INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1875. cclxiii 



plant capable of easily manipulating the large puddled balls 

 produced. 



A very useful sketch of the various methods for produc- 

 ing phosphorus steel (or, to use a more correct definition, 

 phosphorus cast metal), to which we alluded in last year's 

 Record in a description of the results obtained by M. Eu- 

 verte at the Terre Noire Works, has been published by M. 

 Gautier, from which it appears that considerable success has 

 been attained. M. Gautier agrees in the general statement 

 that phosphorus may be allowed to remain in steel without 

 exercising any practically injurious effect upon its qualities. 

 This metal, he remarks, can not be employed in industry 

 except on condition that it is nearly deprived of carbon ; 

 consequently every process that yields extra-soft steel will, 

 with inferior materials, produce phosphorus cast metal. 



With regard to the future development of the Bessemer 

 process, it may be of interest to record the following views 

 of the same metallurgist. The Bessemer process, he af- 

 firms, is destined to lose much of its importance in presence 

 of the certain and unlimited extension of the Siemens-Martin 

 process, which he considers will take the lead in future, and 

 regulate prices. It is capable of using up old iron and em- 

 ploying all kinds of ore, for puddling is still the only 

 known method of practically getting rid of the sulphur 

 and phosphorus contained in irons ; while the Bessemer 

 process, requiring as it does special grades of iron, will al- 

 ways have a limited application. 



Perhaps the most reliable estimate of the relative merits 

 of the Bessemer and the Siemens-Martin processes will be 

 found in the following considerations, which embody the 

 opinions of eminent judges : There are at least two defects 

 in the application of the Bessemer process, or perhaps it 

 would be better to say, two obstacles to be encountered in 

 the practical working of the method that seem difficult 

 to overcome. One is the impossibility of using directly 

 pig-irons containing sulphur and phosphorus in any appre- 

 ciable quantities, and the other the difficulty of controlling 

 the quality of the product. These obstacles are too well 

 known to need enlargement. Though the first obstacle will 

 not in the future be so serious in America as in England, 

 owing to the existence of large deposits of ore in. various 



