XII.—THE STEEL FOUNDRY.
General Arrangement of Foundry.—Messrs. Schneider
and Co. commeneed the production of steel castings in
1885 ; at first only Bessemer steel was used for this
purpose, but afterwards Siemens-Martin steel was sub-
stituted.
In 1887, a plant for making steel castings was put
down on the site which had been occupied by the second
as stern-shaft brackets, stern tubes, stem, and stem-posts,
castings, traversing platforms for gun carriages, &c. In
casting tliese large pieces, tlie steel is taken from the
large Siemens-Martin furnaces already described.
This temporary plant became, as might have been
expected, entirely inadequate to meet the inereasing
demands for steel castings, and Messrs. Schneider and Co.
Fig. 112. Steel Foundry, Interiør of Main Building.
and third groups of Bessemer plant. The steel was meltecl
in a 4-ton petroleum furnace ; a type adoptée! because the
heat could be regulated in accordance with the progress of
the work. When, however, the use of steel castings
became more general, Messrs. Schneider and Co. con-
structed a Siemens-Martin furnace of the usual form, but
of small dimensions ; it was fonnd that a considérable
economy in working was secured by this, as compared with
the petroleum furnace. This plant, though quite of a
provisional character, produced much important work, such
decided in 1891 to create a special department for this
industry on a large scale. Accordingly they erected for
this purpose a building 112 metres (367 ft.) long by
37 metres (121 ft.) wide, a general view of which is shown
in Fig. 111, Plate XXV., whilst Fig. 112 is an interior
view.
Two 1 O-ton steel furnaces are erected at one end of the
building ; they are 1.500 metres (4 ft. 11 in.) above the
level of the works.
The necessary gas is produced by a range of eight