TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 495 



Section G.— MECHANICAL SCIENCE. 

 President of the Section— J. Eobinson, Pres. Inst. Mech. Eng. 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 1879. 



The President delivered the following Address: — 



On the Development of the Use of Steel during the last Forty Years, 

 considered in its Mechanical and Economic Aspects. 



Much has been written by poets and others of a succession of the Ages of the 

 human race in comparing their degradation with the various kinds of metal, con- 

 sidered metaphorically — thus we have the golden age, the silver age, the age of 

 brass, and the age of iron. 



Our own time may very appropriately and literally be described as a branch of 

 the latter age, and be named the age of steel. 



In the metropolis of the steel manufacture it would seem fitting that the Me- 

 chanical Section of this great scientific association should direct its attention to 

 this wonderful metal, the uses of which are daily becoming more numerous and 

 important. 



But it may be said, on the other hand, that as the use of this material is per- 

 petually growing more common, so are discussions as to its manufacture, composition, 

 and characteristics, becoming almost wearisome from their frequency. 



Notwithstanding an appearance of truth in this objection to our occupying more 

 time in referring to the subject, I would venture to entertain the hope that a treat- 

 ment of the question in its mechanical and economic aspects may prove not unin- 

 teresting to this meeting. 



At the time when railway extension was becoming general, about forty years 

 ago, the use of steel in this country was confined mainly to tools for mechanical 

 purposes, including files and other articles, springs for vehicles, weapons of various 

 sorts, and implements for agricultural and domestic uses ; and it is proposed to 

 measure the scientific and mechanical energy brought to bear upon the manufacture 

 and improvement of this metal, by the increase in the number of purposes to which 

 it is applied, and the diminished price at which it can be obtained, as compared 

 with the price at the time of its introduction for constructive works. There are, 

 however, several important exceptions to this method of appreciation to which 

 reference will hereafter be made. 



We will take, then, the simplest form in the preceding list, viz., tool steel, the 



frice of which for ordinary purposes varied from 50s. to 56s. per cwt. at the period 

 have named ; and we shall find that the development of the manufacture of steel 

 in general has but little affected this particular material, which is still produced in 

 much the same fashion, i.e., by the use of carefully selected Swedish iron, carburised 

 by exposure in ovens to the heat of burning charcoal, and then recast from crucibles 

 and hammered down to the required size. The result of a somewhat stationary 

 condition of manufacture has been the maintenance of prices at the same, or about 

 the same, level up to the present time. 



A superior quality of tool steel has been produced by the adoption of a process 



