CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 200 



facturc of cast steel, the pig iron being turned into cast steel in the space of 

 a lew hours; certainty in producing a uniform quality of steel, that is, steel 

 containing a determinate proportion of carbon, which is accurately deter- 

 mined beforehand by the weight of oxide mixed with the granulated iron; 

 and less cost than the ordinary methods of making cast steel, since the 

 processes arc fewer, and the materials used are simply pig iron and iron ores. 



Some experiments in making cast steel by the Uchatius process have been 

 made at the Xcwburn Steel Works, near Xcwcastlc-on-Tyne, from which it 

 appears there is little doubt that a very fine quality of cast steel can be pro- 

 duced at a cost little more than one-half of that entailed by the common 

 processes. 



A specimen of steel bar was shown, made by the process described in the 

 paper, which had been tested, and broke with a load of thirty cwt. at the 

 centre, the bar being one inch square, and three feet in length between the 

 bearings; the deflection was three and three-eighths inches .at the time of 

 breaking. A specimen was also exhibited showing the welding of the two 

 pieces of the steel, and specimens of the granulated iron and the pulverized 

 ore used in the manufacture, and of the bars and plates produced, with 

 some volute springs made from the steel; also a piece of the steel twisted 

 cold, to show its toughness. 



Mr. T. Spencer said that he had not tested the tensile strength of the steel 

 at present, but found it stood well in the A'olute springs that had been made 

 of it, which had proved quite satisfactory in working. Only some small 

 plates had been rolled from the steel at present as a trial, but these had 

 proved quite satisfactory ; and he did not anticipate any difficulty in mak- 

 ing any size required. It would be observed in the specimen exhibited, that 

 the plate was quite sound on the edges, although it had not been rolled 

 edgeways, but simply rolled down lengthways. No wire has yet been made 

 from it ; the bars and plates made had been hammered and rolled down from 

 the ingots of cast steel. The total cost of the finished bars was about one- 

 half of that by the ordinary process; but where the makers hammci-cd and 

 rolled their own steel, and the cost of the ingot only had to be compared, 

 the proportion would be considerably less. 



Mr. W. Fairbairn thought this process was a very important step in steel 

 manufacture, and would prove of great advantage in the construction of 

 machinery, if a sound uniform steel could be obtained at a moderate price. 

 The bar of the new cast steel that was exhibited certainly showed great 

 strength, having sustained nearly three times as great a weight as iron; and 

 he thought in process of time they might reasonably expect to obtain plates 

 cast and rolled of that manufacture at least double the strength of the pres- 

 ent wrought-iron boiler plates for the same thickness, and not much more 

 expensive for the strength; and it had now become a very important desi- 

 deratum to get plates for boilers only half the thickness at present used, as 

 the thinner plates were so much less liable to injury from overheating and 

 unsoundness in manufacture. 



Mr. T. S. Prideaux thought the dropping of the melted iron into water, in 

 the process of granulating it, would have a beneficial effect in assisting to 

 free the metal from sulphur, by the metal coming in contact with water in a 

 red-hot state; the plan had been tried in Austria, he believed, with success. 

 It was not at all easy to separate sulphur from iron by simple exposure to 



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