In the mechanical section of the British Association on Friday
Mr. Bessemer read a paper on cast steel, with especial view to its -employment as a substitute for wrought iron. There are now 17 extensive Bessemer steel works in Great Britain, which produce steel at an average cost of more than 201. a ton below that at which it was sold before the invention of the Bessemer process. These 17 works contain 60 converting vessels, capable of producing fully 15 times the amount of steel formerly produced in England. With regard to the chief applications of the steel thus produced, Mr. Bessemer remarked that a steel steamer of 1,000 tons' measure- ment would weigh 250 tons less than an iron one of the same measurement, and would draw several feet less water, or carry that weight more coal. A rail of Bessemer steel will stand the wear of 20 times the traffic which renders an iron rail useless. The tires of railway wheels, on which so much depends, can be -constructed of Bessemer steel so as to defy the most violent attempts at fracture. Altogether the paper fully brought out the incalculable importance of the invention, which may before long actually result in an annual saving in Great Britain alone of upwards of 6,000,0001. in prime cost of material alone.
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