The Iron and Steel Institute

Abstract

THE summer meeting of this Institute was held on the 6th to the 8th inst., in London, under the presidency of Dr. John Percy, F.R.S. In his introductory remarks, the President made special reference to some of the papers about to be read. He was very pleased to see that the employment of chromium in the manufacture of steel was receiving attention. As far back as 1821 Bertheir, in the Annales des Mines, had shown that iron with 1 to 1.5 per cent, of chromium forged well, whilst it took a keen edge when ground, and had a very high tenacity.—Dr. Percy exhibited a portion of a broken ploughshare of American manufacture, which was formed of three metals, and seemed to be produced by casting steel on both sides of malleable iron. He drew attention to mitis metal, but refrained from offering any opinion on the subject, referring simply to the statements put forward that by the use of aluminium in its composition the melting-point was lowered, whilst, as the product was more liquid, it ran better, and sound castings were more easily produced. In speaking of Indian metallurgy, reference was made to the iron column at Delhi, the largest piece of forged iron in the world. The President next drew attention to the development of iron and steel-making in the United States, showing its rapid progress, and how enormously the capacity for production, both in that country and here, was in excess of the demand, as regarded blast-furnaces, Bessemer converters, and open-hearth furnaces. The address concluded with some remarks on diminished cost of production; to what a degree this has been carried, and the influence it has had on the labour market may be inferred from the circumstance that nowadays a single lace-making machine does the work formerly done by 2000 women, that wood-planing, which used to cost 12s. per square foot, is now done for 2d. or 3d., that the manufacture of gold chains has been reduced from 30s. to 3s. 6d., and that a gross of steel pens may now be procured for 4d. which used to cost 7l. Sir Henry Bessemer proposed a vote of thanks to Dr. Percy for his address, which was seconded by Mr. Adamson, the President-Elect.