May 1 6, 1889] 



NATURE 



59 



often occurred in similar instances, that another metal- 

 lurgist had been working in the same direction for a con- 

 siderable time. The results obtained by Mr. F. J. Hall, of 

 Messrs. Jessop'a, of Sheffield, and Mr. Riley are very 

 similar in character, but whilst the former appears to have 

 made what may be called industrial experiments, those 

 of the latter have been mainly confined to the laboratory. 

 Nickel can be made to form an alloy with steel, in 

 quantities varying from a hardly appreciable amount up 

 to as much as 50 per cent. ; the alloy does not require an 

 excessively high temperature to melt it, special attention 

 is not necessary in its production, the resulting metal is 

 definite in character, and is easily worked both under the 

 hammer and in the rolls. A very remarkable increase in 

 the tensile strength and elasticity of steel is produced by 

 alloying it with nickel. Among many tests given by Mr. 

 Riley, the following specially referred to by him may be 

 cited : — " In No. 6, the carbon present (o"22) is low enough 

 to enable us to make comparison with ordinary mild 

 steel, which would give (when annealed) results about as 

 follows : elastic limit, 16 tons, breaking strain, 30 tons, 

 extension 23 per cent, on 8 inches, and contraction of area 

 48 per cent. Therefore, in this case the addition of 47 

 per cent, of nickel has raised the elastic limit from 16 up 

 to 28 tons, and the breaking strain from 30 up to 

 40'6 tons, without impairing the elongation, or contrac- 

 tion of area to any noticeable extent." In his remarks 

 Mr. Hall referred to his applications of nickel steel to gun 

 barrels, propeller blades, and other purposes during recent 

 years, and concluded by observing that in an experiment 

 he had made about twelve months ago, he had obtained 

 with nickel steel a tensile strength of 97 tons per square 

 inch, with an elongation of 7 per cent. Another im- 

 portant point with regard to nickel steel referred to by 

 Mr. Riley is its non-corrosibility when the alloy contains 

 25 per cent, of nickel, for, with low proportions of nickel, 

 ordinary mild steel and nickel steel appear to corrode in 

 About the same proportion. In the discussion Mr. White 

 (the Chief Constructor of the Navy) drew attention to the 

 ■question of cost, as affecting the application of materials 

 in practice, and with nickel at ^224 a ton, or ^56 as the 

 cost of the nickel in a ton of 25 per cent, nickel steel, it is 

 a consideration. 



The next paper, on the manufacture of basic open- 

 hearth steel, by Mr. J. H. Darby, also gave rise to an 

 important discussion. From the paper and discussion it 

 may be inferred that the basic steel industry has not made 

 so much progress in this country as it has done in 

 ■Germany. This may be due to the circumstance that 

 German ores are mainly phosphoric in character (Mr. 

 Thielen, who spoke as to his experience in Germany, 

 stating that of the steel no v produced in the Siemens 

 furnace in Germany 70 or 80 per cent, was produced in 

 the Siemens basic furnace), or to the " Batho type " of 

 furnace used in this country being inapplicable to steel- 

 fnaking, an opinion expressed as well by the author of 

 the paper as by speakers who followed him. Mr. Windsor 

 Richards could not understand why they had gone away 

 from the rectangular furnace of Sir William Siemens, and 

 was pleased to say that since he had returned to it his 

 difficulties had come to an end ; Hvhilst Mr. John Head, 

 Mr. Frederick Siemens's representative, spoke of a new 

 form of regenerative gas furnace, recently built and tried, 

 which consumed about 50 per cent, less coal than the 

 original regenerative gas furnace, and promised a paper 

 on the subject for the autumn Paris meeting of the Institute. 



A statistical paper on the progress made in the German 

 iron industry since 1880 was read by Mr. R Schroedter. 



One on the influence of copper on the tensile strength of 

 steel was read by Messrs. E. J. Ball and A. Wingham, in 

 which the authors state that from a general consideration 

 of the results of their experiments it would seem that 

 within certain limits copper does not prejudicially affect 

 the mechanical properties of steel. In this they agree 



with a theory brought by Prof. Roberts-Austen before the 

 Royal Society last year to the effect that small quantities 

 of a metallic impurity exert a deleterious effect on a large 

 mass of another metal only if the atomic volume of the 

 impurity is greater than that of the metal in which it is 

 hidden. Mr. Bauerman, in discussion, expressed the 

 opinion that it was not the copper, but the sulphur which 

 generally came with the copper, that was injurious to iron. 

 The papers on universal rolling-mills for the rolling of 

 girders and cruciform sections, by Mr. H, Slack, and on 

 the Thomasset testing-machine, by M. Gautier, were 

 mainly of mechanical interest. M. A. Pourcel read a 

 paper on the application of thermal chemistry to metal- 

 lurgical reactions. 



ROBERT STIRLING NEW ALL, F.R.S. 



OBSERVANT travellers by the Great Northern Scotch 

 express may see, as it nears Newcastle, the low 

 dome of an astronomical observatory on the eastern side 

 of the line. It is a spot which will be memorable in the 

 history of astronomy, and it marks the home of a man 

 who combined the practical sagacity and inventive skill 

 which have made England the first industrial nation in 

 the world, with the love of science which must be added 

 to these if it is to hold its place. 



Mr. Newall, whose death we chronicled a fort- 

 night ago, was a successful manufacturer. When he 

 was still a young man, a friend who was studying mining 

 in Saxony informed him that cables made of iron wires 

 were largely used there, but that the process of making 

 them was " unmechanical," and suggested that he should 

 invent a machine for the purpose. This he did, and wire 

 ropes of his construction are now used all over the woi'ld. 

 From time to time he improved on the original design, 

 and so lately as 1885 he devised a new machine by which 

 the rope is made at one operation, the double process of 

 first making the strands and then combining them being 

 avoided. 



His interest in his business was not, however, confined 

 to the gradual development of his earlier patents. He 

 was quick to see that wire rope might help in solving the 

 difficulties which had to be overcome before submarine 

 telegraphy was an accomplished fact. 



Sir Charles Wheatstone had clearly conceived the 

 possibility of electric communication between England 

 and the Continent as early as 1837. In 1840 he gave 

 evidence on the subject before a Committee of the House 

 of Commons, and references were made to his suggestion 

 in the public Press. His drawings and notes show, how- 

 ever, how diffi:ult the problems of insulating and 

 preserving the cables seemed to these early pioneers. 



The insulation was attained by the use of gutta-percha 

 —of which Mr. Newall received a portion of the first 

 sample transmitted to this country — but the cumbrous 

 devices at first suggested for protecting the outer cover- 

 ing of the cable were forgotten when Mr. Newall pro- 

 posed that the " gutta-percha lines containing insulated 

 wire should be surrounded with a strong wire rope " 

 (pamphlet by Mr. R. McCalmont, dated September 

 19, 1850). 



The first cable, laid between Dover and Cape Grisnez, 

 in which this plan was not employed, broke after one 

 day. The first successful cable, which was laid on Sep- 

 tember 25, 1 85 1, by Mr. Crampton, was manufactured 

 by Mr. Newall, and protected by wire. 



The submergence of cables in seas deeper than the 

 English Channel presented greater difficulties, and the 

 Newall drum-brake, which was introduced in 1853, and 

 afterwards for a time abandoned, has since been again 

 employed, so that, as Mr. F. C. Webb stated at the 

 Institute of Telegraph Engineers in 1876, "we have come 

 back to the old drum-brake of Newall." 



