Transcriber’s Notes:
Underscores “_” before and after a word or phrase indicate _italics_
in the original text.
Equal signs “=” before and after a word or phrase indicate =bold=
in the original text.
Small capitals have been converted to SOLID capitals.
Illustrations have been moved so they do not break up paragraphs.
Typographical and punctuation errors have been silently corrected.
STEEL:
A MANUAL FOR STEEL-USERS.
BY
WILLIAM METCALF.
_FIRST EDITION._
FIRST THOUSAND.
NEW YORK:
JOHN WILEY & SONS.
LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, LIMITED.
1896.
Copyright, 1896,
BY WILLIAM METCALF.
ROBERT DRUMMOND,
ELECTROTYPER AND PRINTER,
NEW YORK.
INTRODUCTION.
Twenty-seven years of active practice in the manufacture of steel
brought the author in daily contact with questions involving the
manipulation of steel, its properties, and the results of any
operations to which it was subjected.
Blacksmiths, edge-tool makers, die-makers, machine-builders, and
engineers were continually asking questions whose answers involved
study and experiment.
During these years the Bessemer and the open-hearth processes were
developed from infancy to their present enormous stature; and the
shadows of these young giants, ever menacing to the expensive and
fragile crucible, kept one in a constant state of watching, anxiety,
and more study.
The literature of steel has grown with the art; its books are no longer
to be counted on the fingers, they are to be weighed in tons.
Then why write another?
Because there seems to be one little gap. Metallurgists and scientists
have worked and are still working; they have given to the world much
information for which the world should be thankful.
Engineers have experimented and tested, as they never did before,
and thousands of tables and results are recorded, providing coming
engineers with a mine of invaluable wealth. Steel-workers and temperers
have written much that is of great practical value.
Still the questions come, and they are almost always those involving
an intimate acquaintance with the properties of steel, which is only
to be gained by contact with both manufacturers and users. In this
little manual the effort is made to fill this gap and to give to all
steel-users a systematic, condensed statement of facts that could
not be obtained otherwise, except by travelling through miles of
literature, and possibly not then. There are no tables, and no exact
data; such would be merely a re-compilation of work already done by
abler minds.
It is a record of experiences, and so it may seem to be dogmatic; the
author believes its statements to be true--they are true as far as his
knowledge goes; others can verify them by trial.
If the statements made prove to be of value to others, then the author
will feel that he has done well to record them; if not, there is
probably nothing said that is likely to result in any harm.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF STEEL, AND METHODS OF
MANUFACTURE.--Cemented or Converted Steel.
Blister, German, Shear, Double-shear. Crucible-steel,
Bessemer, Open-hearth 1