The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1892-01-08
SOUTHERN MANUFACTURED STEEL
The Success that has been Achieved
WHAT'S yet Necessary.
[Chattanooga Tradesman.l

in September 1880. The beginning was
lnrdencd with all the trials incident to
the starting Of new enterprise in any
section, not only were all the materials
that were to form the product new and un-
tried, but also all the materials that en-
tered into the construction of the new
plant. Notwithstanding all these diff
culties the work has been prosecuted con-
rinuously uutil today they arc producing
not only an ideal steel as to quality, but
the cost Of production has been reduced to
as low point as IL theoretical practice
could make it, the size of the plant and
tic conditions which surround it consid-
cred.
This refers exclusively to the Open
Hearth practice. The fact is now estab-
]ishcd that the South can, with Il proper
manipulation of its ores in the blast fur
mace, make pig iron from which the very
besl brick open hearth steel can be made.
contcmp ated the manufacture OF open
Hearth steel at Chattanooga, the most Sc
rons question they had to solvc i'll their
mind was the ability to get rid of the
large pcccentugc Of silicon which most
Southern pig iron carries this, it was
found, could be easily done both in coke
and charcoal practice. The almost en-
tire absence Of sulphur in all our South
ern ores left but one other detrimental
ingredient to be dealt with, that of phos-
phorus. While it has been admitted that
a large percentage of phosphorus could be
eliminated, still it was claimed that 1t
must be done ut the expense of time and
labor. In practice, this has not been true
with the operations at Chattanooga. With
a pig iron carrying from ~ to "a per
cent of 80 per cent. Of the steel produced
has carried less than .05 of phosphorus,
and some heats have been produced which
showed barely trace OF phosphorus.
The quality Of steel produced by this
process finds almost an unlimited market
for all purposes where soft steel or Nor
way iron is required. The market is CO.
extensive with the limits Of the continent.
Wherever there is machine shop, a car
works. a locomotive works or manufactur-
ing establishment of almost any kind,
there will be found demand for this class
Of steel.
IT is not claimed that this steel can be
produced as cheaply as ordinary Bessemer
steel nor that it will take the place of ordi-
nary Bcssemer steel for rails, without re-
carbonixation. 1t is not desired that it
should for the reason that it will command
4 very much higher price in the markets Of
the country on account Of the almost en-
tire absence Of the detrimental mctaloids.
know of no section in the South where it
cannot he successfully made, where ordi-
nary intelligence and reasonable amount
of skill is exercised in the blast furnace
practice, and while there is large and
growing demand for this class OF steel,
which it will take the South years to grow
mp TO, still it does not follow by any means
that we are precluIcd from making Basic
Bessemcr steel in as large quantities and
as chcaply as Acid Bessemcr can be made
anywhere on the continent.
rane the ores Of Western North Carroll
ia, NORTH Georgia and N ortheast Alabama
and will proper combination, you can
get an ideal Basic Bessemer pig which can
be manufactured at even less cost than
the ordinary forge and foundry practices.
I say, that, with these ores and with the
cokcs of Sequachic valley and with the
limestone which exists everywhere a Bas-
ic Besselaer pig can lie made at a cost even
less than the very low price at which we
are now making forge and foundry irons.
IT is admitted that the labor in produc-
ing a ton OF Basic Bessemersteelis greater
than that Of Acid Bessemer, but when the
comparative cost of the Basic Besseme,
ard that of the Acid Bessemer pig is taken
into cons Iteration, it is confidently assert
ed that Basic Bessemer steel can be man
ufactured at less price in the South han
Acid Bessemer can be made at Pittsburg
or elsewhere.
DISPOSITION OF SOUTHERN IRON.
TO this point would especially call the
attention Of Southern iron masters as So
luton OF the problem as to how we are to
get our llast furnace products into more
megchantable shape, enhance the value Of
these products, reduce the amount OIL
freight ,elatiyely that we pay. furnish a
very much larger field forth employment
OF labor and thereby build up our towns
ard cities, keeping at home the large
amount of money that goes North every
year for steel rails, nails, ETC., etc.
The line of demarcaton in the manufac.
ture of Acid Bessemer steel is almost as
plainly marked and as clearly drawn as
that Of the production ofanthracite Goals
They must rely largely upon the Connells-
Vile district for their fuels aud upon the
lake region for their ores, while that Of
the Basic Bessemer is circumscribcd by
no such limits.
I Upper East Tennessee is full of brown
ores that carry anywhere from one-halfo Of
one percent to three per cent. of phos-
phorus, and from fifty to sixty per cent
metallic iron. The same is true Of North
and East Alabama. This would give the
whole range from Bristol to Birmingham
ores and fuels that could be brought to.
gether at very much less cost than the
ores OF the lakes and the cokcs of Con.
nellsyille, saving in the cost of the trans.
portati0n ofthe raw materials alone large.
Fly more than the difference in the cost o.
the manufacture by the two processes.
A large manufacturing concern in tht