686 



STEEDMAX- STEEL. 



swer to bis request for duty. Thereafter he served 

 under Admiral Footo in the organization of the 

 naval force that manned the pun-boats on the Missis- 

 sippi. In September, 18(11, lie co-operated, as com- 

 mander of the steamer Bienville, in the capture of 

 Port Royal, and in the operations on the coast of 

 Florid* and Georgia. In September, 1862, he was 

 made captain and, in charge of the Powhattan, took 

 part in the blockade of Charleston, in various en- 

 gagements there, and in the capture of Fort Mc- 

 Allister, on the Ogeecbee, which led to the evacua- 

 tion of Savannah. After towing the captured ram 

 Atlanta to Philadelphia, he weiit in command of the 

 Ticonderoga to the coast of Brazil in pursuit of the 

 Confederate cruiser Florida. In this vessel he con- 

 tinned to serve during the remainder of the war, 

 taking part in several operations, and finally \u-nt 

 on a cruise in the Mediterranean, whence he re- 

 turned in 18G7, in command of the frigate Colorado. 

 Meantime, in .Inly, 18l>6, lie had been appointed 

 commodore. From 1809 to 1872 he was in charge of 

 the Boston navy -yard. In May, 1871, he was advanced 

 to rear-admiral, and finally retired from the service, 

 Sept. 24, 1873. 



STEEDMAN, JAKES BARRETT, general, was born, 

 July 30, 1818, in Northumberland Co., Pa. He was 

 emphatically a man of energy and action, and before 

 the war bad been a contractor on the Wabash and 

 Krie Canal, a member of the legislature of Ohio, the 

 organizer of a party to cross the plains to California 

 in search of gold (from which he returned next 

 year), a -member of the Ohio board of public works, 

 the public printer at Washington during Buchan- 

 an's administration, and a delegate to the conven- 

 tion at Charleston in 1860, where he advocated the 

 nomination of Stephen A. Douglas. On the out- 

 break of the war he became colonel of I lie Fourth Ohio 

 Regiment, and was sent to Western Virginia. Here 

 he was engaged in the battle of Philippi ; thereaf- 

 ter he joined Gen. Buell in Kentucky, and in July, 

 1862, was promoted to brigadier-general. In this 

 capacity he rendered efficient service at the battle 

 of Perryville, arriving on the field just in time to 

 drive back the enemy, who had broken the Union 

 line. In July, 1863, he was appointed to the com- 

 mand of the First division of the reserve corps of the 

 Army of the Cumberland, and at the battle of Chick- 

 amanga re-enforced Gen. Thomas at a moment of 

 great emergency. For this he has been given the 

 credit of saving the day, though the honor of sug- 

 gesting the movement is usually assigned to Gen. 

 G. Granger. His services here earned him the rank 

 of major-general (April 24, 1864). He afterward 

 served in Sherman's Atlanta campaign, everywhere 

 sh'owing zeal and courage. When Thomas left the 

 expedition to return to Nashville, Gen. Steedmnn 

 joined him, and performed efficient service. In 1866, 

 after serving as provisional governor of Georgia, he 

 resigned, and received the appointment of collector 

 of internal revenue at New Orleans. Here his want 

 of familiarity with business involved him in finan- 

 cial difficulties, and he returned to Ohio. In 1879 

 he was elected to the State senate, but on a second 

 canvass was defeated. A few months before his 

 death he was made chief of police of Toledo, where 

 he was ostensible owner and editor of the Weekly Ohio 

 Democrat. He died at Toledo, Oct. 18, 1883. 



STEEL. Every description of iron ore will give 

 cast iron and wrought iron, the properties of the 

 product obtained depending npon the ore and the 

 method used ; but in all cases the terms " cast iron " 

 and " wrought iron " will be applied to the extreme 

 results and all intermediate products which cannot 

 be classed with cast iron on the one hand, or the 

 wrought iron on the other, may be called steel. It 

 forms the link between cast and wrought iron, and 

 unites the properties of both, the distinguishing 



characteristic being that it may be hardened or soft- 

 ened at will by rapid or slow cooling. When ex- 

 posed to heat it takes on in succession the following 

 colors : 



1. A faint yellow, which shows the proper temper- 

 ature for lancets and other fine cutters that require 

 the finest edge, with but little strength of metal. 



2. A pale straw -yellow, the temperature for razors 

 and surgical instruments. 



3. Full yellow, for pen-knives, with increased 

 toughness. 



4. Brown, with purple spots, for axes and carpen- 

 ters' tools. 



5. Bright blue, for swords and watch-springs. 

 '. I 'nil Hue, for fine saws and daggers. 



7. Dark blue, for large saws, or instruments that 

 may be sharpened with a file. 



Proportion* of Carbon in Steel and Iron. 



Per cent of carbon. 



Pure wrought iron 0.000 



Soft steel 0.075 



Mild steel 0.08 to 0.20 



Hard steel 0.20 to 0.40 



Tool Bteel 0.40 to 0.80 



Malleable cast iron 0.88 to 1.53 



Draw-plate steel 3.80 



Cast iron 4 to 5 



1. then, may be produced by any process which 

 adds carbon to wrought iron or reduces it in cast 

 iron. 



Puddled steel is made in the puddling furnace. In 

 changing into wrought iron in the furnace the metal 

 passes through the state of steel, or becomes steel 

 before it becomes wrought iron ; so to get steel the 

 usual puddling process is stopped at such a stage in 

 the working as will give steel. 



A very old process is the process by cementation 

 or heating bars of iron embedded in charcoal for 

 from six to ten days. The iron is in the form of 

 straight bars about 3 inches wide and f inch thick. 

 Fine charcoal in cubes of i to } inch edge is placed 

 in the bottom of the converting pot or cliest, which 

 is made of fire-brick or fire-stone ; on this the bars 

 are laid close together, and then another layer of 

 charcoal about J inch thick and a layer of bars, and 

 so on till the chest is full, when a thick layer of char- 

 coal is placed on the top and a compact, air-tight 

 covering of grinder's waste or clay is pasted over 

 the top. The cliest is then placed in a furnace and 

 a temperature of glowing redness kept up during 

 periods varying with the quality of steel desired. 

 Spring steel requires seven days ; shear steel, eight 

 davs ; and steel for welding, from nine to ten d:n s. 

 When taken out the fractured bar has no longer the 

 bluish tint of malleable iron, but lias acquired a red- 

 dish-white color and a scaly, crystalline trxtme. 

 A remarkable characteristic of the carbonized bars 

 is the blistering of the surfaces, from which it gets 

 the name of "blister steel." When the blisters are 

 small in size and are regularly distributed the steel 

 is of good quality ; when they are large and follow 

 certain lines it indicates a want of homogeneity in 

 the iron used. The average increase of weight ex- 

 perienced by the iron during conversion is from \ to 

 t per cent., and the amount of coal consumed is 

 from 75 to 90 per cent, of the weight of the steel 

 produced. Blister steel is used for facing hammers 

 and sledges ; when drawn out at a low heat it is used 

 for spring steel, but the texture is not sufficiently 

 uniform for general purposes, and drawing out the 

 bars necessarily entails a loss of carbon and, in con- 

 sequence, a loss of hardness. 



The proper uniformity of structure may be ob- 

 tained, however, by breaking up the steel made by 

 cementation and fusing the pieces in air-tight cruci- 

 bles, from which the steel is poured into moulds, or 

 when a largo casting is to be made a number of 



