244

STEEL.

solid iron end of the press, made to resist great pressure; it is strongly bolted to thecylinder a, so as to resist the force of the ram; g, g, iron rods, for bringing back theram b, into its place after the pressure is over, by means of counter weights suspendedto a chain, which passes over the pulleys A, h ; i,i, a spout ahd a sheet-iron pan for re-ceiving the oily fluid.

STEEL . One of the greatest improvements which this valuable modification ofiron has ever received is due to Mr. Josiah M. Heath, who, after many elaborate andcostly researches, upon both the small and the great scale, discovered that by theintroduction of a small portion, 1 per cent., and even less, of carburet of manganeseinto the melting-pot along with the usual broken bars of blistered steel, a cast steel wasobtained, after fusion, of a quality very superior to what the bar steel would haveyielded without the manganese, and moreover possessed of the new and peeuliar prop-erty of being weldable either to itself or to wrought iron. He also found that acommon bar-steel, made from an inferior mark or quality of Swedish or Russian iron,

would, when so treated, producean excellent cast coal. One im-mediate consequence of this dis-covery has been the reduction ofthe price of good steel in theSheffield market by from 30 to 40per cent., and likewise the manu-facture of table-knives of caststeel with iron tangs welded tothem; whereas, till Mr. Heath’sinvention, table-knives were ne-cessarily made of shear steel, withunseemly wavy lines in them,because cast steel could not bewelded to the tangs. Mr. Heathobtained a patent for this andother kindred meritorious inven-tions on the 5th of April, 1839 ;but, strange and melancholy tosay, he has never derived anything from his acknowledged im-provement but vexation and loss,in consequence of a numerousbody of Sheffield steel manufac-turers having banded together topirate his patent, and to bafflehim in our complex law courts.1 hope, however, that eventuallyjustice will have its own, and theridiculously unfounded pretencesof the pirates to the prior use ofcarburet of manganese will be setfinally at rest. It is supposedthat fifty persons at least are em-barked in this pilfering conspiracy-The furnace of cementation mwhich bar-iron is converted intobar or blistered steel is representedinfigs. 161, 162, 163. It is rect-angular and covered in by agroined or cloister arch : it con-tains two cementing chests, orsarcophaguses, c, c, made eitherof fire-stone or fire-bricks : eac jis 2| feet wide, 3 feet deep, and12 long; the one being placed othe one side, and the other ont ®other of the grate, A b, w?*®occupies the whole length ol t *furnace, and is from 13 to 14 te, , long. The grate is 14 11 \ c 'l

broad, and rests from 10 to 12 inches below the inferior plane or bottom level ol l?«chests ; the height of the top of the arch above the chests is 5£ feet; the bottom ot