62 
NATURE 
[Jay 20, 1886 
THE TRON AND STEEL INSTT 
HE Iron and Steel Institute held its meeting on the r2th, 
13th, and 14th inst., under the presidency of Dr, J. 
Percy, F.R.S., in the Theatre of the Institution of Civil 
Engineers. 
The President made some introductory remarks having refer- 
ence to the papers about to be read. He had strong hopes 
that, from a scientific point of view, great results were likely 
to flow from investigation of the microscopic structure of 
iron and steel, as it was only by physico-chemical investigation 
that our present ignorance of the causes of many phenomena 
relating to metal would be lessened or dispelled. He was pecu- 
liarly glad to read Mr. Turner’s paper, as he had had the honour, 
when first addressing the Institute, of suggesting the solution 
of specific problems relating to iron and steel which had been 
ably attempted by the author ; he should be glad to see medals 
or rewards conferred on those who solved problems emanating 
from the Institute. He made special reference to Mr. C. P. 
Clarke’s paper, which we hope to print 7 extenso. He had 
great pleasure in drawing attention to Sir Henry Bessemer’s 
gift to the Institute of a series of specimens illustrative of the 
process universally known by his name, which he exhibited at 
South Kensington some time ago. The President very shortly 
referred to what Sir Henry nad done for metallurgy, and called 
upon the members to join in cordially thanking him for his gift 
to the Institute, which was done with acclamation. 
With regard to the prevailing depression in trade, he thought 
over-production was the main cause of the evil in question. 
Considering the enormous power the iron and steel trades, for | 
instance, possessed for production, it was not surprising that 
over-production should take place. Besides, what had taken 
place in our own country had also occurred to a greater or 
less extent in Germany, Belgium, France, Austria, Russia, and 
especially the United States of America 
British workmen had a special enemy to contend against in 
the fierce competition from abroad, where men labour for less 
wages and work longer hours. He hoped that the problem 
would be solved, not by our countrymen having to be paid less 
for their labour, but by the labourers in foreign countries rising 
to our level, when our trades would have less to fear from 
foreign competition. 
Passing from the over-production of iron and steel, the Pre- 
sident referred to the fact that the surface of the earth was 
limited, whilst the human race was constantly increasing, and as 
the world could only sustain a certain population, so portions of 
it could do no more ; he was of opinion that what was really at 
the bottom of the troubles of Ireland was the sentimeat of Irish- 
men trying to live where they could not gain their livelihoods, 
when there were millions of acres in our colonies which they 
could cultivate and be happy upon. Shortly referring to the 
Colonial and Indian Exhibition, the speaker concluded, a 
vote of thanks for his address being moved by Sir Isaac 
Lowthian Bell and seconded by Sir Bernhard Samuelson. 
The Bessemer Medal for the year was awarded to Mr. 
Edward Williams, who was unfortunately prevented by ill- 
h _alth from coming to the meeting to receive it. 
There was a very large number of papers on the agenda, 
some of which had to be deferred. Amongst the papers 
read and discussed some were important not only tech- 
nically but scientifically. Mr. P. W. Flower’s paper on 
the origin and progress of the manufacture of tin plates 
is hardly of this character, but it is interesting both from 
an archeological and industrial point of view. Aristotle, 
Pliny, the Phoenicians, Herodotus, and Diodorus Siculus have 
all made reference to this manufacture. In more modern days 
we find it flourishing in Bohemia in 1620, from which country 
Yarranton introduced it into England about 1665, thus fortu- 
nately succeeding in benefiting the iron trade of Wales and the 
Un trade of Cornwall, which were both much depressed. Later 
on, the use of coal instead of charcoal, of vitriol for pickling- 
purposes in place of barley-meal, of Siemens’s soft steel for char- 
coal iron, of Bessemer steel in place of puddled bar, have all had 
their influence on this industry. Ninety-six works, with 320 
mills in all, work up about half a million tons of British steel 
and iron annually into tin plates. The production last year was 
over 7,000,000 boxes, of which probably 3,000,000 were used in 
the manufacture of 875,000,000 of 1 lb. canisters. ““ By means 
of these canisters Europe receives largely of beef from the 
Western prairies, salmon (in shiploads) from Oregon, mut- 
| duced in California in 1852. 
_ hearth steel brought about a very animated discussion. 
ton from the plains of Australia, fruits of all sorts from Cali- 
fornia, lobsters from Boston and Nova Scotia, oysters and 
| peaches from Baltimore, sardines and green peas from France, 
pine-apples from Mauritius, apricots from Lisbon, milk from 
Switzerland, jams from Tasmania, and many other products of 
foreign soil, which complete the list of what the French have 
called conserves alimentatres.” 
Mr. Hamilton Smith, jun., in his paper on wrought-iron 
conduit pipes, refers to the method of hydraulic mining intro- 
It may roughly be defined as the 
discharge of jets of water, actuated by gravity with a consider- 
able head, against a bank of auriferous gravel, the water acting 
first as an excavator, and afterwards as a carrier of the washed 
material. 
ducted through hose made of heavy cotton duck cloth, which 
was strengthened by outer nettings of cordage when the pressure 
was large. In 1853 an ingenious miner laid in his main a line 
of pipe consisting of joints of ordinary stove-pipe, made of very 
thin sheet-iron lightly fastened together with cold rivets; the 
joints being united stove-pipe fashion. This pipe answered 
| admirably, and in a short time all the hydraulic gravel mines in 
California obtained the pressure for their water-jets by means of 
thin sheet-iron pipes. As a protection against rust, each joint 
is immersed for several minutes in a bath of boiling asphalte and 
coal-tar ; a little rosin is added when a glassy surface is desired, 
and sometimes a little fish-oil, After successful practice in the 
mines had demonstrated the advantages and capabilities of 
wrought-iron pipes, they were used for permanent conduits both 
for conducting water to mining districts across deep mountain 
gorges, and also for the supply of cities. San Francisco, a 
place of some 300,000 inhabitants, receives its water through 
two lines of such pipes, and a third pipe, many miles in length, 
and of large diameter, is now being laid for an additional 
supply. 
‘On a Neutral Lining for Metallurgical Purposes”? was the 
title of a paper in which M. Ferd. Gautier, after describing 
various linings of an acid, basic, reducing, and oxidising charac- 
ter, refers to one in which chrome iron is the main constituent. 
From a physical point of view chrome ore is essentially re- 
fractory ; heated in lumps it does not crumble to pieces, how- 
ever high the temperature. In general metallurgy, where no. 
alkalies in notable quantities are present, chrome iron is a 
refractory material of a specially neutral character, since neither 
acids nor bases act upon it. The chrome iron is employed 
shaped in pieces, and also as a mortarin combination with lime. 
The use of this material in the basic open-hearth process has 
been kept secret for some time ; it was exhibited last year at the 
International Inventions Exhibition. 
The President’s paper on steel wire of high tenacity 
referred to experiments on the tensile strength and chemical 
composition of wires of various thickness. The mechanical tests 
were made at the request of the author by Col. Maitland, R.A., 
and the analyses by Sir Frederick Abel. The wire was of a 
very pure character, there being a percentage of total carbon 
0°828, manganese 0°587, silicon 0°143, sulphur 0009, copper 
0030, without a trace of phosphorus. The tensile strengths of 
the wires increased as: their thickness diminished, as shown by 
the following table :— 
Diameter in fractions Tensile strength in tons 
of an inch per sq. inch 
0°093 ae oe 154 
0°132 115 
0159 100 
Og! go 
The difficulty in accounting for the increase of strength with 
diminution of diameter in wire-drawing is the circumstance that 
the density of the material diminishes during this process. 
Mr. T. Blair’s paper on certain necessary products of blast- 
furnaces, and Mr. Bauerman’s note on a rare blast-furnace slag 
| of the composition of gehlenite, were discussed together. 
The paper by Mr. John Head on blow-holes in pee 
e 
blow-holes in steel, the author explained, are due to the con- 
traction of the metal on cooling, or to the presence of im- 
prisoned gases in its mass. Those of the first kind are removed 
by welding, when the steel is subjected to pressure. Those of 
the second kind the author maintains to be similar to what is 
technically known as ‘seedy boil” in glass, and may be re- 
moved in the manufacture of steel by not allowing the flame to 
touch the fused metal, just in the same way as they have been 
The supply of water for these jets was at first con- - 
