Evening star., 1916-03-19

Improvements in steel, it is much
c4r more SO today. and
cent discovery that hitherto unsus-
pected qualities can be impaired to
the invaluable substance by the addi-
ton of such rare elements a chromium,
titanium, vanadium and the like, to-
gether with special heat treatment. is
| creating industrial revolutions right
and left and has been one of the main
| factors in making possible many of our
modern marvels and comforts, includ-
| ing the efficient automobile.
Almost every owner of a motor car
speaks g1ibly of what might be called
the "hyphenated steels." but few of
them know just why these alloys are
superior to the old simple steels which
themselves have advanced the mechan-
| ical side of civilization so rapidly dur
ing the past two generations. An
swers to many of the questions about
special steels that arise in lay minds
are furnished in the most recent COM
prehensive study Of the alloy steel in
dustry in America just completed by
the United States bureau of mines. The
aim of the bureau in making sur
vey of the field has been to stimulate
| cal use of these steels and to increase
efficiency in the utilization of the min
| eral resources Of the country.
The discovery in 1868 that tungsten
added to steel would make it much
harder and much better adapted to
tool making was practically an Alad-
din's lamp to the steel industry, the
| bureau of mines flnds. and with dis
coveries that followed opened a field
of practically infinite possibilities for
| the production of new combinations re-
sulting in steels with unexpected and
sometimes startling characteristics.
The addition of small quantities Of
different elements to the iron and car
| effects. for instance. as to produce
hardness in one case and softness in
| another: to destroy all magnetic sus-
| capabilities. or to produce metal that
| is much harder when red hot than
| when cold AS general thing the ad
djtion of the rare elements means an
increase in strength and consequent
| saving in weight and space. This has
| been especially valuable in the automo-
| bile industry, where car made from
the steels available half a century ago
would have been of perhaps double the
| weight OF a modern car, a condition
that would have detracted tremendous
| ly from the present efficiency of the
| machines and from economy OF pro-
duction and operation.
Tungsten steel, the discovery of
which ushered in the era OF special
steels. played a useful part in general
| industry for NUMBER OF years, Dul
has now been superseded for many
| uses, the bureau of mines finds, by
newer alloys having superior quail
| ties. This first of the steel alloys was
found to be especially adapted. beca use
| of the presence of tungsten. to the
manufacture of permanent magnets
for use in such apparatus as electric
meters and it still fills this field. Be
tween 5000 and 5000 tons of tungsten
steel are consumed in the United States
| each year.
| Chromium gives unusual toughness
| combined with hardness. and the steel
TO which it alone has been added is
used for such purposes as the manu-
| facture of balls and rollers for bear
ings, stamps for ore crushers and roll
ers for MASKING and working other
steels About 5000 tons also Of this
Especial steel are turned out in America
One of the simple alloys now in most
general use is manganese steel. OF
which more than 10000 tons Is pro-
duced in this country each year. This
element imparts combination OF
strength and ductility which gives
manganese steel first place when the
amount of energy required to be ex-
pended to break 1t is considered. When
| the alloy Is stretched the elongated
portion actually becomes stronger than
the unstretched part. 1t has SO far