Bessemer steel is made by heating iron until all the undesirable elements are burned out by air blasts which furnish the necessary oxygen. The iron is placed in a large retort called a converter, being poured, while at a melting heat, directly from the blast furnace into the converter. While the iron in the converter is molten, blasts of air are forced through the liquid, making it still hotter and burning out the impurities together with the carbon and manganese. These two elements are then restored to the iron by adding spiegeleisen (an alloy of iron, carbon and manganese). A converter holds from 5 to 25 tons of metal and requires about 20 minutes to finish a charge. This makes the cheapest steel.
Open hearth steel is made by placing the molten iron in a receptacle while currents of air pass over it, this air having itself been highly heated by just passing over white hot brick (Figure. 3). Open hearth steel is considered more uniform and reliable than Bessemer, and is used for springs, bar steel, tool steel, steel plates, etc.
Aluminum is one of the commonest industrial metals. It is used for gear cases, engine crank cases, covers, fittings, and wherever lightness and moderate strength are desirable.
Aluminum is about one-third the weight of iron and about the same weight as glass and porcelain; it is a good electrical conductor (about one-half as good as copper); is fairly strong itself and gives great strength to other metals when alloyed with them. One of the greatest advantages of aluminum is that it will not rust or corrode under ordinary conditions. The granular formation of aluminum makes its strength very unreliable and it is too soft to resist wear.
Copper is one of the most important metals used in the trades, and the best commercial conductor of electricity, being exceeded in this respect only by silver, which is but slightly better. Copper is very malleable and ductile when cold, and in this state may be easily worked under the hammer. Working in this way makes the copper stronger and harder, but less ductile. Copper is not affected by air, but acids cause the formation of a green deposit called verdigris.
Copper is one of the best conductors of heat, as well as electricity, being used for kettles, boilers, stills and wherever this quality is desirable. Copper is also used in alloys with other metals, forming an important part of brass, bronze, german silver, bell metal and gun metal. It is about one-eighth heavier than steel and has a tensile strength of about 25,000 to 50,000 pounds per square inch.
Lead.--The peculiar properties of lead, and especially its quality of showing but little action or chemical change in the presence of other elements, makes it valuable under certain conditions of use. Its principal use is in pipes for water and gas, coverings for roofs and linings for vats and tanks. It is also used to coat sheet iron for similar uses and as an important part of ordinary solder.
Lead is the softest and weakest of all the commercial metals, being very pliable and inelastic. It should be remembered that lead and all its compounds are poisonous when received into the system. Lead is more than one-third heavier than steel, has a tensile strength of only about 2,000 pounds per square inch, and is only about one-tenth as good a conductor of electricity as copper.