Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1894-03-01
THE SECRET OF STEEL.

ened, tempered, drawn and welded
Capacity of tempering and welding
still fixed the advanced limit of steel
but at the lower end of the scale ii
has dropped from J per cent of carbon
to Ito, thereby enormously multiply
ING its uses and applications. The
causes and processes which have ef-
fected this advance in metallurgy have
recreated many Of the worlds most
important industries
In the primitive ages of metallurgy
iron and steel were made from rich
ores with charcoal fuel, and the iron
maker did not need to trouble him.
self with the stubborn problems Of
fered by the presence of sulphur and
phosphorus. But with the exhaustion
of the rich ores which were available
for use, and the need of substituting
mineral fuel for charcoal, these danger
Gus enemies came to the fore. The pres
ence of sulphur, beyond a mere trace,
in any of the forms Of iron destroys
its welding power, and renders it
highly brittle at a red heat or, tech
nically, "red short. Phosphorus
causes brittleness when cold; that is,
makes iron "cold short" and fragile
at any sudden shock. When steel
ceased to be a direct product Of the
forge, or to be made in any large
quantity from pure bloomary iron,
the question arose how it could be OBJ
tained from the impure and highly
carburized product of the blast-fur-
mace. This was answered by the op-
Grafton of refining, which did not fully
eliminate the evils that threatened,
afording but a makeshift product
for the raw material of steel. The
imperfectly cleansed bars were then
treated by the cementation method
1t was known more than two centuries
ago that wrought iron enveloped in
powdered charcoal and retained at a
red heat for long time would gradu-
ally change into steel Until l74O
this process was used, with the further
addition of reheating the "bister-
steel SO produced, and hammering 1t
into what was known as "shear-metal,
so called because it was first used for
sheep-shears. But the product was
wretched, and good, highly temperable
steel was imported from the far East
at great cost.
A working clock-maker, Huntsman
by name, disgusted with the poor
quality of watch-springs, set his brains
at work to find remedy. Being a
bright-witted man, he visited the diff
ferent steel-works and studied the
chemistry of his subject; and after
several years of research he erected a
furnace, which produced steel SO excel
lent as to stir universal wonder, and
set his own feet on the highway tc
wealth. But his secret was filched by
rival, who, in the disguise of a
drunken tramp, begged shelter at his
furnace door one stormy winter night
The keen-eyed thief discovered enough
in what he saw and heard to repeat
Huntsman's success. The best stee.
of today is still made by this process
This discovery, in the course of a few
years, reduced the price of the highest
! grade of steel from $1,000 to 9lOC
per ton.
The cementation method Of steel
making. with Huntman's addition
may be briefly summarized as The
packing of wrought-irOn bars In char
coal dust. They are cemented ina
friedrich chamber, and suffer a dul
red heat for period Of about tel
days. Removal of the bars shows
the peculiar condition known as blister
steel, so called from the swellings OF
the surface, which are caused by th'
occlusion of carbonic oxide. Th'
metal is hard and brittle, and break
easily with hammer tap. The tol
lowing stage is that discovered, or
more properly, revived, by Huntsman
for it was essentially in use IN tn
East from early days. Broken piece
are packed in crucibles of from 60 t
so pounds capacity, with certain pro
portions of black oxide of manganese
The crucibles are made of refractor.
clay, graphite and old pots pOunde'
to a dust, and their manufacture /
now an important industry in itself
The pots are arranged in pairs in fur