S/K WILLIAM SIEMENS, f.R.S. 365 



to light seemed to throw great doubt upon the desirability 

 of nsiii^ mild steel, especially in the Navy. He believed that a 

 tendency to corrode was also the result of excessive manganese, 

 and some experiments which he had himself made went certainly 

 in confirmation of that view that as the manganese in mild steel 

 was increased, so its liability to corrosion increased. He quite 

 agreed with the suggestion of Mr. Fox that the subject of the 

 (|ii;ility and treatment of mild steel should be carefully inquired 

 into. The Committee of Lloyd's Register were collecting experi- 

 mental data regarding it, and the Board of Trade had also turned 

 their attention to it recently ; but whether individually or col- 

 lectively, the Iron and Steel Institute should not be indifferent to 

 a subject so important. 



In tfw discussion of the Paper 



"ON SOME EECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE 

 MANUFACTURE OF IRON SPONGE BY THE 

 BLAIR PROCESS," by MR. J. IRELAND, 



THE PRESIDENT * (MR. C. "VV. SIEMENS) said the converting of 

 ore into spongy iron was not new. It was first proposed by Mr. Clay, 

 many years ago. "We had also heard much of the Chenot process, 

 and after that there had been many other attempts to produce 

 spongy iron. He himself gave very considerable attention to the 

 subject at one time, and he had produced spongy iron by methods 

 somewhat analogous to that which had been brought before the 

 meeting. He did not think, therefore, that any particular name 

 could be attached to the process of making iron sponge for the 

 purpose of utilising that spongy metal in the after-process for the 

 production of iron and steel. The difficulties which made him 

 desist from his endeavours to arrive at a practical solution of the 



* Excerpt Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute, 1878, pp. 57-58. 



