66 



NA TURE 



[Mav i6, 1907 



nected with iron and steel during the century. A vote of 

 thanks to the president for his address was eloquently 

 proposed by Sir W. H. While and seconded by Mr. 

 Schneider (Le Creusot). 



The first paper read was by Mr. D. Selby-Bigge (New- 

 castle-on-Tyne), who described the latest application of 

 electricity to reversing rolling-mills of high power. The 

 first mill of this kind was started on July 27 last at the 

 Hildegarde Works, at Trzynietz, in Austrian Silesia. The 

 mill is of 10,350 horse-power, and is provided with the 

 llgncr arrangement of fly-wheel converters. The discussion 

 was well sustained, and the rival claims of electricity and 

 steam were ably urged. 



The secretary announced that Carnegie research scholar- 

 ships had been awarded by the council to C. \. Edwards 

 (Horwich), J. .\. \. Friend (Germany), D. M. Levy (Brad- 

 ford), .X. M. Porlevin (France), .A. K. K. Hiorth (Norway), 

 and B. Saklatwalla (India and Germany). For research 

 work carried out during the past year, medals were 

 awarded to E. F. Law (London) and Dr. O. Stutzer 

 (F'rciberg in .Saxony). The reports of these two candi- 

 dates, and the reports of P. Breuil (Paris), W. H. Hat- 

 field (Sheffield), and Dr. Guillet (Paris) were found to be 

 of sufficient merit to warrant their publication in full in 

 the Jonrjial of the institute. 



Two papers were read by Mr. Arthur W. Richards de- 

 scribing processes he has adopted at the works of Messrs. 

 Bolckow, Vaughan and Co. for the manufacture of steel 

 from high-silicon phosphoric pig iron by the basic 

 Bessemer process, and of high-class steel from pig iron 

 containing chromium, nickel, and cobalt. 



Prof. W. A. Bone, F.R.S. (Leeds), and Mr. R. V. 

 Wheeler (Warrington) read a lengthy paper on the use 

 of steam in gas-producer plant. The experiments were 

 made with a .Mend gas-producer plant with the view of 

 determining the influence of variation in the proportions 

 of air and steam in the blast upon the composition of the 

 gas, its suitability for furnace operations, and upon the 

 general and thermal efficiencies of the producers. The 

 quality of the gas obtained, though always good, steadily 

 deteriorated as the steam saturation temperature was 

 raised beyond 65°. An investigation of the thermal 

 efficiency showed that the use of steam beyond that re- 

 quired to saturate the air blast at 60° was not attended 

 by any increased economy of working, but rather the 

 reverse. If, however, a gas producer be regarded 

 primarily as an apparatus for ammonia recovery, then 

 undoubtedly it should be worked with the highest steam 

 saturation temperature consistent with the production of 

 combustible gas. 



The paper read by Mr. F. \^■. Harbord (London) is a 

 valuable addition to technical literature. For many years 

 it has been recognised that steels made by different pro- 

 cesses, although practically of the same composition, 

 varied in their tensile strength, hardness, and other 

 physical properties, and it has been generally admitted 

 that basic Bessemer steel was softer than acid Bes.semer, 

 and basic open-hearth softer than acid open-hearth steel. 

 .Mr. Harbord's paper gives for the first time systematic 

 experimental results defining these various differences over 

 a wide range of carbon content. He shows that if 

 engineers wish to obtain rails of equ.il hardness from the 

 basic open-hearth that they have been accustomed to from 

 acid Bessemer steel, they must permit the manufacturer 

 to increase the percentage of carbon to give the required 

 hardness, as otherwise, although the rails may satis- 

 factorily pass all the usual tests required by the specifi- 

 cation, there will soon arise, under the conditions of heavy 

 train-loads now customary, serious trouble due to spread- 

 ing heads and undue wear. American engineers, in their 

 standard specifications, have already recognised the import- 

 ance of this, and they vary their rail specifications accord- 

 ing to the process of manufacture. 



A paper on the ageing of mild steel was read by Mr. 

 C. E. Stromeyer (Manchester). The Idea that steel might 

 go through an ageing process has been scouted, but from 

 the tests described the conclusions to be draw^n are that 

 certain steels do possess ageing qualities, that some steels 

 tend to improve with time, others to deteriorate; and that 

 as yet the process which gives results which are most in 

 harmony with practical experience is to plane the edges 



NO. 1959, VOL. 76] 



of two samples, to nick them with a specially prepared 

 chisel, and then to bend one sample at once ana tne other 

 after waiting .some weeks or after boiling. 



Mr. .\. J. Capron (Sheffield) read a paper on induced 

 draught, with hot air economisers, for steel works and 

 blast-furnace boilers. Brieily, the system consists of in- 

 duced draught in combination with hot air economisers, 

 which utilise the waste heat from the boiler in heating 

 the air required for combustion. A fan is placed at the 

 base of the chimney and draws the gases, as they come 

 from the boiler, through a series of tubes which form a 

 heating-box or hot air economiser. The system has 

 already been adopted at several iron and steel works, and 

 is found to result in considerable economy of fuel and 

 absence of smoke. There is also the advantage that no 

 high chimney is required. 



.A paper on the distribution of sulphur in metal ingot 

 moulds was contributed by Mr. J. Henderson (Stockton- 

 on-Tees). The question of the distribution of sulphur in 

 ingot moulds made of hiematite pig iron was recently 

 brought to his notice by the fact that several large moulds 

 were alleged to contain an excessive percentage of sulphur 

 out of all proportion to the sulphur contents of the pig 

 iron from which the moulds were made. The fact that 

 much more sulphur is generally found in the tops of ingot 

 moulds and other large castings is, or should be, well 

 known to all ingot-mould makers and users. Vet in spite 

 of this it is evident that some steel makers drill the tops 

 of the moulds in order to ascertain the sulphur contents, 

 and on the results so obtained condemn the moulds as unfit 

 for use in the open-hearth furnace for melting purposes 

 when they are scrapped. Such a method of sampling is 

 manifestly unfair, as the results obtained by the author 

 show that the excessive sulphur does not go deeper than 

 the first inch, and that after the second inch there is no 

 reason to find fault with the composition of the mould. 



h paper on sentinel pyrometers and their application to 

 the annealing, hardening, and general heat treatment of 

 tool-steel was contributed by Mr. H. Brearley (Riga, 

 Russia) and Mr. F. C. Moorwood (Sheffield). An in- 

 dicator which can, in most cases, be placed exactly on 

 the spot the temperature of which is required to be ascer- 

 tained may occasionally be more serviceable than a fixed 

 pyrometer of a more expensive type which registers the 

 temperature of its immediate vicinity only. By making 

 the indicators from materials which clearly melt at or 

 above a definite temperature, and, after melting, also 

 contimie to show when the temperature falls to or below 

 that point, a simple me.ins is discovered which may claim 

 a place amongst instruments of precision. The authors 

 suggest that, for this purpose, no more suitable materials 

 could be adopted than well-chosen salts of the metallic 

 oxides. 



In a paper on carbon-tungsten steels contributed by Mr. 

 Thomas Swinden (Sheffield), a research is described having 

 for its object an investigation of the influence of varying 

 percentages of carbon in the presence of a constant per- 

 centage of tungsten. 



Reports on research work carried out by holders cf 

 Carnegie research scholarships were also presented. Mr. 

 P. Breuil (Paris) gave the results of a systematic investi- 

 gation of copper steels from the point of view of their 

 industrial application. Mr. W. H. Hatfield (Sheffield), in 

 a research on cast iron, found that there is undoubtedly 

 occasionally a great variation in the strength of cast irons 

 of the same composition as cast ; that this variation does 

 not appear to follow any distinct rule with regard to the 

 temperature of the casting operations; that a difference in 

 mechanical tests is generally accompanied by a difference 

 in the microstructure ; and that the inequalities of the 

 metal can be rectified by judicious heat treatment, i.e. the 

 irregularity need not persist after heat treatment, at any 

 rate under certain conditions. Dr. O. Stutzer (Freiberg, 

 Saxony) gave the results of an elaborate investigation of 

 the genesis of the Lapland iron ore deposits, showing that 

 the phosphoric magnetite deposits of north Sweden are 

 all associated with plutonic rocks of the syenite family, 

 and that they have been formed in a magmatic manner, 

 and, indeed, either as magmatic separations in situ or as 

 erratic magmatic segregation. Pneumatolysis has also 

 had considerable influence in the formation of these ores. 



