114 



NATURE 



[June 2, 1892 



I was much concerned in the days of my much-lamented friend, 

 the late Sir William Pallisser. 



Another subject to which I devoted considerable attention 

 twenty-three years ago, in co-operation with the late Dr. Matthies- 

 sen, bears directly upon some very interesting results which will 

 be brought to your notice by my old and valued friend Colonel 

 Dyer, of the Elswick Ordnance Works. In 1863 Dr. Malthiessen 

 communicated to the British Association the results of some in- 

 teresting researches into the chemical nature of alloys, which he 

 followed up in 1866 with a preliminary report on the chemical 

 nature of cast iron. In this memoir, after drawing a comparison 

 between the physical deportment of what he terms the alloys 

 of carbon and iron, and those of such alloys as are produced 

 by copper with zinc and with tin, he discusses in some detail 

 the question whether carbon exists in combination with iron, 

 in cast iron, and expresses himself in favour of the view that 

 white iron is not actually a chemical combination of carbon 

 with the metal, but rather a solidified solution in it of carbon, 

 while grey iron is a solidified solution of the same kind, with 

 carbon mechanically intermixed. But while he supports this 

 hypothesis by certain analogies between the specific electric con- 

 ducting power of different varieties of iron and of alloys of 

 other metals, h^ proposes to test the validity of his views by 

 preparing pure iron, alloying it with various proportions of 

 carbon, examining the physical and chemical properties of 

 these alloys, and afterwards investigating the properties of alloys 

 of the pure metal with various other metals and non-metals. 

 Matthiessen's persevering endeavours to elaborate a process for 

 the preparation of pure iron, which extended over three years, 

 were at length crowned with success, and in 1869 I was engaged 

 with him upon experiments with metal, obtained in the form of 

 sponge, containing as its only impurity a minute trace of sulphur. 

 This iron was prepared by fusing together perfectly pure and 

 dried ferrous sulphate and sodium sulphate, completely washing 

 the crystalline oxide thus obtained, and then reducing it to 

 metallic sponge by heating it in thoroughly purified hydrogen. 

 The sponge metal was welded together in the cold by powerful 

 compression, for certain experiments ; for others it was fused in 

 very carefully prepared lime-crucibles. The experiments which 

 it was hoped to undertake with this pure material, in the direc- 

 tions I have indicated, were arrested almost at their commence- 

 ment by Dr. Matthiessen's death, and by the all-engrossing 

 nature of my official labours. The process, which was elaborated 

 with such trouble, may perhaps prove useful in connection with 

 the investigation which Prof. Roberts-Austen has undertaken for 

 the Alloys Research Committee of the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers ; but it appears to me that there is good prospect of 

 procuring iron sufficiently pure, at any rate for certain of the 

 experiments (when carried out upon a practical scale) which 

 will form part of these investigations, by the very simple mode 

 of procedure which Colonel Dyer has adopted in the production 

 of iron containing only traces of carbon and silicon, no phos- 

 phorus, and less than two-hundreths of one per cent, of sulphur, 

 and which affords a very interesting instance of the application 

 of the basic furnace. 



In concluding these few observations, I cannot forbear once 

 more referring to the interesting address delivered to the mem- 

 bers by our first President twenty-three years ago, in order to 

 point out how strikingly its peroration illustrates the progress 

 which has been made in the development of the steel industry 

 during the past twenty-two years. While forcibly dwelling upon 

 " the extraordinary influence which the manufacture of iron had 

 come to exercise on the condition of society throughout the 

 civilized world," the writer gives no indication of the part then 

 played, or destined to be played, by steel in that civilizing influ- 

 ence. Even seven years later, when steel-manufacture had 

 advanced with rapid strides, there was still great hesitation in 

 adopting it for some of the most important purposes to which 

 iron was applied ; thus Sir Nathanial Barnaby wrote at that 

 time, " Our distrust of steel is so great that the material may be 

 said to be altogether unused by private shipbuilders." Yet, a 

 few years afterwards, it had come to pass that the examples of 

 the marvellous development in the applications of iron, to which 

 the Duke referred in illustration of his statements, constituted 

 the very directions in which the steel manufacturer has accom- 

 plished his most prominent achievements, and in which the use 

 of iron is becoming a memory of the past. 



The following was the list of papers to be read : — On experi- 

 ments with basic steel, by W. H. White, C.B., F.R.S., Director 



of Naval Construction ; on the production of pure iron in the basic 

 furnace, by Colonel H. S. Dyer, of Elswick ; on experiments on 

 the elimination of sulphur from iron, by E. J. Ball, Ph.D., and 



A. Wingham, F.I.C. ; on platinum pyrometers, by H. L. 

 Callendar ; on the manufacture and application of chilled cast 

 iron (Gruson's system), by E. Reimers, of Magdeburg; on 

 valves for open hearth furnaces, by J. W. Wailes ; on the 

 calorific efficiency of the puddling furnace, by Major Cubillo, 

 of Trubia Arsenal, Spain ; on a practical slide rule for use in the 

 calculation of blast furnace charges, by A. Wingham, F.I.C; 

 notes on fuel, and its efficiency in metallurgic operations, by 



B. H. Thwaite. 



The whole of these papers were read except that by Major 

 Cubillo. 



Mr. White's was the first contribution taken. His paper was 

 founded on a number of experiments made at Pembroke Dock- 

 yard, with a view to determine the suitability of steel made 

 by the basic process for ship-building purposes. It would be 

 useless to attempt to summarise the results of the large amount 

 of information contained in the paper, and in the tables, which 

 formed an appendix to it. As a general fact, it may be said 

 that basic steel no longer labours under the disadvantages that 

 attended its early days, when it was undoubtedly unfit to be 

 used as a ship-building material. The importance of the basic 

 process to this country can hardly be overrated. The manufac- 

 ture of steel on the original acid process demands a pig low in 

 phosphorus, and this can only be prepared from a special ore, 

 such as the hematites of Cumberland and other parts. Unfor- 

 tunately, the deposits of such ore in the British Isles are very 

 limited in extent, and it is for this reason that we have been, for 

 years past, importing vast quantities of steel-making ore from 

 the neighbourhood of Bilboa in Spain. This means a heavy 

 item for freight ; and it is a question whether we could, in 

 England, stand the competition of Spain, if that country once 

 organized her steel-making resources on a sound footing. But 

 in any case it is desirable we should depend, as little as 

 possible, on foreign countries for raw material, when we 

 have such vast stocks within our own borders. In the 

 ores of the Cleveland district and other parts, we have such 

 deposits, but the ore contains a comparatively large percentage 

 of phosphorus, which entirely unfits it for the old acid process 

 of steel-making. The basic process, however, is designed to 

 enable phosphoric pig to be used, and to judge by Mr. White's 

 paper a fair measure of success has been attained in this direc- 

 tion. It would have been interesting if the paper had given 

 details as to the pig from which the steel was made. Mr. Mar- 

 tell has said that no steel to meet Lloyd's requirements has been 

 made from pig containing 3 per cent, of phosphorus, and that the 

 basic steel which has been successful has been made from an ore 

 low in phosphorus. It is, however, not the bulk of the phos- 

 phorus which is difficult to eliminate, but the last part, and Sir 

 Lowthian Bell stated that he would be glad if the pig of his 

 district di I contain 3 per cent, of phosphorus instead of about 

 half that quantity, as it would then produce a slag more valuable 

 for fertilizing purposes. However this may be, it would have 

 been satisfactory to have had full analyses of pig to attach 

 to particulars of physical tests so well authenticated as 

 those now given to the engineering world by Mr. White's 

 paper. Another point upon which it is desirable to get 

 information is, which process gives the best results in 

 working on the basic principle? We have always considered 

 it a settled matter that the open-hearth furnace was superior to 

 the converter in this respect, so far as the quality of the product 

 is concerned, and the discussion of last Thursday, on the whole, 

 tended to confirm this opinion. The opposite view, however, 

 was advanced by more than one speaker whose words should 

 carry weight ; and there is also the question of cost and quick- 

 ness of production to consider. On the whole, it would seem, 

 therefore, that the problem as to whether the converter or the 

 open-hearth furnace should be used is still an open one ; 

 doubtless it will be settled in this case, as before, by the 

 special requirements of the metal to be produced. As we 

 have said, we cannot reproduce even a brief abstract of 

 Mr. White's paper, but we can give one or two figures. One 

 sample of basic Bessemer had a tensile strength of 306 tons per 

 square inch, and an extension in 8 inches of 26 per cent. Of 

 some pieces tested after annealing the tensile strength was about 

 28 tons, with an elongation of 25 per cent. One sample of basic 

 open- hearth showed 31*3 tons per square inch tensile strength 

 and 26*2 per cent, extension in 8 inches. We quote these 



NO. II 79, VOL. 46] 



