Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL. 51 in ship, on railway, and in great bridge; it means employment in the workshop and com- fort in the home; it has revolutionised build- ing, with girder and column ; it is invaluable in electric traction by overhead railway or the “Twopenny Tube”; and the bicycle, the motor car, and the flying machine owe their adoption to iron, the “ King of Metals,” and the coquetry of science, which has converted it into steel. Our exports are comparatively small in proportion to the total output, inasmuch as iron is plentiful in Europe, America, and more distant lands, and nearly every indus- trial country manufactures and applies its own iron and steel. Yet the makers of the United Kingdom need not be ashamed of their workers, either for dexterity of handling or quality of material, though to keep pace with American enterprise and ingenuity they need to continue modernising the open-hearth pro- cess, which finds a ready market owing to the steadfast quality of its steel. Makers should strive also to come nearer in price to their oversea rivals. As it is, they import yearly seven million tons of iron ore, they produce over nine million tons of pig iron, more than a million tons of wrought iron, and five million tons of Bessemer and open- hearth steel. And this output represents, in direct and indirect labour, an enormous factor in the nation’s prosperity. John Pendleton. {Except where otherwise acknowledged, the illustrations accompanying this article are from photographs kindly supplied by Messrs. Chas. Cainmell and Co., of Sheffield.} WATER DOUCHE FOR HARDENING- STEEL ARMOUR. C 4NMARKS TEKNISKE ßißLIOTEK