The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-30
M'QUEEN EXTOLS
 SOUTHERN P|G IRON
Is Vastly Different From the
 Northern Product
CLEANER CASTINGS
Will Produce Finer Grain Casting Without Losing Softness-Brings Joy and Sunshine Wherever It
 Goes-0utlook for Future

With the exception of Judge E. H.
 Gary's address. the paper read at the aft
 ernoon session of the Iron and Steel in-
 stftute yesterday by J. W. Mcqueen was
 easily the feature of the two sessions
 from public viewpoint MT McQueen
 treated his subject in a happy way that
 was at once entertaining and instructive. He told of the trial and tribulations
 of the southern pig" and then entered
 upon a wonderful prophecy of what Is to
 be the future of that pig" He closed
 by stating that 1t would not be one of
 the little pigs that stayed at home" but would roam far and wide and find its
 way into all the marts of the world. | His paper in part was as follows: 1 The paper of J. W. McQueen of the
 Sloss- Sheffield Steel and Iron company on
 Southern Foundry Pig Iron," was in part as follows:
 1 ITO give Birmingham man this sub-
 ject. with no instructions as to his limita-
 tions. is something no one familiar with
 Birmingham men and at the same time
 mindful of the feelings of other mem
 bers, should dare to do
 There is much that could be said but as the time is limited 1t shall be my object to spare you as much as possible.
 l shall waste no time in picturing for you the magic growth of Birmingham.
 from the time 1t was discovered that Red
 mountain was almost a solid block of
 iron ore, on down to the new Union depot, our latest skyscrapers or the Tut wiler hotel
 "To deny myself the plea asure of refer ing to these and the many achievements
 or this district, requires large amount
 Of self-restraint. and the fact that can do this Is about the only otalifica-
 ton I possess, and is, no doubt. one of
 the reasons l was selected to read this paper.
 T believe after your visit here you will accept as an undisputed fact the state
 ment that all of these vast treasures o.f
 mineral wealth which you have read so
 mucn about, are at our very doors A | great deal of it remains in the raw state.
 and, unfortunately, no inconsiderable quantity of 1t in it's manufactured form. which We would far rather see at our
 neighbors doors, even in their yards, to- day.
 The Barometer of Trade Iron is the most abundant and useful of metals, and one of the greatest staples | of commerce and industry It is found only rarely in the pure state, and in such | cases might be termed a heaven sent Dlessing'-fts occurrence being limited to
 meteorites which fall upon the earth from aerial regions. but in some form it can
 be found almost everywhere in civiliza- tion; the extent to which 1t is used will
 mark the progress of civilization and it Is commonly spoken of as the barometer of trade
 we find the first furnace in America was bloomery. erected in Virginia in 1619, and the first blast furnace with l forced draft was built in Virginia in TIA,
 which was, no douht, about the first southern foundry iron produced Tn Alabama the first furnace of which we have record was a small and crude furnace built on Clear creek in Franklin county. in ISIS, on lands now
 owned by the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron company, and near where it's prac- tically inexhaustible territory of brown hematite ore is now being worked the ore yielding little better than 50 per cent in actual furnace practice. While do not vouch for this, was once crossing this territory with some
 of our directors. and Jim Sargent, one of the mine foremen. pointed out to
 them the spot where he vowed horses were shod before the war with shoes made from the ore as it came from the bank.
 | Southern foundry iron was never
 made in any quantity in Alabama until the early seventies, the records show ing as follows:
 1872, 11,Ooo tons; 1882. 1oo.7oo tons; 1892, 915,300 tons; 1902, 1,472.200 tons: 1919, 1868, 900 tons; 1913, 2,05S 900 tons | The figures for the last decade fncluds considerable tonnage of basic iron | wkich I have not been able to separate so as to deduct from totals given above. Southern foundry pig iron, in the trade acceptance of the term, means | foundry iron produced in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. In | these states there are. all told, S2 stacks, or furnaces. A number of the stacks cannot be considered as active | on account of their small size and anti i quated equipment-preventin their competing with the more modern fur
 naces. This class of furnace will prob ably never be put into blast again. southern foundry pig iron has many characteristics entirely different from l northern iron.
 q. Southern foundry iron makes a more fluid iron and sharper, cleaner castings.
 70 It will produce a softer casting with | the same silicon content as northern iron. "3. There Is less internal shrinkage. l A. There is less contraction and as a
 consequence, the resulting casting is near | CT the size of the mould than when north
 ern iron is used exclusively. 1 '5. It will produce a finer grain cast 1 ing without losing softness.
 | "6. There is almost no skin or hair edge
 noticeable in the broken casting. while
 the northern irons chill more rapidly and produce the harder surface.
 AS these results are being more wide 1 ly known, southern foundry iron is gain 1 ing in value to the melter. | "When automobile cylinders became a
 problem for the American foundrynan l (Continued on Last Page)