1. Steel is a compound of iron and carbon; and, as there are several methods by which the combination is produced, there are likewise several kinds of steel. The best steel is said to be made of Swedish or Russian bar-iron.
2. The most common method of forming steel is by the process of cementation. The operation is performed in a conical furnace, in which are two large cases or troughs, made of fire-brick, or good fire stone; and beneath these is a long grate. On the bottom of the cases is placed a layer of charcoal dust, and over this a layer of bar-iron. Alternate strata of these materials are continued to a considerable height, ten or twelve tons of iron being put in at once.
3. The whole is covered with clay or sand, to exclude the air, and flues are carried through the pile from the furnace below, so as to heat the contents equally and completely. The fire is kindled in the grate, and continued for eight or ten days, during which time, the troughs, with their contents, are kept red hot. The progress of the cementation is discovered by drawing a test bar from an aperture in the side.
4. When the conversion of the iron into steel appears to be complete, the fire is extinguished; and, after having been suffered to cool for six or eight days, it is removed. Iron combined with charcoal in this manner, is denominated blistered steel, from the blisters which appear on its surface, and in this state, it is much used for common purposes.
5. To render this kind of steel more perfect, the bars are heated to redness, and then drawn out into bars of much smaller dimensions, by means of a hammer moved by water or steam power. This instrument is called a tilting hammer, and the bars formed by it, are called tilted steel. When the bars have been exposed to heat, and afterwards doubled, drawn out, and welded, the product is called shear steel.
6. But steel of cementation, however carefully made, is never quite equable in its texture. Steel possessing this latter quality is made, by fusing bars of blistered steel, in a crucible placed in a wind furnace. When the fusion has been completed, the liquid metal is cast into small bars or ingots, which are known in commerce by the name of cast steel. Cast steel is harder, more elastic, closer in texture, and capable of receiving a higher polish than common steel.
7. Steel is also made directly from cast iron, or at once from the ore. This kind is called natural or German steel, and is much inferior to that obtained by cementation. The best steel, produced directly from the ore, comes from Germany, and is made in Stiria. It is usually imported in barrels, or in chests about three feet long.
8. Steel is sometimes alloyed with other metals. A celebrated Indian steel, called wootz, is supposed to be carbonated iron, combined with small quantities of silicium and aluminum. Steel alloyed with a very small proportion of silver, is superior to wootz, or to the best cast steel. Some other metals are also used with advantage in the same application.
9. Steel was discovered at a very early period of the world, for aught we know, long before the flood. Pliny informs us, that, in his time, the best steel came from China, and that the next best came from Parthia. A manufactory of steel existed in Sweden as early as 1340 of the Christian era: but it is generally thought, that the process of converting iron into steel by cementation originated in England, at a later period. The method of making cast steel was invented at Sheffield, in the latter country, in 1750, and, for a long time, it was kept secret.
10. It has been but a few years, since this manufacture was commenced in the United Sates. In 1836, we had fourteen steel furnaces, viz.; at Boston, one; New-York, three; Troy, one; New-Jersey, two; Philadelphia, three; York Co., Pa., one; Baltimore, one; and Pittsburg, two. These furnaces together are said to be capable of yielding more than 1600 tons of steel in a year. The American steel is employed in the fabrication of agricultural utensils, and it has entirely excluded the common English blistered steel.