SIX WILLIAM SIEMENS, F.R.S 147 



40,000 dollars in aid of the experimental enquiries which have 

 Km instituted. 



The Council of the Iron and Steel Institute are not unmindful 

 of the importance of this subject, and have invited those gentlemen 

 of this and other countries, who have given most attention to the 

 production and application of steel, to aid us in our forthcoming 

 discussion with the results of their experience. 



In the course of this discussion, the distinctive limits between 

 steel and iron will necessarily engage your attention. Considering 

 the extraordinary change of physical condition which iron under- 

 goes when alloyed with small percentages of .carbon, manganese, 

 phosphorus, tungsten, chromium, and other substances, and con- 

 sidering, further, that it is never quite free from some admixture, 

 the question of nomenclature is one naturally surrounded with 

 difficulty, but it is becoming one of considerable practical import- 

 ance, when rules are to be laid down regulating the permissible 

 strength of different grades of these materials. 



Dr. Percy has, in his " Metallurgy of Iron and Steel," defined 

 steel as iron containing a small percentage of carbon, the alloy 

 having the property of taking a temper, and this definition is 

 substantially equivalent to those found in the works of Karsten, 

 Wedding, Gruner, and Tunner ; on the other hand, Messrs. 

 Jordan, Greiner, Gautier, Phillipart, Holley, and others, define as 

 steel all alloys of iron which have been cast and are malleable, 

 whilst Sir Joseph Whitworth considers that steel should be defined 

 mechanically by a co-efficient representing the sum of its strength 

 and ductility. 



With the object of settling this question of nomenclature, an 

 International Committee was appointed at Philadelphia, by the 

 Institution of American Mining Engineers. The Committee con- 

 sisted of the following gentlemen : Mr. I. Lowthian Bell, M.P. ; 

 Dr. Hermann Wedding ; Professor Tunner ; Professor Akermann ; 

 M. Gruner ; Mr. A. L. Holley, and Mr. T. Egleston, and they 

 resolved upon the following recommendation : 



"I. That all malleable compounds of iron, with its ordinary 

 ingredients, which are aggregated from pasty masses, or from 

 piles, or from any form of iron not in a fluid state, and which 

 will not sensibly harden and temper, and which generally resemble 



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