER.
BY EDMUND C. PECHIN.

Royal Navy, entitled, Experiments
With Basic Steel"
The difficulty in the past in securing
The assent of Lloyd's to the use of basic |
steel in mercantile shipbuilding is well
known and it is only at a comparative
" recent date that its merits have been |
The conclusions reached |
by MIR. White, as the results of careful
and elaborate experiments and tests,
are of special Importance, as these
tests were made by the direction and
under the supervision of the Admiral
ty.
Exhaustive tables of figures accom-
pany the paper, but the summing up
is what interests the public at large.
Mr.. White says: 1.-THE duetility is
good, the material stands punching,
and the riveting tests are remarkably
good. The ultimate tensile strength
is as nearly as possible the mean liked
by the Admiralty conditions for plates
for ship work. The mean extension
in eight inches is 25.S per cent. as
against the 20 per cent. fixed iii the
Admiralty conditions. These later
tests of material supplied from different
makers, offered conclusive evidence
petent makers to the production OF
open-hearth steel, may be treated to
give us results no less satisfactory than
those obtained with acid open-hearth
steel. With these results before them,
the Admiralty decided to admit basic
steel made in the open hearth, on prac-
tically the same terms as regards ship
work, as those on which acid open
hearth steel has been admitted.
Mr.. White very properly congratu-
lated British iron masters on these re.
suits, since the success of basic steel
makes them much less dependent on
foreign supplies of non-phosphoric ores
and would enable native phosphorlc
ores to be utilized. This is a valuable
lesson to be taken home by our whole
country, but particularly by the South.
In the extraordinary output Of steel
during the last few years, basic has
played no part Acid steel has been
the product, and with acid steel the
South is not in the ring. For several
years past, large deposits of Bessemer
ores have been claimed in different
Southern localities, as in North Caro-
lima and Texas, but they have not as
yet materialized as a business factor,
and under the most favorable circum-
stances will not for some time to come.
And with the fact now patent, that the
South possesses an abundance of ores
exactly suited to the making of pig
iron for basic steel, as good, and cheap
er than can be made either by the
Bessemer or open hearth acid process,
it is most unlikely that the making OF
acid steel will become an important
item of Southern industry. 1t goes
without saying, that oil through the
North and West there are many ores
and irons admirably suited for open
hearth basic steel, but with the enor-
nous existing investments in acid steel
plants, there is little or no inducenent
to branch off into open-hearth basic.
| have no hesitation in saying that the
crying need of the South to-day is raw
steels, and along certain lines her ad-
vancement is going TO be slow, ii not
entirely arrested. unless this need is
supplied. Manufacturers will not
locate in the South when they must go
to the North or West for their steel.
All around US are ores, that can readi-
ly be made into steel, the saving OF
freight alone on which would be fair
commercial profit.
Without Intending to disparage any
other part OF the South. Virginia is
par eacel5ence the location for making
open hearth basic steel. Alabama and
Tennessee coke irons can undoubtedly
be used, bat their higher silicon is an
objection. Ii, as is now generally ac-
cepted, the reason for this higher sill
con. arises from the presence of impu
ritios in ila AlAba,s,o and TonnUeote
cokes the plans now being taken on a
large scale for the crushing and wash
ing of the Goals before coking, will
largely remedy this objection, but nee
essarily it will add to the cost of the
coke. The adoption of the duplex pro-
cess will of course get rid of the silicon
before treatment in the open hearth,
but this also means higher first cost.
After a careful review of the whole
situation, and with our present knowl-
edge of processes and materials, must
maintain that high grade open-hearth
basic steel can be made in the great
valley of Virginia at a lower cost than
anywhere else in this country. Some
of the reasons for this conclusion are
as follows:
Practically the only ores in Virginia
available for iron making are the brown
ores of the Potsdam series mos. 1 and
q and of the Oriskany NO. y. Tween
ty-two furnaces are dependent upon
these ores, and with the exception of
three or four all are frst-class modern
furnaces The total furnace capacity
is hard on to 100000 tons per annum.
With the exception of very moderate
local demand lately developed, this
iron, both foundry and forge, has to
find Northern and Eastern market
The ordinary forge iron of the whole
district viii run silicon g to z; phos-
phorus d to s, manganese, from is to
3 per cent. A furance can be run
month in and. month out certainly
guaranteeing forge iron with silicon
under one half Of per cent. An Eng
fish steel maker to whom l showed
analyses Of our Virginia irons taken at
random, exclaimed, There can be
nothing better than these; they are
ideal irons for open-hearth basic work"
Although the brown ores as mined
on a commercial scale are silicious,
carrying from s to % per cent. silica,
they reduce with extraordinary ease,
allow a large output and with POcha
hOntas coke give, as above stated, an
iron with extremely low silicon. The
sulphur is infinitesimal. 1t is safe to
say that with the current price of Vir-
illld lIOHS d well dOoiS GCO siuu lCSdlOu
open-hearth steel plant could make
billets at an outside cost of SIS per ton
| get at this by having before me an
itemized statement of the actual cost
from pig iron into billets elsewhere. |
Further than this, to make an iron to
sell on the general market, requires an
admixture of Cripple Creek and Gossan
ores, which at present Increases the
cost For first class basic pig, the
ores mo. y width are the
lowest in cost, can be used alone, and
make cheaper iron than is now made.
The query naturally presents itself,
Can a present home market be had for
the output of even moderate sized |
plant? For billets alone, No, and pos
sibly not at once for an entire output |
Of finished forms, but both would come
speedily and surely. The strong point
is, that good plant could calculate
upon running continuously, as any sur
plus remaining over home consumption
as, indeed, the whole output, if de-
find ready market in the
North, with low freight rates. Hence
capital would be free from the lisk Or
1inarily run in establishing industrial |
plants in a new country. Leaving out |