334 



FRENCH EXHIBITION. 



beam 36 ft. long, 5 ft. 11 in. wide in the centre, 

 tapering toward both ends, and of a thickness 

 of 2| in. throughout ; the weight is 8 tons. 



The steel works of Mr. P. Krupp, at Es- 

 sen, Ehenish Prussia, have now been in exist- 

 ence 40 years. Laid out originally as a very 

 small concern by the father, whose name is still 

 maintained as that of the firm, it "has been in- 

 creased every year by from one-sixth to one- 

 third of its own size." The present extent of 

 the works amounts to an area of 510 acres, of 

 which 12TJ acres are roofed over. The total 

 production of articles of steel in the year 1866 

 amounted to about 63,000 tons, representing a 

 total value exceeding 1-j million pounds sterling, 

 The plant for this manufacture consists of 412 

 steel melting, heating, and cementing furnaces, 

 195 steam-engines, ranging from 2 to 1,000- 

 horse power each, 49 steam hammers, ranging 

 in weight of hammer-head between 1 cwt. and 

 50 tons, 110 smiths' fires, 318 lathes, 111 plan- 

 ing-machines, and 246 other self-acting tools. 

 The consumption of coal in the works averages 

 1,000 tons per day. There are 120 boilers, 

 evaporating about 150,000 cubic feet of water 

 every 24 hours. Among the articles exhibit- 

 ed is a great steel block of 40 tons weight, cast 

 from 1,500 crucibles. The upper end of this 

 block, which is 56 inches in diameter at the 

 bottom, has been forged under the 50-ton ham- 

 mer, and is intended to be worked up into a 

 marine crank-shaft. Mr. Krupp surpasses 

 every steel manufacturer, and himself with re- 

 gard to sizes of steel blocks, at every successive 

 Exhibition. In 1851 he exhibited a steel block 

 of 4,500 lb., and in 1855 a block of 5 tons: in 

 1862 a 20-ton ingot. The 50-ton gun is a 

 piece of ordnance of extraordinary size, pro- 

 portion, and power, and, as a specimen of ma- 

 terial and work, shows that the sizes and 

 weights to be counted upon in practice, and 

 the available power of production, have been 

 enlarged during the last five years. Mr. Krupp's 

 commercially greatest success is the manufac- 

 ture of weldless steel tires, made of crucible 

 steel, and produced by his patent process, which 

 consists in hammering, a long square bloom to 

 the proper size, and splitting it up longitudi- 

 nally, afterward widening the split by means of 

 wedges, and by successive hammering, until the 

 hoop so produced can be rolled in the tire-mill 

 to the finished shape and size. His annual pro- 

 duction amounts to 35,000 or 40,000 steel tires, 

 of which more than one-third is bought in Eng- 

 land and America. The steel rails exhibited in 

 numerous specimens, although excellent, are 

 made of cast steel of " Krupp's second quality," 

 allowing them to be sold at a price exceeding 

 that of good iron rails by 50 per cent, only, 

 while the durability of these rails is much 

 greater, and the demand is rapidly increas- 

 ing. The pair of 6-feet locomotive driving- 

 wheels cast solid, of crucible steel, are castings 

 of great beauty and nicely finished. A piece 

 of angle steel, rolled out of a solid hoop without 

 weld to a diameter of 90 inches, is a great de- 



sideratum in boiler construction. Mr. Krupp 

 has up to the present time made about 3,500 

 steel guns, and has at present orders for 2,200 

 more. About 95 per cent, of these guns are 

 breech-loaders, with a range of calibre between 

 4-pounders and 300-pounders. There are also 

 a few 600-pounders and 1,000-pounders in hand. 

 There is a rifled breech-loader of 9-inch bore, 

 which has fired 120 rounds with 40 lb. of pow- 

 der, and solid shot of 300 lb. each. This gun is 

 made of a single steel block, forged solid, and 

 having the ring with the trunnions shrunk on 

 afterward. A 6-inch gun weighing 4-J tons, 

 and firing solid shot of 80 lb., has withstood 

 100 charges of 10 lb. of powder each. All 

 these guns are in a state of perfection after 

 these trials. 



Messrs. J. Brown and Co., of the Atlas Works, 

 Sheffield, have produced an armor plate 13-J- 

 in. thick, 14 ft. long, and 6 ft. wide, and of 

 this plate a piece is exhibited. A similar plate 

 in the Admiralty exhibit forms part of a shield 

 which has been exposed to some trials. They 

 exhibit also three large steel tubes for ord- 

 nance, made by Deakin and Johnson's patent 

 process from punched blocks of Bessemer steel, 

 rolled over fixed mandrils. These tubes are 

 each 9 ft. 2 in. long, and of different diameters. 

 The largest has an outside diameter of 12J in. 

 and a 7-iii. hole; the two others 10 in. diame- 

 ter and a 6-in. hole. The tubes are turned 

 on the outside to show the beautiful homo- 

 geneous material of which they are made, and 

 the freedom from faults, fissures, or specks on 

 their surface. Also a hollow railway axle, 

 made on the same plan. The process patented 

 by Messrs. Deakin and Johnson forms one of 

 the most interesting and characteristic novel- 

 ties in the present Exhibition. Spherical shot 

 of different sizes, of hammered Bessemer steel, 

 are manufactured in considerable quantities at 

 the Atlas Works. The largest of these ex- 

 hibited is 20 in. diameter, and has a weight of 

 1,136 lb. It is extremely well finished and 

 clean at the surface, although it is left from the 

 hammer without turning or grinding. These 

 spheres are forged by swaging them carefully 

 between hemispherical swages. In order to 

 reduce them to the proper size, without at the 

 same time increasing their density by excessive 

 hammering, a quantity of water is thrown upon 

 the balls in their heated state when nearly ap- 

 proaching the finished size, so as to form a thin 

 scale of oxide, which, being thrown off, slightly 

 reduces the diameter of the sphere. In this 

 manner it is possible to finish such spherical steel 

 shot with very great accuracy and nicety, and 

 to keep within very narrow limits as regards 

 the correct weight of each projectile. There 

 are also some elongated solid steel shot, and 

 other steel projectiles. 



The exhibition of the Bochum Company 

 contains castings, forgings, and rolled articles 

 of steel of all kinds; but although all their arti- 

 cles are excellent, there is more interest and 

 importance to be attached to their castings 



