496 rei>ort — 1879. 



invented by Mr. R. Mushet, in which titanium is introduced in the manufacture,, 

 and which dates hack to the year 1838-39. This steel is of great endurance when 

 applied to the working of steel and iron of considerable hardness, and its higher 

 price of 140s. per cwt. is quite justified by the excellent results obtained from its 

 use, and other steels of similar fine quality are produced by several manufacturers, 

 who make specialities of them. 



Some twenty-seven or twenty-eight years ago, Krupp, of Essen, gave an enor- 

 mous impulse to the application of steel, by his method of producing much larger 

 masses of crucible steel than had previously been possible. He at that time accom- 

 plished the casting of an ingot of ' crucible ' steel of 50 cwt., a weight then con- 

 sidered incredible, and this was followed up by the production of weldless cast 

 steel tyres in 1852, which led to the very rapid development in the use of his steel 

 for railway tyres, cranked axles for locomotive and other engines, straight axles, 

 and shafts, and parts of machines in general. 



It is most interesting to consider the prices of such of these objects as have up 

 to this time maintained similar forms, with the object of ascertaining by the selling 

 price the progress in the scientific and mechanical appliances used for the production 

 of the materials just referred to. 



At the time of their coming into use, about twenty-five years ago, the price of 

 cast steel tyres was 120s. per cwt. ; it is now from 18s. to 25s. per cwt. The price 

 of forged steel cranked axles was, when first introduced, 151. per cwt. ; it is now 

 from G5s. to 70s. per cwt. 



The price of straight axles and shafts was from 40s. to 50s. per cwt. ; it is now 

 from 19s. Qd. to 23s. per cwt. 



Now to what do we owe this enormous reduction of price and consequent more 

 frequent and more economic application ? The answer must be that, follow- 

 ing the initiation of Krupp, our English engineers and men of science set them- 

 selves to work to discover and apply new processes for the production and manufac- 

 ture of this most wonderful metal ; and I venture to say that in the whole history 

 of metallurgy, from the time of Tubal Cain downwards, there has been no such 

 progress in invention and manufacture as has been realised by the aid of such men as 

 Mushet, Krupp, Bessemer, Siemens, Whitworth, Martin, Bell, Bauschinger, Styffe,. 

 and many others within the period comprised in this retrospect ; and our national 

 predilections will perhaps lead us to the opinion that our own country may fairly 

 appropriate a large share of merit for the results achieved. 



Another of the uses of steel to which attention may be given is that of the 

 production of cannon of large size. 



Efforts had been made by some of our enterprising workers in metal to produce 

 large guns of solid wrought iron ; but the processes of heating and hammering 

 were attended with so much difficulty that the attempt was given up. Here again 

 Krupp stepped in, and succeeded, thirty-two years ago, in manufacturing cannon of 

 cast steel, which unhappily have become ordinary commodities with those nation- 

 alities who could afford such expensive weapons. Since that time Krupp has 

 produced about 2,000 guns, the heaviest being, when finished, 72 tons (16 inch). 



Sir William Armstrong and Sir Joseph Whitworth soon came into the field 

 with o-uns of their own invention. The former, by adopting the system of iron 

 coils applied externally to a central cylinder ; and the latter, by shrinking cylindrical 

 hoops on to a central cylinder made of cast steel. 



In the adaptation of the steel manufacture of the cast or crucible steel period 

 to the production of every object demanded by the march of engineering and 

 mechanical science, I need not mention the names of individuals and firms in this 

 town who have shown themselves equal to the task ; but I will venture to say that 

 their success has been such as to raise the town of Sheffield to the very pinnacle of 

 fame as producing steel of any, even the highest, quality demanded in the markets 

 of the world. 



I must now turn to a name honoured everywhere for the benefits and renown 

 he has brought to his country by his inventions and appliances, developed during 

 the last twenty-four or twenty-five years, in the manufacture of a steel which can 

 be cheaply produced and readily adapted to the requirements of the purchaser. I 



