WJ/.U.-l.M .SY/-:.J//;W.S', F.K.S. 139 



of cast steel in ingots is produced with the expenditure of from 2J- 

 to 3 tons of Durham coke, according to the degree of mildness of 

 the metal desired. 



At Pittsburg, where pot-melting is employed on a considerable 

 scale, plumbago pots having nearly double the capacity of the 

 Sheffield clay pots are invariably used ; 18 or 24 of these pots, 

 each containing about a hundredweight of metal, are placed in a gas 

 furnace, and each pot lasts twenty-four hours, yielding five charges 

 during that interval. The fuel consumed amounts to one ton of 

 small slack per ton of steel melted, which is delivered to the works 

 at the surprisingly low price of 30 cents per ton. With these 

 important advantages in his favour, the American steel-melter 

 should be able, one ' would think, to meet without protection his 

 Sheffield competitor in the open market. 



AVith regard to Bessemer steel, great advances have been made 

 in recent times in cheapening its production. At Creusot and 

 other Continental works, a system of direct working, or of trans- 

 ferring the pig metal in the molten condition from the blast furnace 

 to the Bessemer converter, has been introduced, and the same 

 method has been recently adopted at several of the leading English 

 works. By this method of working, the fuel usually employed in 

 re-melting the pig metal in the cupola (say 2^- cwt. per ton) is 

 clearly saved, and other advantages are realized ; but, on the other 

 hand, the Bessemer converter is made dependent upon the working 

 of the blast furnace both as regards time and the quality of the 

 resulting metal. At Barrow and other large works, where a 

 number of blast furnaces supply several Bessemer converters, in 

 addition to pig metal, for the open market, this mode of working 

 appears to be practically free from the objection above stated, and 

 a hot ladle, with its engine, may be kept steadily at work trans- 

 ferring the pig metal from one blast furnace or another to the 

 converters. But it still remains to be seen whether any practical 

 advantage can be realized by this method of working at smaller 

 works, where a change in the working of the blast furnace from 

 Bessemer to forge pigs would cause a serious interruption in the 

 working of the Bessemer plant. 



In America, the effort of the ironmaster has been directed 

 chiefly under the guidance of Mr. A. L. Holley towards a saving 

 of labour, by increasing to an almost incredible extent the number 



