.S7A' \\-ll.I.L\M SIEMENS, FJLS. 289 



- I-'rom the nature of the process, as a rule, very little if any 

 silicon is found in Siemens steel. The carbon and silicon appear 

 to be eliminated equally when manganese is not present, and, as 

 the carbon is generally in excess of the silicon, none remains when 

 the carbon is reduced to 0'2 per cent. The small amount found 

 in the steel is derived from the spiegeleisen." 



At the Landore Works upwards of 1,000 tons of cast steel are 

 produced weekly by these processes, and other works, such as 

 Vickers and Company, Krupp, of Essen, etc., are using the same 

 for the production of steel of high quality. 



Both in the ore-reducing and in the Siemens-Martin or scrap 

 process, pig metal forms the principal basis, being used either as 

 such, or as puddled iron or Bessemer scrap-metal, resulting from 

 the conversion of pig metal by a previous process. 



In my former lecture I expressed my belief that the direct con- 

 version of ores into iron or steel would ultimately be accomplished, 

 and, having since been actively engaged on the problem, it is now 

 my chief object to lay before you the results I have up to this time' 

 attained. 



I am aware that, on the one hand, the direct conversion of iron 

 ores into wrought iron or steel is no novelty, inasmuch as the 

 ancient Indians and Romans produced their iron by a direct 

 process from the ore ; and that, on the other hand, the blast 

 furnace offers immense facilities for the wholesale extraction of 

 metal from the ore, by the side of which the puny efforts of the 

 ancients producing half a cwt. of metal intermixed with half-fused 

 cinder by a day's toil, and with the expenditure of large quantities 

 of rich ore and charcoal, sink into utter insignificance. 



Mr. Riley says, in his able lecture " On the Manufacture of 

 Steel and Iron," read before this Society on May 22, 1872 : 



" The great improvement lately introduced in the manufacture 

 of pig iron, the enormously increased production at a diminished 

 cost of what may be considered to be the raw material from which 

 we start in the manufacture of iron and steel, are, I think, 

 sufficient to convince not only practical men, but scientific men 

 also, that in any improvement in iron manufacture we must 

 commence with the pig, and consider that our starting point." 



Mr. Riley here gives expression to the prevailing opinion 

 amongst metallurgists ; but still I do not despair of being able to 

 VOL. i. v 



