AMERICAN INSTITUTE. ' 497 



iron, by varying tlie nature of the fluxes used, red short is derived from, 

 too small a quantity of carbon to neutralise the sulphur. Iron will be cold 

 short if the metalloids and carbon contained in it be reduced to a mini- 

 mum, but red short if entirely removed. The cold short property, if not 

 desired, may be corrected by suitable doses of carbon to protect the iron 

 from oxidation, while the metalloids are being removed in the form of 

 oxides. Wrought iron, both hot and cold short, is a worthless result, when 

 the carbon, sulphur and metalloid are equal in the pig or bar. The manu- 

 facture of wrought iron involves two fundamental operations, to wit: the 

 removal of impurities from the ore, and from the crude metal, and the oxi- 

 dation of the metal sufficient to form fibres. A specific variety of iron is 

 required for nails, which to cut smooth and not split, requires an iron of 

 verj' close grain ; cold short answers the purpose better than fibrous. For 

 wire iron, gray pig, containing a large amount of carbon, fluxed by caustio 

 Boda and clay is good; but if expense. is no object, borax is far better. 

 Fibrous iron is not adapted to wire making. The making of sheet iron is a 

 branch full of difficulties and intricacies, but once well understood, like every- 

 thing else, becomes simple and agreeable ; the main difficulty to be encoun- 

 tered is the quality of the iron. It has always been supposed that the Rus- 

 sians, who are so famous for their sheet iron, possessed some secret respecting 

 its manufacture, which they guarded with incessant care. This is not so ; 

 the secret consists in the quality of the iron, which is superior. Iron for the 

 manufacture of coarse bar, railroad, boiler plate, &c,, must possess a diff'er- 

 ent texture from wire iron ; cold short if rolled into boiler plate is apt to split, 

 and would be dangerous in a boiler. There is nothing so well calculated to 

 impress observing men with the wonderful material progress of our country 

 as the amazing consumption of iron, and its rapid increase. In 1851, or 

 '52, we imported four hundred and fifty thousand tons of iron ; in 1850, our 

 consumption amounted to one million of tons, and now probably to one mil- 

 lion six hundred thousand. We ai;e second to Great Britain only, in our 

 metallic resources. For example, the value of metals produced in the United 



States, now is, 79,830,000 tons. 



In Groat Britain 96,170,000 " 



In Australia, = 39,500 000 " 



All other countries produce individually less than Australia. Thus the 

 Anglo Saxon race stand before all others in the metallic production. Cast 

 steel plates will supersede wrought iron for ship building, yacht and 

 steamer, besides their machinery, boilers, &c. ; or in other words, entire 

 vessels will be built of this material, because a steel plate half as thick as 

 iron will possess far more strength ; consequently the vessels will bo one- 

 half lighter. Puddled steel may be made as cheap as puddled iron ; that 

 is to say, the saving in weight will pay the difference in expense. Puddled 

 steel bars have been tested, and proved that their tenslble strength was 

 nearly one hundred and sixty-one thousand to the square inch, while 

 English iron was 66,500 ; Ftussian iron, 62,600 ; American, hammered, 



[Am. Inst.] 32 



