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.
[Pg iii]
Twenty-seven years of active practice in the manufacture of steelbrought the author in daily contact with questions involving themanipulation of steel, its properties, and the results of anyoperations to which it was subjected.
Blacksmiths, edge-tool makers, die-makers, machine-builders, andengineers were continually asking questions whose answers involvedstudy and experiment.
During these years the Bessemer and the open-hearth processes weredeveloped from infancy to their present enormous stature; and theshadows of these young giants, ever menacing to the expensive andfragile 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 longerto 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 scientistshave worked and are still working; they have given to the world muchinformation for which the world should be thankful.
Engineers have experimented and tested, as they never did before, and[Pg iv]thousands of tables and results are recorded, providing comingengineers with a mine of invaluable wealth. Steel-workers and temperershave written much that is of great practical value.
Still the questions come, and they are almost always those involvingan intimate acquaintance with the properties of steel, which is onlyto be gained by contact with both manufacturers and users. In thislittle manual the effort is made to fill this gap and to give to allsteel-users a systematic, condensed statement of facts that couldnot be obtained otherwise, except by travelling through miles ofliterature, and possibly not then. There are no tables, and no exactdata; such would be merely a re-compilation of work already done byabler minds.
It is a record of experiences, and so it may seem to be dogmatic; theauthor believes its statements to be true—they are true as far as hisknowledge goes; others can verify them by trial.
If the statements made prove to be of value to others, then the authorwill feel that he has done well to record them; if not, there isprobably nothing said that is likely to result in any harm.
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CONTENTS.
| Page. | |
| CHAPTER I. | |
General Description of Steel, and Methods of Manufacture.—Cemented or Converted Steel. Blister, German, Shear, Double-shear. Crucible-steel, Bessemer, Open-hearth | 1 |
| CHAPTER II. | |
Applications and Uses of the Different | |