S/A' WILLIAM S/K. \fENS, 



429 



/// the discussion of Hie Paper 



"ON THE STEEL-COMPRESSING ARRANGEMENTS 

 AT THE BARROW WORKS," by MB. ALFRED DAVIS, 



I>it. 0. W. SIEMENS* said the advantages to be derived by com- 

 ing steel in a fluid condition had been proved by Sir Joseph 

 Whit worth, who for a number of years had produced steel of a 

 very high quality, made in the open-hearth furnace, and subjected, 

 while in a state of fluidity, to very high pressure by hydraulic 

 pumps. Other steel makers had tried to arrive at the same 

 result by similar means. This was perhaps the first paper that 

 had been brought before them giving a distinct account of an 

 attempt to obtain the same advantage by pressure exerted upon 

 fluid steel, without resorting to the very thorough but expensive 

 plan adopted by Sir Joseph Whitworth. At various times he had 

 himself tried to bring pressure, resulting from the spontaneous 

 generation of gases within the closed ingot mould, to bear upon 

 steel ; but he had not obtained altogether satisfactory results. 

 Accordingly, when last year the subject of steam compression was 

 brought before the Iron and Steel Institute, he immediately 

 offered to make an experiment ; but he had found that for mild 

 steel, such as he operated upon, a very high pressure was certainly 

 necessary. Sir Joseph Whitworth had found that 2 tews per 

 square inch was the pressure necessary to produce solid metal. 

 They now heard of 100 Ibs. or 150 Ibs. per square inch being 

 sufficient to produce success ; and from the photographs exhibited 

 by Mr. Richards it was evident that a certain degree of success 

 was obtained, although the holes in the metal were not entirely 

 got rid of. In the case of very mild steel they were also troubled 

 with holes near the surface, which they called honey-combs ; and 

 it was to get rid of these that the heavy pressure seemed to be 

 necessary. The large cavities formed in the centre of the ingot 

 would no doubt be, if not removed, very much reduced in size by 

 such moderate pressure as had been mentioned ; but he was quite 



* Excerpt Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 

 1880, pp. 403-407. 



